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  #1  
Old May 21st, 2014, 02:50 PM
CAllensworth CAllensworth is offline
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First Level Campaigns

Do DMS here like doing 1st level campaigns, or do most prefer to start up 2nd level player characters?
  #2  
Old May 21st, 2014, 02:56 PM
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I have not done a game here yet. But when I DM I tend to like to start at 1st level. For me I like to see how the character develop over time rather than read an in-depth background.
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Old May 21st, 2014, 03:10 PM
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It's very dependent on the DM and the ideas they have.

I have a game I started at 1st level, because I wanted to take it slow, and let the players evolve. I've also DM'ed games that started at 4th, 5th, and 10th, because that's where the cool stuff happened, and I wanted to get there.

I don't think it matters, whatever level you start at, folks will be coming to play. Some love starting at the bottom, some love starting high, some love the middle. If you make a game, they will come.
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Old May 21st, 2014, 03:47 PM
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Different strokes for different folks. A lot of games start out at level one so that the story can develop from scratch, and the players can learn and grow together as a party. Higher-level characters should theoretically already have some renown, so there's a bit of a different dynamic, but you end up skipping some of the boring bits right at the beginning. Mages also tend to be rather weak in the early game, so a mid-level start allows for them to contribute a little more right off the bat. Alternatively, vanilla fighter-type characters tend to fall off at later levels, outclassed by the mages, so you have to try and strike a balance.
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Old May 26th, 2014, 04:43 PM
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Since I've joined this site, I've seen far more 1st level games on site than 2nd levelers.
Numerous people use low level modules, and those tend to start the PCs at 1st, that might have something to do with their frequency.

I've also seen more games start at 3rd and 5th than I have start at 2nd. Might have something to do with letting wizards and clerics and such start with higher level spells.
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Old Jun 3rd, 2014, 05:32 PM
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I would prefer to start as a level 1, but level 2 isn't that much different.
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Old Jun 5th, 2014, 08:43 PM
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I used to like the idea of starting at level 1, but more and more, I find myself drawn towards trying to run games of higher levels. There's just more variety. I suppose there's also a chance for more imbalances...but as long as people focus on the variety and the roleplay, games can generally work past that, heh.
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Old Jun 6th, 2014, 03:09 PM
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Dirk has nailed it down. I tend to plan for level after I have my concept. More often than not, my plans are a bit involved and thus I tend to start games at higher levels. Every now and again, I romanticize about taking PCs from 1 to 20. It's a fun thing to do sometimes.
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Old Jun 6th, 2014, 03:31 PM
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Old Jun 10th, 2014, 06:12 PM
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Starting out at level one allows you to develop a PC into either a preset molding of ones choice or, branch to new ideas that the PC may react to. Fears, beliefs, religion, etc. is best made from level 1.
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Old Jul 4th, 2014, 04:07 PM
Palthinon Palthinon is offline
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I ran a 3.5 game that I started my players as 1st level NPC classes. they earned a 2nd NPC level before going into PC classes/ I also made them roll roll 3d6 straight down the stat list, what you roll is what you get they also had to choose race BEFORE they rolled. They got to re-roll if their stat modifiers totaled 0 or lower. I ran that game all the way to 18th level. they still talk about that game fondly. I loved running. Some of the NPC level fun moments were the elf Adept shooting the dwarf warrior in the back, The parties carpenter/fisherman convinced everyone that a dragon is the war-form of dozens of Kobolds roused to great terror.

It was an incredibly fun campaign.
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Old Jul 24th, 2014, 04:34 PM
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I ran many campaign, and somehow I think level 1 is the more fun part of the game.

I prefer level 1 because the character really played throught all of the life of the character.

The only reason I start at a higher level is when my players rebel again me and say they want to be more powerful at the beginning or when i'm running an adventure that start at a higher level

There's not much difference between 1 and 2 anyway. It might just take few encounters to have your group progress to level 2.
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Last edited by MoonZar; Jul 24th, 2014 at 04:34 PM.
  #13  
Old Aug 1st, 2014, 06:59 AM
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I prefer to start things out at least at 3rd level, just to facilitate getting into the thick of things.

If I do a 1st level compaign, it'd be more centered around the fact the adventurers are really just starting out and would be geared to a particular narrative. For my average game, it's probably level 3-5.

Though that's mostly a GM standpoint because I find it easier to plan encounters. As a player I think I prefer starting at level 1.

Another reason I tend to start at higher levels is lately I've gotten into playing really short campaigns with a nichier premise, things that if we played at a table would be one or two weekers, that might be focused on a more higher level storyline and the players probably won't level up except maybe 1 or 2 levels.
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Old Aug 17th, 2014, 07:23 AM
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I find it strange starting games from anything but level one unless they are one shots just because I feel like I haven't played the whole game. That's just me though I definitely see the merit in beginning higher.
  #15  
Old Sep 6th, 2014, 02:08 PM
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I've always been a fan of level 5 starts. It lets the players feel like heroes, and gives the ST (usually me) a wider variety of threats I can lob at the players. It feels like from level 5 on the characters truly are special, and require less rails to survive and do well.
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