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* Several games in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' have an ability called EXP Zero, which causes the player characters to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
to:
* Several games in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' have an ability called EXP Zero, which causes the player characters to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
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!!Non-Video Game Examples
[[AC:Literature]]
* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high-level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
[[AC:Literature]]
* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high-level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIBraveNewWorld'' has No. Exp Eggs, which prevent a character that equips them from obtaining EXP.
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Changed line(s) 56,57 (click to see context) from:
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'':
** EXP Zero is an ability that causes Sora and the party to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
** EXP Zero is an ability that causes Sora and the party to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
to:
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'':
** EXP Zero isSeveral games in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' have an ability that called EXP Zero, which causes Sora and the party player characters to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
** EXP Zero is
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A LowLevelRun is a SelfImposedChallenge that often requires the player to go out of their way to avoid gaining as much experience as possible by avoiding battles or EXP-giving quests. However, some games help you overcome that by allowing you to voluntarily adjust your level or letting you use something to prevent you from gaining experience. This usually comes in the form of a menu option, item or a piece of equipment.
to:
A LowLevelRun is a SelfImposedChallenge that often requires the player to go out of their way to avoid gaining as much experience as possible by avoiding battles or EXP-giving quests. However, some games help you overcome that by allowing you to voluntarily adjust your level or letting you use something to prevent you from gaining experience. This usually comes in the form of a menu option, item item, or a piece of equipment.
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* ''VideoGame/VermintideII'': Modded Realm is a gameplay mode that grants access to {{Game Mod}}s but doesn't award experience points, loot, or progress towards Challenges.
to:
* ''VideoGame/VermintideII'': Modded Realm is a gameplay mode that grants access to {{Game Mod}}s but doesn't award experience points, loot, or progress towards toward Challenges.
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** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'': One feature of the hard difficulty is that you must pick a reduced level cap, the choices being 50, 25, or even 1. Special stat boosting items are unlocked as a reward for beating the game on each cap.
to:
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'': One feature of the hard difficulty is that you must pick a reduced level cap, the choices being 50, 25, or even 1. Special stat boosting stat-boosting items are unlocked as a reward for beating the game on each cap.
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* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has several items with negative stats, and since level progression is based on StatGrinding, this effectively reduces a character's level, which is useful for certain level-locked dungeons (such as the Cola Wars Battlefield which you can only access at Level 6). It also has the BlackCat familliar and the Bad Moon zodiac sign (effectively two different ways of acheiving the same result), that severely reduce or outright negate encounter rewards (although a player on a Black Cat/ Bad Moon run can learn the "Torso Awaregness"([[labelnote:sic]]it's literally spelled that way because of the VerbalTic of the gnome who teaches it to you[[/labelnote]]) skill that lets you [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing wear shirts.]]
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': Because the toontask system got a complete overhaul from the base game with laff boost actually granted from a regular level up system, players were able to choose to have their toon be stuck at a certain amount of laff, even being able to have a toon with only one laff point. However, the ability to make such a toon was removed. There is intent to bring the feature back though.
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': Because the toontask system got a complete overhaul from the base game with laff boost actually granted from a regular level up system, players were able to choose to have their toon be stuck at a certain amount of laff, even being able to have a toon with only one laff point. However, the ability to make such a toon was removed. There is intent to bring the feature back though.
to:
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has several items with negative stats, and since level progression is based on StatGrinding, this effectively reduces a character's level, which is useful for certain level-locked dungeons (such as the Cola Wars Battlefield which you can only access at Level 6). It also has the BlackCat familliar familiar and the Bad Moon zodiac sign (effectively two different ways of acheiving achieving the same result), that severely reduce or outright negate encounter rewards (although a player on a Black Cat/ Bad Moon run can learn the "Torso Awaregness"([[labelnote:sic]]it's literally spelled that way because of the VerbalTic of the gnome who teaches it to you[[/labelnote]]) skill that lets you [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing wear shirts.]]
