Character Level Character Level is a statistic denoting the strength of the player character , NPCs , and hostile entities . The most rudimentary level is 1 , while the maximum level differs across games in series . Non - native to " The Elder Scrolls " , character level is a game term across role - playing games . Level increases upon being awarded experience points ( colloquially referred to as " XP " ) . Experience points are awarded by completing tasks outlined by Characters or by killing hostile foes . In " The Elder Scrolls " , character level increases on a 1 by 1 basis each time a certain quota of skill levels are achieved . Skills , alternatively , are leveled by performing actions governed by the skill . For example , Security in increases when locks are successfully picked or when lockpicks break . Magic , such as Alteration , can cause level up when a certain number of Alteration spells , such as Feather , are cast . The same rings true for combat and all other skills . Leveled items and creatures . Level determines the strength and power of the creatures and items found on Tamriel . For example , characters of level 26 or above are more inclined to encounter Dremora Markynaz in Oblivion Gates , than Clannfear . Some enemies , such as Scamps , will not appear in the world at all after reaching a certain level . Combat items such as armor and weapons increase in value and protection rating based on level as well . For example , Kud - Ei , a member of the Mages Guild , is a spellsword . At low levels , she wields a standard steel longsword , but as character level increases , her sword level also increases , raising to elven and eventually Daedric . Thus , if armor and weapons of Daedric quality are desired , the character level must be raised before they appear in the world . The higher level a character is , the more likely that quests with leveled loot will offer more . Certain magical items , such as Mundane Ring , are leveled , meaning the magnitude of their enchantments increases the higher level the person who discovered them is . Difficulty . As characters level up , foes become noticeably more difficult . Manually adjusting the Difficulty slider to bring the game back in line with the character is an optional solution . A solution in is to use the codice _ 1 command . For example , if level 12 is reached by overly using non - combat skills , while combat skills are left at level 10 or lower , the console commands can be used to enter : codice _ 2 . This resets the difficulty level back to something appropriate for a 10th level character . Otherwise , foes will be at level 12 appropriateness , while the character is only suited for level 10 combat . Gaining levels . Arena . As you adventure in the land , you will gain experience . At certain times when enough experience is gained , you will also gain a level . Gaining a level results in stat increases , health increases , and improved abilities . As a rough guide Bethesda released this table with the game manual . It is also worth noting that the main classes ( such as a warrior ) require less experience points to level up than their sub classes ( such as a knight ) while these are small at lower levels the gap gets quite large as the levels progress . The following table shows the experience required for leveling up : Morrowind . When a character increases any Minor or Major skill ten times a level is gained . This can be performed by using said skills , or retaining the services of a skill trainer . Any combination of these skills can be increased for a level - up , be it the same skill ten times , five skills two times , etc . A message to " " rest and meditate on what you ' ve learned " " is received , and the character must sleep soundly in a bed , or deep in the wilderness far away from any settlements in order to receive the level - up interface . Wait ing is not sufficient for this to occur . In the level - up interface , the character ' s attribute s are displayed and can be increased . These frequently have multipliers , which are assigned based on the number of times an attribute ' s governing skills have been increased since the last level - up , up to a maximum of 5× . Minor , Major , and Miscellaneous skill increases contribute to the determination of the multipliers . Luck can never have a multiplier because it does not govern any skills . The character also gains Health with every level - up . It is increased by amount equal to ten percent of the character ' s Endurance , including any Endurance gained during the current level - up . Endurance bonuses from magical effects or enchant ments are not considered . Oblivion . In , a character gains a level after a total of 10 major skill increases , since they last gained a level . These increases can be spread across any number of these major skills . For example , increasing the Blade skill five times , the Block skill two times , and the Heavy Armor skill three times results in a total of ten skill increases . The character then receives a notice to meditate and rest ( sleep ) , so that he or she may gain a level and distribute attribute points . If this meditation notice is accidentally overlooked , a moon with an arrow pointing up to the left appears next to the compass , indicating that a level up can occur . Level ups stack if they are not taken right away , causing the player to level up multiple times upon next sleeping . Once five levels of one skill are reached , that skill cannot be leveled again , until a level up has occurred . A message in the upper left - hand corner displays when this happens . Optimizing leveling . To optimize leveling , increase skills that match the class specialization chosen at character creation , that match the main attributes for that class , and that are major skills selected for that class . For example , Destruction , based on the Intelligence attribute , falls under the Magic specialization . So , a character , that choose intelligence as a main attribute , magic as a specialization , and Destruction as a major skill requires less casting experience to receive skill levels in Destruction , making leveling up easier . To be specific , only 45 % of the base experience is required before skill advancement . Of the seven Combat , Magic , and Stealth skills chosen for a class , only 75 % of the experience needed to level up is required . For the major skills chosen for the class , only 60 % is needed . Skills not falling under the specializing , attributes , or major skills take the longest to level up because they , by logic , need the most experience . Some players prefer to use a reverse tactic , instead of choosing major skills that correspond with ones that will be used most often during game play , ones that are used least often are selected instead , so that better control of leveling up can be gained , allowing for creatures to be easier . The downside is that the loot is weaker and the player must increase cross - class skills in order to augment difficulty and improve item drops . Attribute and stat increase . When one skill has been leveled five times or more during one level progression , it is possible that certain attributes can be increased by five increments , which is the largest of the game . For example , casting Illusion spells and leveling that spell for the majority of one level allows Personality , Illusion ' s governing attribute , to be raised by + 5 . This works on a sliding scale . The more a specific skill is leveled per level , the more attribute points the character can add to that skills governing attribute , ranging from + 1 ( the least used skills ) to + 5 ( the most used skills ) . Only three attributes can be increased per level up . Once all attributes are maxed out , no more levels can be gained . So gaining attribute modifiers of + 5 may not be beneficial . Health increases by 10 % of the Endurance attribute , rounded down . From empirical data , it seems that this gain ( the bonus 10 % ) is not retroactively calculated with future Endurance increases . However , increases in Endurance will retroactively add to your base health ( 2x Endurance ) . Magicka gain is identical , but is calculated by Intelligence , while Willpower governs the rate by which magicka regenerates in real time , unless otherwise impeded by outside skills and abilities such as by selecting The Atronach birthsign . Skyrim . In , leveling functions much the same , except attributes and classes have been eradicated . Character level is determined solely on skill levels . No shortcuts or experience point discounts are awarded for having major skills or specializations since the class system no longer exists . These discounts are , instead , given by the Guardian Stones ( discounted skills depending on a chosen stone - Thief , Warrior or Mage ) , the Lover Stone ( which provides a lower discount than that of the three primary Guardian Stones but all skills are included ) and by being Rested , Well Rested or having Lover ' s Comfort which gives a 5 % , 10 % and 15 % bonus respectively . Additionally , instead of requiring rest , sleep , or meditation to increase character level , it occurs instantly . Simply follow the prompts on the screen , select which of the three statistics to raise ( Stamina , Health , or Magicka ) , then allocate perks to whichever skill tree the player wishes to advance . Even though Skyrim ' s level cap was removed as of version 1 . 9 , the hard limit is actually level 65 , 535 ( Hex number FFFF ) . Attempting to level past this point crashes the game due to the value overflowing back to zero .