D&D General At what level(s) do you start your D&D campaigns?

[Li Shenron]

In 5e I've always started at 1st level so far.

In 3e after a couple of years I defaulted to starting at 3rd level because at lower levels some characters were a bit thin on abilities and therefore differentation (of PCs of the same class) was not so much.

5e feels better so far, but I don't rule out the possibility of raising the default starting level in the future. I think it'll still be 3rd in that case.

 

[TwoSix]

My last 2 games have started at 9 and 10, respectively; I've grown to realize I like 5e's higher level gameplay more than low level play.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

We often ask at what level campaigns end but at what level do you start them? I used to start them at level 1. Now I start at level 3. I recall starting one at level 5. Highest I started was level 9 to do a specific module mini-campaign. What about you?

You can make multiple votes.

Level 3, almost always, unless it's something like CoS, where part of the point of the early part of the campaign is that the PCs are in more danger than they're used to. For me, CoS is even more effective when the players are used to starting at level 3.

In 4e, that was level 4.

The biggest reasons are that I don't like a lot of swinginess in my gaming in terms of lethality, and that I don't like to have the PCs start out as not their basic character concept, if it can be helped, and in most dnd editions and d20 based games, it takes at least a few levels to get to that point.


I do kinda want to do a campaign at some point where everyone starts out as squires or the like, and start at level 1, but again, IMO such a thing is effective exactly because the players are used to starting at level 3.

 

[aco175]

Always first level unless it is some kind of 1-shot or convention game.

I tend to have 1 night per level at least for the first few levels. So, 1st level takes one night, 2nd level takes 2 nights and so on. I switched to plot leveling over XP so there is usually a place to rest and level.

 

[Lanefan]

For any sort of new ongoing campaign, 1st level every time unless starting at 0th is an option. And you'll be 1st level for a while, so get used to it.

New parties in an existing campaign might start at whatever level makes sense at the time; and one-shots might be played at any level.

 

[Charlaquin]

Usually 1st. Sometimes 3rd. Occasionally higher if it’s for a one-shot or other very specific short adventure.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Like many others: usually 1st, sometimes 3rd. It depends on the how/why/when/where of the story arc's beginning.

 

[werecorpse]

Level 2 but with 0xp so you need to earn 900 to get to level 3

 

[Tallifer]

I always have at least one new player, so I need to start at 1st level and slow down the early XP advancement so he can learn his character.

 

[dave2008]

Level 3, almost always, ...

OK, now you got me baffled. In the other thread you were advocating for a more mundane lvl 1-20 campaign (with specifically less epic lvl 15-20) and now I find out you don't even start until lvl 3! You sir, are an enigma