Sacrosanct
Legend
Why not just start at level 3?
I know this doesn't help the OP since he/she already addressed this, but that's actually what starting at level 3 was designed for.
When the game came out, the design team mentioned several times how the first 2 levels were to allow players who liked the zero to hero style to be able to do that, and for those who wanted their PCs to start as more heroic, could start right at level 3.