What level do you start at and why?

[Ibram]

As a DM I my prefrence is to start at 3rd or 4th level... it saves me the trouble of having the players hunt for a dire rat in the tavern basement.

The same is true as a player... 1st level has realy lost its appeal, I can create and develope a character without needing him to be a snot nosed kid.

 

[irdeggman]

I can start at any level. 1st level allows for greater incremental character development while higher levels allow for quicker player satisfaction. Also if starting at 1st level players tend to apprciate getting magic items more since they don't jsut suddenly show up but there is usually a battle or game scene to associate with how th item was acquired.

Dark Sun in particular started out at 3rd level which worked out prety well 9mostly for survivability).

But any level can work if the DM plans things accordingly.

 

[FireLance]

I prefer to start at level one, especially for inexperienced players. It allows them time to get used to their characters' abilities. For more experienced players joining mid-campaign, I might consider starting at higher levels, but if time permits, I would prefer to run the character through a solo scenario (starting from level one) to allow him to level up.

 

[Capellan]

For a totally new game, I prefer 1st, as both player and DM. It's more satisfying for me to work my way up from the very beginning.

If it's an existing campaign, and a new player joins or an existing player needs a new character, they come in at the same level as the other PCs. If the other PCs are different levels, they come in at the same point as the lowest level PC.

 

[DragonLancer]

My players and I agree that 1st level is best to start with. If you start higher than that you don't have the connection to your character and its not as much fun working your way up.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Barring one shot adventures and failed games:

My first campaign started at first. My second campaign started at 2nd. My latest game started at 3rd.

So judging by this pattern my next game will start at fourth. But I don't think it'll work out like that.

I prefer games that start at at least level 3 so that the players have more survivability. Also IMC I've decided that all adults are 2nd level (and elf adults are 3rd level), where as young teenagers and such are first.

Also level 1-3 go by so quick anyway might as well start a little higher up there.

 

[Mystery Man]

I don't like starting at first level. (I'm primarily a DM)
You have armor, weapons and thats about it.
A mule is a challenge to four characters. A mule.

Who fights a mule? :\

I like 2nd, for any of those +1 ECL's out there. 2nd, definitely 2nd.

 

[Nifft]

3rd level for my games.

PCs don't die from bad luck so often... bad judgment is still fatal, tho'.

-- N

 

[Beckett]

My first long running campaign, I started the characters at 1st. In part, this was a reaction to a game I was in where I was going to be joining at 6th, and then the DM advanced everyone to 10th so they could meet the challenge he had in mind; it was fun, but I didn't feel too attached to this character since I had missed the formative levels. Also, I wanted to get the experience of running at each level.

Last Friday, I got drafted into running on about 2 hours notice. For that, I set the characters at 3rd for a quick start.

My next two campaigns (one D&D and one AU) I'll have the characters start at 2nd. It's still very low level, but gives the players many more options than first, such as multiclassing or level adjusted races.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have been in campaigns which started at different levels between 1 and 8. Starting at level higher than 3-4 has always been a problem, because the same players which drooled at the idea of being "more powerful" since the start, usually ended up proving they couldn't handle all their character features properly. Hey, but that applies to me as well

For an entire campaign which is supposed to last long in terms of character time, I think it's best to start at levels 1-4. If players are accustomed to their type of character, it's not a bad idea to skip the early levels so you can start with 2-3 feats and quite an array of spells for example, or you can already be multiclass.

For single-shot adventures it's ok to start at any level. The problem, as I said, is that you should play a class which you are already familiar with, otherwise starting at high level can be a real mess. It's not a good idea to let someone start as high-level druid if he has no idea how wildshape works, or a high-level rogue who doesn't know well when he can sneak attack...