Base and Job Levels

A character's strength is measured by two levels. Base Level goes up with Base Experience and Job Level with Job experience. Both are mostly earned by killing monsters, and also from quests with EXP rewards or by redeeming Hugel Medals. Each level needs far more experience than the one before it, so the growth curve is unusually steep.

Characters start at Base Level 1 and, in the current (Renewal) game, can reach 260. Each level gives status points to raise Stats; after Base Level 200 the character stops earning status points and earns talent points instead, so stats must be planned with care. Other benefits of a higher Base Level:

• More HP and SP with every level.
• Base Level is added to HIT (accuracy) and Flee (dodge), and many skills such as Heal grow stronger with it.
• Auras around the character: a normal aura at 99, a big red one at 200 and a big yellow one at 250.
• Access to equipment, quests and dungeons that have a Base Level requirement.

To redistribute status points, iRO Wiki lists the Sam Status NPC (any time, costs Magical Stone for each use) and the Mesmerist in Eden (free, but only once per character).

Job Level tracks how far a character has mastered its class. Each Job Level gives one skill point to learn or raise a skill. Monsters usually give less Job than Base experience, so Job Level often grows more slowly. Job Level resets to 1 on every class change: a Novice can reach Job 10 and then take a first class, and a first class may move to its second class from Job 40 (a transcendent second class always needs Job 50).

Waiting until Job 50 before the second job pays off: you get one extra skill point per level past 40, some job change quests skip steps at Job 50, and some give extra rewards. Job Level also feeds certain formulas, such as an Alchemist's Prepare Potion and a Blacksmith's Forging (+0.2% success per Job Level), and some class stat bonuses arrive at set Job Levels.

Skill points can be reset for free and without limit before Base Level 100 with the Beginner Skill Resetter, or once per character at any level with the Mesmerist in Eden. A reset never returns the extra points lost by changing job before the maximum Job Level.

When a character dies (reaches 0 HP) it loses experience equal to 1% of what the next level needs. There is no loss in the PvP arena, inside War of Emperium castles, in most cities and on some mostly quest-related maps. Guild dungeons are different: you do lose experience there, even when another player kills you.

At Base 99 / Job 50 a character can do a short quest to transcend. It goes back to Base 1 / Job 1 as a High Novice, with all stats at 1 and no skills, and levels again with much higher experience needs. In return it gets 25% more maximum HP and SP, transcendent-only skills and gear, a second-class Job cap of 70 instead of 50 (20 more skill points and stat bonuses), and a brighter level-99 aura with purple bubbles instead of blue.

On Classic servers (iRO Wiki Classic), Base Level stops at 99 for everyone, so all status points come before 99. Both Base and Job experience drop by 1% on death, with the same safe areas. A few formulas also differ: Base Level is added to DEX for HIT, to AGI for Flee and to INT for the healing of Heal. A Novice who reaches Base 45 can become a Super Novice.