#honestly there’s something cynical in starting a homebrew campaign at high level

[pawthorn]

There are no more poignant ‘sailing past the tip of an iceberg you didn’t know existed’ moments for me than those longass posts about people playing D&D without knowing the rules and with no intention of learning.

It’s just such a baffling concept to me.

And maybe that’s because I play in a group where everyone has either GMed or is interested in GMing, but it’s so confusing to me that anyone wouldn’t want to learn the rules over time.

When I started playing, I didn’t read the entire rule book, and my DM didn’t expect me to. I played a Monk, and I learned how my character worked. I picked up other rules as we went along, I asked questions, and I tried to remember what I learned. I watched actual play, which gave me further understanding of rhythm, strategy, and different gameplay styles.

Now I’ve GMed a lot, I know the rules fairly well, but if I want to do something in game and I don’t remember how it works, I look it up (Jumping rules my beloathed.)

I do wonder if part of the issue is the bad press that low level play has gotten. Because if you dive right into a level five or higher character for your first session, then yeah, you probably won’t learn the rules.

Low level play is high stakes and causes you to think creatively, because you don’t have the spell slots to solve every problem with a spell. You don’t have the saving abilities and HP to stand toe to toe with every enemy. You don’t succeed every check. You end up using healers kits and terrain and grappling and climbing and working through multiple solutions and you learn the rules that way.

I’ve talked to multiple people who say they started their campaigns as a 10+ level character. I’ve been playing DnD for over ten years now, and the highest level I’ve played is eleven. That character started as level two, and I’ve grown into their abilities as I’ve played.

And yes, playing a one shot as a tenth level multi-class can be fun.

But playing a character who struggled to survive level one, who fought and bled and nearly died and now they’re tenth level and punching dragons?

There’s nothing better.

And playing that way will teach you the game in a way that starting at high level simply cannot. And knowing the rules will allow you to play collaboratively in a way that not knowing them never will.