Your Highest Level Characters

[Farcaster]

What is the highest level character you have played and leveled up yourself from level 1 on? Tell us about him or her. Did you enjoy that level of play or wish you could have made your character even more powerful? How long did it take you?

This could be from any edition between 1st and 3.5.

[Skunkape]

Had a 2nd edition paladin that I started at 1st and stopped around 17th level or so. Was lots of fun and is one of the more memorable characters from the group of guys I played with at the time.

Years later, they're still talking about that character, though I don't game with them so much any more.

He was your typical 2nd edition pally, with +5 plate, +5 shield and of course a +5 holy avenger! White charger warhorse, blond hair, blue eyes, high strength 18/00, high dex, con, wis & cha too, if I remember correctly, the lowest of those stats were around 15, int was around 12.

Was a real pain in the butt as far as the rest of the group was concerned as they were mostly chaotic sorts, but of all of the characters from that campaign, he's the one everyone remember and talks about!

[CAD]

First edition grey elf magic user with a 23 intelligence, and I forgot when I voted that while he had enough experience to be 22nd level (plus Glantrian Secret Craft levels) he was capped at 20th level, given his intelligence, race and straight class. I have long wanted to convert him to third, but finding an epic game is another matter entirely.

Saed was a blast to play, a little ecentric for a racist (hated humans and dwarves) and of course he couldn't smell his own brand!

Then again there is my first character Sarc, a half-orc fighter 13th/thief 16th (thanks to his gauntlet that allowed him to exceed his fighter limitations). Thanks to another DM that allowed me to play M'larky, a halfling (1st edition bard) Ranger 7th/Thief (Acrobat) 8th/Bard 12th. All of these levels wouldn't have been possible without Unearthed Arcana and a few judicious house rules/items though, which is the most pleasing aspect of third edition.

[Ed Zachary]

I've been playing D&D on and off since 1980, and have four established characters that have been in and out of a few games, often they have lost considerable amounts of experience in the change process. All four were started in the early 80s, two have gone through racial changes when new but similar races were added. There has also been some allignment drift.

Fighter (N) L-16: started out half elf, changed to gith when 2.0 rules came out.

Magic User (CG) L-21: gray elf... drifted to half CN as his efforts to rid the world of evil had been tainted with occasional greed and lust for power.

Assassin/Magic User (CE) L-16/16 (ver 2.0), now L-12/11 Sor/Rog (ver 3.5): started out an elf, changed to drow early on after the Giants modules came out. Tended toward borderline N as he became a successful merchant in underdark and surface.

Priest (LE, Kali) L-16: human, drifted from CE to LE as he evolved into a paranoid control freak, now a mummy.

[Farcaster]

Fighter (N) L-16: started out half elf, changed to gith when 2.0 rules came out.

Magic User (CG) L-21: gray elf... drifted to half CN as his efforts to rid the world of evil had been tainted with occasional greed and lust for power.

Assassin/Magic User (CE) L-16/16 (ver 2.0), now L-12/11 Sor/Rog (ver 3.5): started out an elf, changed to drow early on after the Giants modules came out. Tended toward borderline N as he became a successful merchant in underdark and surface.

Priest (LE, Kali) L-16: human, drifted from CE to LE as he evolved into a paranoid control freak, now a mummy.

3 out of 4 of your characters actually changed from one race to another in the course of their adventures? I'm interested in hearing about the backstory behind that.

[Skunkape]

I had a character that started out as a human, but through the story of the game the GM changed him into an elf. GM had or added a back story element where the character had pissed off his deity so badly that the deity cursed him and turned him into a human. Can't remember what level he finally made it to, but that was a fantastic character too! Though not as memorable as the paladin.

I would be interested in hearing about your character's too Ed.

[Ed Zachary]

3 out of 4 of your characters actually changed from one race to another in the course of their adventures? I'm interested in hearing about the backstory behind that.

Two of them did, a third became cursed as an undead a mummy.

