"0-level characters" good idea? [Archive] - Wizards Community

"0-level characters" good idea? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
rice830
12-20-06, 12:00 AM Ok, im going to be starting a new campaign and i would love 0-level characters to start. here's what i've got:
~Almost like a level in commoner but you dont gain x4 skill points, so youd get about 1-5 skill points
~Everyone gets one extra bonus feat depending on what race:
~~Humans: any you qualify for; Elves: Lightning Reflexes, dodge, etc(need more ideas!); Dwarves: Great Fortitude, Endurance, etc( need help!) and i need help for all other races/ sub-races, so any help would be fantastic.
~So everyone gets an extra 4+Con hp's

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, please comment as well.
Thank you.
CroBob
12-20-06, 12:03 AM Would this be a momentary thing, they gain powers and transfer into another, character class, or would they keep these levels their whole career?
rice830
12-20-06, 12:25 AM THey'd then gain their first character level gaing the skill points x4, max hps, and their 1st level Feat along with human bonus feat, so it would give them an etra feat and some hit points but i would increase their challenge a little. They wouldnt write down any level they'd just get like four bonus hit points, also revision, the 4 hitpoitns + con modifier, no con modifier at first "level"
Daergal_the_Black
12-20-06, 01:58 AM To each his own, but having suffered through 0-level games I've learned that I don't like them. I play a 0-level character in real life, I see no need to recreate the experience for a role playing game.

I don't really understand the allure of low level games, let alone no-level games. I don't think I'd play in any campaign that started lower than 6th level without some serous selling of the concept on the part of the DM.
CroBob
12-20-06, 02:38 AM 1st level is the beginning of great campaigns. I always thought of it as building character before you're uber-bad-ass. Heroes start somewhere. First level. I also like the believability of lower levels. Getting hit with an axe, regardless who's hitting you with it, hurts a lot. A mob of low leveled stuff is much more threatening. Once you can conquer cities by your lonesome, it just doesn't seem as challenging, and therefore not as fun. How many world destroying badies can you fight before it becomes hum-drum? One world destroying monster per campaign is a good rule of thumb. Once it's defeated, campaign over. Lower level characters are still tough and pretty bad-ass, but a more believable sort of tough and bad-ass. Of course, I enjoy seeing them through higher levels, too, but the grittiness of low-mid levels makes it fun.
Darth Sephiroth
12-20-06, 04:09 PM I'd actually started one campagin with all the characters using a single NPC level without gaining 1st level bonus'. They also started out with basically the clothes on their back and a handfull of coin. They were members of a caravan to one of the improtant cities in the campaign and were attacked. When they reached the town they could exchange their level for a normal heroic class level and were given equipment as a reward for their actions and a few quests that built off of it.

I handled things pretty well I think, made sure that the characters did pretty well for themselves when converting (They had to pick a PC class of the type they had the NPC class of so Warrior=>Fighter or the like) and if they got some extra class skills out of it if they'd put their handfull of starting ranks in something that wasn't a normal class skill, they got it as a class skill from then on.
calvinNhobbes
12-21-06, 09:33 AM I've been toying around with the idea of 0-level characters and the following idea came to me. Why not just let 1 HD creatures keep their racial hit die? That would be their 0-level. Other tweeks are needed, but that seems like a good place to start.
unundindur
12-25-06, 03:19 PM I once started a group in lv 0. The palyers where 15-year olds or so who in some way was driven into a plotline. It didn't take long before they became 1/2 lv characters (see 3.0 dmg) and eventually lv 1 characters.

We did have a hilarious encounter though, when a crazy pair or ravens got into the sleeping room of the group and they almost died :rolleyes: High ac alone made for great difficulty...

You could check out the link in my signature though. I am building a system based of 3.5 where in many ways people always stick to level 1, and if you wnat lower.
jagggar
12-26-06, 02:21 PM ~Everyone gets one extra bonus feat depending on what race:
~~Humans: any you qualify for; Elves: Lightning Reflexes, dodge, etc(need more ideas!); Dwarves: Great Fortitude, Endurance, etc( need help!) and i need help for all other races/ sub-races, so any help would be fantastic. The easy way to figure out bonus lists for non-humans is to use the "Races of" books and to allow any racial feat to be picked.
DarkRhystar
12-26-06, 03:37 PM Playing 0th level characters in D&D is like playing the entire first half of a football game without a football, it's unnecessary and quite silly.

There's a very good reason the game is called Dungeons and Dragons and not Peasants and Farmers.

But don't let that stop you though, I'm sure you'll have many thrilling adventures like:

a crazy pair or ravens got into the sleeping room of the group and they almost died

If enjoy that, you may enjoy such other fantastic hobbies such as pet-rock raising or watching paint dry. :P

PS: The above post is entirely satirical in nature and not to be taken too literally. 0th level characters are masochistic/sadistic in nature as they are no more interesting than regular characters save that a stray cow fart has a 50% chance of killing them.
Zavlaki
12-28-06, 04:47 PM When you start playing at 1-level you start playing when you have at least reached your adulthood. What if you want want to play your childhood...the time before you have reached the 1 normal level and set of abilities...

This is the way i would explain a 0-level character...some people want to try it, i don't argue with that! So i think that you must first find what abilities somene will have when he is born...
unundindur
12-29-06, 08:11 AM To us it was all about getting known to our characters sort of.

One could use the same argument for starting at level 1; why not start at 5?

