Character Level Limits

[delve]

Hiya Again Folks!

Heres another question for DM's out there. When do you limit the PCs?. Do you have a level in mind where you say OK thats far as she goes?. Or do you let them keep going further? or ask them to retire their character?.

I gave this a bit of thought and I came up with this. I myself like 17th level as the limit for my Holmes D&D Basic Games. They have a limit they can reach in and that's OK, theres more to the game than XP, Levels and Hit Points. It gives the game balance, where there isn't deity like characters walking around. Fear is a great tool in the game, It makes PC's think, and work together to defeat deadly foes. So is level limits a that bad thing?

[calithena]

No, level limits are not a bad thing.

Neither is unlimited advancement though.

I often pretend I have level limits while not really having them, which might or might not be a bad thing.

Welcome to the boards!

[Finarvyn]

I generally run campaigns where the characters are around 4th level, and seldom advance them much at all.

While I'm not opposed to unlimited advancement, my games are usually geared so that 10th level is pretty much the cap. This makes demi-human level limits important but doesn't totally kill game balance.

[Ghul]

I think Level 12 is far enough. Once the PCs get to around Level 7 in my campaigns, it takes forever to gain another level. Then again, from what I am told, I'm the stingiest awarder of EP in the universe. Surely this can't be so!

[Deleted]

When I ran an OD&D campaign, the majority of PCs retired around level 12 or so. I don't recall many going very far beyond that, maybe 17th (?) was the highest anyone achieved before rerolling a "new boot."

[coffee]

Jul 19, 2009 8:16:57 GMT -6 Ghul said:

I think Level 12 is far enough. Once the PCs get to around Level 7 in my campaigns, it takes forever to gain another level. Then again, from what I am told, I'm the stingiest awarder of EP in the universe. Surely this can't be so!

The advice I remember from back in the day was to award experience "at the slowest rate which maintains player interest". I'd say that's what you're doing!

After all, the play's the thing, not the leveling up.

[doc]

It's an interesting question, and I think it differs with each version because each version is intended to have it's own feel.

Here are my limits:

OD&D: 12th

B/X: 14th (the limits of the expert set)

Holmes: 9th (it is inherantly a lower powered setting)

AD&D 1st and 2nd Edition: 25th (although the vast majority of characters top off around levels 14-15; and besides, those were my munchkin days)

3rd and 4th Edition: I've never run a campaign for these games, but in the games I played in characters seemed to top off at around 10th-11th.

Doc

[gkaralunas]

All 3 of my TOP PC's retired at 20+, but then again I also ran a Female Human Magic-User who remained 1st Level the entire 4 years we ran. She would not accept XP for use of Magical Items or Treasure and only used Magic Missiles as her Primary Spell. Her Husband was one of the TOP 3 and would give her wand's, scroll's, ring's, etc. She had no problem with using the Magic Items if the party was in trouble, but would never accept XP for her deeds by using a device created by her Husband (23rd MU).

For all to note: I ran a group of very diverse PCs, and had fun with each and everyone of them.

I never got past AD&D, due to my forced retirement and raising 2 young children (Remember when the choice is Putting Food on the Table & The 2nd Choice is Putting Food on the Table) their was no reason for me to spend $$$ on D&D 3+ et al.

[makofan]

Each campaign will find its own limit, IMO. I have had some top out at level 4! Most of mine are about levels 7-10 before we move on to something else, but I did have one AD&D campaign in the 20's