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Whatever Happened to D&D's Underdog?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7734761" data-attributes="member: 6873517"><p>Definitely. It could be really unpleasant to put a good bit of work into a character only to have them bite the dust due to one lucky hit. I recall starting most characters at 2nd level when I was playing a lower level game just so they could take more of a beating. Depending on the game we would often start higher level. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You can certainly play a low fantasy version of D&D. BECM D&D in the low levels is a good example but even later versions: Stick to low levels, restrict casting classes---in particular magical healing---and be really tight on treasure and you're pretty good. 5E works fine for this in <em>Adventures in Middle Earth</em>, which has little of the magical conveniences that shift things around: No fast travel, no magical light, no area effect death, emphasis on the grueling nature of travel. </p><p></p><p>5E has the first two levels being kind of an "apprentice" tier before most characters pick an archetype. This is kind of a "0 level" experience, though not totally so given that you're already in a class. However, in my view the "sweet spot" for 1E, 2E, and 5E is all in the mid levels, say 4th through about 13th.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jay Verkuilen, post: 7734761, member: 6873517"] Definitely. It could be really unpleasant to put a good bit of work into a character only to have them bite the dust due to one lucky hit. I recall starting most characters at 2nd level when I was playing a lower level game just so they could take more of a beating. Depending on the game we would often start higher level. You can certainly play a low fantasy version of D&D. BECM D&D in the low levels is a good example but even later versions: Stick to low levels, restrict casting classes---in particular magical healing---and be really tight on treasure and you're pretty good. 5E works fine for this in [I]Adventures in Middle Earth[/I], which has little of the magical conveniences that shift things around: No fast travel, no magical light, no area effect death, emphasis on the grueling nature of travel. 5E has the first two levels being kind of an "apprentice" tier before most characters pick an archetype. This is kind of a "0 level" experience, though not totally so given that you're already in a class. However, in my view the "sweet spot" for 1E, 2E, and 5E is all in the mid levels, say 4th through about 13th. [/QUOTE]
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