My group started above 1 often in the old days, but we eventually found the game to be more rewarding when startign at 1, feeling you had actually lived that character all from the start. Even more so with 0lv characters (although it doesnt get played much).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
rice830 12-20-06, 12:00 AM	Ok, im going to be starting a new campaign and i would love 0-level characters to start. here's what i've got: ~Almost like a level in commoner but you dont gain x4 skill points, so youd get about 1-5 skill points ~Everyone gets one extra bonus feat depending on what race: ~~Humans: any you qualify for; Elves: Lightning Reflexes, dodge, etc(need more ideas!); Dwarves: Great Fortitude, Endurance, etc( need help!) and i need help for all other races/ sub-races, so any help would be fantastic. ~So everyone gets an extra 4+Con hp's Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, please comment as well. Thank you.
CroBob 12-20-06, 12:03 AM	Would this be a momentary thing, they gain powers and transfer into another, character class, or would they keep these levels their whole career?
rice830 12-20-06, 12:25 AM	THey'd then gain their first character level gaing the skill points x4, max hps, and their 1st level Feat along with human bonus feat, so it would give them an etra feat and some hit points but i would increase their challenge a little. They wouldnt write down any level they'd just get like four bonus hit points, also revision, the 4 hitpoitns + con modifier, no con modifier at first "level"
Daergal_the_Black 12-20-06, 01:58 AM	To each his own, but having suffered through 0-level games I've learned that I don't like them. I play a 0-level character in real life, I see no need to recreate the experience for a role playing game. I don't really understand the allure of low level games, let alone no-level games. I don't think I'd play in any campaign that started lower than 6th level without some serous selling of the concept on the part of the DM.
CroBob 12-20-06, 02:38 AM	1st level is the beginning of great campaigns. I always thought of it as building character before you're uber-bad-ass. Heroes start somewhere. First level. I also like the believability of lower levels. Getting hit with an axe, regardless who's hitting you with it, hurts a lot. A mob of low leveled stuff is much more threatening. Once you can conquer cities by your lonesome, it just doesn't seem as challenging, and therefore not as fun. How many world destroying badies can you fight before it becomes hum-drum? One world destroying monster per campaign is a good rule of thumb. Once it's defeated, campaign over. Lower level characters are still tough and pretty bad-ass, but a more believable sort of tough and bad-ass. Of course, I enjoy seeing them through higher levels, too, but the grittiness of low-mid levels makes it fun.
Darth Sephiroth 12-20-06, 04:09 PM	I'd actually started one campagin with all the characters using a single NPC level without gaining 1st level bonus'. They also started out with basically the clothes on their back and a handfull of coin. They were members of a caravan to one of the improtant cities in the campaign and were attacked. When they reached the town they could exchange their level for a normal heroic class level and were given equipment as a reward for their actions and a few quests that built off of it. I handled things pretty well I think, made sure that the characters did pretty well for themselves when converting (They had to pick a PC class of the type they had the NPC class of so Warrior=>Fighter or the like) and if they got some extra class skills out of it if they'd put their handfull of starting ranks in something that wasn't a normal class skill, they got it as a class skill from then on.
calvinNhobbes 12-21-06, 09:33 AM	I've been toying around with the idea of 0-level characters and the following idea came to me. Why not just let 1 HD creatures keep their racial hit die? That would be their 0-level. Other tweeks are needed, but that seems like a good place to start.
unundindur 12-25-06, 03:19 PM	I once started a group in lv 0. The palyers where 15-year olds or so who in some way was driven into a plotline. It didn't take long before they became 1/2 lv characters (see 3.0 dmg) and eventually lv 1 characters. We did have a hilarious encounter though, when a crazy pair or ravens got into the sleeping room of the group and they almost died :rolleyes: High ac alone made for great difficulty... You could check out the link in my signature though. I am building a system based of 3.5 where in many ways people always stick to level 1, and if you wnat lower.
jagggar 12-26-06, 02:21 PM	~Everyone gets one extra bonus feat depending on what race: ~~Humans: any you qualify for; Elves: Lightning Reflexes, dodge, etc(need more ideas!); Dwarves: Great Fortitude, Endurance, etc( need help!) and i need help for all other races/ sub-races, so any help would be fantastic. The easy way to figure out bonus lists for non-humans is to use the "Races of" books and to allow any racial feat to be picked.
DarkRhystar 12-26-06, 03:37 PM	Playing 0th level characters in D&D is like playing the entire first half of a football game without a football, it's unnecessary and quite silly. There's a very good reason the game is called Dungeons and Dragons and not Peasants and Farmers. But don't let that stop you though, I'm sure you'll have many thrilling adventures like: a crazy pair or ravens got into the sleeping room of the group and they almost died If enjoy that, you may enjoy such other fantastic hobbies such as pet-rock raising or watching paint dry. :P PS: The above post is entirely satirical in nature and not to be taken too literally. 0th level characters are masochistic/sadistic in nature as they are no more interesting than regular characters save that a stray cow fart has a 50% chance of killing them.
Zavlaki 12-28-06, 04:47 PM	When you start playing at 1-level you start playing when you have at least reached your adulthood. What if you want want to play your childhood...the time before you have reached the 1 normal level and set of abilities... This is the way i would explain a 0-level character...some people want to try it, i don't argue with that! So i think that you must first find what abilities somene will have when he is born...
unundindur 12-29-06, 08:11 AM	To us it was all about getting known to our characters sort of. One could use the same argument for starting at level 1; why not start at 5? My group started above 1 often in the old days, but we eventually found the game to be more rewarding when startign at 1, feeling you had actually lived that character all from the start. Even more so with 0lv characters (although it doesnt get played much).