Leveling up is the straightforward way of getting more powerful in Baldur's Gate 3. Leveling up will give you more hit points, along with different skills, feats, or additional ability scores, depending on what class you choose to level up.
Just about everything you do in Baldur's Gate 3 will give you XP, and you'll quickly find yourself leveling up slower and slower as you work towards the max level. There are a few things players can do to speed up the process and level up quicker.
How To Get XP Quickly
Leveling up will take a while after you pass the first few levels. Just about everything you do will give you some amount of XP as a reward, including killing enemies, completing quests, passing skill checks, and exploring new areas. Completing main or side quests gives a good amount of XP, along with having you deal with situations that will further give you XP when trying to complete the quest. Engage in as many side quests as you can whenever you're not focusing on the main quests.
Fighting and killing enemies is one of the best things players can do to level up, and while combat takes longer than passing checks, it will have better long-term results. While you may find it fun to deceive your way out of a tense situation or talk your way past some enemies, fighting and killing enemies will almost always reward more XP. Players can also pass a check on an NPC before stabbing them in the back and getting the XP for both passing the check and killing them in combat. It is important to make sure you don't kill useful NPCs or those tied to bigger groups who you'd rather ally yourself with for main missions.
Max Level And Checking XP
The max level for Baldur's Gate 3 is Level 12. The later levels will take a long time to get to despite to overall low max level compared to other RPGs. To check and see how much XP you have and how close you are to level up, open your character menu by selecting your character's portrait. In the menu, hover over the yellow bar above the character's inventory to see how much XP they have and how much they need to progress to the next level.