Combat Level (pre-NGE)

Your Combat Level is a numerical abstraction of your ability in combat. It is akin to standard levels in most role-playing games, but with a slight twist. Your CL reflects not only your skills and abilities, but also influences the damage you take in PVE combat. The difference between your CL and an attacking MOB's CL directly determines how much damage is dealt to you: targets of a much higher level (indicated by their con color) will do incredible amounts of damage, but those below you will receive a damage reduction. In fact, mobs much lower in CL than you (a "grey" con) will ignore you completely! Additionally, raising your CL has the very tangible benefit of directly increasing your total health. At CL 80 (the highest level), you will receive an additional 2000 health points for a total of 3000 health.

You can raise your CL by training combat-related skills. These include any skills in the Brawler, Marksman, Medic, or Scout professions, as well as any professions that branch off from those. Exactly how a skill increases your CL depends on your current level and the amount of XP you spend to train the skill.

Any experience points you spend to train a skill are also counted towards your CL XP. Each individual combat level has a distinct CL XP requirement that you must meet in order to reach that level. When training a skill, you will invisibly receive an amount of CL XP proportional to the amount you just spent. If your total CL XP is enough to reach your next combat level, you will lose the amount of CL XP required and be advanced to that level. The process is very similar to training a skill (where you lose XP for training), except it is handled invisibly every time you train.

The amount of CL XP you gain depends on the type of experience used to train a skill. When training, the exact amount of XP used if multiplied by a modifier depending on the XP type. This amount is the total CL XP you gain.

CL XP conversion rates
The conversion multipliers for each type of applicable XP follow: For example, training Brawler >> Unarmed I (which costs 1000 Unarmed XP) grants the player 1000 CL XP.

Combat level XP requirements
When you have accumulated enough CL XP, you will automatically advance to a higher CL level according to the XP requirements for that level:

Note: I'll finish the Total CL XP column when I have the time --Influenza 23:49, 15 Jun 2005 (CEST)

Reference

 * PRIMA's official Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience strategy guide