In an RPG, the journey is as important as the destination, and there is WAY too much experience in the Deadfire for players who want a long and rewarding journey. The DLCs made this even worse.  It is extremely unsatisfying to hit max level with so much ahead of you, and most of the challenge turns into tedium. Players often turn to level scaling, which can create wonky difficulty spikes and divots as well as other problems. Traditional EXP reduction mods only change a flat modifier, which makes the early sections of the game even more difficult, and can exacerbate meta-gamey tactics and imbalances in other areas such as weapons/armor. This mod tries to solve those problems. I want to have fun in the Engwithan Digsite, and feel excited instead of bored during the mid/late-game exploration phase.

What changes:

• 25% faster level 5
• Normal speed level 9
• 25% slower level 20
• Benched companions receive 100% of EXP gained
• Bounty quests do not reward EXP
• Bounties provide triple cash rewards
• Roughly the same amount of EXP removed from bounties has been added to late-game DLC side quests
• For details, see the image with the numbers
  

Benched companions gaining full EXP bypasses a bug and ensures they cannot get stuck at an unsatisfying level.

Bounties, like optional SSS fights, are just combat challenges and don't need to reward EXP. If you were going to skip quests, it would most likely be opposed faction bounties.

Obsidian was aware of the experience issue in Deadfire when they added the DLCs, and as a result there are quite a few DLC quests that reward laughably low amounts of experience (as low as 300 or less for a lategame quest!), which is not meaningful or satisfying in any way from a progression standpoint. Since this mod removes sources of early EXP, and makes the party hungry for big lumps of it late in the game, it made sense to beef up these late-game DLC quests at the cost of mostly early-game bounties. This is nice in the sense that it balances the experience gained from each DLC, keeps the progression curve where I want it, and also opens up the option for selectively roleplaying characters to choose a single faction line to support as long as they do one DLC. Finally, even if you decide that a character's story is over very early, without doing DLC or many side quests, I guarantee you will reach level 15 due to the way my curve works. That's all you need to confront Eothas and end the game.

Keep in mind that this mod is designed for players who have the DLC installed.

Compatibility:
This mod is not compatible with any other mod that alters the Assembly-CSharp.dll file, of which there are very few. I used Unity Console just fine before and after installing this mod. Level Cap 33 should work, but you won't make it very far. This mod is compatible with all save games, but I recommend a new playthrough.

Disclaimer:
I am just a drunk tradesman. I had to learn a lot to do what I wanted with this mod. .dll files can do some kinda thing. Don't install this mod unless you would trust Eder with your computer.

Installation:

• Download the main file
• Extract the contents into your Pillars Of Eternity II Deadfire/PillarsofEternityII_Data/override folder. If the "override" folder does not exist, create it
• Gamepass version only: If you have the gamepass version of deadfire, download the optional Gamepass Assembly file in the downloads section. Open the archive and drag it into the mod folder, overwriting the Assembly-CSharp.dll file from the main download.
• Patchwork version only: Stop here, see below.
• Go to Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\Managed and back up Assembly-CSharp.dll by moving it to a safe place
• Move the Assembly-CSharp.dll file from the mod folder at Pillars Of Eternity II Deadfire/PillarsofEternityII_Data/override/Comprehensive Leveling Improvement and Reduction to Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\Managed
• If you have freezing/crashing issues, check out the optional files and let me know what happened
  

Patchwork Version: Download the main file and put it in the override folder as normal, but stop there. Download the Optional File "Patchwork Version" and install it the same way you would install any Patchwork mod.
Uninstallation:

• Delete the Comprehensive Leveling Improvement and Reduction folder inside Pillars Of Eternity II Deadfire/PillarsofEternityII_Data/override
• Move your backed-up Assembly-CSharp.dll into Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\Managed and overwrite the modded file you placed there when you installed
• If you did not back-up, you cannot uninstall this mod without verifying files or re-installing the whole game.
  

Recommended mods:

• Sigil of Balance - A level Scaling Alternative - Another buffer for level & power scaling
• Quality Level Scaling for all Equipment - Scales unique equipment by level
• Booty Buster (Economy Rework) - Player gold progression
  

These are my other mods made towards the same end - a great journey to a satisfying destination.



Thank you forever to NoqNoq, my island deity, for Apotheosis. Also thank you to the co-author of this mod, ChatGPT.

Krint64 provided the base file for the gamepass version, and tested that it was working! Anyone who enjoys this mod on the gamepass version should thank krint64.