1st level, flavor vs, substance

[Celebrim]

To further compound the problem of spellcaster domination at the higher levels, most gaming groups, were no exception, start at higher level making it easier for the squishy spellcasters to exist.

I think I'm only beginning to understand just how common it is for most campaigns to start at a high level. I'm fairly shocked by campaigns that start at 3rd level (I'd only previously encountered one). I've been playing nearly a year in my current campaign, and we've just got everyone to 3rd.

For me, much of the attraction of D&D is how much the game changes as your character advances in level. You start out grubbing in the mud, barely more compotent than the farmers and maybe not even that. You end up a demigod.

In fact the higher level you start the less multicasting you will probably see, as the necessity for such decreases with every level your campaign starts beyond 1st exponentially beyond 8th. As a result more pure straight, single classed spellcaster classes are selected making them gain access to even more powerful spells and having more of them to cast.

By late 3.X even that wasn't true. Most spellcasters had spellcaster PrCs that offered large benefits with only small drawbacks. In some cases there were Druid PrC's that offered a strictly better druid and Cleric PrC's that let you be a strictly better cleric.

This will also increase the spellcaster demographic, making them more numerous, increasing the amount of players opting for spellslingers. So we, the gamers, are guilty of making it worse, widening the gap between them into a cavern!

This is certainly true in some cases. Wizards and sorcerers in particular have an extremely difficult time surviving in a low level campaign that has relatively low access to magic (no magic stores). Without belts of constitution and bracers of defence being readily purchasable, and low level wizard is very squishy indeed. Faced with the prospect of attempting to slog through 8 or 9 levels with a powerful but fragile glass cannon, many players will opt instead for an immediately powerful and more durable melee build.

However, none of that applies to the Druid or Cleric. Those classes have a high amount of survivability at low levels, combined with tremendous broken upside at higher levels. You start out as a support character buffing and healing the front line. But, you quickly are going to be able to take your place on the front line if you want to. Whereas the break even point for the arcane casters is about 9th level, the divine casters should be easily holding their own by 7th level. And keep in mind, a lot of this depends on access to magic items as well. If my Wizard can end up with bracers of defence, a ring of protection, a belt of constitution, and a wand of fireballs by 5th level, things are really looking up. I may already be the parties primary damage dealer. Assuming that I'm not facing an old school Gygaxian RBDM, and it's clear that I'm not, I'll probably dominate the game from there on out.

 

[BENINHB]

While true at low levels you have very little in the way of skills and bonuses and it makes things much more random and up to the roll of the d20 it also forces you to be cautious and tactical. At lower levels i find our group using ambushes, preparing the battle field w/ traps and difficult terrain, using high ground for bonuses, using bushes for cover, Flanking, etc.... really anything to give you a little edge makes a big difference. As we get to higher levels everyone tends to get really good at the things they do in combat and are a lot less fragile so we have a more kick in the door and F S up play style.

 

[Eman Resu]

While true at low levels you have very little in the way of skills and bonuses and it makes things much more random and up to the roll of the d20 it also forces you to be cautious and tactical. At lower levels i find our group using ambushes, preparing the battle field w/ traps and difficult terrain, using high ground for bonuses, using bushes for cover, Flanking, etc.... really anything to give you a little edge makes a big difference. As we get to higher levels everyone tends to get really good at the things they do in combat and are a lot less fragile so we have a more kick in the door and F S up play style.

they get cocky, this happens when they aint scared, you need to scare them, challenge them. Give them encounters that have "other modifiers" that aid the bad guys...bad guy #1 Warlock from small holes in walls casts voracious dispelling -the one that keeps going, and that chilling black testical invocation, the fight to take place in a keep, its foggy, bad guy #2 casts mind fog on party...weaken them, set them up and knock em down with...whatever you want.

scare them, ambush them, but think of the encounter, and after the 3rd round have a wererat assassin emerge from his hole in wall with true strike on and-or inviso and death strike the PC he "thinks" has the worst fort save.

make all weapons mildly poisoned

eman resu

 

[kitcik]

that chilling black testical invocation

Holy smokes - now even I am scared!

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

For me, I don't allow players to start characters above 1st level.

I give every 1st level PC 10 bonus hit points. Helps survivability without increasing power all that much. The other thing I do is change the death and dying rules to this.

Then, I let players roll all the dice and let them fall where they may.

And, the last thing... I cut XP awards by about 1/3rd. Slow advancement allows characters to grow in in ways other than levels and numbers. The first six levels of the game are quite awesome, in my opinion. And, I don't want to rush anyone through them too quickly. Getting to 20th level isn't the goal. The goal is having fun and telling amazing stories along the way. Skipping ahead to 3rd level (or 5th) cuts that much out of the character's story and, therefore, removes that much of the fun.

