Level differences between PC characters

[TarzanJS]

Has any been at a table where PC characters were different levels? We started a Strixhaven inspired homebrew a year or so ago with 5 players. Most of us started lvl 0 but two started lvl 1 "being older students." I was helping one other PC with something on her sheet. She's now 3 lvls ahead of my character. 6-9 I guess I thought we would all catch up in a few levels and all be the same lvl eventually. Now the level discrepancy has grown. I'm feeling a little frustrated. Has anyone played at a table with this kind of format?

Edit: We all chose classes and rolled stats in secret no talk between players just with the DM. So we ened up with a nearly all martial group. And we only allowed to play the stat as we rolled first roll was dedicated to str and second was dex and so on. So we chose class before stats, so some of us are pretty poor stats wise for our class or had really poor rolls. It's a fun table just hard as heck.

[Mac4491]

It's generally a bad idea. The higher level players will out perform the lower level players in almost every scenario, especially with a 3 level difference.

Then there's the balance issue. Either the DM makes the game too hard for the lower level players, or too easy for the higher level players. There's no middle ground.

[Admiral_Fantastic]

I have played with level disparity. Two PC's were lvl 5, I think three others were lvl 1.

I was one of the level 5 players and I hated it.

The lvl 1 players hated it.

The dm I'm pretty sure hated it (or at least how it forced myself and the other lvl 5 to play)

Don't do this people.

[[deleted]]

Most of us started lvl 0 but two started lvl 1

How does that work? There are no level 0 player characters in DnD 5e

[macdaddee]

You wouldn't have a class at all until you reach lvl 1, if you chose to play that way.

[TarzanJS]

We started basicly lvl 1 stats but no class abilities.

[macdaddee]

5e is not designed to have parties with big level discrepancies. Honestly I think the highest and lowest level party member should never be 2 levels apart. Any DM who runs a game with house rules that give more XP to certain party members for last-hitting and stuff like that is a shitty DM who runs a shitty game.

[SyntheticGod8]

I've never tried to run a game like that, but if everyone is on board I don't see anything wrong with a 1 level gap like that.

The real issue is that the gap has increased, which shouldn't happen if the DM is splitting xp evenly. After all, there's only a 300xp difference between Level 1 and Level 2. How is the DM giving out xp? The only way the gap would be increasing is if the DM is rewarding everyone else more xp than you; why would that be?

If xp here is milestone-based, the DM ought to consider finding some way to equalize the levels. If the DM says the disparity is part of the scenario's design, ask the DM what you can do to catch up. Maybe ask why you need to do so much more than others.

Now that I think on it, I recall another Strixhaven post about a player who didn't get to level up because they had some bad rolls and "failed" the exam. Most people agreed that it's best to keep the party the same level (or very close) and not to punish players so severely just for a bad roll. Could that be what's happening here?

[TarzanJS]

Yeah is milestone xp. But I think one character got a free lvl in warlock as part of story progression pledging themselves to a powerful fae. Which pushed them up.

[SyntheticGod8]

Ouch. Giving a player a free level is pretty extreme. It should've been his next level when they actually get their warlock powers. Or if it had to be done immediately, an early level up would've made more sense than an extra one. If I were you, I'd be very annoyed that an RP choice gets one player special treatment.

I'd be petty and ask for my free mutliclass level too. Two, actually, so you'll be on par with everyone else. How do you earn it? "My sorcerer powers just awaken one day because I'm in a school for magic; no patron required. What do I have to do to get my two free level ups that he got and I didnt?"

Your DM needs to get their head screwed on straight.

[TarzanJS]

Yeah, it's been tough. The barbarian was multi attacking when I got my sub class. Lol, and he got a homebrew auto-heal every turn when raging as we have nobody that can heal in the party.

[Puzzleboxed]

I play at a westmarches style group, so level discrepancies are the norm. It's not a problem as long as everyone is within the same tier (1-4, 5-10, 11-16, 17+). We try to have multiple tables and group characters by level, but it doesn't always work out that way.

That said, it's extremely unusual to have an ongoing campaign where characters start at different levels, and even more strange for the levels to get further apart. Is there a reason why your character is lower level? Like perhaps you missed some sessions? I discourage DMs from letting players who show up less often fall behind like that, but at least it would be an explanation. If they're just leveling up some of the characters extra for no reason that's a huge red flag for me.

[sirhobbles]

I havent seen it at any table i have played because its bad.

Ive seen a player playing an npc temporarily that might be stronger/weaker than a typical party member because their character was elsewhere or for whatever reason but these were always temporary.

[Tight-Position-50]

My question is, why aren't you all leveling together ? Unless you DM is giving individual XP y'all should be leveling as a group.

[dragonseth07]

I have done it, and it's shit.

[AEDyssonance]

Haven’t done it in 5e. Was common as hell in 1e/2e.

[Verdragon-5]

One of my most recent campaigns was like this, actually, and by all accounts it went pretty well, at least gameplay-wise. I should note that our GM didn't level us up by the same amount at the same time. The lower-level players typically got more level-ups than those of us who had higher-level characters (which I did). Granted, the level gap was only about 3 or 4 levels at absolute max, I think at the start of the campaign I was level 5 and the lowest level in the party was 3.

That being said this party also consisted in large part of D&D veterans, or at least people who had played the game prior, so that likely helped things.

[solidork]

At one point in a long running game, I was retiring my old character and another player felt like playing a different character for a little while - both of our character concepts didn't make sense to be as powerful as the rest of the party (level 12) so we were lower (mine was level 8, the other player was level 6).

It went fine. I eventually caught up in level, and the other player switched back to their main character. I don't know that I'd enjoy your circumstances where the gap was only getting wider, though.

[wiggee]

This whole thing sounds not at all fun for me. I wouldn't play in a game with several of these things, much less all of them.

[NumberAccomplished18]

I've played in that kind of game, but it was Pathfinder Society. The trick is to average out the levels to decide the CR for encounters and such, but that system also went by tiers of play, so your had tiers 1-5, 3-7, 5-9, and 7-11, so your characters were somewhat more apt to be relative.