What level do you start your campaign at?

[drnuncheon]

My longest-running campaign ever started at 3rd - but then, it needed to, because it only has two players.

I've started at levels from 1 to 15, and I generally think I prefer to start on the lower end of things - but sometimes it's nice to be able to build that Mage of the Arcane Order or Weapon Master without having to wait around for months to do it the 'long way'.

J

 

[Cor Azer]

I start at the big ol' level one whenever I can. I enjoy plotting adventures for low level characters, and I have a lot of fun building the events that shape the characters into the *ahem* well-oiled adventuring machines that they are.

 

[National Acrobat]

First!

We always start at first. There is just something about creating a character and their history from the beginning.

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

I voted for L 3-4. I like my PCs to be heros. Heros don't die from one lucky crit roll by the monster. At 3rd level, the PCs are starting to develop their powers - especially Divine and Arcane casters. I believe this this allows for more intersting foes.
I understand the "they (the players) should no the fear or 1st level." But, for me, starting at 3rd makes the story easier to tell and keep rolling.

that's fine. I vote for level 3-4 because I have started and finished a lot of campaigns because my PC's died in hands of orcs or goblins with a critical dice rolled. In fact from the 4 party PC's what start 3.0 only one achieve 5 level a halfling rogue that run away.

 

[just__al]

We've started higher before (IIRC, highest ~13th):

I think it can be difficult starting at higher levels if one or more players are not familiar with how the game 'works' at that level... IMO, a 13th+ level party that does not know it's own abilities will likely be more prone to fatality than a 1st level party... and it'll probably get bogged down in a lot of looking up of rules as well.

AMEN! We just wrapped up a campaign where we started at 12th level and worked our way up to 17th. Most of the people didn't have a grasp of how their character truly worked never mind the kinds of things high level characters need to do to survive. I think you really need to build your character up from the bottom levels to know what your capable of. At least until you really understand the system. I think I did OK, and the other "Playing DM" was doing fine, but everyone else was clearly in over their heads. I do have the distinction of having the only character not to die. That has a lot to do with being a wizard who took a fair amount of defensive spells and had a devoted defender for a cohort.

 

[diaglo]

level 1. if the PCs die the new characters start at level 1. if they retire the new characters start at level 1. if they want to play a new character concept they start at level 1.

everything starts at level 1. no exceptions.

 

[Zappo]

We start at whatever suits the campaign. I've started long-term campaigns at 1st, 5th and 10th, short-term at 3rd, 5th, 10th and 30th. Each campaign has a different flavor, a different story, and a different power level.

 

[Surreptitious]

I usually let my campaigns begin with 1st lvl players
Current campaign started with the players being lvl 2 in order to jumpstart the plot, give 'em a little more equipment and powers.

I once tried the opposite. I had planned a campign start, but scheduling was difficult and the first regular game was morethan a month away. I did a prequel with two of the players starting at level 0 (-500xp) by using the apprentice level rules for multiclassing. We played the old N4 treasure hunt tweaked to 3.0 before proceding to Under Illefarn. It was great fun, mostly because both players are quite experienced and saw the challenge of adventureing by their wits alone

 

[Wombat]

Wombat, I'm sorry to hear that. The very fragile state of life is what makes heroes into, well, heroes! Its not that they can survive the arrows from the Orc archers hanging out around the bend. Its that they chose to attempt to recover their dying comrade by charging into the face of a flurry of arrows, or that they outsmart the bow-bearing irritants and save their fallen fellow that makes them heroes. Conquering things that do not test us, or that is not out of our reach (whether truly so or not...) is not really the stuff of heroes. Do we cheer for the guy to whom which everything is easy? The brain who can do esoteric functions in his head without a glance when we can’t even figure out how to balance a checkbook? No, we cheer on the underdog, the guy who has to go through hell to reach the same heights or overcome the same challenges. Were you cheering on the bad guys in Die Hard or bruce willis and his one man ass-kicking parade?

Actually, the problems I have here with D&D are both mechanical and setting related. Consider: how do you create a viable 1st level adventure in an area and then logically also set up a higher level adventure? Do you mean that only a couple of Orcs are in the district and then suddenly someone realizes that there is a dragon there later? I find this incongruous. 1st level characters are so fragile that there is no way they can take on any serious opponents, yet vastly powerful monsters and perils then pop right after the removal of these pests, if the character is to advance further.

I think this also explains why, with D&D, I end up running fairly "short run" campaigns. I tend to start them at 3rd level and end them by 10th; below that is too "rules fragile" and above that the rules fall into the level of superheroes (and many rather silly monsters).

I find that other games have a less steep "power curve" for characters, that low power characters can take on moderate opponents if they are clever and that there are no ridiculously high-power critters on the other end. This is something I prefer.

So, in the end, my group feels that we are placed into this position, not out of want of heroism, but by the way the rules are set up. This is a rules issue, not a mythological issue.

 

[Li Shenron]

level 1. if the PCs die the new characters start at level 1. if they retire the new characters start at level 1. if they want to play a new character concept they start at level 1.

everything starts at level 1. no exceptions.

For curiosity, how many campaigns did your group play and how far in level have they gone? (and how often have you played?) I am not trying to joke, just seriously curious to know since you are known to be a hardcore fan of OD&D, and when I played it years ago we were quite feeling that character advancement was very slow. In fact, I later knew of a few players (from other gaming group) that basically played one or two years, then their PCs died, and since they were too frustrated to come back from level 1 they stopped playing at all.