Ability Minimum Level Precedents

[Lanth Sor]

So its come to my decision that certain abilities shouldn't appear earlier than certain levels. Immunities are a big culprit. So I thought I'd make a chart showing the First level where an ability should be available.

MIN LEVELS

Level	Abilty
1st	0-level spells, 1st level spellcasting, Sneak Attack Xd6 at level (2X-1)
2nd	Evasion
3rd	2nd level spellcasting
4th	-
5th	3rd level spellcasting
6th	-
7th	4th level spellcasting
8th	-
9th	5th level spellcasting
10th	-
11th	6th level spellcasting
12th	-
13th	7th level spellcasting
14th	-
15th	8th level spellcasting
16th	-
17th	9th level spellcasting
18th	-
19th	-
20th	-

[avr]

There are a few classes which get Evasion at 2nd level - rogues and monks most obviously. Is there a reason to change that to 3rd?

All 2nd level (+) spells aren't made alike. The tiefling & aasimar racial abilities to call up light & darkness once a day aren't out of line at 1st level IME.

[bookguy]

I suspect that a big reason that evasion and uncanny dodge aren't available at first level for rogues is to prevent dips. Neither ability is too powerful for a first-level character; they just shouldn't be available to most other classes without a serious multiclass investment. If a game did not allow multiclassing, I'd have no problem giving those to rogues at first level.

The one thing that I can think of offhand that should be restricted away from extremely low-level characters entirely (not just to prevent dips) is damage reduction. That probably shouldn't show up until level four at the earliest.

Actually, another thing is flight. It completely negates so many obstacles and encounters that it should not be available until level five or so. Yes, I know some races, even low race point races, get it at level one. I think that is broken.

[Lanth Sor]

Evasion level 3 was an oversight I did it from memory not looking at the class. And the spells refers to generic spell casting ability, not independent spell-likes. The list is intended for generic class design as a guide to avoid bad practices.

[Jormengand]

Sneak Attack Xd6 at level (2X-1)?