the Jester
Legend
From the very earliest days of my gaming career, from way back in the pre-1e Basic days, I always had new pcs begin at first level. Your party is wandering along and you get eaten by a giant spider/turned to green slime/choked to death on yellow mold? Make a new first level pc. Doesn't matter what everyone else's level is; the new guy, always, starts at the start.
(There was one noteworthy exception- if I ran a one-shot adventure or module, I'd let the pcs start at whatever level was appropriate to the adventure. So, if I ran Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, everyone starts at level 8-12. But I'm talking about campaign play here.)
I maintained this through Basic, 1e and 2e. I only changed when we hit about 4th level in 3.0, when it became apparent that this approach was utterly unworkable in 3e. The numbers disparities were too great; a 1st level pc simply couldn't survive, much less keep up, with a higher-level group. This held true through 3e and 4e.
5e, though, looks like it will support mixed-level play pretty well. The math is flattened/constrained enough that a low-level pc can contribute to a higher-level party, even if he or she can't really take a hit. But clever play, a good mix of foes including low-level enemies (which can still be relevant to a higher-level group of pcs) and the bounded accuracy will really enable me to bring back one of my favorite playstyle elements.
I'm sure that a lot of you guys are asploding with nope right now, and that's fine. I get that "everyone starts at 1st" isn't for everyone. But I am totally excited that 5e will re-enable it. I feel like it also re-enables larger, troupe-style play (either larger groups of players or players with multiple characters) by virtue of it being so fast, especially in combat.
So here's a toast to 5e re-enabling a lot of classic playstyle elements!
(There was one noteworthy exception- if I ran a one-shot adventure or module, I'd let the pcs start at whatever level was appropriate to the adventure. So, if I ran Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, everyone starts at level 8-12. But I'm talking about campaign play here.)
I maintained this through Basic, 1e and 2e. I only changed when we hit about 4th level in 3.0, when it became apparent that this approach was utterly unworkable in 3e. The numbers disparities were too great; a 1st level pc simply couldn't survive, much less keep up, with a higher-level group. This held true through 3e and 4e.
5e, though, looks like it will support mixed-level play pretty well. The math is flattened/constrained enough that a low-level pc can contribute to a higher-level party, even if he or she can't really take a hit. But clever play, a good mix of foes including low-level enemies (which can still be relevant to a higher-level group of pcs) and the bounded accuracy will really enable me to bring back one of my favorite playstyle elements.
I'm sure that a lot of you guys are asploding with nope right now, and that's fine. I get that "everyone starts at 1st" isn't for everyone. But I am totally excited that 5e will re-enable it. I feel like it also re-enables larger, troupe-style play (either larger groups of players or players with multiple characters) by virtue of it being so fast, especially in combat.
So here's a toast to 5e re-enabling a lot of classic playstyle elements!