Did you survive 1-20?

[Plane Sailing]

OD&D my highest was a Ranger (SR style) who got to 17th. They were holy terrors, I must say!

AD&D my highest was a Wizard who got over 20th level.

(never played 2e)

3e my highest was probably the Druid who reached about 13th?

4e my highest was a wizard who got to 11th or 12th before I abandoned the gaming group.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I have to say that this probably reflects the vastly greater amount of time I had for RPGs in the late 70s and early 80s!

 

[TanisFrey]

My longest running PC/Highest level PC was a basic D&D thief whom completed the polymath route to immortality. At the end he was a 20th level Fighter with the abilities of a 36th level Rouge, 17th level Magic-User and a 23th level Cleric.

The Polymath route required you to complete a quest then be reborn and complete a quest when you got high enough level and then be reborn and complete a quest. When you were reborn you restarted as a 1st level character with no memory each time. You would have to restart a total of 3 times and for the last time you gained the abilities of you old classes when the immortal sponsor contacted you, around 10-20 level and gave your final quest. You would only have the hit points of the current earned class during the final quest.

 

[jmucchiello]

I've spoken of this campaign before. We went from 1-33 level using 3.5e, and aside from a near TPK around 8th level, my character only died that one time*. Another character did go from 1-33 before dying in the penultimate battle and second near-TPK but all the other characters died several times with resurrections. But before the near TPK around 8th level there were no character deaths.

* It was a shared world with 3 DMs running for 3-5 sessions before swapping in an epic storyline we had vaguely plotted out so each of us could contribute without fully knowing how it ended. Each player also had a main PC and an alternate so it would become boring. The near-TPK (only one survivor, man that wiped out the party magic, and the alternates were not raised since they weren't part of the prophesy) ironically was run by me. So I'm the reason my character didn't make it from 1-33 without dying.

 

[Slander]

Levels 1 - 17

I've been DMing WotBS coming up on 3 years this April. We're just starting the 9th adventure, and if they survive, four of the original six players will have taken their characters from 1 to 17. I'm calling the campaign after this adventure, so that'll mark the highest level a group I've been with has achieved during my years as an adult.

 

[rgard]

I'm wondering...how many people here have stuck with one character and survived from 1st to at least 10th level? 20th?

I'm wondering how often this happens. This is only an assumption, but I assume that a great majority of games either don't end up getting finished because of various reasons (GM quits, players leave, character dies, etc.)

For those that have made it far, what is it that got you that far?

Second, a question for GM's. Have you ever had a party that started from 1st level to at least 10th, without any of the party member dying? AND, doing this without fudging dice rolls too much?

Hi, in 1e back in the 70s, 80s and 90s, (we skipped 2e) we had several characters make it to at least 20th level. The highest level attained in my group(s) was a 34th level MU. That character was rolled up in 1979 and was played through 1998.

Team work, a lack of inter-party strife and knowing when to 'run away' are probably the main reasons for getting to 20th level.

As a DM, I've never had a party survive to 10th with no deaths. I roll the dice in front of the players so there is no chance to fudge the roll and I don't fudge the modifiers.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Sorrowdusk]

IMC I'm currently up to 16th lvl-I sure hope I make it all the way.
:<
The Demilich in Castle Scarwall (not like your Epic DL) one, two lvls back killed three of my 6man party. Thankfully though, we managed to destory him and rez the others. Across my career there have been numerous* times my character almost died and came REAL close (-2 to -9 three times) I'm making an investment in Soulfire/Proof Against Transmutation/Freedom Armor enhancements and perhaps a Wand of Ray Deflection. I try to keep my distance, (usually flying) from melee combat, but a handful of times I got caught up in it.

I think I'm going to invest in a Clone Spell and/or Death Pact (gotta pay con though). That way I could awaken from Death in the saftey of my lair, grab spare gear, and Greater Teleport back into the fight or True Res on the spot. (The party arguable needs me...I'm the cleric.)


*[Grappled+Blood/Con Drained, Swarmed+Poisoned+Nauseated, Blasted by a Steel Predator; Barely made save vs Flesh to Stone; Wail of Banshee'd twice]

EDIT: On a funny side note, most of my party went down (but not dead) due to a Blasphemy in Scarwall. I however (being evil) was completely uneffected. Go Go Remove Paralysis!

 

[wedgeski]

Being mostly a DM over the years, I haven't had many opportunities to nurture a PC all the way to the highest levels. My best effort was a cleric that achieved 11th level across various short-lived campaigns in AD&D and 2ed, run in the majority by a good friend of mine, a quintessential RBDM.

A couple of years ago I was afforded the opportunity to convert her to 3E and play in a one-shot DM'd by the aforementioned "friend". This was exciting right up until the moment he pulled out the 2005 Wizards conversion of Tomb of Horrors.

She died later that day.

 

[meomwt]

I DM'ed a 2e game over about 10 years, on and off, and most of the original characters were at or near Level 10 by the time we finished. One original died, but he was on his third player by then (don't ask). He was killed by the party Tank, whom he had just accidentally aged 10 years, after casting a wild magic spell in a wild magic zone. Ouch.

There was another PC death, a dwarf cleric who rolled a 1 to resist a black dragon's breath weapon and got melted. But the group saved his remains (such as they were) and he got better later.

DM-ing 3e, we reached about Level 13 or 14 before I had to terminate the campaign to try to get rid of an annoying player and his girlfriend. It didn't work Only one character had died (the annoying git) and someone used a spell to bring him back. Darn.

 

[steeldragons]

Well, I haven't been in any campaigns long enough to get anywhere since the 1 & 2e days.

For actual, real, starting at 1st level...I have 3. A human magic-user up to 17, a human cleric up tp 15 or 16, and an elf fighter who I took to 12 if memory serves. Sorry, 4. THere was my halfling fighter/thief who made it up there though the actual levels right now escape me. (Our group back in the day kinda ignored demi-human level limits.)

All of whom began in BECMI - the elf was just "an elf" then, of course, and transferred to 1e and eventually 2e.

I am fairly certain all of them except the elf had to be raised/resurrected at least once. So a big "No" for the "not dying ever."

My other characters who made it past 10th were usually begun either around 4th-7th or where old character who I "jumped" up to the appropriate levels the DM wanted for a particular campaign. i.e. a half-elf ranger-priest who ended up being, I want to say, Rgr 9/Cle 6...but don't quote me on that...it was decades ago.

As for 20th? No. Never got past the mid-high teens...which, for me, was plenty high-level enough to kick some serious butt. *sigh* Good times.

--Steel Dragons