[Blake Storm]

Rintaran, on May 16 2004, 04:04 PM, said:

Low levels are definately my preference.  The character really get their wings.  Every encounter is a struggle and there's always something to work towards.  It's also the best time to ecourage proper role-playing and to see players develop their characters from a set of stats and an idea to a full fledged being.  Simply a beautiful period in any campaign.

I agree totally with what Rintaran said (quote)

Where you are going and where you are from is much more relevant at lower levels, later on its easy to define your character by their conquests and not their motivations or origins.

I know some GMs who stop campaigns at 9th level. Characters gain followers and retire, new campaign for the players.

Also playing characters with less information about the world is fun.

'The sword spoke to me!? Demon blade!!! *throws the sword away*'

Regards,
Blake Storm

[fang]

and it also depends on what type of character you are.

[olafthepossum]

i personally the 11-15 is the best because its to the point where you can fight hard monsters and level up relatively quickly, instead of the lower levels where half the time you have to runt he hell away from a friggin band of skeletons or a frigging wyrmling, but at the same time leveling up doesnt take forever like at levels 16-20. also at 11-15 you get to dabble in the cool stuff like the elemental planes or something and a whole new world opens up, whereas past that point everything is old hat. dnd just gets boring until you can start doing epic level stuff past level 21 ish and is already boring when your limited to hobgoblins on level 6

[dmvegi]

Believe this or not but as a DM i'm a little tired on new PC's. I just stumbled upon my stock pile of character sheets and I would not be short of 60 characters. I really like the 5-10 level area where the charcter has some developemnt and a fair idea of where they sit in my world.

[Andion Isurand]

I enjoy the mid levels starting around 6th level. By then, the players have a good sense about the game and their dudes. The baddies start becoming more intriguing, distinct and unique as well.

[Sylvarant]

The low mid levels would have to be the best levels of the game, because of the struggle to overcome the harder opponents and also you start to get a feel for the character and finally define his or personalty. also this is when the DM starts to test you and your companions.

[Jimp]

Personally I like the 5-10 range and the 17-20+ range. I have my 6th ranger in one game, not too weak but not overly strong either and still has alot to learn. In another game i have my 15/5 cleric/thaumaturgist, one of his church's most valued members with his fighting ability, spellcasting and ability to deal with the denizens of the planes. I think they're the most fun regions to play within Then again, how fun a high leveled character can be depends on roleplay

[Vaskre]

I go with epic levels, mostly because there's a ton of different challenges, and everyone is in their element. The warrior is obviously the best tank, the rogue by far the stealthiest, etc.. And I also like the challenges and possible plots it poses.. You can't really send off a level 1 to the Nine Hells, well you could, but it might be ugly.. etc..

[Abaddon]

SchizofranicDM, on May 16 2004, 02:19 AM, said:

Just wondering which levels people like to play at the most.

Like almost everyone here I do enjoy bringing a new character along. You get to soil your pants alot but having faith in your GM (if you have a good GM) you know that you will survive. Most everyones comments I could only echo.

That said I voted and do enjoy playing mids say 12 - 15 lvl because I feel this is where you get to streach those wings and get to do 'bolder' things which really round out the character and bring them alive.

I also find that this is the range that you finally get to develop the ideas you had with the lvl 1 roll up and 'back story' concepts.

As I have said playing is the thing but hay, it does help to thump with impunity when you need too.

I just started with yet another lvl 1 in my group just last weekend and yeah it's cool, but there is never an 'outhouse' when you need one at that lvl.

[Drizzt Ranger]

I have to vote for 11-15. Indeed, it's fun to start out at low levels, but you can't do much. Being an almost exclusive spellcaster, I'm probably a little prejudice; after a while, having to worry about dying in one hit because of your wimpy 4 hp gets old. At 6-10, you're still at the stage of worry that melee characters were at 1-5. By 11-15 however, you've developed some of the interesting spells, and you get to begin experimenting with more unusual things such as planar travel and the like. My second vote would have to be epic levels. What could be funnier than succeeding on a Balance check to walk on air, or casting a spell that sends your enemy straight to the Abyss, do not pass go and don't collect two hundred dollars? The only draw-back to epic levels is that things can get a little crazy; when you can just walk on air with a Balance check, things like levitation and magical flying become all but useless. Still, it's lots of fun, as long as you can keep making stronger monsters for your PCs to kill

[SchizofranicDM]

One thing that I've realized from gaming is that everyone seems to strive to be the best, get more levels, etc. But the gaming doesn't seem to keep up with the desires and needs of the players. Most DMs struggle when the players are too high level, and many players, mostly the older ones who enjoy the rp more than the xp, relish in a good adventure and grow bored of their unchallenged characters. Less experienced DMs in this situation can either add to the bordem or make the game far too dangerous, unrealistic, and in doing so will also lose focus in the world and create discontinuity.

[Dthclaw]

Personally favor epic, because that's when characters (PC and NPC alike) have the money and levels to really throw some specialized abilities at their opponents. That and the challanges just get that much more exciting, and your players can actually cope with them.

[SchizofranicDM]

The major problem i have with epic campaigns is that it can lose sight of reality real quick. The money is just one aspect of this, and there's always the question of where did these uber chars come about? When you have a campaign that's "challenging" for epic players, it gets me to think of just how insane the monsters or npcs are and if they had existed all this time, how come it wasn't part of the previous stories? Although i've done my share of epic campaigns and had fun with them, i just didn't like those aspects. I still think that the campaign is what makes the game challenging, not the money nor the levels.

[Vaskre]

I don't have a problem with epics if people really earn them, but they should have to do something VERY spectacular to transcend the "Epic Barrier", so to speak.

[Dthclaw]

Quote

The major problem i have with epic campaigns is that it can lose sight of reality real quick. The money is just one aspect of this, and there's always the question of where did these uber chars come about? When you have a campaign that's "challenging" for epic players, it gets me to think of just how insane the monsters or npcs are and if they had existed all this time, how come it wasn't part of the previous stories? Although i've done my share of epic campaigns and had fun with them, i just didn't like those aspects. I still think that the campaign is what makes the game challenging, not the money nor the levels.

Well, actually, Schizo, what I did was I started from the beginning working the epic monsters in there. I'm running such an over-the-top game that epic levels are necessary in order to fit the truly spectacular critters and encounters in without toning them down any. Seronax, for example, is very much an epic dragon. 3000+ ft. wingspan, not quite a god, way too much for a few dozen 20th level characters.... needs the epic. Etc. etc.

Trick is to start from get-go that the epic stuff has had a massive impact on your campaign world.