Dragon Age Origins: How to gain experience faster? Dragon Age: Origins Guide

Accumulating XP will allow you to level up your party in Dragon Age Origins. On this guide page, you will learn which actions are rewarded with XP and how to gain experience points faster.

Last update: 13 June 2024

Earning experience points lets you develop your heroes in Dragon Age: Origins. In our guide, we have compiled all the methods for gaining experience and you will also find hints on how to obtain XP faster.

• Completing quests
• Winning fights
• Codex entries
• Chests in the camp
• Disarming traps and opening chests

Completing quests

1. This is the main method of obtaining large amounts of experience points. XP is awarded after completing a given quest.
2. Main story quests provide the most XP, but you should also look for opportunities to complete side quests. You can unlock them, for example, by talking to NPCs, checking bulletin boards, improving relationships with companions, or finding quest items in the game world. We described the optional quests in our walkthrough.

Winning fights

1. The game will reward you with experience for each defeated opponent. The stronger the enemy killed, the more XP will be awarded.
2. You can complete some quests without shedding blood. Instead, try to explore all locations with monsters, in order to eliminate 100% of enemies from a given area and get as many experience points as possible.

Codex entries

1. Keep in mind this method of obtaining XP from the very beginning of the game. Examine all highlighted objects in the surroundings. They may contain various types of documents - books, parchments or notes.
2. The game rewards experience for each new unique codex entry. It may seem that 50XP is not much, but it's a reward for thorough exploration. You can get a lot of codex entries in various types of libraries and offices.

Chests in the camp

1. You can find chests in your party's camp to donate gold, resources, or other items from your inventory. The goal is to strengthen allies gained in the main storyline to fight the Blight.
2. Each group of allies expects different types of gifts, and you can learn about them by talking to the emissary of a given group in the camp. For example, the Redcliffe forces are waiting for gold, the Templars need runes, and the elves need specific crafting ingredients.
3. This rewards you with experience points, but only for the main character. The amount of XP received depends on the size of the donation - for example, donating 1 item grants 10XP.

Disarming traps and opening chests

1. Try to have a rogue in your party. If your hero is not a rogue, travel with Leliana or Zevran - the circumstances of adding these characters to your party are described on the Companions list page.
2. A rogue can help you open chests and disarm traps - this class has specific talents. Remember, however, that the game will reward you with XP only for successful actions, i.e. for successfully disarming a lock or a trap.