Now that 3rd edition has been around for almost 2 years....

[S'mon]

And anyway, there's no law that states characters have to be 1st level when play begins. The last campaign I DMed (which was admittedly rather short), the PCs started at 4th. The next one will probably start at 3rd.

Oh no, I agree with Hong...



Yep, depending on your playing style you may well find that it's best to start PCs off at 3rd or even 4th level. In my own campaign world Ea, I recently twice tried to start campaigns at 1st level - and the party got crushed both times. I couldn't seem to reduce the inherent deadliness enough to make it survivable. Eventually I started the campaign with PCs of ca 4th-5th level (depending on XP allocation after transfer from another campaign - new PCs got half the XP total of their PCs from the other campaign) and this has worked great.
Also, when a new player who hadn't played 3e at all joined the existing campaign recently, he got to play a 5th level sorcerer who soon reached 6th level - fireball heaven!
He got to have a fantastic time and is now totally hooked. The hard slog up from 1st level might not have had the same effect. I do severely limit starting magic in my game - PCs start with gear of value equal to 'typical treasure for an encounter of their level' - 1200 gp for 4th level - enough to afford decent mundane kit, but not much in the way of magic - and I think this makes starting with higher-level PCs easier; I can run adventures for a couple of levels lower than their actual level and it works ok - advancement isn't too fast, the games are tough but survivable, and the magic gained remains fairly low.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

And anyway, there's no law that states characters have to be 1st level when play begins. The last campaign I DMed (which was admittedly rather short), the PCs started at 4th. The next one will probably start at 3rd.

Very good point that almost nobody ever makes. Everytime I see someone post about how their character has more skills and experience than is possible to create with D&D, I keep thinking "so why not start the campaign out with the PCs at 4th or 5th level?" Sometimes it seems the forest is lost amongst the trees...

 

[jasper]

What do you think strengths & weakness of D&D 3rd?

Strengths
Everyone levels at same time. I agree with others the level, spell system are what gives flavor to D&D. The skills and feats. Multiclassing and characters are more balance. Yes I know some of you hate the word but it is nice people can just a much fun with cleric, bard, (to pick the two most broken ones) as a fighter. Of course the people I play regardless of edition took the classes they wanted not the one with the most power. Speaking of balance none of my players are pick and choosing this that class at 1 st level for munchkin purposes. Your Mileage may vary on that.

Weakness.
Too much in connectivity. As some one has already stated drop AOO and you have to drop x,y,z.

Do you think D&D, or d20 system is a success or failure?
Both are a success.
In D&D most people I game with have switch over or stealing from 3 rd to place in 2 nd. Hey D&D has been in production for over 25 yrs. Some people are still playing the game they grew up with. How many of you still play the same game from your youth. Uno is the only other one I play from my youth that was not ancient when I was born. Ex chess, dominoes, poker.

The d20 system is like any other game platform, PS, PS2 , Game boy etc. Some good games some great, some horrible going to the $2.99 bin games.


Future of D&D and d20 system?

I see a 4th edition in the far future. Due the fact of number of optional books (at least they give Dms the option now), campaign worlds (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms) will increase until it becomes like the other editions needing 8 plus books for all the rules. Now whether the game system will pick up more players I DON?T know. Does any one out there have sales figures for PHB for all 3 editions vs. population?

As I state before the D20 system is like any other game system. Your quality control will vary with the vendor.


Side note for those who think D&D should drop the leveling, magic system etc. Please feel free to create you own fantasy game. I will gladly play test for you. Just don?t hand me a 100-page handbook of your house rules and expect me to call it D&D.