D&D 5E What is your preferred level of play?

[Herobizkit]

I find play most interesting in 5-9 but I voted 10-14, mostly because most games I play don't reach that high and I'd love to take advantage of some higher-level content.

My group generally skips 1-3.

 

[Uchawi]

Since 5E starts casters off with more choices as first level versus martial classes, the sweet spot for me is 5-9 is for martial classes, where casters would start earlier like 3-7 to maintain parity.

 

[Psikerlord#]

up to about 10th for me. After that the dmg and hit point inflation gets too out of hand.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

One thing I’m wondering, is how much of our responses are as DMs and as PCs. In my experience, I’ve found that players seem to be more likely to want to just keep going to as high a level as possible, and I, as the DM, have been the one to do the prodding to start a new campaign.

 

[Shendorion]

Characters in the 5-9 range face challenges that are more immediate and relatable to players. Beyond that, you get into world saving and politics and involvement in organizations that limit your freedom of movement. Expectations from people in the game world increase, and you're more likely to adventure in completely foreign environments. Being a paragon means a lot of responsibility; being a hero means claps on the back and drinks are on the house.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Between the two goals of uncertainty and risk vs. feeling powerful I find the best mix at 5-9. Before that characters weigh too much toward Risk and after that many players have a tendency to build toward completely eliminating uncertainty to feel powerful.

At the 10+ range the game has the potential to continue to be interesting but I've seen many character builds that make it completely uninteresting and rote (mechanical or habitual repetition). Frequently characters hyper-specialize or just fall into a 'best combo' rut that really demotivates me as a DM to see it play out.

One option might be to go OD&D/1e/2e and level off Hit Point gains after 9th or 10th level if players want to continue to specialize rather than broaden now that they have enough Hit Points where much of the Risk is reduced.

 

[zicar]

Of the choices, I picked 5-9 but really it's 3-12 for me. After 12 it's all about 'did you make your save'.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I haven't been a player, but as a DM, I really enjoy 1-4. I've always been more interested in the lower level monsters, and I like the more dangerous feel. Level 3 was particularly solid. When the players hit 5th level, I struggled to find encounters that interested me.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

I prefer play in the 1st through 6th level range. But I also like the exp tables for leveling to be a lot slower in advancement.

But I grew up on 1st and 2nd edition. I loved the exp tables for leveling then.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If this poll is similar to the metrics WotC have at their disposal, it gives a pretty strong indication why WotC might've chosen to only make their APs go up to level 15 and why they also haven't provided any "epic level" adventure stuff yet. The market for it just isn't there.