Is it cheating to start a PC above 1st level?
- Thread starter dead
- Start date
Li Shenron
Legend
dead said:
My opinion is that 1st level is the most appropriate place to start when it is the first time the players are playing with a new ruleset: this way, they have characters with a limited set of abilities to choose from, which means that they can get used to the rules more easily. It is still the best level to start from whenever you are playing a new class, so that you get used to new features in a gradual way.
From the story point of view, the 1st level already takes into account some previous training or even adventuring of the characters: a Fighter is trained enough to use every martial weapon with ease, a Wizard already knows several spells, everyone can already have 4 ranks in a skill and know many languages, and so on. In fact, that's the reason why the 1st level in a core class is typicall the one which gives the larger bulk of features.
Furthermore, there are several players who like to use the "apprentice level" variant rules, because they think 1st level is already too much
. From this point of view, if 1st level PCs may be already in their 20s, there is nothing wrong IMHO to start playing with PCs in their 40s and perhaps 10th level... it just depends how the group of players feel about it, and is used to play that characters in that ruleset.Oscar carramiñana
First Post
NO CHEATING
start a campaign at 1st lvl is so bad
I started four campaigns at first lvl with an average of 5 players per campaign only 2 or 3 Pc's would survive. At 1lvl anyone can kill you, rogues,wizards,sorcerers are killed if the goblins win the initiative, any critical hit kill any PC until he achieves lvl 3-4.
I like start to play at 5th lvl.
start a campaign at 1st lvl is so bad
I started four campaigns at first lvl with an average of 5 players per campaign only 2 or 3 Pc's would survive. At 1lvl anyone can kill you, rogues,wizards,sorcerers are killed if the goblins win the initiative, any critical hit kill any PC until he achieves lvl 3-4.
I like start to play at 5th lvl.
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
There's nothing wrong with starting play at any level.
That said, I prefer starting at 1st:
* I find it's more fun, and challenging, to explore with characters who are but a sword's blow from death.
* Character growth from 1st level allows the player to build character history and background from adventuring experience, rather than by fiat.
* Characters tend to be more organic. Characters created at higher levels tend to be more min-maxed, as they didn't have to "survive" through lower levels.
That said, I prefer starting at 1st:
* I find it's more fun, and challenging, to explore with characters who are but a sword's blow from death.
* Character growth from 1st level allows the player to build character history and background from adventuring experience, rather than by fiat.
* Characters tend to be more organic. Characters created at higher levels tend to be more min-maxed, as they didn't have to "survive" through lower levels.
dead said:
From what I can see here everybody seems to be of roughly the same mind on this matter, and pretty much on the money. As long as you're not violating the core mechanics of combat, spell use, etc. you really can't 'cheat' in D&D. It's what works for the DM, the players, and the particular campaign idea that you have in mind that counts. Sometimes 1st level & onwards is just what the doctor ordered and other times you just need to get to the sweet spot somewhere in the middle.
Could it be that the player in question just isn't comfortable with building up the character flavor and background that is required for a character generated at higher levels. Maybe he is just set in his/her ways and is intimidated by change. We have one of those in our little group.
So much of our gaming hangs on DM diplomacy and player relations....sigh!
rushlight
Roll for Initiative!
IMC now, players who join (and there has been one) obviously create characters above 1st level. Actually, they create 20th level characters, since the majority of the party is 21st level. There is one player though who has kept his character from the beginning of the campaign - which started at pre-1st level. In fact, we began under 2e, and used a special set of rules so that the first session was conducted before the players had any adverturing ability at all!
Someone said that they didn't like starting at 1st level because the character had no background or history - and that is exactly the reason starting at 1st level is so fun. The character in my game that started pre-1st is Gunther Ferris. He's wizard who left his sorry teacher (with only a single spell!) in a tiny backwash villiage and is now 21st level. He has already saved the world once, accidentally killed the only god the world knew, trapped an evil demi-god in a stone obelisk, and caused an enemy from his teen adventuring years to become a lich (and now a demi-lich, over thousand years old) - whom he must still defeat. And yes, Gunther is also over a thousand years old - but he was imprisioned in a mountain for most of that time. Gunther has hundreds of stories to tell the newer players, one for almost every city or region they visit. He's like that old guy who begins every story with, "Back in my day, all this was different..." or "Did I ever tell you about the time we..."
That kind of depth and history cannot be written for a new character starting at higher levels. Perhaps you'd get close to that if you started at 3rd or so and went up to 20th - but even then, there's tons of stories in those first few levels.
Someone said that they didn't like starting at 1st level because the character had no background or history - and that is exactly the reason starting at 1st level is so fun. The character in my game that started pre-1st is Gunther Ferris. He's wizard who left his sorry teacher (with only a single spell!) in a tiny backwash villiage and is now 21st level. He has already saved the world once, accidentally killed the only god the world knew, trapped an evil demi-god in a stone obelisk, and caused an enemy from his teen adventuring years to become a lich (and now a demi-lich, over thousand years old) - whom he must still defeat. And yes, Gunther is also over a thousand years old - but he was imprisioned in a mountain for most of that time. Gunther has hundreds of stories to tell the newer players, one for almost every city or region they visit. He's like that old guy who begins every story with, "Back in my day, all this was different..." or "Did I ever tell you about the time we..."
That kind of depth and history cannot be written for a new character starting at higher levels. Perhaps you'd get close to that if you started at 3rd or so and went up to 20th - but even then, there's tons of stories in those first few levels.
Last edited:
MonsterMash
First Post
Not cheating, but less fun to my mind. I do prefer to start at lvl1 and work up (IMC it takes time as well as I use a revised XP chart with twice as many XP required to reach a level as the standard).
Exceptions - one shots or a new player joining an experienced party that's above level 2 or 3.
Exceptions - one shots or a new player joining an experienced party that's above level 2 or 3.
Similar Threads