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': Because the toontask system got a complete overhaul from the base game with laff boost actually granted from a regularlevel up level-up system, players were able to choose to have their toon be stuck at a certain amount of laff, even being able to have a toon with only one laff point. However, the ability to make such a toon was removed. There is intent to bring the feature back though.
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': Because the toontask system got a complete overhaul from the base game with laff boost actually granted from a regular
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** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Clear Spheres can be used to erase stat nodes from the Sphere Grid, usually to allow you replace them with higher stat spheres. Celestial Weapons have the No AP ability if they are unupgraded with crests or sigils, making them useless since you have to manually activate nodes anyway.
to:
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Clear Spheres can be used to erase stat nodes from the Sphere Grid, usually to allow you to replace them with higher stat spheres. Celestial Weapons have the No AP ability if they are unupgraded with crests or sigils, making them useless since you have to manually activate nodes anyway.
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* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' allows you to reset to a lower rank in order to make it easier on you (albeit with the caveat that you gain less points, and thus, get rewards slower.)
to:
* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' allows you to reset to a lower rank in order to make it easier on you (albeit with the caveat that you gain less fewer points, and thus, get rewards slower.)
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* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
to:
* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high level high-level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
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None
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A LowLevelRun is a SelfImposedChallenge that often requires the player to go out of their way avoid gaining as much experience as possible by avoiding battles or EXP-giving quests. However, some games help you overcome that by allowing you to voluntarily adjust your level or letting you use something to prevent you from gaining experience. This usually comes in the form of a menu option, item or a piece of equipment.
to:
A LowLevelRun is a SelfImposedChallenge that often requires the player to go out of their way to avoid gaining as much experience as possible by avoiding battles or EXP-giving quests. However, some games help you overcome that by allowing you to voluntarily adjust your level or letting you use something to prevent you from gaining experience. This usually comes in the form of a menu option, item or a piece of equipment.
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None
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* ''VideoGame/DoodleWorld:'' The Level-Down Cube is an item that does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin-- it levels down your Doodle. They can be bought at any Doodle Depot and are incredibly cheap at a measly $200 per pop (for reference, a single Basic Capsule is double that price). This can be done for a variety of reasons, such as to complete "Level Up" Doodlepedia tasks or to get a friendship evolution before the level cap is hit.
to:
* ''VideoGame/DoodleWorld:'' The Level-Down Cube is an item that does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin-- ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin -- it levels down your Doodle. They can be bought at any Doodle Depot and are incredibly cheap at a measly $200 per pop (for reference, a single Basic Capsule is double that price). This can be done for a variety of reasons, such as to complete "Level Up" Doodlepedia tasks or to get a friendship evolution before the level cap is hit.
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** The ''Pixel Remaster'' versions of the first 6 ''Final Fantasy'' games have a Boost feature, which allows you to decrease or completely disable EXP gain.
to:
** The ''Pixel Remaster'' versions of the first 6 six ''Final Fantasy'' games have a Boost feature, which allows you to decrease or completely disable EXP gain.
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[[quoteright:450:[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xenoblade_level.jpg]]]]
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* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
to:
* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.ropes.
----
----
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** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the Firefly accessory prevents the user from gaining experience.
to:
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the Firefly accessory prevents the user from gaining experience. The New Game Minus mode in the Zodiac edition prevents the player from gaining levels.
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xenoblade_level.jpg]]]]
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xenoblade_level.jpg]]]]
A LowLevelRun is a SelfImposedChallenge that often requires the player to go out of their way avoid gaining as much experience as possible by avoiding battles or EXP-giving quests. However, some games help you overcome that by allowing you to voluntarily adjust your level or letting you use something to prevent you from gaining experience. This usually comes in the form of a menu option, item or a piece of equipment.
