How many levels does D&D need?

[Bullgrit]

How many levels does D&D need? And what defines "need"?

Could D&D use 100 levels? Could D&D be satisfactory with just 10 levels? 5?

How does the number of levels in the game affect world creation?

Bullgrit

 

[Raven Crowking]

15 levels.

1st level nobodies; 3rd level established in class; 6th level heroes; 10th level lords; 15th level epic.


RC

 

[weem]

15 levels.

1st level nobodies; 3rd level established in class; 6th level heroes; 10th level lords; 15th level epic.


RC

Something along these lines was what I was thinking when I saw the thread title. I think 15 sounds about right.

 

[S'mon]

It needs at least 10 for the kind of game I most like - BX or 1e D&D style, or roughly Heroic + Low-Mid Paragon in 4e.

Too many levels and the d20-based system tends to break down. If they used a d100 I guess they could move to a 100-level or even 150-level system: "Roll to hit AC 237"

 

[Moon_Goddess]

Trust me you don't want 100 levels,

We got the 2nd edition version of the Character Builder back in the day, don't remember what it was called, but it had the high level campaign rules in it, and we quickly stated up a 100 level wizard...

it was so stupid by the time we were done we didn't want to think about spells and never watned to look at that character again.

 

[Larrin]

20 should be the end goal for reasonable people, Its a good round number that most people shouldn't reach too easily (assume start from lvl 1). 10 is too shortm most classes are just picking up steam at 8-10, and at 15 they should start coasting into a comfortably powerful character who reaches lvl 20 and is as famous as he needs to be.

For the hardcore/silly/need-for-closure crowd going to 30 is a decent concession, but shouldn't be expected. Anything beyond that is likely to strain the games limits of gameplay, and be unnecessary for 98% of players

 

[Bullgrit]

In case it needs clarification: I'm not talking about a particular edition of D&D. I'm talking about D&D in general.

Bullgrit

 

[The Human Target]

Its doesn't need any.

But if you have to have em, I think 10-30 are fine.

 

[The Ghost]

Four levels minimum.

Nobody > Hero (local) > Hero (lord) > Hero (epic)

I think my ideal would be something like:

Level 1: Nobody
Level 2: Hero (local)
Level 3: Hero (local)
Level 4: Hero (lord)
Level 5: Hero (lord)
Level 6: Hero (epic)

 

[David Howery]

I don't think I was ever in a campaign that went beyond about 13th level or so... a lot of the fun in the game is working your way up from a fragile nobody into progressively tougher challenges. Once you hit 10th level or so, the risks start getting to be a lot less. So, once you start becoming near invincible, people start to get bored, and starting over with a brand new weakling is appealing...