What level do you generally start your campaigns at?

[Tsyr]

Third... Lets the characters customize their characters just a touch, lets wizards theoreticly take more than one hit to be killed, and gives players just a bit more oomph... overall a fun-factor thing. And since I slowed leveling down, the players like the boost.

 

[VorpalBunny]

Pretty much always 1st level.

 

[Angcuru]

I really have no clue as to what level I'm starting my players off at when I run my FR campaign. It's either 2nd or 3rd level, since I want them to be able to play any multi-class concepts from the beginning, yet I don't want them to be TOO powerful to start.

 

[Olive]

I really have no clue as to what level I'm starting my players off at when I run my FR campaign. It's either 2nd or 3rd level, since I want them to be able to play any multi-class concepts from the beginning, yet I don't want them to be TOO powerful to start.

why don't you start them at first, and use the aprentice multiclass rules from the DMG?

 

[I'm A Banana]

I like 3rd - 5th, usually.

3rd if I'm going for the 'You've just graduated Adventurin' School with your BA in Orc-Whipin'!' feel. 5th if I'm going for the 'You're already heroic types' feel.

First only if I want them to start ignorant, confused, and vulnerable...which is often quite fun.

 

[Ave Rage]

3rd level.

wizards get a few second level spells as well as more (desperatly needed) HP. A cool character concept shouldn't be wasted because some creature tapped him on the shoulder.

Like previously posted, 3rd level provides everyone with one more feat which lets more customization come into play.


I started a game with a lv.3 wizard and got slammed for 8 dmg. I happened to have nine hp's at the time! It took a long while for me to get a character concept I felt I'd like to take to lv.20 and even though creating a new character is fun, I'd more than likely make a fighter (or cleric) if just for the staying power.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Always 1st Level.
I like the players to grow with their character and with such low HP it helps show how some foolishness can get you killed.

Also since my players are new to D&D and they try different classes it lets them see how each one is different from the beginning.

 

[Desdichado]

2nd or 3rd. I like to let players develop their character concepts just a bit beyond 1st level as they start, but still give them lots of room to grow. I also like to run much slower than normal advancement, so leaving them at 1st level for a long time probably isn't a great start.

 

[S'mon]

As DM I couldn't seem to keep 1st-2nd level 3e PCs alive in my game world, when we started at 4th it finally went ok, so that's what I voted. I'm used to an 'environment' design approach - ie I create the world first, with areas of different power levels, before the PCs come along. I find with 3e that the power gradient is so steep though, it seems impossible to create plausible first level 'heroic' scenarios - 'save the village', 'destroy the evil cult', that kind of thing, because any plausible threat (say, a 3rd level evil cleric) can easily trash a 1st level party. So I agree with those who find that starting at 3rd seems to work best.

edit: typo

 

[Tsyr]

The other reason I use 3rd it is lets most of the +ECL races that players are interested in taking be a valid choice from the get-go, rather than having to make a new character later in the game.