At what level do you start your campaigns?

[Voadam]

I don't like the 0 level options I've seen. I generally start at 1 though I've taken over existing campaigns at higher levels (4, 15) and run lots of single modules at various higher levels.

 

[zibeck]

I have previously started most of my campaigns at Level 1, with one exception. I think that if and when I start another one, however, will go with level 3 instead, so I voted for that option. At first and even second level, PCs often go down from a single hit. At level 2, their durabliltiy greatly increases, but they are still quite fragile. And nobody likes being unconscious for most of combat.

 

[Ilium]

Started my last campaign at level 6. We don't play very often so advancement is slow and basically I want the PCs to have some kewl powerz right off the bat.

 

[pogre]

The way PCs zip through the lower levels I always start at level one. My players might like to start higher, but this is one of the very few areas where I allow my preferences to dictate the rule.

 

[Mycanid]

Better believe I make pc's start at first level at the beginning of a campaign!

 

[shilsen]

I prefer 2nd or 3rd, leaning towards 3rd.

 

[Haloq Jakar]

We use to start 2e games at around 5th level. (20,000 xp) This was because low levels lasted forever in 2e. At 15 xp an orc, 2,000 xp to get the first to 2nd level is a long time.

In 3e starting at 1st level is less taxing since the way the xp chart is setup, those first levels just fly by. Survivability out of 1st level is higher when the time spent at 1st level is short.

I totally agree

with 3.0/3.5 making 2nd is not a chore at all. I also used 20000 xp to start my Old 1st/2nd ed game for the same reasons as it was never fun to spend months making 2nd level.

 

[Cutty Sark]

I like third level for most of the reasons that other people do. My group finds it particularly attractive, though, because we've all spent something like three fourths of our playing time at third level or below - slow advancement in the second edition, time lag from incorporating new players, aborted campaigns, fragile characters, our seeming inability to bite at the initial plot hook without having a barfight...

I like el-remmen's idea, too, starting at second level with no experience. Is that something people have tried, especially if they're worried about the health of first level characters?

 

[Zimbel16]

I finally found some players and started a new campaign last week, and the players seemed surprised that we started at level one.

Do you start at level one? And if not why not?

It varies, but Level 1 is most common (so I put it above), simply because it reduces character creation time.

The campaigns I've started that I'm recalling at the moment:
LV 5
LV 8
LV 6
LV 1 (six of them)

There are probably a dozen (D&D and/or AU/AE) campaigns that I'm not recalling. Only two ended due to the PCs getting enough above LV 20 that people were getting bored. I've obviously also played in quite a few; again the majority of them started at LV 1.

 

[Stalker0]

I like mine at 3-5th level starts, low enough to still be low level, but gives the party some feats and abilities and they don't die too easily.