Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Everyone Starts at First Level
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 6395451" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>From the very earliest days of my gaming career, from way back in the pre-1e Basic days, I always had new pcs begin at first level. Your party is wandering along and you get eaten by a giant spider/turned to green slime/choked to death on yellow mold? Make a new first level pc. Doesn't matter what everyone else's level is; the new guy, always, starts at the start.</p><p></p><p>(There was one noteworthy exception- if I ran a one-shot adventure or module, I'd let the pcs start at whatever level was appropriate to the adventure. So, if I ran Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, everyone starts at level 8-12. But I'm talking about campaign play here.)</p><p></p><p>I maintained this through Basic, 1e and 2e. I only changed when we hit about 4th level in 3.0, when it became apparent that this approach was utterly unworkable in 3e. The numbers disparities were too great; a 1st level pc simply couldn't survive, much less keep up, with a higher-level group. This held true through 3e and 4e.</p><p></p><p>5e, though, looks like it will support mixed-level play pretty well. The math is flattened/constrained enough that a low-level pc can contribute to a higher-level party, even if he or she can't really take a hit. But clever play, a good mix of foes including low-level enemies (which can still be relevant to a higher-level group of pcs) and the bounded accuracy will really enable me to bring back one of my favorite playstyle elements.</p><p></p><p>I'm sure that a lot of you guys are asploding with nope right now, and that's fine. I get that "everyone starts at 1st" isn't for everyone. But I am totally excited that 5e will re-enable it. I feel like it also re-enables larger, troupe-style play (either larger groups of players or players with multiple characters) by virtue of it being so fast, especially in combat.</p><p></p><p>So here's a toast to 5e re-enabling a lot of classic playstyle elements!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 6395451, member: 1210"] From the very earliest days of my gaming career, from way back in the pre-1e Basic days, I always had new pcs begin at first level. Your party is wandering along and you get eaten by a giant spider/turned to green slime/choked to death on yellow mold? Make a new first level pc. Doesn't matter what everyone else's level is; the new guy, always, starts at the start. (There was one noteworthy exception- if I ran a one-shot adventure or module, I'd let the pcs start at whatever level was appropriate to the adventure. So, if I ran Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, everyone starts at level 8-12. But I'm talking about campaign play here.) I maintained this through Basic, 1e and 2e. I only changed when we hit about 4th level in 3.0, when it became apparent that this approach was utterly unworkable in 3e. The numbers disparities were too great; a 1st level pc simply couldn't survive, much less keep up, with a higher-level group. This held true through 3e and 4e. 5e, though, looks like it will support mixed-level play pretty well. The math is flattened/constrained enough that a low-level pc can contribute to a higher-level party, even if he or she can't really take a hit. But clever play, a good mix of foes including low-level enemies (which can still be relevant to a higher-level group of pcs) and the bounded accuracy will really enable me to bring back one of my favorite playstyle elements. I'm sure that a lot of you guys are asploding with nope right now, and that's fine. I get that "everyone starts at 1st" isn't for everyone. But I am totally excited that 5e will re-enable it. I feel like it also re-enables larger, troupe-style play (either larger groups of players or players with multiple characters) by virtue of it being so fast, especially in combat. So here's a toast to 5e re-enabling a lot of classic playstyle elements! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Everyone Starts at First Level
Top