At what level do you start your campaigns?

[A'koss]

The majority of the time I like to start the PCs off at level 3. At level one I found too often PCs are often just one errant crit away from being done in. In the IH game I run, I started off at 5th level as I wanted the PCs to have a chance to experiment with stunts, challenges and tokens and not have a single mistake prove crippling/fatal.

 

[DreamingGod]

The majority of the Games I run are like minicampaings, so they are anywhere between 5-12....

My current campiagns is a Anime game (matter-of-fact, the thead for it is on ENworld, it's called 'Coreline') starting at level 10...

So they are a well-know Mercenary group...

 

[Hussar]

I'm a mostly 1st level kind of DM. I never really thought about it too hard to tell the truth, we always just started at first.

By and large, I use first level to ground the characters in the setting. Mostly exposition and background stuff that will come up later. I remember in my Shelzar campaign, first level consisted of a formal party where the party met all sorts of people, and a "get the MacGuffin" adventure where they were sent out to retrieve a rare tome of dwarven erotica.

 

[KingCrab]

In 3.x I've found that characters advance fairly fast. Those first few levels fly by, plus they're often the most fun. I never would start a campaign above level 1.

 

[Akrasia]

... By and large, I use first level to ground the characters in the setting. Mostly exposition and background stuff that will come up later...

Same here. Giving players level 3+ characters and telling them 'You're already accomplished heroes -- but of course how you became accomplished is a bit fuzzy, and here's a bunch of background info for you to absorb and integrate into your role-playing...' seems most unsatisfying.

As a player I would feel cheated if I didn't get to start a PC at first level.

 

[MonsterMash]

For a campaign that's intended to run for a long time 1st so that is the default, but for short campaigns sometimes higher levels to save a big build up to the meat of the adventure.

 

[Darkness]

For most campaigns, level 6 or maybe 4. For a few others, as high as it takes to get the job done. (Well, or at least the beginning of the "job." )

 

[doghead]

I generally start at Level 1. But I use Ken Hood's Grim and Gritty rules, which actually increases the character's survivability at the lower levels.

My last game started at L3-5 however. New Recruits were level 1, level 3 represented a few years experience. The second term soldiers and NCO's were around 5. Again, this was using G&G rules, so there is much less power gap between the levels.

thotd

 

[merelycompetent]

Need a few more options in this poll.

I start PCs anywhere from 1st to 5th for campaigns. It depends on a number of factors - what is the setup, what kind of players do I have, who is interested in what sorts of templates.

For mini-campaigns or one shots, they start at whatever the level requirements are.

As a player, I've done the full gamut of starting at levels 1-12 - except for 3E, where it's stayed at starting 1st-5th.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

I start them out at level two normally. It allows for some of my more "challenging" players to get their +1 LA races and allows for a little more robust characters.

But the last campaign started at one since those individuals were not there.

Two years and going strong! The party is at 14th and within spitting distance of 15th level.

-Ashrum