Campaign Level?

[Olethros]

Most of the conversation regarding character builds/power balance on the forum very frequently seems to end up discussing characters in the late game stages. Atleast level 15, and usually higher.

My question is, how frequently are people actually playing games with characters in this range? (say lvls 15+)

If you are playing high level characters frequently, what level did you start play at? How long did it take to to play a character up to high level?

From personal experience, the highest level I ever got a character who started at 1st level was 10 before the gaming group broke up and played other things. That took about a year of roughly weekly games, with some weeks skipped and the like. So you can see how I am bewildered by the volume of discussion focussed on the late stages of play (lets not talk epic stuff right now, I can't even fake understanding).

[Toliudar]

Personally, my pnp games have started as low as 1st level and as high as 5-6th level. Progression has usually been 1 level per 5-6 sessions, and we've usually wound up the story arc or caught a hankering for a new campaign by around level 10-13.

For play by post, I've only had one campaign that has advanced more than one level from where we started - there seems to be a very high campaign mortality rate here.

[Saph]

I think most people are like you - they play at low levels. I do, too, and so do all my gaming groups. I was thinking of doing a poll on it, just out of curiosity - something like 'what level do you usually play at?', the answers being 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 16-20. My guess is that most people would answer in the first two categories.

As for 'why do people spend so much time talking about high level characters' - it's much easier to do game-breaking and incredibly unbalanced things at higher levels, and for some reason that's what a lot of people seem to like to talk about. Don't ask me why.

- Saph

[Fixer]

Alas, the highest level character I have ever been able to play was 12 and he started at 3.

I have run a campaign where the players went from 1 to 21 before everyone moved (although I will admit to some DM fiat to move their levels from 15 to 20 in a hurry).

[Charity]

True that Tol, I like to start at first and get out before the caster crazyness goes too far ~12-15.
I have never advanced a level in a pbp here or indeed on the other site I visit.
*grumble moan*

[ravenkith]

I've got to be honest: I've been playing 14 years and have taken only three characters past level 15, despite playing many different campaigns in the D&D world.

I still like debating the power of various high level concepts though I now try to maximize my power somewhere between levels 7-12, as that seems to be where most games peter out for my group.

I've never done epic level, although my 17th level arcane archer was looking forward to shooting everything within range every time he attacked before that game died.

[Tallis]

Campaigns I've played in usually start between levels 1 ans 3. Most never get off the ground, but the ones that do generally end arround level 10. The longest I've gone is to level 14, though my current campaign just hit 13, so I'm hoping to break the record.

[ZekeArgo]

I think most people are like you - they play at low levels. I do, too, and so do all my gaming groups. I was thinking of doing a poll on it, just out of curiosity - something like 'what level do you usually play at?', the answers being 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 16-20. My guess is that most people would answer in the first two categories.

As for 'why do people spend so much time talking about high level characters' - it's much easier to do game-breaking and incredibly unbalanced things at higher levels, and for some reason that's what a lot of people seem to like to talk about. Don't ask me why.

- Saph

Not to be rude Saph, but there are those of us who enjoy "heroic" fantasy and want characters (of all stripes, not just casters) who can perform feats that are just outside the norm. Sure, it takes a bit more work to balance and work things for such characters, but being in a game where you actually feel like your something special is far more appealing to me at least then being some joe schmoe tromping through a dungeon looking for another 10x10 foot room with a chest guarded by an orc.

[Ranis]

I've only been in 3 campaigns before I started DMing, and each one of those ended at epics, around 23-26.

They also only started around 5th level or so, due to the fact that most people in the group get bored with the low-level characters because you can't really do anything cool at the lower levels.

[Saph]

Not to be rude Saph, but there are those of us who enjoy "heroic" fantasy and want characters (of all stripes, not just casters) who can perform feats that are just outside the norm.

Sure, but there's no necessary connection between 'heroic' and 'high level'. Did you read that calibration article Gamebird linked to - http://www.thealexandrian.net/creati...librating.html ? That makes a pretty good case for almost the entire cast of the Lord of the Rings being model-able at 5th level or under. And I'd say LotR is pretty heroic.

- Saph

[ken-do-nim]

1st edition: highest character started from 1st reached 17th after years & years of gaming (and allowing items to be sold for 2 gp = 1 xp trade-in). Majority of characters topped out between 10 & 12.

2nd edition: highest character started from 1st reached 7th

3rd edition: highest character reached 17th, but with a couple skipped levels along the way. Took a couple years. Another character has skipped no levels and is at 15th. It has taken many, many years.

I think it means so much more to be high level when you start low.

[Ranis]

I think it means so much more to be high level when you start low.

Quoted for Truth.

However, I think that the terms 'low level' and 'high level' are completely subjective terms.

[jjpickar]

Well, you could use level to define power in relation to the particular class of a character( i.e. a 15th level fighter is better than an 8th level fighter or a 3rd level cleric is weaker than a 10th level cleric). This keeps arguments about power level from comparing classes which generates lengthy discussion.

[PnP Fan]

For the most part my groups like starting out around 4-6th level, to enjoy the heartiness of these characters, and the competence of this level of character (compared to very fragile and less than competent 1st level characters). Most of the games I've played end somewhere in the 10th to 12th level range.
Though the highest level character I've played is 15th level (possibly with more levels to come as we are still playing the campaign), though it started out at 12th level. The DM wanted to start at high levels for some reason.

I'm with Saph on this, high levels don't equal heroic. However, from a purely economic standpoint, I've spent money on these books that include high level material, and I'd sure like to use some of that high level material some day. I don't think I've ever cast a 9th level spell, even as a GM!

[Morty]

Not to be rude Saph, but there are those of us who enjoy "heroic" fantasy and want characters (of all stripes, not just casters) who can perform feats that are just outside the norm. Sure, it takes a bit more work to balance and work things for such characters, but being in a game where you actually feel like your something special is far more appealing to me at least then being some joe schmoe tromping through a dungeon looking for another 10x10 foot room with a chest guarded by an orc.

I agree with you mostly- though I prefer playing under 12 level- but who said low levels are going from one 10x10 room into another and killing orcs?

[kamikasei]

I agree with you mostly- though I prefer playing under 12 level- but who said low levels are going from one 10x10 room into another and killing orcs?

It's not like high-level play is automatically more imaginative and worthwhile. "You step through the portal to find yourself in a 100-mile by 100-mile demiplane. At the center, a Balor sits atop a pile of minor artifacts. Roll initiative."