XP & levels

Buddy's XP system gives members experience points (XP) for chatting and for hanging out in voice channels. As their XP adds up they level up, Buddy posts a level-up message, and you can hand out reward roles at the levels you choose. It's a simple way to make regulars feel seen and give new members something to work toward.

Before you start#

• XP is off by default. Nobody earns anything until you switch on XP system.
• Everything on this page works on the free plan. Premium only raises how many level reward roles you can add.
• Changing settings needs access to the server's dashboard, or Manage Server for the /xpsettings command.

Set it up#

Open XP settings

How members earn XP#

Text XP#

A message earns Text XP only when all of these are true:

• It's at least 4 characters long (so "ok" or "lol" don't count).
• It isn't the same as the member's last message that earned XP (capitals are ignored, so repeating GG then gg doesn't pay twice).
• At least Text cooldown seconds have passed since their last XP-earning message.
• It isn't in a no-XP channel, and the member doesn't have a blacklisted role.

Messages sent during the cooldown simply don't earn XP. They don't restart the cooldown, so an active chatter earns roughly once per cooldown. Every message still counts toward the member's Messages Sent in /xpstats. Bots never earn XP. A message in a no-XP channel doesn't use up the cooldown either, so the member's next message in a normal channel can still earn XP.

Voice XP#

Members earn Voice XP for every Voice interval they spend in a voice channel, as long as:

• At least one other person (not a bot) is in the same channel. Sitting alone doesn't count.
• They aren't deafened (self or server). Muted is fine: listening still counts.
• They aren't in your server's AFK channel, a blacklisted channel, or holding a blacklisted role.

Buddy checks voice time once a minute and pays out each full interval. When a member leaves, the unfinished part of the interval is paid proportionally, so nobody loses time by leaving just before a payout.

Muting, deafening, streaming or turning on video doesn't reset a member's voice time. Deafening pauses earning while they're deafened; the time they'd already built up is kept. Set Voice XP to 0 to turn voice XP off.

How levels are calculated#

Each level costs a bit more XP than the last. The XP needed to go from level n − 1 to level n is:

XP for level n = Level base × n ^ Level multiplier   (rounded down)

A member's level is how many of those steps their total XP covers. With the defaults (Level base 100, Level multiplier 1.5):

Worked example: with the defaults, a member who chats steadily earns at most 15 XP a minute (one message per 60-second cooldown), about 900 XP an hour. Level 5 (2,819 XP) takes a bit over three hours of active chat; level 10 (14,264 XP) takes about 16 hours. An hour in voice with friends adds 120 XP (10 XP × 12 intervals).

How the three presets on the dashboard compare (total XP needed):

You can change the curve at any time. Members keep their XP, and /rank and the leaderboard show the level for the new curve straight away. If someone's level drops because of the change, Buddy corrects it quietly on their next XP gain: no message, and no reward roles are taken away.

Settings explained#

XP system#

Earning XP#

Leveling speed and boosters#

XP decay#

XP decay keeps the leaderboard about who is active now. Once a day, Buddy takes some XP from members who haven't earned any (from chat or voice) for a while.

• Nobody loses a level. Decay stops at the XP a member's current level starts at, so their level and their reward roles stay. Only the progress toward the next level (and their place on the leaderboard) goes down.
• Earning XP again stops the decay straight away, and the inactive-days count starts over.
• Members who were given XP but never chatted or used voice count as inactive from the day their XP was first recorded.

Example: with 25 XP a day after 14 days, a level 5 member who goes quiet for three weeks loses 25 XP on each of the last 7 days (175 XP), unless they reach the start of level 5 first.

Level-up messages#

Channels with no XP#

To block categories, voice channels or roles, use the XP blacklist commands.

Reset all XP#

The Reset all XP card puts every member back to 0 XP and level 0, and clears their message count and voice time. Click Start XP reset, tick the confirmation box, type RESET XP, click Reset all XP and confirm once more.

Commands#

Members can use /rank, /xpstats, /xpleaderboard and /xprewards (see Leaderboards & ranks). The settings commands need Manage Server. /xp settings is a shortcut to /xpsettings and works the same way.

Run /xpsettings with no options to open the XP settings panel. Only you can see it, and every change saves straight away. Use Choose a section at the top to switch pages:

• Earning XP: the XP on/off button, Keep all reward roles, XP rates (a form for XP per message, message cooldown, XP per voice interval and voice interval length) and Level curve (a form for the XP level 1 costs and the level multiplier). The panel shows how much XP levels 1, 5 and 10 need.
• Level-up messages: on/off buttons for Announce, Ping member and Rank card, the Level-up channel picker (leave it empty to post where the member was chatting) and Edit message (up to 240 characters, with placeholders).
• XP decay: the Decay on/off button and Decay amounts (a form for the XP lost per day and the inactive days before decay starts). See XP decay.

To change one setting without the panel, use /xpsettings setting:<name> value:<value>.

• enabled, keepLevelRoles and decayEnabled take true/false, yes/no or on/off.
• decayRate is the XP lost per day (0–1000) and decayAfterDays the inactive days before decay starts (1–365).
• For levelUpChannel, mention the channel (#level-ups) or paste its ID.
• The same ranges as the dashboard apply. Values below the minimum are rejected (a level multiplier under 1.1 is raised to 1.1), and values above the maximum are capped.

Example: /xpsettings setting: levelUpChannel value: #level-ups

Placeholders#

Use these in the level-up Message (or /xpsettings → Edit message).

If a member jumps several levels at once (say, from a big bonus drop), Buddy posts one message, with {oldLevel} and {level} showing the whole jump.

Examples#

The default message:

{user} reached level {level}! 🎉

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

@Alex reached level 5! 🎉

A message that shows progress:

GG {user}, you went from level {oldLevel} to {level}! Next level: {xp} XP

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

GG @Alex, you went from level 4 to 5! Next level: 11/1469 XP

A quieter version for a dedicated #level-ups channel, using the nickname so nobody gets pinged:

📈 {user} is now level {level}.

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

📈 Alex is now level 12.

Premium#

The XP system itself is free. Premium plans raise the number of level reward roles you can add (the free plan allows 3). See Plan limits.

Troubleshooting#

Nobody is earning XP#

• Check XP system is switched on, then click Save XP settings. In Discord, /xpsettings shows whether XP is on.
• Messages shorter than 4 characters, repeated messages and messages inside the cooldown don't earn XP. Try a longer, different message after the cooldown.
• Make sure the channel isn't in No-XP channels and the member has no blacklisted role (check both lists in /xpblacklist).

Voice XP isn't adding up#

• Members need at least one other person (not a bot) in the channel, and must not be deafened.
• The AFK channel never earns XP.
• Voice XP is paid each full Voice interval (and the rest when they leave). Check Voice XP isn't 0.

Level-ups happen but no message is posted#

• Check Level-up messages is on.
• If no Level-up channel is set, Buddy posts where the level-up happened: the channel of the message, the channel where /xprewards was used, or the voice channel's own text chat for level-ups earned from voice time. Pick a Level-up channel to keep all announcements in one place.
• Buddy needs View Channel and Send Messages in that channel. Without Attach Files, the rank image is left off but the text is still sent.

A new channel isn't in the channel list#

The dashboard lists channels Buddy has synced. Run /setup feature: Update Channels and Roles for Website in Discord, then reload the page.

Levels look wrong after I changed the curve#

That's expected: levels follow the new Level base and Level multiplier. /rank and the leaderboard already use the new curve; the stored level catches up on the member's next XP gain.

Related#