How much XP do I need to reach each level in D&D 5e?

The official milestones from the Player's Handbook (p. 15) are: Level 1 = 0, 2 = 300, 3 = 900, 4 = 2,700, 5 = 6,500, 6 = 14,000, 7 = 23,000, 8 = 34,000, 9 = 48,000, 10 = 64,000, 11 = 85,000, 12 = 100,000, 13 = 120,000, 14 = 140,000, 15 = 165,000, 16 = 195,000, 17 = 225,000, 18 = 260,000, 19 = 300,000, 20 = 355,000 XP. The calculator stores the complete table and resolves your level instantly.

What is the proficiency bonus for each level in D&D 5e?

The proficiency bonus starts at +2 at Level 1 and increases by +1 every four levels. Levels 1-4 = +2, Levels 5-8 = +3, Levels 9-12 = +4, Levels 13-16 = +5, Levels 17-20 = +6. This bonus applies to attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks you are proficient in.

How does Pathfinder 2e XP work?

Pathfinder 2e uses a simple flat rate: every character needs exactly 1,000 XP to advance from one level to the next. XP resets to zero on each level-up. This means the cumulative XP for Level N is simply (N - 1) × 1,000. At Level 20 a character has accumulated 19,000 XP in total. The calculator tracks this correctly for all 20 levels.

What is milestone levelling and should I use it?

Milestone levelling (Dungeon Master's Guide p. 261) means the DM awards level-ups at dramatically appropriate moments rather than tracking XP totals. Many groups prefer it because it eliminates grind incentives and keeps the story pacing in the DM's hands. The Session Tracker tab includes a Milestone mode that tracks your current level without XP, useful for DMs who still want to reference proficiency bonuses and spell-slot counts.

How do Old-School Essentials XP tables differ from D&D 5e?

OSE (and its B/X D&D source) uses class-specific XP tables rather than a single universal table. Thieves advance fastest (1,200 XP for Level 2) while Magic-Users advance slowest (2,500 XP for Level 2). All classes cap at Level 14 in the classic rules. The calculator includes tables for Fighter, Thief, Cleric and Magic-User.

How accurate is the session planner?

The planner divides the total XP gap between your current and target level by your average XP per session, rounding up. Actual sessions will vary based on encounter difficulty, role-playing awards and DM style. Use it as a planning guide rather than a hard prediction. In D&D 5e a typical adventuring day at Level 5 might award 600-1,200 XP per character, rising to 3,000-6,000 XP per character at Level 10.

Character Level Calculator

The character level calculator covers every XP threshold from Level 1 to Level 20 across three of the most played tabletop RPG rulesets: D&D 5th Edition, Pathfinder 2nd Edition, and Old-School Essentials (the modern reprint of B/X Dungeons and Dragons). Whether you are checking your current level mid-session, planning how many sessions it will take to reach your next milestone, or comparing the progression curves of different systems, this tool gives you instant, formula-accurate answers in your browser with no account, no ads and no data uploaded anywhere.

How it works

The tool stores the official XP-to-level tables verbatim from each rulebook and uses a simple lookup: given a total XP value, it finds the highest level whose threshold is less than or equal to that value. Progress within the current level is calculated as:

Progress (%) = (XP earned since level start) / (XP needed for next level) × 100

For D&D 5e the calculator also surfaces the proficiency bonus (which rises from +2 at Level 1 to +6 at Level 17) and the full-caster spell slot table (Wizard, Cleric, Druid, Bard, Sorcerer — from the Player’s Handbook) so you can confirm your slots match your level. The encounter difficulty thresholds (Easy / Medium / Hard / Deadly per character) are drawn from the Dungeon Master’s Guide p. 82.

XP systems at a glance

System	Levels	XP for Level 2	Max XP needed
D&D 5e	1–20	300	355,000
Pathfinder 2e	1–20	1,000	19,000 (cumulative)
OSE Fighter	1–14	2,000	840,000
OSE Thief	1–14	1,200	760,000
OSE Cleric	1–14	1,500	700,000
OSE Magic-User	1–14	2,500	1,050,000

Note that Pathfinder 2e resets XP to zero each level whereas D&D 5e and OSE use a running cumulative total.

Worked example

A D&D 5e party has just finished a dungeon. The wizard has a running total of 17,500 XP.

The threshold for Level 7 is 23,000 XP; for Level 6 it is 14,000 XP. Since 17,500 is between those two values the wizard is Level 6.
XP into this level: 17,500 - 14,000 = 3,500 XP.
XP needed for Level 7: 23,000 - 14,000 = 9,000 XP for the full level; 23,000 - 17,500 = 5,500 XP still needed.
Progress: 3,500 / 9,000 = 38.9% of the way through Level 6.
Proficiency bonus: +3 (Levels 5–8).
Full-caster spell slots: 4×1st, 3×2nd, 3×3rd slots.

For the session planner: if the party earns roughly 1,200 XP per session, it will take ceil(5,500 / 1,200) = 5 sessions to reach Level 7.

Formula note

The level lookup is a direct table query — there is no approximation formula. Progressions like Pathfinder 2e’s flat 1,000 XP per level can be expressed as:

Level = floor(cumulativeXP / 1,000) + 1 (capped at 20)

D&D 5e’s irregular table does not reduce to a closed form; each threshold must be stored explicitly, which the calculator does for all 20 levels. Progress within a level always uses the linear interpolation formula above.