PCs that start the game as 1st level NPCs -- good idea?

I'm tossing around the idea of starting a game where the PCs all have one level in an NPC class of their choice.

The players would need to have an idea of what PC class they wanted to wind up in, and they would begin advancing in adventuring classes during the first adventure. The circumstances of the first adventure would start them on the "adventurer's path," of course. (I'm not too worried about tweaking CRs and so forth to account for the extra level.)

What do you think? Have you tried this in your campaign? Are there obvious balance issues between the NPC classes that I'm missing? Is this a really dumb idea?

It's a nice touch that adds flavor to the game. Go for it!

i like this idea, and i've already been thinking about using it for my next campaign...

The biggest issue is skill points. You get x4 at first level, but what about in your game? Which class gets the multplier? If both, what about INT bonus? I would suggest both, INT multiplied only once. The extra skills will help balance the weaker class. Also, to give a little boost to the commoner, I would allow his chosen class skills to be counted as class skills permanently. Watch out for the expert.

I tried it before. What's really hardest is getting the players to "level 1". Those NPC classes simply don't have what it takes to carry a campaign on their own. The players got frustrated and we scrapped the campaign.

Hope you have better luck than I did.

thalmin said:

The biggest issue is skill points. You get x4 at first level, but what about in your game? Which class gets the multplier? If both, what about INT bonus? I would suggest both, INT multiplied only once. The extra skills will help balance the weaker class. Also, to give a little boost to the commoner, I would allow his chosen class skills to be counted as class skills permanently. Watch out for the expert.

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Interesting points. I suppose I'd lean towards multiplying the skill points for the NPC class level, and not for the first core class level. I'll have to give that some more thought.

Thinking about the NPC classes with your points in mind, it certainly seems like expert is far and away the most advantageous choice. The commoner gets the proverbial shaft, and your suggestion for permanent class skills is an interesting one.

At present, I think I might fiddle with the commoner a bit, but the others seem reasonably well balanced with one another.

Halivar said:

I tried it before. What's really hardest is getting the players to "level 1". Those NPC classes simply don't have what it takes to carry a campaign on their own. The players got frustrated and we scrapped the campaign.

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Was it just an issue of taking too long to get to level one, or more to do with not having not having fun playing the NPC classes?

I guess I had envisioned a session or two of scrambling to stay alive while suddenly confronted with a wilder and more dangerous world than the PC/NPCs were used to -- almost like a CoC campaign -- at the end of which they'd all gain a level in core classes. Perhaps that's unrealistic.

haiiro said:

Was it just an issue of taking too long to get to level one, or more to do with not having not having fun playing the NPC classes?

I guess I had envisioned a session or two of scrambling to stay alive while suddenly confronted with a wilder and more dangerous world than the PC/NPCs were used to -- almost like a CoC campaign -- at the end of which they'd all gain a level in core classes. Perhaps that's unrealistic.

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It depends on your players; For me, both myself and the others I play with are simply far too much the jaded veterans of DnD... For a typical DnD campaign, roleplaying being all shocked and helpless in the world at large holds little interest.

Which isn't to say we wouldn't enjoy a low-magic campaign, or a call of cthullu game, or anything of that sort, but for, quote unquote, Dungeons and Dragons, we have pretty much reached the point where it would be mind-numbingly boring to roleplay yet another "Oh mercy, there is a big, scary world out there!" session... That's just part of our background stories.

For your group, YMMV.

Well lets see, I sort of did this in the campaign I am running right now.
But I didn't have the players play their characters through the NPC class level. I had them pick one as a "background class"
I let them pick the class that received the multiplier.
The problem I have faced with it is this.

I had 5 players when we started (4 now) and 3 of them picked "Adept." At first that was ok (I expected 2 of them to do this) but then that turned into a bunch of "Sleep" spells flying around! But it hasn't been too bad, as only 2 of them are around now and only one of those 2 uses that spell at all.

The other thing now though is one of them logically picked Warrior (a Dwarf-Fighter) Perfect sense, but then that technically boosts his BAB by +1 higher than his relative level so Technically he will have a BAB of +6/+1 @5th level.
I can live with this but the original idea was just to make them "a little tougher, give them so flavor, apast, and a few extra hit points."

Now if you are having them play their characters through that NPC level that shouldn't be a problem if you treat them as if they are actual classes and levels. Except they are a little weak.
You probably already have the xp's required to go up a level figured out, but I would have them need 500xps. And I would just have them declare what PC Class they are going to take and let them choose if they want to take their starting skill point multiplier as an NPC or a PC.

The one that worked out the best was the PC that chose Aristocrat, as this provided a nice set of bacjground skills and a few extra hit points but no BAB boost.
Expert would work out very well too.

SO I would maybe limit them to having one person being able to be an Adept, maybe an Aristocrat or two, and a "team of experts".

I've been toying with this idea also. I think it might work best to have them all start off as 1st level commoners, and maybe children. Run a low-combat, rules-loose, short story arc (3-4 sessions) as a sort of "prelude". Let the actions of the characters determine what classes they end up playing. When you actually start the real campaign, have them re-write their characters as 1st level PC classes.

I think it could be a lot of fun, if done right. Let us know how it goes.

Spider