What is the highest character level you have attained? (And your average?)

[Kaibis]

Dungeons of the Mad Mage is dangling a promise of achieving level 20 - a very exciting thought. However, from what I understand, high level characters are really uncommon. I recall a couple of popular D&D youtubers discussing once that they had never had a char over the mid-teens.

So I have two questions:
1) What is the highest character level you have achieved? (Bonus points for guesstimating the amount of play-time spent to get there).
2) For balance, what other character levels have achieved? (Feel free to expound).

[Kaibis]

Answering my own question, and highlighting how new I am to the hobby:

1) Lvl 8 (my current character, I am expecting it to get to lvl 9 by the end of the campaign. We have been playing for a year, maybe 120-150hrs)

2)
Lvl 3 - Left the campaign due to a steamrolling player.
Lvl 1 - Not sure if this counts as we had spent a week chatting with the GM and building characters, we were all on discord chatting nicely while waiting for the last player to get their mike set up.... when the GM deleted the channel, deleted the roll20 campaign, and then blocked us all. It was a head scratcher. To this day I have no idea why he couldn't just say "sorry guys, I changed my mind", it would have save me a worried hour trying to figure out why my connection wasn't working.
Lvl 1 - Actually, idk, my friend pre-built us some characters and we roll-played for 20min before he gave up on us because we had no idea what we were doing and clearly very bad at it.

[djreynolds]

Legit was 14th level wizard,
10th level cleric,
15th level 8BM, 6rouge, 1 cleric

Have played some 20th level one shots.

I really like the wizard and finding scrolls or buying them, and filling out my spell book

10th cleric was in CoS

The 15th level was an incredible homebrew

[8wGremlin]

for 5e

Highest played from 1-14th Ranger/Fighter
Average 3rd (have played 9 characters in total since 5e came out)

[Arkhios]

Does Pathfinder count? I'd say yes, because it's heavily based upon 3.5 D&D.

Highest I've been was from 1st to 17th level (Rise of the Runelords ended around that level, so none of us had much say in it)

Second highest was from 1st to 15th level (Carrion Crown; again because the story arc ended around that time)

Third highest was from 1st to 13th level (Pathfinder Society is still a campaign, regardless of it being run by multiple DM's)

Fourth highest was 11th level (Kingmaker; although, we got to around half-way through the story before our DM lost interest in running the campaign because it had some very big problems in how it was written compared to how strong our characters had become at that level. Can't say how far we would've gotten if we had played it to the end.)

[Azgeroth]

level 15 dwarven life cleric
level 8 fighter 5 sorcerer half elf
level 7 ranger 3 druid halfling

currently a level 5 dwarven wizard

but that campaign is about to end, and i'm dm'ing (for the first time!) the next campaign, so it will be a while before my next true PC.

[Darkstar952]

Current game I am DM is our current highest with the group reaching level 12. This has been 60 4 hour sessions over the last 2 years. Technically there was a TPK at the hands of a horned devil at level 9 (group learnt a lesson about having ranged weapons), but I was able to weave the narrative around it to keep the over all campaign going.

[carrdrivesyou]

The highest I have ever achieved was 14 (Minus one shots). That campaign started at level 1, but it was my third character in that campaign. The first two met with rather awful ends. That campaign was about a year and a half in when it collapsed.

My average character level is around 8, give or take a level. I think most DMs are more comfortable at low to mid levels because of the sheer amount of change higher level PCs can affect in the world. A level 8 wizard can only do so much, but a 20th level one can reshape entire cities in a day. I think that makes most DMs want to stop in the mid teens, before their gaming worlds get wrecked.

[Trustypeaches]

11.

I’d say on average my characters (and campaigns) get to level 4

[darknite]

I hadn't had a 20th level PC before 5e. The xp curve in this edition is pretty shallow, IMHO. Now I have three 20th level characters and have another two that will probably be 20th by next summer.

[Amdy_vill]

Dungeons of the Mad Mage is dangling a promise of achieving level 20 - a very exciting thought. However, from what I understand, high level characters are really uncommon. I recall a couple of popular D&D youtubers discussing once that they had never had a char over the mid-teens.

So I have two questions:
1) What is the highest character level you have achieved? (Bonus points for guesstimating the amount of play-time spent to get there).
2) For balance, what other character levels have achieved? (Feel free to expound).

