Starting Levels?

[cybertalus]

It really does depend on the campaign. Characters advance so fast in 3E that for a campaign of any length I prefer to start at 1st or 2nd level to have enough time to fit all the storyline in.

The campaign I'm planning up now will start in the 4th to 7th range, but it's more short term, meant to last about 6 months of game time.

As a player, if I'm playing a class I've not played before, I like to start at lower levels to give me time to figure out how to play my character effectively. If I'm playing a class I've done before, my preference is to start a little higher.

 

[jmucchiello]

Unless trying to do something high-level (You are all barons in a kingdom. Make up 10th level characters), first level is best. Those first couple levels go by so fast anyway.

Joe Mucchiello
Throwing Dice Games
http://www.throwingdice.com

 

[tburdett]

3rd or 4th level is where we usually start.

 

[John Crichton]

i voted 3rd, but...

I have been starting my PC's off at 2nd so if they like they can play one of the ECL+1 races in my campaign.

But typically I like 1st. Others have already made excellent points so I'll just recap: Goes by quick (using standard rules), more sense of ownership & ability to create a new character if the current one isn't working with the group.

 

[bwgwl]

i like 1st level, but 2nd level is good for players who want to use ECL +1 races or wish to start off multi-classed without using the horrid "apprentice-level" rules in the DMG.

 

[cofbaron]

For my first time DMing, I ran a one-shot dungeon crawl last night to get a feel for being behind the screen, with the PCs at 9th level. The dungeon itself I wrote up in less than a day, and while I wouldn't say I was trying to kill the characters, I did want to get a "feel" for the CRs . Some of the things I discovered last night:

1. Orcs are not a challenge for a 9th-level fighter with Great Cleave. Even if you surround him with 30 of them.

2. Stone Golems are pretty tough.

3. Especially when, one round into combat, the fighter goes and tries to open a magic-radiating treasure chest, only to find out too late that it's a mimic.

I will be starting my "real" campaign in about a week or so at fourth level. This is because, in my experience as a player, there is a much narrower margin of error when considering what a 1st-level party can handle, as opposed to one of higher level. Once I get more experience, I might change that, but for now I'd rather err on the side of caution.


Cecil

 

[Xarlen]

I voted for 5th.

When I started DMing, I was afraid if I set them too low, any challange I put them up against I'd kill them. 1st level characters are Fragile. This let the party get their booms, have some back history, and start facing tougher monsters right off the bat.

This also allowed for back stories that spanned a little farther, and have parts of their past that the other group wouldn't know about, in their earlier carreers. If they started at 1st level, everyone would've known about it allready, because there would've been no adventuring forthwith.

Though, I wouldn't mind starting something at 3rd.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

i like 1st level, but 2nd level is good for players who want to use ECL +1 races or wish to start off multi-classed without using the horrid "apprentice-level" rules in the DMG.

Horrid???

Those rules are GREAT. I use them regularly whenever I can convince a DM to let me do so. We generally like to start at 1st level, I generally like to multiclass, and it is always a struggle for me getting the DM to let me use the apprentice level rules.

One would think you could also use them for ECL+1 characters-- race + the "half level" benefit listed in the DMG. Go ahead and give them all of their racial abilities, but they'll need 1000 xp to hit second level and get the rest of their class benefits.

Wulf

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

I voted 0 since my PbEM will have the pcs start at that level. I'm using TReasure Hunt to get the ball rolling in a Greyhawk world. Otherwise it's 1st since I like the others who said 1st like the quirks and foilbles you get at the lower levels that translate into something higher up.

 

[Melkor Lord Of ALL!]

3rd, mainly because average being in my campaign is between 3rd-5th level, for example average Orc is 3rd level Warrior, and average Commoner a 4th level one.