This often happens for a few reasons. One is to keep the game [[RuleOfFun challenging]]. If a game lets you carry over your levels to NewGamePlus or you become overleveled by doing too many sidequests, a Level Limiter can keep battles interesting and fun by allowing you to lower your level. Another reason is to get [[LowLevelAdvantage better advantages from being low-leveled]]. Maybe you get better drops at a certain level or maybe you can get higher stats from leveling up later rather than at the start of the game, or perhaps the game gives you bonuses in other areas as a tradeoff for not gaining experience.
Note that if a game allows you to spend points to level up or some other way of manually applying upgrades, it should allow a way to lower your stats or stop gaining experience points. Simply choosing not to use upgrades or avoiding actions that give EXP is not enough.
Compare SkillPointReset, where you can lower your level to reallocate your stats. Contrast ExperiencePenalty, which usually forcibly reduces your EXP intake to [[AntiGrinding discourage grinding]] rather than as a positive, and LevelDrain, where you lose your levels by force rather than voluntarily. See also PowerLimiter for the non-video game version of this trope.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Fan Games]]
* ''VideoGame/PokemonInfiniteFusion'': [=RageCandyBars=] can be used on a Pokémon to lower their level by 1.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:First-Person Shooters]]
* ''VideoGame/VermintideII'': Modded Realm is a gameplay mode that grants access to {{Game Mod}}s but doesn't award experience points, loot, or progress towards Challenges.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hack-and-Slash]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriors'', you can reset your levels to get character-specific materials. This cost a lot of money in the first game but could be done for free in its sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes''.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'', you can reset your upgrades by paying UC at Naomi's Lab.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Metroidvania]]
* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'': The HarderThanHard, "Nightmare" difficulty. Its enemies have the same stats and locations as Hard difficulty, but the levels of Miriam and her familiars are permanently set to 1 for the entirety of the playthrough.
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': Two games in the series have a hard difficulty unlocked as part of NewGamePlus where reduced level caps can be imposed. (In both cases, experience is still tracked internally, for the benefit of any later playthroughs with higher caps)
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'': One feature of the hard difficulty is that you must pick a reduced level cap, the choices being 50, 25, or even 1. Special stat boosting items are unlocked as a reward for beating the game on each cap.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'': The reduced level cap is optional this time, with the available caps now being just 50 and 1. Completing either unlocks a special item with high stat boosts. Completing the level cap of 1 also unlocks the ability to invert this by raising the already AbsurdlyHighLevelCap of 100 to 255.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:MMORPG]]
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' allows you to switch XP progression off, which is primarily meant to help you get missions done without outleveling them until you're ready.
* ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'' allows you to turn off both combat XP and quest XP if you want to level lock your toon or restrict your advancement through one method or the other. It also has the Chronomentor system, which allows a player to reduce their level range to farm lower-level content for loot.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has several items with negative stats, and since level progression is based on StatGrinding, this effectively reduces a character's level, which is useful for certain level-locked dungeons (such as the Cola Wars Battlefield which you can only access at Level 6). It also has the BlackCat familliar and the Bad Moon zodiac sign (effectively two different ways of acheiving the same result), that severely reduce or outright negate encounter rewards (although a player on a Black Cat/ Bad Moon run can learn the "Torso Awaregness"([[labelnote:sic]]it's literally spelled that way because of the VerbalTic of the gnome who teaches it to you[[/labelnote]]) skill that lets you [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing wear shirts.]]
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': Because the toontask system got a complete overhaul from the base game with laff boost actually granted from a regular level up system, players were able to choose to have their toon be stuck at a certain amount of laff, even being able to have a toon with only one laff point. However, the ability to make such a toon was removed. There is intent to bring the feature back though.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'', the Golden Egg accessory doubles your money intake in exchange for reducing EXP and JP gained to zero.
* In ''VideoGame/BugFables,'' the "RUIGEE" cheat makes enemies no longer give out experience points. Instead, an NPC will sell the player upgrades for money.
