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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 4726929" data-attributes="member: 2209">If a game assumes competent use of assets for success then it doesn't matter what level Joe plays if he is not competent at using assets. He will just die off his first couple of characters at 1st level instead of 10th if you start him there.It is only if you assume that higher level games require more competent use of assets than low levels that it makes a difference.A high level 1e fighter has a lot more hp than a low level one and can survive poor choices better than a low level fighter can.The bigger point though is that the game is designed for a group to adventure together.Say I'm an experienced player with a 10th level character and I want my friend Joe who has never played before to join our experienced D&D group full of other 10th level characters.Joe could create a first level character and do separate games with the DM until he is competent enough to join our group.Joe could create a first level character and join our group as is.Joe could create a first level character and we could all scrap our existing game to make first level characters with him.Joe could create a first level character and we could all scrap our existing game and make 2nd or 3rd level characters with him (we are better, more experienced players so the argument is we in fairness deserve higher level characters as a meritocratic reward)Joe could make a 10th level character and join us.Joe could make a 15th level character as a handicap for his inexperience and join us.I don't think the ideal solution is to send Joe off alone until he is as experienced as us. The goal is to have Joe join our game.Having Joe play a 1st level character alongside my 10th level one creates its own problems, either he can't handle mechanically what we are doing and risks dying at every turn, or everyone but Joe is taking on things way below our level and outshining him spectacularly constantly.Doing a campaign restart for the intro of a new player is not appealing to me. I like continuing ongoing campaigns and character continuation.Doing a restart with us flat out more powerful than him just seems to be a way to say to Joe explicitly that he is not equal to us in our judgment. This is a DM/group judgment and not dictated by the nature of default starting power and advancement in the game.If Joe comes in at 10th it is a little more mechanically complex than 1st level but he can join our game and decently contribute while learning the game.If Joe gets a huge handicap to overpower his character then that throws in all the problems of mechanically unbalanced dynamics and judgments in the group.As a communal group activity with the goal of enjoying adventures, fairness to me seems to be giving everyone in the group the opportunity to participate meaningfully in the immediate game. Fairness therefore does not seem to me to consist in granting the mechanical power to participate more meaningfully in the group's activities as a reward based on prior activities.</blockquote>

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