D&D 5E (2014) Do You Start At Level 1?

[Maxperson]

how about?

you have 5th level features or 3rd level or whatever, but you have 1st level HPs.
then every session or two, you gain 1 level worth of HPs.

I thought about that and almost suggested it for some of those in the thread. For me I like starting at 3rd, because I don't want to play a putz, and level 1 PCs are usually putzes. Level 3 is where the first signs of competence start coming into play.

 

[Zardnaar]

I thought about that and almost suggested it for some of those in the thread. For me I like starting at 3rd, because I don't want to play a putz, and level 1 PCs are usually putzes. Level 3 is where the first signs of competence start coming into play.

Sone of those ow level adventures are good though.

Biggest 8ncentive outside of newbies and new version.

 

[delericho]

Every 5e campaign I've run has started at 1st level.

For previous editions that's a little less true: of two 4e games I ran, one was at 1st level, the other at 10th. Neither made it to a second session. All (I think) of the 3e campaigns I ran started at 1st level, and there were a good many of them. (I did run a number of one-shots that varied in level.) Most of the 2nd Edition games I ran started at 3rd level following a recommendation in the "Complete Fighters Handbook". In hindsight, I no longer consider that to be good advice.

Overall, I think 5e has it right: I much prefer starting at 1st level, but I want those first couple of levels to go quickly.