* ''VideoGame/CrossCode'': Equipment with the Zero XP modifier prevents you from gaining Enemy EXP, such as the three Drills: Excalibro, Infinity Spiral Drill, and Singularity Drill. The first being a JokeWeapon, and the other two are made for material harvesting instead of combat. This modifier does not affect quest EXP, however.
* The "Workman's Wallet" accessory in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' converts your experience points into money.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the Agape Ring is a ring that absorbs all Souls (which serve as both money and XP for levelling up) instead of the player. This is mainly relevant for PlayerVersusPlayer multiplayer, as the game's matchmaker uses Soul Memory -- the total amount of Souls the character has obtained -- to limit which other players you can connect with.
* ''VideoGame/DoodleWorld:'' The Level-Down Cube is an item that does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin-- it levels down your Doodle. They can be bought at any Doodle Depot and are incredibly cheap at a measly $200 per pop (for reference, a single Basic Capsule is double that price). This can be done for a variety of reasons, such as to complete "Level Up" Doodlepedia tasks or to get a friendship evolution before the level cap is hit.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The Logan's Loophole Trait (picked at character creation or a special DLC medical facility) will allow you to use as many drugs as you want with no addiction risk, but caps your level at 30 (out of a possible 50).
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** The ''Pixel Remaster'' versions of the first 6 ''Final Fantasy'' games have a Boost feature, which allows you to decrease or completely disable EXP gain.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Clear Spheres can be used to erase stat nodes from the Sphere Grid, usually to allow you replace them with higher stat spheres. Celestial Weapons have the No AP ability if they are unupgraded with crests or sigils, making them useless since you have to manually activate nodes anyway.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the Firefly accessory prevents the user from gaining experience.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', the Nixperience Band stops EXP from being applied when you rest at a camp or hotel, letting you get better EXP bonuses later from better hotels.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'':
** EXP Zero is an ability that causes Sora and the party to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
* ''VideoGame/FortuneSummoners'': The inverse, where Arche has to find Marks of Heroism to increase her level cap, otherwise she's forced to stay at a specific CharacterLevel.
* In ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', the Forbidden Fruit item lowers your level by 10, which can only be won by beating the Special Rank match at the Forbidden City Arena DLC.
* In the ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' series, it's possible to unlock the ability to prevent enemies from giving EXP. This naturally allows for the player to do a LowLevelRun. While it's unlocked after beating the main story, it then becomes available in NewGamePlus so the player can use it from the beginning of the game.
* In the remake of ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', you can choose to reset your level in NewGamePlus after Patch 1.1.0.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' and ''VideoGame/NEOTheWorldEndsWithYou'', lowering your level raises the drop rate, giving you a higher chance of getting Pins.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' lets you adjust your level in New Game Plus. This feature got carried over to the remastered version of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Roguelite]]
* ''VideoGame/SpellbookDemonslayers'': The Time Splicer Aura reduces a character's level by 3 because it also grants an additional percent of damage for every CharacterLevel.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tactical RPG]]
* A core mechanic of the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games is "Reincarnation" which resets a character to Level 1, but allows them to keep a percentage of their stats when they do, thus allowing the character to become stronger when they level back up. In addition, generic characters can switch classes while keeping their non-Unique skills, thus allowing them to learn skills they otherwise couldn't.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' allows you to reset to a lower rank in order to make it easier on you (albeit with the caveat that you gain less points, and thus, get rewards slower.)
[[/folder]]
!!Non-Video Game Examples
[[AC:Literature]]
* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
A LowLevelRun is a SelfImposedChallenge that often requires the player to go out of their way avoid gaining as much experience as possible by avoiding battles or EXP-giving quests. However, some games help you overcome that by allowing you to voluntarily adjust your level or letting you use something to prevent you from gaining experience. This usually comes in the form of a menu option, item or a piece of equipment.
