What's a good level for arena fighters?

[heavyfuel]

Not fighters from the Fighter class, a fighter as in "a person who fights"

Last time I had an Arena scenario it was an E6 game, so everyone was lv 6, and the tougher fighters had extra feats as I saw fit.

But for a normal game, what do you guys suggest?

Note that there are no epic characters in the world. The highest level character is lv 17, and really strong people such as army commanders are around lv 11

[Darrin]

7-9 is a good range. Most PrCs can be entered around ECL 7ish, and the first three levels of a PrC usually have something interesting to make the builds memorable and distinctive. You already mentioned E6, and 7th is where the T1 casters start to unlock a lot of encounter-ending spells (black tentacles, enervation, etc.), so that's the point where they really start to pull ahead of the meatbags. However, 7-9 is where many melee builds are starting to come into their own and have enough tricks to be really fun to play.

[calam]

In my campaigns I usually consider the level range for the majority of the population to be 1-5 so I'd imagine that talented fighters would be level 4-5 and the equivalent of Mohamed Ali would be 8. This seems about right for your campaign too since you probably want the arena fighters to be a couple levels below the highest levels of the military.

[Sian]

6-8 I'd say ... enough that dedicated Arena fighters can get a few levels in Gladiator (Sword and Fist) Thayan Gladiator (Champions of Ruins) or similar prc's (Invisble Blade might be another option)

[heavyfuel]

This seems about right for your campaign too since you probably want the arena fighters to be a couple levels below the highest levels of the military.

Or maybe I do want them as strong. Maybe they can fight just as well, but have very little offer in term of tactics and are also rich enough they don't want to be mere soldiers.

Not committed to this, but it's a possibility

[Malroth]

6th level you'll have some combatants that get 2 attacks with a single weapon, some that can fly and shoot fireballs and some that turn themselves into animals

8th level you'll have combatants that can straight out kill a target from sheer fright, drain away experience without a save, and attack from invisibility, teleport around the battlefield, and summon tentacle things to immobilize foes

10th level you'll have combatants that can steal other peoples bodies, kill hundreds of weaker enemies at a single time, summon actual angels to fight for them, reshape your arena at their whim, turn into Hydrae or dragons, or attack from outside reality


So pretty much where you see your arena power level at. Higher levels make better fights but also harder to find any sembalance of balance with the guy who still hasn't gotten his 3rd sword attack.