D&D General Disparity in PC levels from same party

[Umbran]

Are you OK with level differences? Or do you think it would be a problem if your PC was a level lower than everyone else?

It depends on what kind of game is being run, I suppose. But my initial reaction is that major power differences usually lead to dynamics in play that I find unsatisfying.

 

[payn]

It’s interesting to see so little interest in disparate level groups in 5E as BA makes it more doable than the past few editions. Though, it’s interesting how far Paizo went with PF2 to make this work very poorly for groups overall.

 

[Clint_L]

I play 5e using milestone leveling and player characters are all the same level, period. If your character dies or retires, you start your new one at the same level as the rest of the party. It just keeps things balanced and with 5e's mechanics I don't see any good reason for having disparate levels.

 

[Stalker0]

There is a major difference between 1e and 5e in this regard. As noted, in 1e level differences were expected because of xp differences between classes. A level X thief and a level X magic users weren't "equal level" in the way we think of it now.

In 5e terms, I would never want to DM mixed level groups myself, I don't think there is any benefit there. That said, I certainly could, I don't think a level difference is that big a deal....depending on where it happens. A lvl 2 vs a lvl 3...sure that's fine. But if most of the party is level 1 vs a level 2 pc that's a major difference. Or level 4 vs 5, level 5 is just a massive uptick in PC power that it would be seriously noticeable.