At what level do you start your campaigns?

[wayne62682]

My group usually starts at level two, but given that we tend to get bored of the current campaign within 6 months (the longest we played one was 8 months, playing twice a month), we've begun starting higher... the current one started at level 5.

I prefer starting low-level and working up, but when you kill a campaign due to boredom before you reach 7th level, I tend to want to start higher so, you know, I could maybe get the opportunity to take a PrC or something.

 

[DragonLancer]

We start at level one, that is the beginning and I find it can best to start there.

Aye. My feelings exactly.

My players have discussed this on occasion and everyone agreed, without exception, that level 1 is the place to start as well.

 

[Sidekick]

I start at either 2nd or 3rd.

But mostly 2nd. It allows for multi-classing to be built into the persons back story. Also I'm an Eberron DM, & I like my PCs to have had experience during the last war, and that is best represented mechanically by 2nd level.

Plus it means I don't have to hold their hand for an adventure or two.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Almost always 1st.

I've told myself that the "next game" I run is always gonna start at 3rd level, but for some reason, it feels like cheating--like somehow the character is not legitimate. I know this isn't the case, but I can only attribute it to some neurotic holdover from when I was a kid, and the whole point of the game was to see how high a level you could go. Heck, I remember in the early nineties when Dragon magazine kept featuring letters from people talking about their 213th level Fighter/Mage/Thief. Where was the accomplishment if you could start at 212th? Neurotic? Most definitely. Do any of you still have this feeling?

I just started a new game last weekend. We, naturally, started at 1st. If two of the players hadn't been brand new (my wife and her sister), we might have started higher, but I wanted them to get a feel of the rules, and I think it's easiest at first level.

I think what people have put forward about starting at 2nd makes a lot of sense (multi-classing, allows for a bit of a backstory, etc.) and I may incorporate it in future campaigns. I'll just have to fight the urge that I'm somehow sneaking something in under the radar.

 

[SWBaxter]

Usually first, though I am contemplating a campaign where the PCs would start at 5th. I find the tone of the poll a little strange, "mak(ing) the players work for it" has nothing at all to do with my reasons for usually starting at level 1. I find that players identify more strongly with their PCs if they take them through the formative levels and it also allows players trying out an unfamiliar character type to get their feet wet and grow into their abilities. Otherwise, starting at first (or fifth or twenty-third, etc.) level is just a number, a group that starts at a higher level is still going to have to "work" for anything they gain in the campaign.

 

[Thanee]

2nd. It's the same as 1st when it comes to the still young and inexperienced feel, but it adds a lot more survivability from random rolls and allows to start off with two classes for multiclass characters.

Bye
Thanee

 

[thatdarncat]

I prefer first but I usually get overruled. Depends on who's DMing but 3rd-5th usually

 

[Klaus]

1st level breezes by so fast, I opt to start at 2nd. There's no real change in the frailty of the characters (the average Wizard 2 will have 6hp), I can throw more things at them without bogging the game down into repetitive rests, and the character begins a little further down its archetype road (for instance, you can already have a multiclassed character by then).

If possible, I don't let them start at 3rd because, by starting at 2nd you have that immediate gratification of a new feat on the next level.

 

[Cith]

Most campaigns I run tend to have a preset power level. Level progression is not the focus, in fact levels tend to progress very slowly, maybe by 2 to 4 over the span, with other areas of advancement taking focus (the story, wealth/prestige/status and the like). Exactly what the starting level is depends very much on the angle of the campaign. Usually it's 3rd-4th, 9th, or 14th, depending on the desired theme/power level.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I start 'em off at second level - I like having the PCs start off as multiclassed if they so desire.

The Auld Grump