Starting Levels?

[Neo]

For myself I wouldn't even consider running a D&D campaign where players started at anything but 1st... I really don't see the enjoyment or reasoning behind wanting to start at a higher level.

the only real reason I can see for wanting to do so is so players can get their cake and eat it straight away as opposed to earning thier abilities and items etc...

I'm sure their are other reasons for higher level start play, but its just not my thing, i like my players to earn thier levels, experience the things that make them 2nd, 3rd etc. level, have all that extra time in which they have grown and developed that character.

I would add however the only exception to the above rule I sue is if someone dies in game, we allow the replacement character to be 3 levels below the highest level party member. Even this isn;t ideal but for sakes of sheer survivability it is nonetheless necessary.

 

[S'mon]

While I like 1st level as a player, as a GM I find it tends to all end in TPK. So recently I've been starting PCs out higher than that, usually in the 4th-6th range. IMC, when a PC dies the player's next PC has 1/2 the previous one's XP total, ensuring death has a sting but doesn't ruin the game for that player. With no resurrection available either, and no XP for CR 1 encounters at 9th level+, the campaign has stayed in the 4th-9th range so far, which IMO is a 'sweet spot', although I'll be happy if they exceed 9th eventually.

 

[Lars Frehse]

The characters in my current campaign started out at level 0. Some of them started out as kids (one half-orc, two humans), and the elf and the halfling of the party started out as commoners without skills (later we simply substituted the commoner level with a level in their class.).

It worked out pretty well- this way the players have really played out a good part of their background stories. Also, it was nice to see how happy they were about all those kewl level 1 powers they received afterwards...

Oh, incidentally, you can read about these characters in my storyhour. Rather predictably, the storyhour starts with three kids and two commoners. Just klick on my link and you are there!

 

[trentonjoe]

As a DM, I pretty much refuse to start campaigns at anything other than 1st level. My current campaign has all ECL +1 and one lowly human. Instead of making the human 2nd level I just gave him some cool minor magic items and a free special ability.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It depends.

Level One gives you the "average guys thrown into wild events" idea. You can't be level one and have had any sort of real experience. Level one fighter is still "Town Guard Guy," level one Wizard is still "Mostly the Apprentice."

Levels 2-5 give you the "I've already done some cool stuff" idea. You can have an escaped slave, a rebel hero, an exotic creature, y'know, someone who isn't a nobody in the community, some stranger who already can command respect and who's probably tougher than much of the town guard. Y'know...HEROES.

Higher levels start to get wiggy...by that point, you're already extremely successful warriors. You're already famous for exploits and such. While there can be good things drawn from that point, you loose touch, because a good chunk of interesting things have already happened to you. It is, however, good for the epic world-saving plots, y'know, drawing the heroes from all corners of the world.

Epic levels are the next big "break," because you can start being superheroes of the world.

A lot of it is just "how do you see your character." If you want them to be relatively nameless when you begin, 1st level is best. If you want them to kinda know how to handle themselves, 2-5 is good. If you want them to be true heroes already, go after that.

 

[Terwox]

My current game started at 10th.
It was going to start at 15th, but I'm advancing rapidly to 15th -- using the time from 10 to 15 as a prelude, much like most of you use 1-whenever.
So far, I think it's working out well enough.
Just an alternative if you want to try starting higher, and still have a bit of time til people get used to the characters... also run a lot of backstory... yeah.
shrug

 

[laiyna]

Bad choices in the votes for starting levels. Most often used starting levels at higher levels is 4, 6, 8, 9 or 12. This not only for the stat/feat raise but also for the Sorcerer spell level.

Lai

 

[bloodymage]

One always starts at the bottom

1st. Always. One shots I only run with already established characters.