Kotbo 4 min read
Discord leveling system: give XP and reward your members
A leveling system gives experience to members who chat, and a level at each milestone. Discord has no levels built in, that’s a bot’s job. In Kotbo it’s the Levels module: you pick a preset or tune the gains one by one, hand out roles at certain levels, and the /rank command shows everyone’s card
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What levels are for on a Discord server
Levels turn presence into visible progress, and give people a reason to come back
- Active members see their effort recognized, with a level card and a leaderboard
- Reward roles unlock channels, colors or permissions over time
- Staff spot the regulars without digging through history
- A newcomer quickly sees who keeps the server alive
What Discord offers without a bot
Nothing. Discord doesn’t measure how long a member has been active or how many messages they sent. For levels you need a bot that counts activity and keeps everyone’s XP
Setting up levels with Kotbo
Everything is set on dash.kotbo.fr, in the Levels page. The module starts off, and a switch at the top of the page pauses levels without losing anything
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Pick a preset
Basic, Fast gains, Proportional progression, Marathon or Prestige. A preset sets the XP gains and the curve in one go. You can fine-tune afterwards
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Set the XP gains
By default a message earns between 15 and 25 XP, with a 60-second delay between two gains to discourage spam. Voice earns 5 XP per minute
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Choose the announcement channel
Level-ups show in a dedicated channel, in the channel where the member wrote, or by direct message. The message is editable
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Add reward roles
One level, one role: the member gets it on reaching the level. You can stack them or keep only the highest
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Turn the module on
From then on every message counts. Levels are always computed from total XP
The progression curve
The XP needed to level up comes from a formula: base × level^exponent + linear × level. Two sliders are enough for most servers, and a preview shows the effect right away
Progression pace
From very fast to very slow. A new server wants levels that come quickly, a years-old server wants them earned
Gap between levels
The stronger it is, the more each level costs compared to the previous one
Maximum level
0 means no cap. At the cap XP keeps accumulating but the level stops moving
Changing the curve later
The level is recomputed from total XP: nobody loses XP, but levels get redistributed. The dashboard tells you how many members will change level before you save
Fine-tuning XP gains
Beyond presets, the XP gains tab handles every case
Role multipliers
A role can earn more XP, for example for server supporters or premium members
Length bonus
The longer a message, the more it earns, up to a maximum multiplier. Useful to reward real messages over a bare “ok”
Exclusions
Channels, categories and roles that earn no XP, like #spam or #bots
Voice rules
By default voice earns nothing if the member is muted or deafened, or in the AFK channel
Winning clan boost
If you use clans, members of the last season’s winning clan earn more XP automatically
Importing an old leaderboard
Switching leveling bots and don’t want to start from zero? The Import tab loads a JSON file: a list of members with their XP or level. Kotbo matches each member by username, display name or tag. If only XP is given, the level is derived, and if only the level is given, the minimum XP for that level is assigned. A dry run shows what would change before anything is written
Commands for members
Members follow their progress with two commands
/rank membre:<member>- Shows the level and experience card, yours by default, with a button to customize it
/leaderboard- Shows the server leaderboard. The dashboard also offers a public leaderboard, with a page per server