Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Players same level as Current Players?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 6818766" data-attributes="member: 6683613"><p>In general, I want characters to start at 1st level. I want to be able to see the arc of their adventuring career, not just handwave them as having one. Also, in my campaign, "adventurers" aren't a regular phenomenon and high-level characters are very rare, so it's something of a strain on verisimilitude for the party to just happen to run into a powerful hero whom nobody's heard of before and strike up an immediate friendship.</p><p></p><p>However, I see a potential distinction here between introducing a <em>new player</em> and introducing a <em>replacement character for a current player</em> whose old character has died or retired.</p><p></p><p>For replacement characters, my implementation has gotten a little bit involved. When not everybody can make it to a session, those of us who can run a "second-string adventure". Characters start in the second string at 1st level, but they level up normally, so when the time comes for them to move up to the first string they've got at least a few more levels under their belt. They've also got an established backstory and might even have met the other PCs before.</p><p></p><p>For new players... frankly, when my table composition changes like that I've always just taken that as an opportunity to begin a whole new campaign. <em>Everybody</em> is at 1st level. But if for some reason I wanted to add someone to an existing campaign, I might make an exception to my normal preferences and start them at a higher level. A current player has had the opportunity to level up their character in both the first and second string, and the opportunity to keep their first-string character alive. A new player hasn't had those opportunities, so it doesn't seem fair to act as if they had.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheCosmicKid, post: 6818766, member: 6683613"] In general, I want characters to start at 1st level. I want to be able to see the arc of their adventuring career, not just handwave them as having one. Also, in my campaign, "adventurers" aren't a regular phenomenon and high-level characters are very rare, so it's something of a strain on verisimilitude for the party to just happen to run into a powerful hero whom nobody's heard of before and strike up an immediate friendship. However, I see a potential distinction here between introducing a [I]new player[/I] and introducing a [I]replacement character for a current player[/I] whose old character has died or retired. For replacement characters, my implementation has gotten a little bit involved. When not everybody can make it to a session, those of us who can run a "second-string adventure". Characters start in the second string at 1st level, but they level up normally, so when the time comes for them to move up to the first string they've got at least a few more levels under their belt. They've also got an established backstory and might even have met the other PCs before. For new players... frankly, when my table composition changes like that I've always just taken that as an opportunity to begin a whole new campaign. [I]Everybody[/I] is at 1st level. But if for some reason I wanted to add someone to an existing campaign, I might make an exception to my normal preferences and start them at a higher level. A current player has had the opportunity to level up their character in both the first and second string, and the opportunity to keep their first-string character alive. A new player hasn't had those opportunities, so it doesn't seem fair to act as if they had. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Players same level as Current Players?
Top