Quote from: deadDMwalking;1081310Nobody starts their character at birth.

No. But they may start their campaign at the beginning of their adventuring rather than X point into their tale. I mean there are movies and books and even legends that do this. The hero starting fairly basic and gradually improving. 2e even had an option to start off at level 0 where the PC is still in training. And that is something else that can be done. Playing out the pre-adventuring life.

It all depends on the campaign really.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1081381It was D&D. Death was a temporary setback. Besides, they laughed it off to playing "Crisis on Infinite Oerths" where each adventure was an alternate reality.

So, in ASOIAF the party would need a Red Priest/Priestess... still, could be fun.

I tend to like starting at level 1; having a character with ultimate powah is a lot more impressive and fun when you've experienced that character with relatively little power. Still, I can definitely get why people want to start at higher levels, and for some settings (especially high fantasy) you pretty much have to, if you don't want the PCs to be regularly outclassed by their allies/enemies.

Quote from: OmSwaOperations;1081635I tend to like starting at level 1; having a character with ultimate powah is a lot more impressive and fun when you've experienced that character with relatively little power. Still, I can definitely get why people want to start at higher levels, and for some settings (especially high fantasy) you pretty much have to, if you don't want the PCs to be regularly outclassed by their allies/enemies.

Personally, I don't find upper levels very interesting either.

A decade ago, I tried a new tactic with my OD&D game. I made death at 0 HP, but instead of dying at -10 HP, you got +10 HP.  Thus, your first level dork has 10 + 1D6 HP so they appear much chunkier. In actual play, its really an illusion of power. The players enjoyed the illusion, and I kept enjoying the high kill rate of my game world.

As I've mentioned before, I've gone over to "survive the adventure, gain a level" with level 10 max. Players love the fast leveling, PCs die regularly so the survival aspect is a big deal and the level 10 cap creates a backstop vs. the game going superhero.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1082150As I've mentioned before, I've gone over to "survive the adventure, gain a level" with level 10 max. Players love the fast leveling, PCs die regularly so the survival aspect is a big deal and the level 10 cap creates a backstop vs. the game going superhero.

With 5e I've found giving full CON (instead of attribute bonus) at 1st level works fantastically well. One weird effect is it makes the game grittier, since healing magic & hit dice are relatively less powerful.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1082150A decade ago, I tried a new tactic with my OD&D game. I made death at 0 HP, but instead of dying at -10 HP, you got +10 HP.  Thus, your first level dork has 10 + 1D6 HP so they appear much chunkier. In actual play, its really an illusion of power. The players enjoyed the illusion, and I kept enjoying the high kill rate of my game world.

I tried something similar once, but instead of 10 I chose to use 1/2 of the character's Constitution score (rounded up). I rationalized that D&D "hit points" were mostly short-term getting tired and whatnot, but those 1/2 CON points were actual body damage, so most "hit points" would heal up in a day or two but those body points took a major rest of several days. When characters started to get low, players started to get really paranoid.

Which is a shame, because the only thing more FUN than starting at level 1 is starting at level 0. See the DCC funnel, or Shadow of the Demon Lord.

I say we bring back Negative-levels like in Unearthed Arcana! Who's WITH ME?!?!? We'll show those whiny players!

Just came up with this IMC:

Typical PC Level New PC Start Level & Gear
1-4                                1     Standard
5-6                                2     Standard +50gp
7-8                                3     Standard +75gp
9-10                              4     Standard +100gp
11                                  5    1 Uncommon +100gp
12                                  6    1 Uncommon +200gp
13                                  7    1 Uncommon +300gp
14                                  8    1 Uncommon +400gp
15                                  9    2 Uncommon +500gp
16                                 10   2 Uncommon +750gp
17                                 11   1 Rare +1 Uncommon + 1000gp
18                                 12   1 Rare +1 Uncommon +2000gp
19                                 13   1 Rare +2 Uncommon +2500gp
20                                 14   1 Rare +2 Uncommon +4000gp
20+                               15   1 Very Rare +1 Rare +2 Uncommon +5000gp

Quote from: Razor 007;1081222People so commonly bypass Levels 1 & 2; that I would like to see sample 3rd Level characters, from the start.

Many people start at Level 3, or Level 5.  That allows them to step into fun, functional, useful characters.

GURPS starting heroic point level of 125 points character with 40 points of disadvantage and 5 points of quirks are in my experience equivalent to most editions of D&D 5th level character.

In my Majestic Wilderlands I consider levels to be the following

1st - trained novice i.e. apprentice
3rd - trained profession i.e. journeyman
6th - experienced professional i.e. master
9th - recognized as a regional expert i.e. grandmaster
12th - renowned for expertise nobel/olympic caliber
16th - legendary reputation Merlin/Da Vinci/Newton/Alexander the Great/etc

As for starting wealth I found dividing the total xp earned by the character by 10 and allowing purchases of magic items gets you into the ballpark of what a character should have at that level.

Wrapping it up
What levels are is a legacy of my original Wilderlands campaigns using AD&D 1st edition.

The wealth rule came from the work I am doing for my Majestic Fantasy rules. The followup to my Majestic Wilderlands supplement.

What I did is use Inspiration Pad Pro 3.0 by nBos to code up my tables and had it generate thousands of result. I tweaked the tables until they started to produce equipment list similar to what come up with by hand.

The system work by dividing wealth into 5,000d lots, 1,000d lots, and 100d lots. Each lot has a chance to be swapped out for a magic items of similar value. A lot of the work I did was tweaking the odds of magic items being swapped. It also includes chances that a high value magic items may be swapped out for a number of lower value items.

For example a 9th level character with 165,000 xp thus used a base wealth of 16,500

Magic Items: +2 Broadsword, Throwing Axe with +1 damage only, 1 Bolt with +2 damage only
Scrolls & Charms: Charm of Restoration, Scroll of Dimension Door, Scroll of Magic Missile, Scroll of Cure Light Wounds, Scroll of Protection from Evil, Charm of Command, Scroll of Light, Scroll of Charm Person
Potions: Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of Treasure Finding, Potion of Healing, Potion of Healing
Jewelry: Gold Pendent (300d)
Gems: Opal Gem (250d), Quartz Gem (5d)
Coins: 5 crowns (1,600d), 3,651d

Still working on class specific tables.
Charms are like scroll, use them and the spell is discharged. However they can be used by any class, cost double the scroll cost to make, but cost half scroll cost to recharge.

Quote from: S'mon;1082225Just came up with this IMC:

Typical PC Level New PC Start Level & Gear
16                                 10   2 Uncommon +750gp
17                                 11   1 Rare +1 Uncommon + 1000gp

I'd recommend that you go from 2 uncommon to 1 rare + 2 uncommon.  Otherwise you explicitly have to lose an item to gain a better item.  

It's not clear if you retain common items between jumps, but in general, just adding an additional item is easier than removing/replacing an item.

Quote from: deadDMwalking;1082236I'd recommend that you go from 2 uncommon to 1 rare + 2 uncommon.  Otherwise you explicitly have to lose an item to gain a better item.  

It's not clear if you retain common items between jumps, but in general, just adding an additional item is easier than removing/replacing an item.

It's only for new characters, so no one ever loses an item.

We use "Player level" separate from character level.  Basically, if you've played up to Nth level in the campaign with any character, you can start a new character at N - 4 (if you want).  No magic items, though.  If other characters won't to loan you a spare weapon, that's on them.