In Tales of the Unknown, Experience is gained by winning battles against enemy NPCs. The Experience is set at a fixed rate for each creature, and your character(s) are only given XP if they survive the battle. When the battle is over, the entire pool of XP is evenly divided among the survivors, even those who may have done nothing during the battle.
| Example: |
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Your party comes across 10 Nomads. A Nomad has a set XP of 120 points. One of your party members dies before the battle is over. The dead party member will receive no XP. Your five surviving members will receive 1200/5 xp (240 XP each) |
In Tales of the Unknown, there is a location with a fixed battle of 4 x 99 berserkers (1,018,880 XP) on the third floor of Baron Harkyn's Castle. This battle has the highest XP gained in a single fight.
REVIEW BOARD
Unlike most other RPGs, just gaining Experience is not the only requirement to gaining levels and advancing your characters. The original Bard's Tale series of games required you to visit the Review Board where you would be advanced and your character attributes would be adjusted. The levels you would gain were set by the number of XP points you had, and would be applied according to your characters class. The charts below show the XP/Level for the different classes in Tales of the Unknown.
Bard's Tale 1 Charts[]
| Level | Warrior, Paladin, Bard, Hunter, Rogue |
Monks, Low level Magic Users |
Sorcerer | Wizard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2,000 | 1,800 | 7,000 | 20,000 |
| 3 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 15,000 | 50,000 |
| 4 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 25,000 | 80,000 |
| 5 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 | 120,000 |
| 6 | 15,000 | 14,000 | 60,000 | 160,000 |
| 7 | 20,000 | 19,000 | 80,000 | 200,000 |
| 8 | 30,000 | 29,000 | 100,000 | 250,000 |
| 9 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 130,000 | 300,000 |
| 10 | 80,000 | 90,000 | 170,000 | 400,000 |
| 11 | 110,000 | 120,000 | 220,000 |
600,000 |
| 12 | 150,000 | 170,000 | 300,000 | 900,000 |
| 13 | 200,000 | 230,000 | 400,000 | 1,300,000 |
After Level 13... Levels increase at a consistant rate
| Level | Warrior, Paladin, Bard, Hunter, Rogue | Monks, Low level Magic Users | Sorcerer | Wizard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 400,000 | 460,000 | 800,000 | 2,600,000 |
| 15 | 600,000 | 690,000 | 1,200,000 | 3,900,000 |
| 16 | 800,000 | 920,000 | 1,600,000 | 5,200,000 |
| 17 | 1,000,000 | 1,150,000 | 2,000,000 | 6,500,000 |
| 18 | 1,200,000 | 1,380,000 | 2,400,000 | 7,800,000 |
| 19 | 1,400,000 | 1,610,000 | 2,800,000 | 9,100,000 |
| 20 | 1,600,000 | 1,840,000 | 3,200,000 | 10,400,000 |
| 20+ | 200,000+ | 230,000+ | 400,000+ | 1,300,000+ |
In the IBM PC version, there is a bug. Once you surpass level 255, the Review Board will let you raise your levels at will. No additional experience necessary. This only works if you pass level 255 by actually gaining experience as opposed to getting hit by a Vampire and healing at the temple. After level 256, if you Do get hit by a Vampire, you will end up with very little experience. It seems to subtract 256 off your level. Even healing at the temple doesn't give them all back.
After level 99, your level in the character screen shows up as **. Also, after you get more than 9999 HP or 9999 SP, they will show up as ****.
Bard's Tale 2 Charts[]
| Level | Warrior, Paladin, Bard, Hunter, Rogue | Monks, Conjuror, Magician | Sorcerer | Wizard | Archmage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 7,000 | 20,000 | 100,000 |
| 3 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 14,000 | 50,000 | 220,000 |
| 4 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 25,000 | 80,000 | 400,000 |
| 5 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 | 120,000 | 600,000 |
| 6 | 15,000 | 14,000 | 60,000 | 160,000 | 800,000 |
| 7 | 20,000 | 19,000 | 80,000 | 200,000 | 1,100,000 |
| 8 | 30,000 | 29,000 | 100,000 | 250,000 | 1,400,000 |
| 9 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 130,000 | 300,000 | 1,800,000 |
| 10 | 80,000 | 90,000 | 170,000 | 400,000 | 2,200,000 |
| 11 | 110,000 | 120,000 | 220,000 | 600,000 | 2,600,000 |
| 12 | 150,000 | 170,000 | 300,000 | 900,000 | 3,000,000 |
| 13 | 200,000 | 230,000 | 400,000 | 1,300,000 | 4,000,000 |
After Level 13, levels increase for all classes at 200k per level
| Level | Warrior, Paladin, Bard, Hunter, Rogue | Monks, Conjuror, Magician | Sorcerer | Wizard | Archmage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 400,000 | 430,000 | 600,000 | 1,500,000 | 4,200,000 |
| 15 | 600,000 | 630,000 | 800,000 | 1,700,000 | 4,400,000 |
| 16 | 800,000 | 830,000 | 1,000,000 | 1,900,000 | 4,600,000 |
| 17 | 1,000,000 | 1,030,000 | 1,200,000 | 2,100,000 | 4,800,000 |
| 18 | 1,200,000 | 1,230,000 | 1,400,000 | 2,300,000 | 5,000,000 |
| 19 | 1,400,000 | 1,430,000 | 1,600,000 | 2,500,000 | 5,200,000 |
| 20 | 1,600,000 | 1,630,000 | 1,800,000 | 2,700,000 | 5,300,000 |
| 20+ | 200,000+ | 200,000+ | 200,000+ | 200,000+ | 200,000+ |