Level 23 and on average 5-8

[nickl_2000]

So I have two questions:
1) What is the highest character level you have achieved? (Bonus points for guesstimating the amount of play-time spent to get there).
2) For balance, what other character levels have achieved? (Feel free to expound).

1) Current level 12, expect to get to level 16 or so (Rise of the Runelords ported to 5e). Not sure the total hours, but we play every 2 week(ish) for about 18 months so probably around 150 hours.
2) Level 4 bard who will be going in SKT at some point in the future, level 5 monk who is retired.

[Rhedyn]

So I have two questions:
1) What is the highest character level you have achieved? (Bonus points for guesstimating the amount of play-time spent to get there).
2) For balance, what other character levels have achieved? (Feel free to expound).
For 5e, a level 9 sorcerer (campaign finished in Pathfinder)
Also had a level 7 Thief and a level 4 druid. (Both campaigns died)
A level 3 wizard (one session)

About half my Pathfinder campaign ended at 20.

[Misterwhisper]

In all of dnd I have made it to level 16 twice.

3.0/3.5 barbarian/fighter/occult slayer/bloodhound

And

Pathfinder warrior of the holy light paladin.

[Malifice]

I'm our groups DM so it sucks to be me.

Been playing since BECMI. 13th is as high as I've gotten. Sadly IME most DMs quit at levels 3-7.

My last campaign I ran went to 20th plus several epic boons.

[Zaharra]

My first 5e character Tiefling Wild Magic Sorceress reached level 20 with one epic boon, the game lasted a year and a half of weekly sessions

Most games I've played in so far have reached the 17-20 level, but I've had characters die earlier (and made new ones for the campaign)

[Inscrutable]

Amdy, Darknite, and Zaharra, I am very curious how your DMs calculate/award XP? As a DM, I have never tracked XP, and simply told my players when they leveled up, usually every three to four sessions. To have such high level characters seems unusual.

My own characters never progressed past level 6, both my DMs gave up on the game at that point.

[dejarnjc]

I play weekly in a campaign that's been running for about 3 years (with one major 3-6 month break) and we just reached level 19.

In the games I've run, characters have reached level 5-7. One of these games is still ongoing but has been delayed due to the holiday season.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Games I've run:

1. One game 1-20, but that was pretty fast leveling (fiat, not XP).
2. Several games in the 3-4 range
3. Two ended at level 6--those two got lumped together later and they'll probably end around 9-10.

Games I've been in:
I haven't gotten above 8. Current bard/lock is 6.

[mephnick]

5e:

Highest Level - 15th level Zealot Barbarian. I was easily the party star. At no point did I feel obsoleted by the casters. But I hate high level D&D so eh.

Average: I mostly DM, and I'd say most of my campaigns go from level 3- 10...so 6ish?

[DMThac0]

Highest level was a Drow Sorc/Red Dragon Disciple who made it to epic levels, 32, this was 3.5 and the character was heavily min/maxed. He is the exception to the rule.

Average level 7.5, but I can count the numbers of games I've been a player in on both hands since I've donned the DM cap.
Lvl 8 Wizard
Lvl 4 Rogue
Lvl 6 Ranger/Rogue
Lvl 9 Sorc
Lvl 7 Wizard
Lvl 11 Barbarian

[Gryndle]

Just considering 5E....and counting only those campaigns we started from 1st.

highest level group DMd- 16th level current campaign and continuing until January or February. Anticipate ending around 17 or 18 depending on material covered between now and then.
Our average ending point is around 14/15th level.
since starting 5E we've only had one campaign end prematurely at around 5-6th level

[Wilb]

19 Halfling Champion Fighter (played years ago with friends during our vacations whenever the weather was bad, which was almost everyday at that point)
17 V.Human Life Cleric (I played this soon after 5e launched, twice per month, ended last may)
9 Dragonborn Ancients Paladin (this character started at lv 5 and the campaign is kinda dead atm)
5 (for now) Lizardfolk Order(UA) Cleric (hiatus)
2 (for now) Dwarven (undecided pact) Hexblade

We roll stats and start at 1st level so, after the first 5e character, I experimented with bizarre builds. I didn't include characters that I didn't get to play for at least 3 sessions.

[Pex]

For 5E it's 12th level with my Sorcadin. I'm roughly two games away from 13th.

Average level is 7 before games fall apart into oblivion due to the DM or players not wanting to play anymore for various reasons. I had quit once due to play style differences to put it nicely.