 

[Celebrim]

For me, I don't allow players to start characters above 1st level.

I give every 1st level PC 10 bonus hit points. Helps survivability without increasing power all that much. The other thing I do is change the death and dying rules to this.

Then, I let players roll all the dice and let them fall where they may.

And, the last thing... I cut XP awards by about 1/3rd.

HA! Independent proof of concept!

You and I are almost exactly on the same page.

I give 1st level characters 8 bonus hit points. Granted, monsters are mostly also recieving 8 bonus hit points, but it makes the low level game have less random deaths.

I also allow partial actions at below 0 hit points, and I also have a fortitude save to stay conscious every time you take damage that reduces you below 0 hit points.

And I have my own XP table but it amounts to roughly 1/2 the standard XP.

I don't have your lowered minimum hit point rule (though you can get there with a trait), but I do have something you might not have that serves much the same purpose - 'destiny points'. Destiny points give the player rerolls (usually for failed saving throws, but sometimes other thing) and can also be used to transform a critical hit that they recieve into a normal hit (as well as a few other less commonly used things). The purpose of this is of course to minimize the effect of luck on the outcome of the game. Players that make bad decisions soon run low - or out - of destiny points, and then the gods favor ceases to shine on them and they are soon dead. But those players that make good decisions are rarely in a situation where they are only one unlucky roll from death, and if they are they get a second chance.

Slow advancement allows characters to grow in in ways other than levels and numbers. The first six levels of the game are quite awesome, in my opinion. And, I don't want to rush anyone through them too quickly. Getting to 20th level isn't the goal. The goal is having fun and telling amazing stories along the way. Skipping ahead to 3rd level (or 5th) cuts that much out of the character's story and, therefore, removes that much of the fun.

Sounds like you are my kind of DM.

 

[Sorrowdusk]

For me, I don't allow players to start characters above 1st level.

I give every 1st level PC 10 bonus hit points. Helps survivability without increasing power all that much. The other thing I do is change the death and dying rules to this.

Then, I let players roll all the dice and let them fall where they may.

And, the last thing... I cut XP awards by about 1/3rd. Slow advancement allows characters to grow in in ways other than levels and numbers. The first six levels of the game are quite awesome, in my opinion. And, I don't want to rush anyone through them too quickly. Getting to 20th level isn't the goal. The goal is having fun and telling amazing stories along the way. Skipping ahead to 3rd level (or 5th) cuts that much out of the character's story and, therefore, removes that much of the fun.

@Hrothgar Rannúlfr
@Celebrim

Really? I've started at first and I really dont like it. I prefer starting as an established adventurer-or at least someone thats yet to go adventuring but been trained up to at least lvl 5th. I DO agree that getting to 20 isnt a "goal" just getting XP/Loot is not the Epitome of roleplaying. However, I simply dont like early lvl play, and I dont see what some people see in it.

Also-it depends on when your character starts adventuring in their life and what lvl the world is. Are most people 1st or 2nd like in Eberron -or are you an ex-military thats already lvl 5th or 6th and just left the service of his nation to take up the life of a free mercenary/adventurer? You dont have to be a lvl 1 has-never-picked-up-a-sword greenhorn who just stepped out their door. A characters "story" can hypothetically begin at any level. The characters "background" or how they got to where the campaigns "story" begins can be played out right from 0XP but it doesnt have to be.

I myself simply dont like how the game plays at 1st lvl. I also (myself) wouldnt reduce XP awards, because for me the pacing is just fine (albeit even that can vary between campaigns without modification to rewards just based on how much combat you're seeing and what sort).

YMMV

 

[BENINHB]

I don't really use the XP calculations at all at early levels. I just decide when my players level up. Of course i do give out XP but i just don't base it off of encounter calculators. I look at how much XP is needed to level and base my allotment on a percentage of that. So if the PCs need around 4k XP to level and i think the challange they just completed should get them a quarter of the way there i give them a thousand XP.

I run more of a lets have fun game than a RAW game and luckily i have a good set of players don't complain or take advantage.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

First, let me say that I've never had an issue with the power imbalance between casters and non-casters in medium to high-level D&D games...nor the related power hit spellcasters take when multiclassing.

I say that to put this in perspective: I find that one of the charms of 1st to low-level play is that the classes are basically interchangeable in terms of power.

Other things I like are that risk is high due to PC fragility, and that a dearth of options means your play is very focused- the game runs crisply.

And most of all, I like how when you play from 1st up and your PC passes 6th+ level, you really feel that sense of accomplishment that you don't get starting a PC off at a higher level.

 

[kitcik]

I find that the change from 1st to 2nd and from 2nd to 3rd are often quantum leaps and I wouldn't want to miss out on that excitement by starting at a higher level.

Doubling your hit points, getting your first magic item, becoming a hero. These are what make the early levels great for me.