D&D 5E Zero Level Suggestions

[plisnithus8]

I'm running a new campaign with 3 players who want to focus on role-playing.

I asked them to build characters with these characteristics:

• 0 level
• human (or human variant)
• non-humans, classes, magic, and monsters are uncommon or rarer
• roll 3d6 for abilities, consecutive
• HP equals 4 plus Con mod (min 2)
• +1 proficiency bonus, can add +1 to any skills from background to give proficiency (along with your ability score modifiers).

A rat or 2 could mean death, so best to avoid most confrontations.
They have to find a mentor with a class if they want one.
It's a sandbox built with a beginning hook of they received letter and stagecoach to travel to reading of a will.
The city they travel to is based on is our real life city in order to help me quickly build setting and characters using local personalities and map/landmarks.

Anyone try something like this? Caveats?

 

[Xeviat]

Level 1 feels enough like level 0 to me. Why not build characters like normal, but only have background skills and only give out a 1d6 HD. Lower ability scores mean you'll have to figure out how to raise them.


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[plisnithus8]

Level 1 feels enough like level 0 to me. Why not build characters like normal, but only have background skills and only give out a 1d6 HD. Lower ability scores mean you'll have to figure out how to raise them.


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Players want zero-level restrictions as a constraint to challenge themselves.

 

[plisnithus8]

Level 1 feels enough like level 0 to me. Why not build characters like normal, but only have background skills and only give out a 1d6 HD. Lower ability scores mean you'll have to figure out how to raise them.


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Players want zero-level restrictions as a constraint to challenge themselves.

We're not talking about a grand adventure or dungeon crawl. This will be a noir-type campaign at least at first, trying to avoid thieves snd bar fights, etc.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Anyone try something like this? Caveats?

Yep, with my Rise of Heroes I did a couple years ago. You can tell by the preview (so no need to buy) the rules I used for 0 level characters.

 

[CTurbo]

I ran a level 0 Campaign in which we used a stat array of 14, 12, 10, 10, 8, 6 set in a world where monsters, magic, and other races besides human did not exist. Weapons were uncommon and usually only guards and criminals carried them. Backgrounds were rehashed into career path ie guard, farmer, laborer, blacksmith, teacher, noble, etc... and everybody got 2 skills that had to make sense with your career.

There were no official classes but I wanted everybody to choose a class that they would eventually go into so they could at least rp in that direction.

It was a lot of fun. I'd love to do it again. I highly recommend NOT rolling stats for something like this. Come up with a proper array so everyone will be on the same level.

 

[Elon Tusk]

I ran a level 0 Campaign in which we used a stat array of 14, 12, 10, 10, 8, 6 set in a world where monsters, magic, and other races besides human did not exist. Weapons were uncommon and usually only guards and criminals carried them. Backgrounds were rehashed into career path ie guard, farmer, laborer, blacksmith, teacher, noble, etc... and everybody got 2 skills that had to make sense with your career.

There were no official classes but I wanted everybody to choose a class that they would eventually go into so they could at least rp in that direction.

It was a lot of fun. I'd love to do it again. I highly recommend NOT rolling stats for something like this. Come up with a proper array so everyone will be on the same level.

That sounds very similar to mine.
None of my players are power gamers so the variety of player power makes them like it more.

 

[Valmarius]

I've got a low-magic campaign running where only one version of each class exists in the world, with their powers granted by magical relics.
PCs started out at level zero, before they acquired their relics and gained classes.

I started them as Variant Humans with 16,14,14,12,10,8, 6+Con Mod HP, 3 skills, and a feat determined by their background (which we established as a group in session 0)
When they got to level 1 they magically gained two skills (more for rogue/ranger), their class features and some more HP.

 

[plisnithus8]

I've got a low-magic campaign running where only one version of each class exists in the world, with their powers granted by magical relics.
PCs started out at level zero, before they acquired their relics and gained classes.

The idea of only one character per class is interesting. Hmm

 

[Valmarius]

Thanks!
Yeah, the party ended up choosing Pally, Bard, Cleric, and Wizard. So all the big bads and villains will be archetypes of the other classes.