The ironic thing for me is not counting the game I quit the Sorcadin game was/is my least favorite game, yet it started before all the others and still continues when the others have long since went kaput. I do enjoy the game. The fun is greater than my gripes, but oh boy do I have gripes. It has gotten better than what it used to be. On the bright side I'm in a few other games running now at levels 5-7 that don't look to be ending.

[GlenSmash!]

5e:

Highest Level - 15th level Zealot Barbarian. I was easily the party star. At no point did I feel obsoleted by the casters. But I hate high level D&D so eh.

Average: I mostly DM, and I'd say most of my campaigns go from level 3- 10...so 6ish?

I think my campaign will end around level 10, but I'd really like to get my current Zealot to 14+. It just gets such a cool unique feature.

But I also prefer 5-10 level play on the whole.

[darknite]

Amdy, Darknite, and Zaharra, I am very curious how your DMs calculate/award XP? As a DM, I have never tracked XP, and simply told my players when they leveled up, usually every three to four sessions. To have such high level characters seems unusual.

My own characters never progressed past level 6, both my DMs gave up on the game at that point.

All my 5e PCs that have reached 20th level did so through AL, so it was pretty much XP based on adventure guideline awards and monsters defeated. Twentieth level is only 355,000 xp and Tier 4 adventures were awarding around 25k a session. It was only a game or two between levels at that point...

[Inscrutable]

All my 5e PCs that have reached 20th level did so through AL, so it was pretty much XP based on adventure guideline awards and monsters defeated. Twentieth level is only 355,000 xp and Tier 4 adventures were awarding around 25k a session. It was only a game or two between levels at that point...

What is "AL"?

[nickl_2000]

What is "AL"?

Adventures League. http://dnd.wizards.com/playevents/organized-play

[DMThac0]

Adventurer's League, a structured play format given to us by WotC to create a "universal" play style that can carry over to any location with little/no effort as the rules are the same everywhere.

[KorvinStarmast]

14th, so far, and no, I am not average.

[Keravath]

All my characters are playing in AL.

level 10 - 8 lore bard/ 2 hexblade warlock
level 10 - 7 arcane trickster rogue/ 3 fey warlock (playing through a hard cover from level 1)
level 7 - 6 gloomstalker ranger / 1 life cleric
level 5 - 5 hexblade warlock
level 5 - 3 shadow sorcerer/2 hexblade warlock
level 5 - 5 arcane trickster rogue
level 4 - dwarven barbarian

I need to start some more tier 1s :) ... the highest ones will soon be tier 3. If I continue playing they will all likely make it to level 20 depending on the schedule at the local game store and how often I can play tier 3 and 4 modules.

In previous versions of the game, I think the highest was level 13-14 or so in AD&Dv1 ... however, levels were far more significant then. In earlier versions of the game, high level sometimes turned into either "save or die" ... or ... "politics" as characters became powerful enough and wealthy enough to influence whole countries.

A lot of people don't care for either of these playstyles. If you spend years playing a character it generally isn't much fun to lose them to an instant death spell. Similarly, politics and intrigue doesn't necessarily appeal to folks who have enjoyed fighting the bad guys getting to this level. As a result, just for fun reasons, many people retire characters in that level range. (This also has to do with whether your DM can actually come up with some fun and challenging story lines for that level range).

However, with bounded accuracy, I think 5e tends to overcome some of these issues. Level 20s aren't so powerful that a mass of low level creatures isn't still a threat. Level 20 melee and casters both have good contributions to make and the number of save or die effects has been significantly reduced. This makes it possible to have better epic battles at high levels that don't necessarily hinge on a single die roll ... and also your character has a smaller chance of being vaporized by one failed save.

[Legendairy]

In older versions, (AD&D) from level 1 to 36 using XP was an evil cleric, 32 evil paladin, and 28 evil fighter. Same homebrew world and it lasted the better part of a decade. In 3.5 I had a 24th level rogue. (Few templates and a bunch of prestige’s)

5e from 1-16th was a solo (DM and I, helping him learn how to dm)

Now without xp and level by milestone I have had a few around 14 mostly about 12. Currently playing a level 9, but mostly I DM.

In 3.5 I ran for a group from level 1-20.
In 5e I have run a group of 3 from 1-20 using Out of the Abyss as the initial module then leading into other realm hopping things.
I ran another group for about a year, we started a bit higher than first and got to 15th.