At what character level do you prefer to start play?

[CanadienneBacon]

Doing a bit of research here for my next campaign. Voting and comments from the community would be most welcome and helpful, thank you.

When I DM, I most enjoy DMing for character levels one through perhaps about nine. I have DMed and played through to about character level 16. Particularly when starting a new campaign, whether DMing or playing, I find that it's tedious to create a character above about 12th level. And, having never DMed or played beyond 16th level, I'm curious to know others' thoughts on which character level you prefer to begin play. I ask because for the next online campaign I run, I intend to tailor starting character level more to player preference.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Voted 1-4. I've never started above 1-4. In fact, I've denied the opportunity to play in games where the game started above 1-4.

But then again, I love games that are only 5% combat, heavy RP based, and strongly geared for character development. So lay on the low levels, baby!

 

[EricNoah]

I like to start fairly low, maybe 2nd level or so, and I enjoy moving up through the ranks until about level 12-15 or so.

I know that when I was playing in the low "epics" it was very challenging to keep all of my abilities and options straight, and this was for a non-spellcaster. I hate to think of what spellcasting would have added to the complexity. Not to say that the campaign wasn't fun -- our DM was very skilled at running material at that level.

 

[caudor]

I usually start at first level, and on rare occasions second level.

Starting any higher, to me, is like showing up late to a movie. What is missed is a loss.

 

[xmanii]

First level. For the same reasons that caudor stated.

 

[Aus_Snow]

For a variety of unrelated reasons, I've mostly started characters at 1st or 3rd level. Huh. Odd.

I much prefer 0 or 1st though, all else being equal.

 

[the Jester]

First level. No question.

I sometimes actually cringe at starting a character at too high of a level. Yeah, you can build whatever, but really, I like the organic process of a character evolving over time.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

the Jester, what level would you consider to be "too high?" --Thanks.

If I'm playing, I like to start at first level and preferably no higher than third level. I agree with others who've stated that they enjoy allowing the character to organically grow as a result of interaction with the campaign plots and NPCs. I don't get to play all that often, though, so it's good to hear the impressions of others on this subject. Thanks, all, for the kind replies thus far.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I picked level 1-4, but In my case it meant "Level 4".

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Good point! Thanks for being specific about what starting level you prefer.