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Inspired by the new Experience information on discovering locations, I wondered whether it would be possible to get to Level 3 before entering any of the early areas. This guide is to remind me how to do that efficiently, and may be of use to others.
Entering the Grove or the Temple gives 10 XP at Level 2, and 30 XP at Level 3. Those rewards are proportionate to the levelling-up requirement, but surely it must be better to be 1/60 closer to Level 4!
Considering the main character's level before entering a new area seems to be one of the few player-controllable things that could increase experience gained.
The other (very meta) way to game XP is to dismiss companions; on rejoining the party they gain the main character's XP. These XP disparities come from Inspiration events.
tl;dr – yes, it's possible
Prologue
- Free Us
- Kill the sacrificed cultists (10 each)
- Free Shadowheart from the pod
- Kill Zhalk and then the ghaik (75 each)
In the Prologue article it notes that unless you've killed the commander before the additional Cambions arrive, the ghaik won't turn hostile so has no XP reward. The purple Nautiloid Tanks can be exploded.
Collecting all the non-Cambion XP in the Prologue, and then recruiting Shadowheart on the beach, you should be Level 2.
Early Act 1
- Recruit companions: Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale (30 each)
- Kill the brains (10 each)
- Deal with the dying Illithid (35)
- Recruit Lae'zel (2 x 10 for quest steps) or kill Damays and Nymessa for more XP.[Needs Verification]
- Explore the Harper's lookout and the spider's nest (12XP if killed)
- Fight outside the Grove (but don't go in!) (140 XP)
Ruins
Can kill Gimblebock's crew using ranged attacks (70XP), without entering the temple grounds (Explore the Ruins). It starts with an unprovoked attack on Warryn, so is probably incompatible with some Paladin oaths.
- Entereing the Dank Crypt gained me 10xp, so presumably that didn't trigger an area award
Act 1 — The Forest
The Forest announcement occurs just past the Harper's nest, but doesn't trigger XP.
- Edowin's family [Needs Verification]
- Bypassing combat grants 70XP, implying that The Forest is a Level 3 Area
- 30XP for major progress from interacting with Edowin's parasite
- Owlbear's nest
- Scratch gets your scent (15)
Act 1 — The Risen Road
The Risen Road can be reached by a river crossing just north of Scratch, but the announcement doesn't trigger XP.
- This allows you to recruit Karlach for 30XP[Needs Verification]
- unexpectedly, this partly triggered when I levelled-up Karlach herself after she joined the party. But maybe that was a bug. On the party gallery, she shows as 0XP with 1800 needed, and the rest of the party are still Level 2 with 588XP and 12 to go. Went straight to the Toll House, expecting to be told to flee, but there we were in combat with the Tyrians. Got the level-up notification after the first kill. Ok, post levelling up, Karlach has 12 more XP than the others. Weird.
- Paladins of Tyr (40 + 40 + 75)