This often happens for a few reasons. One is to keep the game [[RuleOfFun challenging]]. If a game lets you carry over your levels to NewGamePlus or you become overleveled by doing too many sidequests, a Level Limiter can keep battles interesting and fun by allowing you to lower your level. Another reason is to get [[LowLevelAdvantage better advantages from being low-leveled]]. Maybe you get better drops at a certain level or maybe you can get higher stats from leveling up later rather than at the start of the game, or perhaps the game gives you bonuses in other areas as a tradeoff for not gaining experience.
Note that if a game allows you to spend points to level up or some other way of manually applying upgrades, it should allow a way to lower your stats or stop gaining experience points. Simply choosing not to use upgrades or avoiding actions that give EXP is not enough.
Compare SkillPointReset, where you can lower your level to reallocate your stats. Contrast ExperiencePenalty, which usually forcibly reduces your EXP intake to [[AntiGrinding discourage grinding]] rather than as a positive, and LevelDrain, where you lose your levels by force rather than voluntarily. See also PowerLimiter for the non-video game version of this trope.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Fan Games]]
* ''VideoGame/PokemonInfiniteFusion'': [=RageCandyBars=] can be used on a Pokémon to lower their level by 1.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:First-Person Shooters]]
* ''VideoGame/VermintideII'': Modded Realm is a gameplay mode that grants access to {{Game Mod}}s but doesn't award experience points, loot, or progress towards Challenges.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hack-and-Slash]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriors'', you can reset your levels to get character-specific materials. This cost a lot of money in the first game but could be done for free in its sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes''.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'', you can reset your upgrades by paying UC at Naomi's Lab.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Metroidvania]]
* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'': The HarderThanHard, "Nightmare" difficulty. Its enemies have the same stats and locations as Hard difficulty, but the levels of Miriam and her familiars are permanently set to 1 for the entirety of the playthrough.
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': Two games in the series have a hard difficulty unlocked as part of NewGamePlus where reduced level caps can be imposed. (In both cases, experience is still tracked internally, for the benefit of any later playthroughs with higher caps)
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'': One feature of the hard difficulty is that you must pick a reduced level cap, the choices being 50, 25, or even 1. Special stat boosting items are unlocked as a reward for beating the game on each cap.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'': The reduced level cap is optional this time, with the available caps now being just 50 and 1. Completing either unlocks a special item with high stat boosts. Completing the level cap of 1 also unlocks the ability to invert this by raising the already AbsurdlyHighLevelCap of 100 to 255.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:MMORPG]]
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' allows you to switch XP progression off, which is primarily meant to help you get missions done without outleveling them until you're ready.
* ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'' allows you to turn off both combat XP and quest XP if you want to level lock your toon or restrict your advancement through one method or the other. It also has the Chronomentor system, which allows a player to reduce their level range to farm lower-level content for loot.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has several items with negative stats, and since level progression is based on StatGrinding, this effectively reduces a character's level, which is useful for certain level-locked dungeons (such as the Cola Wars Battlefield which you can only access at Level 6). It also has the BlackCat familliar and the Bad Moon zodiac sign (effectively two different ways of acheiving the same result), that severely reduce or outright negate encounter rewards (although a player on a Black Cat/ Bad Moon run can learn the "Torso Awaregness"([[labelnote:sic]]it's literally spelled that way because of the VerbalTic of the gnome who teaches it to you[[/labelnote]]) skill that lets you [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing wear shirts.]]
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': Because the toontask system got a complete overhaul from the base game with laff boost actually granted from a regular level up system, players were able to choose to have their toon be stuck at a certain amount of laff, even being able to have a toon with only one laff point. However, the ability to make such a toon was removed. There is intent to bring the feature back though.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'', the Golden Egg accessory doubles your money intake in exchange for reducing EXP and JP gained to zero.
* In ''VideoGame/BugFables,'' the "RUIGEE" cheat makes enemies no longer give out experience points. Instead, an NPC will sell the player upgrades for money.
* ''VideoGame/CrossCode'': Equipment with the Zero XP modifier prevents you from gaining Enemy EXP, such as the three Drills: Excalibro, Infinity Spiral Drill, and Singularity Drill. The first being a JokeWeapon, and the other two are made for material harvesting instead of combat. This modifier does not affect quest EXP, however.
