AD&D level limits question

[Holy Bovine]

We adhered to the rules for level limits. We rarely played enough to actually hit them but they were there. I think only one of my characters an elven Fighter/M-U ever hit his M-U level limit of 10 (iirc).

In BECMI D&D we also adhered to the level limits which explains why no one ever played a halfling

 

[Holy Bovine]

We houseruled them - IIRC once you reached the racial level limit, the xp to reach subsequent levels doubled. Thus they didn't reach an utter plateau, but the humans started racing ahead at that point.

Cheers

That is beautiful in its simplicity. If I ever get to play/run 1E again that is how I will do level limits.

 

[Lanefan]

We've spent almost 30 years slowly easing the racial level limits to the point now where they've pretty much been nuked. If you can be a class at all, you can advance in it just like anyone else. (this also applies to monsters, much to my players' occasional surprise...)

Some races still can't be some classes at all (thus no Dwarven Magic-Users) and some classes (e.g. Monk, Bard, Assassin) still have upper limits beyond which no-one can advance.

We've also made multi-classing work the same for everyone. Having one system for Humans and another for everyone else made no sense...and more work. Even with that, people still play Humans as often if not more so than any other race.

Lan-"Human Fighter"-efan

 

[john112364]

In general, we followed the class restrictions but jettisoned the level limits.

This one here. We also allowed humans to multiclass and get a +5% bonus to xp. And still, most people wouldn't play humans. Gotta love those pluses to abilities. Oh and the fact that everyone had infravision.

 

[AllisterH]

I'm curious about the frequencies of exceptional (17-18) prime requisites and nonhuman characters, and what levels human characters attained, in campaigns that never hit the racial limits.

Considering how many limits are in the 4-6 range (or F 7 for a dwarf), it's startling to me to think that there would be campaigns in which characters never advanced so far.

Even with exceptional scores, even with 18s, the highest limits are
dwarf: 9 ... elf: 11 ... gnome: 8 ... half-elf: 11 ... halfling: 6 ... half-orc: 10.

.

Reasons for this...

1. People never took classes that had low limits
2. People didn't game as often as Gygax assumed.
3. People didn't use the 1gp =1 xp rule.

 

[Fifth Element]

None of the AD&D campaigns I played in back in the day ever survived long enough for it to be an issue. That is, the characters never survived long enough.

I did play one character that lasted about 2 years, but he was a triple-classed half-elf so even after all that time he was still only like 6/5/5.

 

[Ariosto]

1. People never took classes that had low limits

The highest limits, with 18 scores, are 8-11, apart from the halfling's 6. That's why I'm curious about the frequency of 18s (or even 17s), the frequency of non-human characters (and how that correlates with those scores), and what levels human characters attained.

 

[Umbran]

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

And some played with them in some campaigns, but not in others.

 

[Ourph]

We never used them. The game assumes a default world where humans are the dominant race and demi-humans are less central. That wasn't really the kind of campaign world we wanted, so we ditched level limits and some of the class restrictions to "reshape" the assumed racial landscape to our liking.

 

[Remathilis]

The highest limits, with 18 scores, are 8-11, apart from the halfling's 6. That's why I'm curious about the frequency of 18s (or even 17s), the frequency of non-human characters (and how that correlates with those scores), and what levels human characters attained.

I generally found* that players who were attached to their PCs cheated in one of two ways; they gained 18+ scores (and subsequent level advancement bonus) or they ignored the hard cap. I don't think I EVER saw a PC hit the cap and then either a.) never gain a level or b.) retire.

* Granted, as I said, we played 2e where 15 was the high cap for dwarf fighters, elf mages or halfling rogues. Add the optional "high ability" rule and those limits were 18 for an 18+ Prime. At that point, humans have a two level advantage? Ignoring the cap was easy from there.