Originally Posted by Sadurian
Originally Posted by Argonaut
And does your lvl 1 wizened old crone have access to level 5 spells? Can your teenage halfling urchin bypass a DC35 stealth or lockpicking check on anything but a natural 20? Does the teenage halfing urchin have vast underworld connections and a mountain of favors owed to him by criminal barons? How high is your wizened old hags DC checks? Tell me what is your Wisdom value and the urchins Dexterity value?

These characters still fall under the exact rules and guidelines I am talking about. A wizened old crone is not the same as starting a level 1 character and in your backstory you have read thousands of spelltomes and incribed thousands of scrolls or you are the headmaster of the academy of magic.

I'm not even sure that you know where you are going with this now.

Those examples you use do not, in any way shape or form, restrict a backstory. You could be the head of a wizard cabal and still be Level 1. That doesn't mean you have to be able to cast Wish. Being an experience rogue does not mean that you can open locks of a certain DC. Mechanics do not equal backstory.

You are ignoring the obvious dissonance this causes. I didn't say a cabal of wizards I said the academy of magic. The headmaster is a level 1 character with level one powers? Are the teachers as well? This system exists to prevent situations like this and increase the efficacy of the simulation.


Originally Posted by Sadurian
Originally Posted by Argonaut
Again, please direct me to where I said otherwise.

Originally Posted by Argonaut
I have already explained to you that your backstory and whatever life experience you have gained from it is tied and limited to your character level in order to simulate a believable reality.


And others.

I said nothing about age, only life experiences. You cannot have experienced being a master magician as a wizened old hag starting at level 1. You cannot have the life experience of being the champion of an army as a level 1 grizzled veteran. See the example above as to why even ignoring the mechanical limitations.

Originally Posted by Sadurian
Originally Posted by Argonaut
Please point me to the point in the PHB where the background description states it is not talking about starting a character at any level

The assumption of the starting section is that the character starts at Level 1. Only later does the game talk about starting at higher levels. No, it does not explicitly state that the piece on choosing a background is only to be used for characters of a particular starting level, but then it doesn't need to. It is pretty obvious that the advice is there for starting players and starting characters, and the default assumption is starting at Level 1.

Please point me to the section in the PHB where this is stated. I know you cannot because there is no such thing as this description is there to include starting at various points. Starting at level 1 is not even a common practice in tabletop DnD and 5 minutes with google will provide you with countless discussions on the subject.
Here are a few examples.
https://www.dungeonsolvers.com/2019/08/19/what-level-should-you-start-your-dd-5e-campaign-at/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/6a4mn4/whats_level_should_i_start_my_players_at/

Last edited by Argonaut; 19/10/20 02:02 PM.
I am here to discuss a video game. Please do not try to rope me into anything other than that. Thank you.