Here, I am thinking of a way to set up a level system for novels. I am one of those people who pay attention to the amount of experience points the protagonist has earned. If authors already have a mapped level system, then they can focus on the amount of experience points quests and monsters give. It just makes reading much more satisfying when everything is perfect down to the last experience point.
The first thing that came to my mind is the Fibonacci sequence, where the next number is the sum of the previous two. Here are the first 15 levels and their EXP requirements:
Level 1: 100 EXP
Level 2: 200 EXP
Level 3: 300 EXP
Level 4: 500 EXP
Level 5: 800 EXP
Level 6: 1300 EXP
Level 7: 2100 EXP
Level 8: 3400 EXP
Level 9: 5500 EXP
Level 10: 8900 EXP
Level 11: 14400 EXP
Level 12: 23300 EXP
Level 13: 37700 EXP
Level 14: 61000 EXP
Level 15: 98700 EXP
As you can see, level 15 requires almost 100,000 experience points. This is good when you don't want to have levels reaching hundreds, and common people have levels around 3-5, while elites have levels around 10. The hidden bosses or overpowered individuals can have levels near 15.
Another method could be to multiply the level number and have that much amount of experience required for that level:
Level 1: 100 EXP
Level 2: 200 EXP
Level 3: 300 EXP
Level 4: 400 EXP
...
Level 100: 100,000 EXP
If we multiply the level number by 1000, then we can have 100,000 EXP requirements for level 100. But this is a pretty basic method.
Another approach is to increase the EXP requirements of each level by a constant number and keep increasing that number every time. Here, I am increasing the EXP requirements of the 1st level by 150, and I will keep increasing the added number by 50 each time:
Level 1: 100 EXP (modifier = 150)
Level 2: 250 EXP (100 + 150)
Level 3: 450 EXP (250 + 200)
Level 4: 700 EXP (450 + 250)
Level 5: 1000 EXP (previous level + increase in modifier)
Level 6: 1350 EXP
Level 7: 1750 EXP
Level 8: 2200 EXP
Level 9: 2700 EXP
Level 10: 3250 EXP
...
Level 98: 228950 EXP
Level 99: 233450 EXP
Level 100: 238000 EXP
This way, Level 100 only requires 238,000 EXP, and we can have many more levels if we want to without going into the millions of experience points.
Another way is to have a constant level requirement until a certain level is reached and then increase that constant exponentially until the next certain level is reached:
Level EXP Modifier Power of 2
1 100 100
2 200 200 2^1
3 400
4 800 400 2^2
5 1200
6 1600
7 2000
8 2400 800 2^3
9 3200
10 4000
11 4800
12 5600
13 6400
14 7200
15 8000
16 8800 1600 2^4
17 10400
18 12000
19 13600
20 15200
...
100 367200
In this example, I started with a modifier value of 100 and multiplied the modifier with the level number for each subsequent level. For example, level 2 to 4 has a 200 EXP difference, and level 4 to 8 has a 400 EXP difference for each level up. Level 8 to 16 sees an increase of 800 EXP for each subsequent level. This approach also helps in dividing sections of levels into realms. We can assign names to these sections of levels, such as:
Level 1-2: Common
Level 2-4: Adept
Level 4-8: Elite
Level 8-16: Master
Level 16-32: Grandmaster
Level 32-64: Legendary
Level 64-128: Heroic
We can split these realms not only at powers of 2 but also at any other criteria, such as multiples of 10 or 20. There are no limits; we can create as many systems as we want. Just make sure it is not too broken, as that can impact the enjoyment of reading such novels.
Feel free to adjust and customize the level system to suit your preferences and the requirements of your novel.