AD&D level limits question

[thecasualoblivion]

I'm curious how many people respected the level limits set out in the AD&D 1E Players Handbook during its lifetime 1977-1989.

 

[TheYeti1775]

I'm curious how many people respected the level limits set out in the AD&D 1E Players Handbook during its lifetime 1977-1989.

You need a both option.
Some groups did enforce it as written.
Others totally ignored them.
And many altered them.

Honestly, else how do you explain all the great anicent elven magic of their archmages.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I voted no, because that was what we did more often, but overall it was both for me. Sometimes we enforced it, other times we ignored it. It all depended upon the players in the group. A couple of players were dead set against changing from the RAW, so when they were part of our games we followed the limits. Wasn't my preference, but I also almost never played a human, so there is clearly a reason.

 

[airwalkrr]

I actually played 1st ed AD&D in the 90s, but yes, we followed the level limits. Considering that most of the demi-human races were quite powerful we felt it was reasonable enough. That and our campaigns never really got beyond 10th level.

Demi-humans could mutliclass, they had racial abilities/immunities/special powers, you got ability score modifiers that you could use to your advantage. On the one hand, a demihuman at level 1 was usually more powerful than a human at level 1 (humans getting no special powers per se), on the other, eventually a human could outstrip the demihuman in power through class levels. It was an even trade-off I thought.

If you were to take away level limits, you would have to give humans something, because otherwise there would be absolutely no reason to play a human unless you wanted to be a paladin or monk.

 

[Roadkill101]

I ignored all class /level restrictions in the games I ran. To me they simply never made a whole lot of sense. Only years later did I come to find out why EGG included them.

I also ignored weapon speed factors/armor v.s weapon types and the male/female ability restrictions.

 

[juboke]

We followed the level limits in AD&D and B/X from 79-89.

Though we enjoy all editions of D&D, 2e has been our game of choice since 89 and we still follow the level limits with the exceeding level limit optional rules set out in the DMG.

 

[TheYeti1775]

I also ignored weapon speed factors/armor v.s weapon types and the male/female ability restrictions.

I actually liked those.
Weapon Speed and Casting Times actually made sense.

 

[Riley]

Excluding our early Wahoo / Monty Haul years, we never hit the level limits. Besides, didn't Unearthed Arcana raise them?

Although we never hit them, they were considered to be in force.

 

[David Howery]

it never really came up much in those days in my groups... mainly because our campaigns tended to fade out after 12th level or so, and the players wanted to start over with new PCs. Also because I can't recall anyone choosing a race/class set that would restrict them in levels in the first place. True, that was kinda limiting, but still...

 

[billd91]

We sort of followed them. It depended a bit on the individual campaign running at the time, but for multiclassed characters, I'd let the player stop investing in the capped class when they hit the cap level and devote their XPs to the other classes. That's sort of respecting it but also houseruling stuff around it.