Tibian levels represent the experience of a character. The more experience, the more levels a character will have. All characters start at level 1 when they first enter the game, in the temple of Rookgaard. They gain experience by killing monsters, and with the experience comes the levels. At level 8 a character is allowed to leave Rookgaard by talking to The Oracle or, an option only available for players with a Premium Account, The Gatekeeper.
The amount of experience needed for the next level will increase for every level a character will get. As far as known there is no limit to the number of levels that can be gained. On the official website is the full experience table where is listed how much experience is needed to reach a certain level.
Recently the higher level in Tibia, Mateuz Dragon Wielki, has set the record of level 295, but the "tibia server database, level limit" seemed not to be changed. This bug is now fixed.
The formula that is used to calculate how much experience points is needed for level X is: (50/3) * X³ - (100 * X²) + ((850/3) * X) - 200
At 23/4/2002, Bubble was the first player to reach level 100.
At 5/12/2004, Bubble was the first player to reach level 200.
At 9/8/2006, Sunrise was the first player to reach level 100 on Rookgaard.