At the start of KC:D, Henry is just an average village young adult. He is not particularly special or skilled in any way. In order to survive the events that follow, you will need to help develop his abilities. There are 4 main ways that players develop their characters in KC:D: Stats, Skills, Perks, and Reputation. Without developing in any of these areas, Henry is sure to fail on his quest.

How to Increase your Main Level

Your main level reflects Henry’s overall ability. You gain XP to level up your main level in two ways: (1) completing components of the main quest and (2) increasing your other individual stats.

Completing components of the main quest will yield small amounts of XP to help you up your main level. However, the primary way to increase your main level is by grinding up your other skills. As you gain XP in your stats your main level will slowly increase. Hypothetically, you could level up your main level keeping every stat at 1 but leveling up to 20 Speech.

Main Level Perks

Every other time you gain a Main Level you gain access to another perk point to spend.

Perk Name	Required Level	Description
Scout I	2	Slightly increase the distance of Fast Travel and the chances of Evading by 10%
Ascetic	2	You’ll last 30% longer without food, but as soon as you get hungry, the effects will be 20% worse.
Manly Odour	2	When dirty, you’ll have 50% more Charisma when talking to women. However, people will smell you a mile off, reducing your Stealth skill by 30%.
Night Rider	2	Your Stamina will regenerate 20% faster at night, but 10% slower during the day.
Wanderer	2	You grew up in impoverished conditions, so the comfort of beds is inverted to you. The worse the bed, the better you sleep, and vice versa.
First Aid I	3	Enables you to use bandages
Insomniac	4	Increases the time you can do without sleep. Your Energy level falls one quarter more slowly.
Renegade Brand	4	Penalties on stats following release from jail are 20% lower.
First Aid II	6	Bandages are 25% more effective. You can also apply your healing skill in dialogues.
Savage	6	In the wilds, you have a +1 bonus on your primary stats. Can’t be combined with the Burger perk.
Scout II	6	Increases the sight distance of Fast Travel and also the chances of Evading by another 10%.
Burger	6	In Towns and Villages and their immediate vicinity, you have a +1 bonus on your primary stats. Can’t be combined with the Savage perk.
Brute	8	You favor brute strength to a pleasant demeanor. You get a +2 Strength bonus, but a -1 penalty on Charisma and Speech. Can’t be combined with the perks Ken, Golden Tongue, Juggler, or Cloak and Dagger.
Cloak and Dagger	8	You prefer to remain in the shadows. You have a +2 stealth bonus at the cost of a -1 penalty on Charisma and Speech. Can’t be combined with the perks Ken, Brute, Juggler, or Golden Tongue.
Golden Tongue	8	You always favored diplomacy over brute force. You get a +2 Speech bonus, but -2 Strength loss. Can’t be combined with Ken, Brute, Juggler, or Cloak and Dagger.
Ken	8	You’re handsome and charismatic, but you haven’t built up your strength. Charisma +2, Strength -2. Can’t be combined with the perks Juggler, Brute, Golden Tongue, or Cloak and Dagger.
Scholar	8	Your momentary Reading Level increased by 3. But your Strength and Warfare skills have each incurred a -1 penalty.
First Aid III	10	Bandages are 50% more effective. For a village boy, you are quite the sawbones. The perk opens the most advanced options in dialogues connected with healing.
Infamous	10	With a low Reputation in a given area, you also get a +1 bonus on Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Speech. But your Reputation rises much faster than usual and the penalties for serving jail time are less. Can’t be combined with the local hero perk.
Local Hero	10	If your Reputation is high in an area, you get a +1 bonus on Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Speech there. At the same time, though, your Reputation falls much faster than usual and the penalties for jail time last longer. Can’t be combined with the Infamous perk.
Scout III	10	Greatly increases the sight distance of Fast Travel and also increases the chance of Evading by another 10%.
Contemplative	12	As long as you remain still, your tiredness and hunger will stay at the same level.