New players only at level 1?

[Blackwind]

My favorite approach would be this: The new PC starts at 1st level, as the apprentice/sidekick/little cousin of an established character, preferably the player who is bringing the new guy into the game -- someone who the new player is already friends with and who will be willing to teach them and help them out as they go along. The mentor character might also want to give the apprentice character some gear. If possible, it would also be good to let the new player and the mentor player complete one or two duo-sessions before having the new character join the rest of the party.

Starting at 1st level is always the most satisfying, in my experience, and doubly so for a first-time D&D player.

 

[Jdvn1]

I started level 1 in a party of 6th level characters, and the GM "magically levelled" me immediately because combats were ridiculous.

I think I came out okay, but maybe I was just D&D inclined.

 

[Technik4]

I think 3rd edition has caused a huge element of over-balancing and stressing balance between characters that was not present in previous editions. If the party is 8th level, there is no reason to introduce a new PC at 8th level (or even 6th, or 7th). First, that belittles your long-time players and their characters. Second, it is like spoiling a kid (the new player). They didn't earn the levels, the gold, or the items they are getting. Especially for new players, I think this is a bad approach.

However, at 8th level combat can be very messy. The periphery of battle could cause enough shrapnel to kill a neophyte character. Therefore, I would suggest starting at 3rd level. This gives a very good starting character that can still meaningfully help an 8th level party (albeit not much). Also, they will naturally gain experience quickly under the CR/EL system (or as a DM, you can simply arbitrarily level them up quickly). The key here is that a 3rd level character is still just starting out. With a couple high-level items they can contribute to the party and with reasonable experience (lets say they hit 6-7th level by the time the party hits 10th level) they can catch up though for a long time they will be beneath the general party's strength. Thats the price you pay entering an existing campaign.

If a long-time player died with an 8th level character in an 8th level group, I would be more lenient and allow them to re-enter at 6th or 7th level, depending on the concept.

 

[Engilbrand]

Get some of the people together for a 1st level side game. Play a few times like that and then bring him into the real game. I also second the person who says give them something easy. Fighter always works great, but I also advocate the Warmage. It's such a simple class. I never played spellcasters until I tried the Warmage. I still won't touch a Wizard/Cleric, though. Darn preparation fools!

 

[krunchyfrogg]

I personally like starting games at 2nd or 3rd level, for beginner players or veterans. I just think you get a more fun character this way.

 

[awayfarer]

Also, I'd suggest that whatever adventure you run, run it as if the group were two levels lower than they actually are. While it'll be an easy adventure for the experienced players, that's better than making a "normal" difficulty adventure, where the mistakes of the new characters could easily result in a TPK. QUOTE]

A while back my (then) roommate and I joined a new roommates game. We started at 3rd level while the rest of the group was around 10-12. The GM tried to put in encounters that were slightly lower level than the higher end PC's. The end result was that the higher level guys ran roughshod through these encounters and us 3rd level characters were either useless or got the crap kicked out of us. It was frustrating not only being useless at pretty much everything but seeing other folks take care of things with incredible ease. Anything taht was low enough in level for us newbies to contribute to was mopped up by the higher level PC's before we got a chance to do anything.

Starting players out with a huge disparity in levels is huge mistake.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

This calls for a 1-shot

I suggest running a 1 shot at a lower level to introduce the newb to the game, and let him pick whatever he wants. Keep it simple, and do not worry much about plot arcs.

Try to run at least 3 fights.

- One fight against 6 or 7 Kobolds.
- One fight against a Cleric + Sorcerer
- Have an Orc grapple him in combat.
- One fight against any non humanoid monster (Giant Spiders?)

Also set up a handfull of cannonical D&D situations
- A locked door that the players must get into
- An obstacle (cliff, river) that the players must traverse
- An NPC the players must interact with.

That should give the newb a reasonable amount of exposure to the kinds of things he might need to do in a D&D game.

If you have time, level him up by level 4 half way through the one shot.

Once the one shot is over, either let him roll up a level comparable character to the rest of the players, or let him carry over his 1 shot character.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[I'm A Banana]

Should be fine, especially if there's a lot of people there to advise her on what to do.

The key is going to be separating out all the options and finding the one that is cool and is effective. It can take a while to get that sense.

 

[axp_dave]

I think it is a big mistake to bring a 1st level character to the table in an adventure with higher level characters. Any combat the 1st level character is unable to contribute. A mage's magic missile isn't going to do much, a fighter can't afford to get hit once by a monster that can do 10 - 20 points damage per round, a rogue's 6 disable device ranks aren't going to do much on a real lock, etc.

It might make a great story, but living in fear of being killed by any range spell that goes off is not very fun. I believe the suggestions of side adventures or even starting at a little lower is a far better answer for the party and new player.

David

 

[Michael Morris]

lvl 1. have 'em roll 3d6 in order. str, int, wis, con, dex, cha
d6 for hps
3d6 x 10 for gps.

and go from there.

i do it all the time

Any DM in Any edition of D&D that would have one player play a 1st level character among 8th level characters needs to be kicked soundly in the crotch. The inevitable results amounts to hazing the noob, and that isn't good for the growth of the hobby.