3.5 D&D 0th Level start

[Discount DM]

I was wanting to try starting a (3.5 AD&D) campaign off at level 0 maybe even have the characters be teenagers (at first) and have them "grow" into their 1st level characters by in game decisions/insterestes/personallity. Since I am new to DMing I was wondering if anyone had suggestions or pre-existing resources regarding 0 level characters and potential story lines that would pander to the in-game character development.

[Gullintanni]

I was wanting to try starting a (3.5 AD&D) campaign off at level 0 maybe even have the characters be teenagers (at first) and have them "grow" into their 1st level characters by in game decisions/insterestes/personallity. Since I am new to DMing I was wondering if anyone had suggestions or pre-existing resources regarding 0 level characters and potential story lines that would pander to the in-game character development.

I think the way I would handle this is to just start everyone as "Level 1 Commoner", and then once they'd gained enough experience/plot development/graduated from wizard college-fighter academy etc. allow them to trade their level of commoner for "x Class Level 1".

That's essentially how AD&D handled it. A Fighter 0 was essentially a commoner, and then you picked up a class level of whatever, and off you went to the races.

[Garryl]

I fleshed out some ideas on playing before 1st level almost a year ago. You can find it here. Would that work for your purposes?

[BrowncoatJayson]

I think the way I would handle this is to just start everyone as "Level 1 Commoner", and then once they'd gained enough experience/plot development/graduated from wizard college-fighter academy etc. allow them to trade their level of commoner for "x Class Level 1".

This is how we handled it in our group; everyone started as a 1st level Expert, except one PC that was a 1st level Noble. They didn't accumulate xp during the first adventure (escaping from their town as it burned behind them), but did become 1st level characters at the end. They got to keep the "extra" skills they had assigned during their 0th-level spree to show off their background.

[Reluctance]

This sounds more like the sort of thing you'd be better off doing without rules. Run the first session as a prelude, avoid dice (somebody below 1st is going to resolve things through roleplaying, not mechanics, so threats and rolling should be kept to a minimum), and allow player choices to inform the characters they end up building.

An important question before you try this. Are you doing this because your players want to experience mundane life as a prologue for their heroes, or because you personally want them to have more personality than professional adventurers? Starting people off weaker will not make them want to become deep immersion actors. If you want the PCs to be more involved with the world, go the other way. Insist that adventures are rare, give the a bonus skill point/level for Craft/Profession/anything else that can serve as their day job, and start each session with a short interlude of what happened between adventures. You get players invested by giving them a sense of ownership of things in the game world, not by reducing their power level.

[Lord Vukodlak]

My advice is to start the campaign at level 1 and just call them teenagers.
The minimum starting age for humans is 15+1d6 to 3d6 depending on class. So right from the begining first level characters can be teenagers.

And you can throw out those rules to. I was once in a campaign where I played a fourteen year human old psion. She reached level sixteen before the age of sixteen.
So what if the rules state the starting age is fifteen?

And if you look at many RPG video games the main character is often a teenager.

[Welknair]

Actually, I made something like this a while ago for something in my main campaign. I called it a "Zero-Level Progression". Characters start at level 0.25 and work their way up to level 1. The basic mechanic is pretty simple: They get the usual skills/level at each step (each being .25 greater than the last) begin with the HP that they'll have at first level, and then the class features of whatever they'll be are spread out over the course of .25, .5, .75, and finally 1. I've only made one of these for Wizard, however, as one for Fighter or really most non-spellcasting classes would be kind of boring.

And may I advise you to consider what it is that you want to do. At this point the characters really won't be able to do much of anythign heroic. The character that I created this for only got by because he was an NPC following the PCs that had an irrational love for him. He was also wonderful at using is cantrips and later first level spells. Non-spellcasters below level one are pretty much useless. Starting below 0 really isn't suggested as it will leave most players frustrated and unable to use many of the various character options and magic gear that they may be aiming for. It's still possible, but I'd really suggest you talk it over with your players first.

[Cadian 9th]

I've never tried a 0th level character... It'd probably be no class features, and no skill points, feats (except from race), and no HD, base attack, saves, etc. Your HP would be your Con modifier, min 1.

0th level characters are shown in monsters who could gain class levels, for example an Ogre or Minotaur.

[ideasmith]

This link might be helpful:

http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Unfledged_(3.5e_Class)

[Discount DM]

Actually, I made something like this a while ago for something in my main campaign. I called it a "Zero-Level Progression". Characters start at level 0.25 and work their way up to level 1. The basic mechanic is pretty simple: They get the usual skills/level at each step (each being .25 greater than the last) begin with the HP that they'll have at first level, and then the class features of whatever they'll be are spread out over the course of .25, .5, .75, and finally 1. I've only made one of these for Wizard, however, as one for Fighter or really most non-spellcasting classes would be kind of boring.

And may I advise you to consider what it is that you want to do. At this point the characters really won't be able to do much of anythign heroic. The character that I created this for only got by because he was an NPC following the PCs that had an irrational love for him. He was also wonderful at using is cantrips and later first level spells. Non-spellcasters below level one are pretty much useless. Starting below 0 really isn't suggested as it will leave most players frustrated and unable to use many of the various character options and magic gear that they may be aiming for. It's still possible, but I'd really suggest you talk it over with your players first.

I am Really intrigued by your suggestion of .25 - 1st level concept. I think it would be easy to implement and then also use for creating an encounter or two.

I am finding that my group is rather new to Dnd and role playing, and So the campaign I am running they started at 7th level thinking that they had all played enough to not need to start at 1st level. I am finding that since they started at 7th level they don't have that "creative spell casting" that tends to come out when you have had to make those low level spells do maximum effect or work in a way that is out of the norm, I guess what I am saying is I want them to play more creatively. I know starting at 0th level is not going to be a silver bullet but I am hoping it will be enough of a role playing "jolt" that they will have to enter situations more delicately and less cavalier and charge.

Suggestions? Comments?

[Eldest]

There is also a 0th level thing in the 3.5 DM guide, for when somebody wants to start as at 1st level multiclassing. It would require some reworking, though. Might be easier to use the .25 level idea.