Level one...hero or schlub?

[Celebrim]

I can't imagine ever playing a D&D character afraid of housecats - which game are you referring to here? In earlier editions, I can sense a wariness versus combat at low level but I can't imagine a combat involving a housecat.

One of the campaigns I want to have oppurtunity to run begins with exploring the house of a crazy cat woman and being attacked by her house cats. And its intended to be very much high heroic fantasy.

That said:

As far as the topic, being afraid of housecats at L1 is not heroic.

No, I disagree. Being afraid of housecats at L1 is not realistic, since in reality even ordinary schlobs have better than good odds againsta house cat. If your system has a house cat problem, it points to serious flaw your system has with small numbers.

D&D's inability to model things smaller than a 1st level character well is a rules issue, but it doesn't have much to do with whether or not your 1st level character is heroic because if you have a housecat problem as a 1st level character then chances are lots of things in the system have a house cat problem. House cats according to the statistics of the game are these lethal killing machines capable of killing things 40 times their own weight, and likely as not to kill seasoned warriors if one is unfortunate enough to be caught without heavy armor. That's the problem here, and not that the 1st level character is really meant to be weaker than a house cat. The problem is that the house cat may as well attack things 40 times its own weight, because it has about as much chance against them as it has against a rat and can eat longer on them.

 

[S'mon]

For D&D and other adventure games: Hero, either novice hero or veteran hero, but definitely superior to the average schlub.

I've played an average schlub in a game where there was no combat, we were I think time travelling passengers on The Titanic, that was ok. But not for D&D type games.

 

[Kzach]

Because I grew up on earlier versions, things were a little more open in terms of where you could "place" your 1st level characters at the start of a campaign.

So did 9/10ths of the 109,710 registered gamers on this board, dude. Yet check my sig.

 

[delericho]

I prefer first level characters to be distinctly a cut above the norm, but not by much. IMO, they should be about equivalent to an elite team (or mercenaries, agents, or whatever).

I also like to take the view that the thing that sets PCs apart from the norm is largely a matter of choice. Many people find themselves with the opportunity to be heroes, but it's only by embracing that destiny that they attain 1st level and become PCs.

So, to give a couple of examples from film:

Luke Skywalker becomes 1st level at the point where he returns to Ben, and says, "I want to come with you. There's nothing for me here now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

Samwise Gamgee becomes 1st level at the point where he stops and says, "This is it. If I take one more step, it's the furthest I've ever been from home," and then he takes that step.

And Neo becomes 1st level when he takes the Red Pill.

To me, that's 1st level. (I should probably note: none of these characters stay 1st level for long.)

 

[Bluenose]

How long does it take for your character to be allowed to practice their 'craft' (arcane magic, divine magic, thievery, fighting, whatever) without having someone around to supervise you? How skilled should you be at the end of that period? That's how skilled I want my level 1 characters to be.

 

[Jhaelen]

I generally prefer playing the hero (also in terms of 'realistic' character development, I feel it's more believable if I start somewhat proficient). But I really enjoy playing the 'schlub' (what does that mean, anyway?) from time to time.

I'm getting the best of both worlds when playing troupe-style Ars Magica:
I get to play the lowly grogs, experienced companions, and powerful magi, sometimes all of them in the same session!

 

[Kzach]

How long does it take for your character to be allowed to practice their 'craft' (arcane magic, divine magic, thievery, fighting, whatever) without having someone around to supervise you?

In my opinion, about 2-3 years of fairly dedicated effort, or 5-6 years of casual effort (which is where I'd put most people's devotion to given other duties during a standard day). Someone who is intensely talented or devoted with a great teacher could probably get away with about a year of training, but that would be a pretty special case in my opinion.

Luke Skywalker becomes 1st level at the point where he returns to Ben, and says, "I want to come with you. There's nothing for me here now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

I wouldn't give him Jedi levels until after he says to Anakin, "Father... I won't leave you!" Then again, I'd make Jedi a prestige class or paragon path or whatever. As for 1st-level, he doesn't really earn that until he escapes from the Death Star, and even then I feel that was a movie-contrivance to push the plot forward; nobody has that much natural talent in anything.

Samwise Gamgee becomes 1st level at the point where he stops and says, "This is it. If I take one more step, it's the furthest I've ever been from home," and then he takes that step.

Again, I wouldn't give them 1st-level until, at the very least, after their training just before the wraiths hit them. And again, even then that's a massive short-cut just for the sake of the plot.

And Neo becomes 1st level when he takes the Red Pill.

Neo never had 1st-level. He went from schlub to maximum level literally overnight. And then he jumped to god-hood.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I want my first level PCs to be barely over the threshold into "journeyman" status. They are no longer "apprentices" that can't be trusted unsupervised. But they are far from claiming any kind of "full guild member" level, let alone "master" status.

It is not an accident that starting ages are usually in the 16-21 range. This more or less corresponds to the "journeyman" period in medieval guilds (though it wasn't always called that--sometimes "journeyman" meant more of what I have above as "full guild member"). But whatever the label, there is an age and training between apprenctice and "fully functioning member of the craft" that is recognized.

I think that this journeyman, unless he is particularly reckless or stupid or unlucky (e.g. in the direct path of the orc invasion) should have a decent chance of surviving to get more experienced. If the system doesn't allow that, then my issue is with the system rather than the starting abilities.

 

[Barastrondo]

Well, what's the campaign about? Is it heroic adventure, cynical gold-grubbing in dungeons, character-driven, external pressures-driven, heavily wilderness, heavily urban, high magic, low magic? Is it inspired by Howard? Tolkien? Moorcock? Leiber? CS Lewis? CA Smith? Sabatini? Malory? Mieville? Boiardo and Ariosto? Weis and Hickman? Martin? Dunsany? Hughart? Guanzhong? Gaiman or Pratchett? Skallagrimsson or Sturluson?

What I want is pretty much dependent on context. If we're running a take on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it would feel really out of place to play a schlub: don't promise me the chance to play the next Zhang Fei and then hand me the character sheet for Yellow Turban Mook #5762. On the other hand, if we're mining the nostalgia veins, it'd feel pretty weird to be handed a pregenerated sheet for "Black Dougal" and discover that by the stats he's really more of a "Gray Mouser."

 

[d2OKC]

I take it character by character, usually. For me, personally, I like to consider my 1st level characters as highly capable, but unproven. My players all seem to have a different opinion:

Sid, the Goliath fighter, had been on several misadventures previous to the start of the campaign, and had lots of stories to tell to the other characters.

Pilindor, the Elf ranger, was experienced for his field, but for anything other than "ranging" was not up to par with most of the other characters.

Bharhash, the Dragonborn warlord, had actually led a squad into battle once, and was promptly discharged for leading them to their deaths.

Cherith, the Half-elf bard, was the son of a noble family and all of his powers came from studying. No real-world experience to speak of.

Peng, the Human monk, was fresh out of the monastery.

All very different, but they meshed pretty well together.

The biggest thing, in my mind, is that the story is the only thing that matters. It's kind of meta, I guess, but whatever happened before had no bearing on the story I wanted to tell. As long as the players liked the concept and it didn't stretch the believability scale too much, I don't think it's all that important. Once you start doing heroic things (i.e. actually making a difference with your actions) is when you start gaining levels/making a name for yourself/becoming a hero.