What would you consider "name" level in d20?

[Gentlegamer]

I'm an old school AD&Der who has played d20 and is thinking of renewing a long standing campaign, converted to d20.

While d20 has many similar elements to AD&D, it is quite different, especially in character power and level advancement. What d20 experience level would you consider to be "name" level?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Not really a Rules question... I'll move this to General.

-Hyp.
(Moderator)

 

[Crothian]

It is got to be high level like 16.

 

[TerraDave]

Yes, higher then 9 or 10. Faster advancement and the fact that higher level play really is suported both call for a higher level--back in the olden days, levels beyond 10 where sort of like Epic Levels now (only less balanced).

16 is high, 14 or an unlucky 13, maybe 12, though that is about as low as you could go. Being able to Raise Dead is just not enough any more.

 

[AuraSeer]

I think of "name level" as the point at which the PC has made a name for himself in the adventuring industry. His deeds and reputation are such that he can believably build a stronghold, found a temple, take over a thieves' guild, or some such. The timing of that depends on the gameworld.

A high-powered world like FR has tons of upper level characters, quite a few epic ones, and even avatars of the gods themselves. A newcomer must be very impressive himself to get noticed. Name level there will be very high, probably in the 17 - 20 range.

Something like Eberron, on the other hand, doesn't have nearly as many uber NPCs running around. The most powerful warlords, high priests, and whatnot may be no higher than level 15. In such a world, I'd put name level at around 10 to 12.

 

[Rhun]

I'd say 12-14.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

I kinda treat 10th level as a sort of "name level". As I build my campaigns, I try to build a sense of identity into the characters' roles in the world that truly comes into play at about 10th level, giving them a sense of self that is easily attributed to the level of capability and notoriety that they have attained at this point. I also tend to treat this as kind of a natural breaking point between those characters throughout the world who have achieved a sense of themselves at such a scale and those whom people might consider truly potent... i.e., there are far fewer NPCs above 10th level than below it.

As an old-school (A)D&D player, I've just never been able to shake the idea that the point of advancement somewhere around 9th or 10th level should be appropriately treated as a sort of benchmark....

 

[Nifft]

IMC, even though it's high-power and high-magic, 10th level is still "name level". If you get to 10th level in a PC class, you are a Someone. Most NPCs have several levels in NPC classes, and most people are around 10th level total.

-- N

 

[dcollins]

I would also say 10th. Perhaps up to 12th (that's what the DMG specifies as the start of "high levels", Chapter 5: Transition from Low to High Level).

 

[der_kluge]

I'd say that it depends on the campaign world. It might 15th/16th for something like Forgotten Realms, but probably a lot lower for something like Grim Tales.

I'd also suggest that you make at least 2-3 names per class. While 1e had names at every level, many of which might be contradictory for your class (myrmidon, for example), having more than one name would help establish some sort of informal ranking system. You could have orders for Wizards based on the levels of spells they could cast. So, a Wizard of the 9th order could cast 9th level spells. I'd use the 1e books to find some names that generated an evocative feeling.

If I were to do this, I'd probably create a name at 5th level, a name at 10th level, and another name at 15th.