* The "Workman's Wallet" accessory in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' converts your experience points into money.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the Agape Ring is a ring that absorbs all Souls (which serve as both money and XP for levelling up) instead of the player. This is mainly relevant for PlayerVersusPlayer multiplayer, as the game's matchmaker uses Soul Memory -- the total amount of Souls the character has obtained -- to limit which other players you can connect with.
* ''VideoGame/DoodleWorld:'' The Level-Down Cube is an item that does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin-- it levels down your Doodle. They can be bought at any Doodle Depot and are incredibly cheap at a measly $200 per pop (for reference, a single Basic Capsule is double that price). This can be done for a variety of reasons, such as to complete "Level Up" Doodlepedia tasks or to get a friendship evolution before the level cap is hit.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The Logan's Loophole Trait (picked at character creation or a special DLC medical facility) will allow you to use as many drugs as you want with no addiction risk, but caps your level at 30 (out of a possible 50).
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** The ''Pixel Remaster'' versions of the first 6 ''Final Fantasy'' games have a Boost feature, which allows you to decrease or completely disable EXP gain.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Clear Spheres can be used to erase stat nodes from the Sphere Grid, usually to allow you replace them with higher stat spheres. Celestial Weapons have the No AP ability if they are unupgraded with crests or sigils, making them useless since you have to manually activate nodes anyway.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the Firefly accessory prevents the user from gaining experience.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', the Nixperience Band stops EXP from being applied when you rest at a camp or hotel, letting you get better EXP bonuses later from better hotels.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'':
** EXP Zero is an ability that causes Sora and the party to stop gaining levels as long they have it equipped. In some of the games such as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix]]'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', EXP Zero is exclusive to their respective HarderThanHard modes. In the case of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', simply de-equipping your Level Up chips allows you to stay at Level 1.
* ''VideoGame/FortuneSummoners'': The inverse, where Arche has to find Marks of Heroism to increase her level cap, otherwise she's forced to stay at a specific CharacterLevel.
* In ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', the Forbidden Fruit item lowers your level by 10, which can only be won by beating the Special Rank match at the Forbidden City Arena DLC.
* In the ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' series, it's possible to unlock the ability to prevent enemies from giving EXP. This naturally allows for the player to do a LowLevelRun. While it's unlocked after beating the main story, it then becomes available in NewGamePlus so the player can use it from the beginning of the game.
* In the remake of ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', you can choose to reset your level in NewGamePlus after Patch 1.1.0.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' and ''VideoGame/NEOTheWorldEndsWithYou'', lowering your level raises the drop rate, giving you a higher chance of getting Pins.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' lets you adjust your level in New Game Plus. This feature got carried over to the remastered version of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''.
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[[folder:Roguelite]]
* ''VideoGame/SpellbookDemonslayers'': The Time Splicer Aura reduces a character's level by 3 because it also grants an additional percent of damage for every CharacterLevel.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tactical RPG]]
* A core mechanic of the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games is "Reincarnation" which resets a character to Level 1, but allows them to keep a percentage of their stats when they do, thus allowing the character to become stronger when they level back up. In addition, generic characters can switch classes while keeping their non-Unique skills, thus allowing them to learn skills they otherwise couldn't.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' allows you to reset to a lower rank in order to make it easier on you (albeit with the caveat that you gain less points, and thus, get rewards slower.)
[[/folder]]
!!Non-Video Game Examples
[[AC:Literature]]
* ''Literature/LogHorizon'': The ShowWithinAShow MMORPG "Elder Tale" has a Teaching System, which allows high level players to temporarily drop their level to 15 (cap at time was 90) to teach new players the ins and outs of the game. It's rarely used because EXP rates are flat for the whole party (so they all get the same EXP regardless of who did the work), but Protagonist Shiroe used it prior to the start of the story to teach Minori and Tohya the ropes.
