Auto-assign Discord roles by level: how to plan the ladder

Why this goes wrong

Most people copy a ladder from someone else’s server: tier 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. It looks tidy and still does not fit, because the same numbers cost something different on yours. The gap grows quadratically: getting to level 10 from scratch takes 4,675 experience points, level 20 already takes 23,850. On default settings (thirty points per counted message) somebody sits at level 10 after roughly 160 messages and needs about 800 for level 20. Nobody reaches level 50 on an ordinary server, and a role nobody reaches is not a reward, it is ornament. Underneath sits the real trouble: build the ladder by feel and sooner or later you hang permissions off a number that a counter hands out. You notice once somebody already holds them.

What to decide first

Before the first reward exists, answer three questions in writing. First: what does a level role say on your server? Either it is a badge (colour, position in the member list, a name people like wearing), or it is a key that unlocks a channel. Both at once works, but only if you decide it and chance does not. Second: how many tiers can you explain in one sentence each? Write down what every planned tier allows; anything left without a sentence gets cut on the spot, because it turns into a role nobody maintains later. Third: stacking or replacing? Stacking has somebody collecting five labels over the months, replacing leaves exactly one visible. The answer depends on whether the older roles still need to carry permissions. And one move comes before all of that: check where the bot sits in your role list: everything it is meant to hand out has to be listed further down.

Step by step

1. Start by working out how long your people need for the first tier: on default settings the 1,150 points for level 5 are about forty counted messages or a good three hours in voice.
2. Get the ladder onto paper: one line per tier with the number, the role and the single sentence saying what it allows.
3. Check the order of your role list before you save the first reward in the dashboard: the bot belongs up top, the roles it hands out underneath.
4. Create the tiers from the bottom upwards and settle the mode while doing it, because a later switch only takes effect at the next rank-up.
5. Let somebody without special permissions climb to the first tier, then compare what they get shown against what actually sits in their role list.

The mistakes almost everyone makes

The most expensive mistake is a level role with moderation permissions. Permissions add up across every role in Discord: whoever gets the role may delete things or show people the door, and it was handed out by a counter that knows nobody. Second, the eleventh tier. Without Premium the bot keeps the ten lowest and sorts ascending to pick them, so the one that drops out is your highest, of all things the one everybody works towards. Third, the ordering: with the bot role lying below a reward role the rank-up still goes through, the role just never arrives, and nowhere is that reported. Fourth, the afterthought: slide a tier in between two existing ones later and nobody picks it up retroactively. Only the next rank-up hands out again. Fifth, the channels: as long as the bot playground and the counting channel add up, your leaderboard measures stamina and not participation.

Frequently asked questions

Low enough that somebody reaches it on their first evening. Level 5 costs 1,150 points on default settings, so roughly forty counted messages, and a new member manages that in a lively channel. Put the first reward at level 20 and it is already around 800, and by then nobody has noticed there was anything to earn.

No, for two reasons. The first is obvious: activity is not a qualification, and writing a lot does not make anyone a good judge. The second is structural: reward roles have to sit below the bot role, while moderation roles belong above the people they moderate. That collides the moment you tidy up the hierarchy. Give level roles a colour, a channel of their own or the right to use external emoji instead.

The new ladder applies from the next rank-up, not straight away. Someone already at level 30 who passed your freshly inserted tier 25 long ago does not get the role handed over; they get it at level 31. On a ladder that thins out at the top that can take weeks. So plan changes in one go rather than in dribs and drabs.

Discord strips every role on leaving, while the points stay put as long as you have not switched on the reset on leave. The bot only hands out rewards on a rank-up, so the returner stands there with an old level and no badge. Assign the role by hand once and it lines up again. After a ban it is different: there the points are gone by default.

How low should the first tier sit?

Low enough that somebody reaches it on their first evening. Level 5 costs 1,150 points on default settings, so roughly forty counted messages, and a new member manages that in a lively channel. Put the first reward at level 20 and it is already around 800, and by then nobody has noticed there was anything to earn.

May a level role carry moderation permissions?

No, for two reasons. The first is obvious: activity is not a qualification, and writing a lot does not make anyone a good judge. The second is structural: reward roles have to sit below the bot role, while moderation roles belong above the people they moderate. That collides the moment you tidy up the hierarchy. Give level roles a colour, a channel of their own or the right to use external emoji instead.

What happens if I change the ladder later?

The new ladder applies from the next rank-up, not straight away. Someone already at level 30 who passed your freshly inserted tier 25 long ago does not get the role handed over; they get it at level 31. On a ladder that thins out at the top that can take weeks. So plan changes in one go rather than in dribs and drabs.

Somebody left and came back. Why are their roles gone?

Discord strips every role on leaving, while the points stay put as long as you have not switched on the reset on leave. The bot only hands out rewards on a rank-up, so the returner stands there with an old level and no badge. Assign the role by hand once and it lines up again. After a ban it is different: there the points are gone by default.