What level do you start your campaign at?

[Gort]

I always start at level one as well. The higher the level you start at, the less organic characters become, and the more of an optimised stat munch.

Here is an anecdote about a game of Star Wars I played in...

Okay, there were about four of us, and the party was as follows:

Me, a first level noble, my gungan bodyguard, a first level soldier, a first level scoundrel, and someone I can't remember.

Now, the plot ran thus: First scene, my dad gets blown up by a rival, and I'm forced to flee. We then spend the next few adventures working as mercenaries, with the intention of putting a bounty on the bad guy. So, since I've spent these adventures fighting, and not really doing any noble stuff, I stick a couple of levels of soldier onto my character. The other guys take a level in their classes, and it's cool.

We carry on. We deal with the current problem, and come across some Jedi ruins. Being the smartest, I study what we find, and take a level or two of jedi.

So my character is now a noble 1/soldier 2/jedi 2. Very interesting character, good backstory, not at all useless to the team.

At this point, the player playing my bodyguard decides he doesn't like his character any more, and makes a 5th level jedi, optimised for the class.

I felt a bit put out... Maybe I'm selfish, but it felt a bit like roleplaying for days to gain something cool, then someone just makes a character who has the cool thing, but his cool thing is a cool thing squared.

This is why I like characters who haven't been built to a higher level.

 

[Pseudonym]

I started my FR campaign at 3rd level, to allow for a bit more survivability and to let players take advantage of some of the lower ECL race options if they wished.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Usually 5. I like characters who've established themselves in the world. Though if I feel the need to run a campiagn where the PC's are just nobodies caught up in the events, I'll start at 1st.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

At this point, the player playing my bodyguard decides he doesn't like his character any more, and makes a 5th level jedi, optimised for the class.

I felt a bit put out... Maybe I'm selfish, but it felt a bit like roleplaying for days to gain something cool, then someone just makes a character who has the cool thing, but his cool thing is a cool thing squared.

And building a character up from low level generally creates a more memorable character, one the typical player is prouder of. Like the old Smith Barney commerical: "We eeaarrnned it."

Put me down for level 2 or 3, depending on the players and the campaign.

 

[Scotley]

DMS: What level do you start your PCs at for a campaign? Not just "one-shots" or such, but true "long-term" campaigns.
And why.

With the advent of 3e DnD, I've been starting at level 2. It gives the players a chance to build a character with a reasonable backstory and allows them to start out with a +1 ECL race or 2 classes. In the past we've been first level almost every game. I like the chance to see the characters grow and with the rapid advancement of 3.xe low levels are passed very quickly as it is, so I don't start them off at 3 or 4. It seems to be the best ballance for us between options and starting as low as posible.

Scotley

 

[Umbran]

I tend to start at 1st level (or whatever the game uses as a starting character). My games are, for the most part, about character development. And those first few levels can be key, both in terms of role-playing, and in terms fo the player getting used to their character abilities.

 

[Thanee]

We used to start at level 1, now we start at level 2.

The reasons are, that at this level you can already start out multiclassed (i.e. easier to explain the classes in the character background) or with an ECL+1 race without any XP differences or apprentice rules.

Also the double hps at start are quite welcome. Level 1 hps are really pathetic.

Still, level 2 is not much difference to level 1, so the character can still be considered new. You still get to live into the character, something you cannot really do, if you create them at pretty high levels.

Bye
Thanee

 

[DragonLancer]

I always start at 1st level and work up from there.

My players and I prefer this. One of them mentioned that if you start higher than 1st then you lose a connection to the character as you haven't played it all the way from the beginning to see the development, and I quite agree.

 

[Aristotle]

I almost always start at 1st level. I love low level play! I don't see it as any deadlier. I've killed 1st level characters with lucky hits and I've killed 5th level characters with lucky hits. The encounters scale with the level.

I've been known to actually reduce XP awards through the first 5 to 10 levels to keep things in that range longer. I like high level play too, but if I have a say I'll keep things low level as long as I can.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I don't start games at any set level every time. Sometimes 1st...sometimes 3rd, even 10th sometimes. It really all depends on the kind of campaign I want to run, and I enjoy DMing for all levels just as my players like playing all levels.