Levels and XP: Sources, Limits and Anti-Farming

Kage's level system awards experience points (XP) for activity on your server. The XP add up to two independent kinds of progress: levels and ranks. This page describes where XP comes from and which protections work against farming. How XP turns into levels and ranks is covered in Ranks, levels and rewards. Commands, multipliers and the season reset are explained in Managing levels and XP.

For a quick start, see the guide Setting up the level system.

Requirements

• Access to the module: You sign in to the dashboard with Discord and need the Manage Server permission (or access granted for this module).
• Turn the module on: "Rank/XP system active" is off by default. Without it, Kage awards no XP.
• Kage needs to see messages: Kage reads the server's messages to count them and to check the minimum length.

The XP sources

You set every value in the dashboard under Level & XP. The defaults are listed in the table.

A daily cap of 0 means "no limit".

Messages

1. Kage ignores messages from bots and direct messages.
2. Anyone with an exclusion role, or writing in a channel that is fully excluded, gets no XP. There, the message also does not count toward the newcomer promotion and does not trigger the daily bonus.
3. The message must reach the minimum length. Shorter messages earn neither XP nor the daily bonus, but they still count toward the newcomer promotion.
4. The cooldown must have passed since the last XP grant. It applies per member across all channels combined.
5. An identical repeat of the last message that earned XP earns nothing. Upper and lower case do not matter.
6. Kage rolls an amount between minimum and maximum and then applies the multipliers.
7. The daily cap limits the total message XP per day (UTC calendar day). Once it is reached, no more message XP is granted for the rest of the day.

If you set the amount to 0, Kage grants no message XP. Messages still count toward the newcomer promotion in that case.

Reactions

• By default, reactions on your own messages and on messages from bots give no XP. You can switch either off separately. Such reactions then also do not count toward the newcomer promotion and do not trigger the daily bonus.
• Exclusion roles, channel exclusions, cooldown and daily cap apply as they do for messages.
• Reactions from bots never count.

Voice channels

1. Kage starts a voice session when a member is in a voice channel and all conditions are met: not in the AFK channel, not self-muted or self-deafened, at least 2 real users in the channel (bots do not count), and the channel is not excluded by a channel override.
2. Optionally, a server mute also blocks XP ("Server mute/deafen also blocks XP").
3. For every full interval (default 3 minutes) the configured amount is granted. Kage pays out running sessions every 5 minutes and when the member leaves the channel.
4. Sessions are stored, so a bot restart does not lose progress.
5. The daily cap applies here as well.
6. If the XP amount is 0, voice is switched off completely in the level system: no sessions are started, and voice time does not count toward a voice condition for the newcomer promotion either.

Daily bonus

The bonus is on by default. It is granted automatically on the first qualifying activity of a UTC day: a message that reaches the minimum length, a counting reaction, or a voice interval. No command is needed.

An optional streak bonus can be added. It grows with every consecutive day by the increase (default 5 XP per day in a row), up to the upper limit (default 50 XP), and is added to the daily amount. The daily bonus is not multiplied.

Server boost

When a member starts boosting the server, they receive the configured amount once (default 500 XP). A lock applies afterwards (default 30 days), so that repeatedly boosting and un-boosting earns nothing. Boost XP is not multiplied.

Events and admin grants

With /rank-xp event, an admin grants XP from the event XP catalog; with /rank-xp add and /rank-xp remove they grant or deduct any amount. These grants are not multiplied and are not blocked by exclusion roles. The commands are covered in Managing levels and XP.

Protection against farming

Kage keeps the cooldown and the duplicate detection only in memory, so after a bot restart they start over. Daily caps, XP totals and voice sessions are stored.

Anyone with an exclusion role also gets no daily bonus, because it is triggered by exactly that kind of activity. Admin grants, events and boost XP remain possible.

Settings at a glance

The maximum must not be lower than the minimum, otherwise the dashboard refuses to save.

Checking the result

1. Your own status: /level shows level, total XP and progress. For yourself, Kage also shows the daily checklist: how much more XP you can still earn today per source, and whether the daily bonus has been granted.
2. Server rules: /level-info explains to members how they earn XP on this server. The values come live from your settings.
3. History: /rank-xp history shows the last 15 grants of a member with source and reason.
4. Logs: The Logs and Statistics tabs show level and rank promotions.

Troubleshooting

Nobody gets XP

Check that "Rank/XP system active" is on and saved. Check that the amount is not set to 0 and whether channel or role exclusions apply.

A member gets no XP although they write

Possible reasons: they carry an exclusion role, the channel is excluded, the message is shorter than the minimum length, the cooldown is still running, the text repeats the last message, or the daily cap has been reached.

Voice XP stay away

Check that the member is not in the AFK channel, is not self-muted, and that at least the configured number of real users are in the channel. Voice can also be switched off by a channel override. Kage only pays out full intervals, so with 3 minutes the first XP arrive after 3 minutes at the earliest.

The daily bonus does not arrive

It is only granted on a qualifying activity. A message that is too short does not trigger it. Members with an exclusion role do not receive it.

After a restart there is XP again immediately

The cooldown is not stored. The daily cap still applies, though.

Further reading

How XP turns into levels, ranks and roles: Ranks, levels and rewards. Commands, multipliers and season reset: Managing levels and XP. The leaderboard in detail is in the guide XP leaderboard.