Low lvl vs High lvl? (character devolopment)

[Cake Mage]

Here is a question that came up in my gaming group. Is it easier/better to create and devolope character personalities at high lvl or low lvl? Also which is more dangerous to adventure at?

My standpoint is that its less dangerous to adventure at low lv and so character devolopement is easier and IMO more fun. You get to test the waters so to speak on what your caharacter can do in and out of battle and in that way you sort of create a name for yourself in and out of charater. I also find that if your character starts off at a low lvl/power and gain power of time he/she will be more memorable.

Thats my opinion, whats your?

 

[Krug]

Less dangerous? I think it's more dangerous! One critical hit and you're done for without enough gp for a raise dead. I think DMs fudge the most at low levels. I think the game is as dangerous as the DM wants to make it out to be. A band of kobolds could be lethal to mid-level chars if the DM so wanted it.

 

[Thanee]

Well, of course low-level play comes before high-level play, so it's just natural to have a character's personality fully develop (beyond the point of character creation, that is) during the lower level stage.

But all in all, I think the personality of a character, much like the personality of a real person, does change slightly over time and does so continually. Therefore both low-level and high-level play do have influence on the personality, altho the basic personality (except for rare circumstances) should be rather fixed after character creation already.

About the danger, I agree, that low-level play is much more dangerous. I only have a single high-level character in D&D, but she feels rather secure now, compared to the lower levels, because of all the protective and healing stuff around, which is just inaccessible on lower levels. Sure, the high-level opponents are extremely dangerous, but so are the characters.

Bye
Thanee

 

[laiyna]

Realy Low level is asking to die and start to wonder after each encounter why you did not die. (level 1 to 2)

Low level is having fun and be able to take a risk but still being afraid for about everything that walks around (level 3 to 4)

Mid level is having an unjust ego and asking your game master to teach that to you. (level 5 to 8)

High level is feeling strong and knowing that not to much can screw you up, but if things are starting to get screwed up you know there are going to be corpses (level 9 to 16)

DoH!! level is having fun screwing your gm with his RPG becouse he can't find encounters that are challanging till a TPK happens..... (level 17 +)

Laiyna

 

[Asheron]

My standpoint is that its less dangerous to adventure at low lv and so character devolopement is easier and IMO more fun. You get to test the waters so to speak on what your caharacter can do in and out of battle and in that way you sort of create a name for yourself in and out of charater. I also find that if your character starts off at a low lvl/power and gain power of time he/she will be more memorable.

I agree with ya............but I don't find running a character less dangerous at lower levels though. Sure you don't get the death spells, meteor swarms and the like against you but there's a whole other sort of danger that yoú will be facing at lower levels. A bunch of Kobolds could be deadly you know...........

But I agree with you that building up a low lvl character to a high lvl one is much more fun than starting with a mid lvl/ high lvl character. You see the character grow, you see him overcome obstacles, you see him face to face with death yet every time you see him come back and go on. I kinda miss that with high starting character I am playing. For instance I have a lvl 9 dwarven fighter I built up from scratch and he is one of my favourite characters you know. I also have a lvl 14 drow cleric I built up from lvl 10 and it just isn't quite as fun playing it as my dwarven fighter. Sure high level games are cool and I can see my character and his party members do massive damage on enemies I never dreamed of whilst playing the level 9 dwarf, but I am just missing something with my 14th lvl cleric..........................

Grz Ash

 

[Thanee]

Yes, starting a character in high level would more often lead to having a set of stats instead of a real personality, which you can develop from the start.

There's just missing something, if you don't really know where you got all those nifty goods and why you chose all those nice feats and abilities you have aquired.

High level created characters are sort of sterile.

Bye
Thanee

 

[John Crichton]

The above responses are all good. I only have to add that having a character start at a mid-high level means adding that much more history. As a player, I always try to explain the major adventures/deeds/etc. that got me to where the character is when play begins.

I expect the same thing from my players when I DM. If they need help I always give it, of course. This equals much longer character generation sessions (esp. for characters of 7th level and higher). Low level characters are a generally quicker to make using this method.