Low-levelled newbie

[TheAuldGrump]

One level is not that big a deal - not what I do in my games, but not a big deal.

For my game the new character is at the minimum XP for the lowest level in the party. There is seldom more than a two level difference between the highest and the lowest level characters.

I have been in campaigns where everybody started at first, no matter the current level of the party. It was not fun, especially in a campaign where the GM had decided that it wasn't 'challenging enough' to give XP unless a PC died. With a first level character around this wasn't a problem, somebody always died, but the first level character never got beyond first level.... The NPCs that the party hired would be higher level.

The GM was also math challenged, and could not grasp that the numbers didn't mean what he wanted them to mean. That a first level character was not likely to survive a 10 die fireball, even if he made his save....

The Auld Grump

 

[Elf Witch]

I haven't tried it with higher levels than 5th, except as a one-shot "guest star" character (who took a high ECL monster race anyhow).



I don't think I made that claim. Anyhow, how your first ever D&D character -- which is what I mean by a true newbie, and I've introduced the game to a lot of people -- I do think 1st level is the best way to start.



I've seen it work, but only from old-school Greyhawk to a different old-school Greyhawk game.




I can think of 5 PCs in my two current campaigns who started this way. I've never seen a problem with it. But in every case, the NPC wasn't all that well known to the PC's anyhow, and I thoroughly brief the new player on every interaction the other players had had with the NPC.

I have to agree with a total newbie starting at first is the easiest you don't have that many choices to make during combat if you are playing a magic user you don't have as many spells to deal with.

I played in a game where the DMs wife wanted to join us she was a total noob she had never even played video games. We were 12 level and he made her a 12 level character. She was so lost she found the game to complicated. She quit after two sessions out of frustration. I invited her to play in a game I was starting and she agreed to try it She found it so much easier and still plays seven years later.

If the NPC is not well established then I can see how it can work. The few times we did it , it was with well established NPCs. We joked around that it was like the character had been possessed by a another entity.

 

[Janx]

I think this general idea also stemmed from the fact that resurrection spells used to have penalties like gold cost and a loss of Con back in 2nd Ed.

So when a character died, many DMs set up a choice like:

1. Have your current character resurrected at the same level, minus some gold, and missing 1 point of Constitution.
2. Make a new character, but she starts one level lower.

This made the time and effort of getting a character resurrected seem like a better alternative to simply rolling up a new character. And then to go along with this, completely new players just started in with option 2, to match an existing player rolling a new character.

Maybe in your game, no one rolls new characters very often, so you've forgotten why the practice started.

This is what I assumed the practice was for. You can get raised or roll a new PC. one should not be grossly better than the other.

Starting over at level 1, while the XP system may allow you to catch up (getting a share of the higher level's XP will do that), the threats will probably get you killed because they do more damage than a 1 HD PC can have in HP.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I have to agree with a total newbie starting at first is the easiest you don't have that many choices to make during combat if you are playing a magic user you don't have as many spells to deal with.

I played in a game where the DMs wife wanted to join us she was a total noob she had never even played video games. We were 12 level and he made her a 12 level character. She was so lost she found the game to complicated. She quit after two sessions out of frustration. I invited her to play in a game I was starting and she agreed to try it She found it so much easier and still plays seven years later.

Oooh... Yeah 12th level is NOT the place for a total newbie to start. XD

Alright, well the whole group talked it over, and I brought in this thread and we looked at all the reasons you folks have given. We eventually agreed on a few things:
- Most of the practice was a holdover from previous editions.
- None of the current players would feel cheated or insulted if the new guy got to skip the early levels and start at the same level as the rest of us.
- Nobody felt that 'earning your levels' was enough reason to give him a weaker character, even if a 1 level gap isn't really a big deal.
- He knew the system well enough that starting about 1st level wouldn't make things difficult or confusing for him.

So his character was brought in at the same level as the rest of ours, and we pulled an all-nighter dungeon crawling and couldn't have had a better time of it.

 

[was]

congrats..sounds like a solid group

 

[haakon1]

If the NPC is not well established then I can see how it can work. The few times we did it , it was with well established NPCs. We joked around that it was like the character had been possessed by a another entity.

Also, there are a lot of NPC's in my campaigns, so the PC's typically have anywhere from 3 to a half dozen that are appropriate levels and nearby-ish, to choose from. So, the player can choose an NPC that's interesting to them and go play it.

 

[haakon1]

As a DM I ensure all characters are the same level - even absent characters level up with everyone else.

I give a 100 xp bonus (this is 3.5e XP's) per session for showing up, but if you don't, someone else will run your character for you, and the character still gets XP. No one has fallen behind from this, as who can't make it tends to vary, and 100 xp is more token than significant.

In my email game, I give significant XP for using skills and for role playing, so if you're slacking off, you may fall behind.

 

[Elf Witch]

If a player is absent and I have a way of taking them out of the action then I do that and they don't get any XP. But if there is no way to explain their absence then one of the other players play the character and they get full XP because they take the same risks as everyone else.