Would you play a D&D campaign without leveling?

[Sadras]

Yes. There are so many other facets that one can focus on in D&D besides class levels, other forms of progression and/or reward which exist.

Society Class Ranks (Burgermeister, Noble, Knight, Landed Knight, Baron, Duke..etc),
Church's/Guild's/Society's Ranks (includes Merchant Guilds, Rogues Guild, various Societies)
Acquisition of Titles, Land Ownership, General Wealth
Expanding a network and/or influence
Increasing Fame/Reputation
Strengthening one's Faith
Gaining Knowledge (new spells, archaeological secrets and otherwise, unravelling cosmological mysteries, location of forgotten relics)
Contact with Higher Powers or the Divine, earning their favour
Recruiting and Training of Henchmen, Protegè, Retinue
Completion of a multi-part artifact
...etc

 

[akr71]

No. Watching my character get better is fun for me and sometimes the story takes the character in directions I hadn't considered (like multi-classing).

But if it were a slow climb from level 5 to 10, I might consider it.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Probably not with D&D, no. D&D is build with leveling and the acquisition of new abilities for every character in mind. So many abilities and powers are designed relatively narrow under the expectation that the character will "fill out" by acquiring other abilities and powers through the leveling process.

If having a "static" character (mechanically) is meant to be a focus of a campaign, I'd rather use a system for which bumping up numbers through XP expenditure is a minor part and thus not using it is no great shakes. I can play FATE without ever feeling I need to bump any of my skills, so a "static" character mechanically in that game for me would be fine.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That being said... if there was a narrow or single facet of the game that didn't "advance"... like for example your hit points were a pool from a certain level, like 3rd, and your HP never grew while everything else leveled... that would be fine. Assuming the DM had worked combat out for themself to accommodate a set amount of HP per character that didn't get bigger, of course.

 

[Li Shenron]

Yes. There are so many other facets that one can focus on in D&D besides class levels, other forms of progression and/or reward which exist.

Society Class Ranks (Burgermeister, Noble, Knight, Landed Knight, Baron, Duke..etc),
Church's/Guild's/Society's Ranks (includes Merchant Guilds, Rogues Guild, various Societies)
Acquisition of Titles, Land Ownership, General Wealth
Expanding a network and/or influence
Increasing Fame/Reputation
Strengthening one's Faith
Gaining Knowledge (new spells, archaeological secrets and otherwise, unravelling cosmological mysteries, location of forgotten relics)
Contact with Higher Powers or the Divine, earning their favour
Recruiting and Training of Henchmen, Protegè, Retinue
Completion of a multi-part artifact
...etc

You don't even need to go that far...

How about these rewards:

- completing quests
- killing monsters and taking their stuff
- interacting with NPCs and building relationships
- hearing fantasy stories and contributing to them
- exploring dangerous locations and overcoming hazards
- saving people, towns, worlds and finally the universe
- finding magic items and other strange stuff
- problem-solving
- resource-managing effectively
- developing your own PC's story
- roleplaying with some gusto
- ...just surviving deadly encounters!

 

[Eltab]

"No levelling" is contrary to expectations for the D&D experience. If you want a sample of it, play Hoard of the Dragon Queen and go into detail for the merchant caravan chapter (L4).

However ...
Games like Traveller and Champions are built on that premise, and provide other rewards for adventuring.

 

[TwoSix]

I could certainly play in a game where my character doesn't level, but I don't think I'd want to play in a long term game where my character couldn't evolve or progress. So there would need to be some sort of progression system that isn't level based. Magic items, boons, downtime training, bonus feats (a la E6), etc.

Ideally, the game would be at level 11+, so the characters are already nearly fully developed.

 

[Draegn]

Our game is very different from a typical D&D game. We have house ruled, home brewed, added content and mechanics from other systems to develop our game. Levels grant divine miracles and powers for clerics, spells and additional slots for wizards. The difficulty was having an equivalent for the mundane characters, combat maneuvers, dirty tricks, extra edges, always seemed lack luster compared to a fireball or shape changing into another creature.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Sure, if it was a fun scenario/campaign.

 

[DM Howard]

Probably not, unless the story was VERY compelling. Games like Traveller? Definitely because there are different forms of progression.