Name Level
Bart Carroll & Steve Winter
In the earliest editions of D&D and AD&D, every class had a different name associated with it at each level. These names provided a splash of color and also introduced the concept of "name level."
Talk about this article here.
Perhaps ranks will be in 4th, however the article does not indicate that at all.
Oh I see they are providing Ghosts of names, it appears linked to tier.
So only the last 68 actual words have anything to do with 4th ED *sighs*
My introduction to 'name level' came with this (from the Mentzer D&D Basic Set):
Your fighter should use this title when talking to with other characters. Instead of saying, "I'm Fleetwood, a 2nd level fighter," the character should say, "I'm Fleetwood, the Warrior."
I actually considered naming my 1st PC 'Fleetwood'. It was a cool name but I'm glad I used some imagination
.The Asuras can locate all Lawful Good beings who are of “name”
level or higher (i.e. Paladin for Paladins, Wizard for Magic-Users, etc.)
within a 300-mile radius.
-- Dragon 42, October 1980.
Edit: I'm now really curious about how much earlier it could be. Time to dig.
The Mentzer Basic was 83
The Moldvay Basic was December of 80, so none of the Basic stuff is going to be the winner.
NOTE: Especially the Druid and Monk name levels which translated directly into my 3E game as Titles carried by those classes within their own organizations. The Titles were not level dependent but I mostly kept their order intact.
Monk names(level, xp range, name)
09, 350001-500000, Master of the North Wind
10, 500001-700000, Master of the West Wind
11, 700001-950000, Master of the South Wind
12, 950001-1250000, Master of the East Wind
13, 1250001-1750000, Master of Winter
14, 1750001-2250000, Master of Autumn
15, 2250001-2750000, Master of Summer
16, 2750001-3250000, Master of Spring
17, 3250001+ , Grand Master of Flowers
The level 15 Assassin was known as the Grandfather of Assassins.
A level 10 and above thief was a Master Thief.
At level 16, the magic-user was known as a Mage, at 18, Archmage.
No school like the old school, so they say.
What I remember the most was constantly using the titles for a level or two higher than what I was. I kept annoying the DM and explained to him that the NPC wouldn't know if I really was level 4 or level 5. lol I even used titles from other classes from time to time too.
From the 1978 PHB:
Yeah, that's where the "Name level" concept seems to come from. Just not the first use of the actual term. I figure it likely is the dragon article I posted. I remember that we used it to mean "9th level" pretty much. When you were an established hero, when the fighter got his troop of guys to play with, etc.
As for level names, I don't recall ever using them. They never seemed very logical to me, since a level doesn't equate to a rank, title, or position.
One of the areas that I think that has been traditionally glossed over, or left to individual Dungeon Masters to figure out, has to with incorporating into play, the day-job of the adventures. Which would necessarily mean that the adventures, such as Indiana Jones, would also have ranks, titles, and positions in society.
It might be possible for WOTC to produce an adventure or supplement that stressed this aspect of the role playing element of the game? Perhaps a whodunit adventure that could be dropped into an existing campaign, where the DM and players are forced to develop their characters in such a way that they can then participate in the adventure by means of their ranks, titles, and positions in society – just like in real life. After all, Sherlock Homes isn't called upon to solve an unfathomable murder because he's simply a 30th level Private Investigator, he's also a twenty year veteran of the field, a gentleman, probably a recipient of numerous awards and honorably titled positions -He's Sherlock Homes.
While every 10th fighter shouldn't necessarily be a lord this or lord that, they should have a game impacting history, which should include some list of formal or informal titles, past or present, that communicates their station in life. While, “Take 6d6+10 damage you fiend”, effectively communicates your status, it doesn't in itself land you a gig recovering stolen artifacts for the Duke of such and such. Your reputation proceeds you.
Much like belts in martial arts. You practice until your master believes you are ready (a.k.a. you earn enough experience) and then they test you and you achieve the next belt. The belts are synonymous with the Titles from D&D.
I even seem to remember something about Monks needing to challenge Monks of the higher Title and defeating them to take the Title from them. So when the monk got enough experience they sought out another monk and challenged them. Once they beat them, they gained their new level and the new title. That is a vague memory of mine so maybe someone could elaborate further on that point (may have even come from OA).
Druids had to be initiated by a higher level druid into the higher "Circles" so their titles are tied directly to their level of experience.
It all made for good role-playing in the end but I still understand why D&D did away with it.
It's in the AD&D PhB. Upon achieving 8th level, the monk has to seek out and defeat one of the 3 dragon masters, or lose xp sufficient to take them down to the very start of 7th level. After the dragon masters, there is only one monk of each level from 9th through 17th in the entire world. Each time he gains a level, the monk must seek out and challenge him. At any point, the monk can build a monastery of his own, or take the place of one of his challengers.