In the old D&D rules, there were very few character races to chose from. When the Fiend Folio first came out, we were given the option to change to a new race (as if it had always been like that), if it fit the character's life history better. I was running a CE elf Assassin/Magic User, and the subrace of Drow fit him much more than standard surface elf. It was not considered a racial change, but a clarification of subtype of elf.

When the second edition came out, my human fighter chose to become a gith. Again, a gith is a subtype of human. He could have been a gith all along. So as above, it was not really a change, but a clarification of subtype.

I hope that helps, I'm not a fan of making changes in who a character is.

[Ed Zachary]

I had a character that started out as a human, but through the story of the game the GM changed him into an elf. GM had or added a back story element where the character had pissed off his deity so badly that the deity cursed him and turned him into a human. Can't remember what level he finally made it to, but that was a fantastic character too! Though not as memorable as the paladin.

I would be interested in hearing about your character's too Ed.

There are two type of changes that can occur... in game as a result of an action by a PC or NPC, or out of game as a result of an action by the DM.

It sounds like your change was in game... the result of a pissed off diety. While he may have had a human body, his mind was still that of an elf!

The two characters in question were from the very early 80s, when the only options were human, elf, half elf, dwarf, gnome, hobbit or half orc.

Me CE elf was recatagorized as a drow, which had not been previously available as an elf subtype.

My loner fighter was recatagorized as a gith, which had not been previously available as an human subtype.

These modifications happened out of game, and did not change who the character was (they were still the same race). In fact they helped greatly with character personality development. I would never change a dwarf to a human, but a friend did change one to a duergar (dwarven subtype).

[Farcaster]

I am exclusively DM. It is a very, very rare occasion that I actually have an opportunity to play. The last long-running campaign I was in spanned about two years between 1998 and 2000. It was set in a custom world of the DM's design using 2nd edition rules with some rules borrowed from the Birthright setting.

My character was a human cleric named Ylin Firetree, who was notably the first in a long line of characters so named. Dedicated to the god of Justice, Ylin was a paladin in every way except THAC0 and abilities. (Okay, how many of you just shuddered when I said, THAC0?) Even though he wasn't quite a knight, he behaved very much like one.

What was most interesting about playing Ylin was the progression of his outlook as it developed over his many adventuring years. At the start, I played him every bit the archetypical hard-nosed Lawful Good type. The DM gave me a wide degree of latitude in detailing the dogma and tenets of the church, so the religion itself was deeply based on Ylin's beginning attitudes.

Over time though, Ylin came to realize that the path to righteousness was not always the clearest path. In fact, he wrote a book about his observations called, "The Nature of Good and Evil," which ended up being quite controversial in his church and started the beginnings of a great schism amongst the followers--some of whom followed the old ways and some who found enlightenment in Ylin's observations and looked to the church to progress out of it's "dark ages," if you will.

Later on in his career, Ylin and his companions were actually thrown back one thousand years to the moment of the world's worst cataclysm. The cataclysm had actually been caused by the death of a god, slain by a mortal woman in an epic battle. The deity's death was enough to create an explosion sufficient to destroy much of the southern continent. Miraculously, the woman survived somehow, and was found comatose on the coast of what remained of the southern continent. The woman would never regain consciousness, but she lived long enough to give birth to twins, who ended up being the fragmented aspects of the slain god, one being Justice, and the other War.

Ylin and his companions survived the blast and were able to find the woman and protect her until she gave birth both to Ylin's god (of Justice) and to the god of war. So it was that Ylin ended up being the First Priest of his god, Theorin. At the direction of the infant god, Ylin wrote the first prayer book, an artifact that was kept by the church even a thousand years later. Unable to resist the temptation of proven the naysayers of his philosophies wrong, Ylin also wrote another book using the same ink and paper detailing the beginnings of the church and his role in it. He then hid the book in a place that he could then rediscover it when he returned to the future.

And let me tell you, when he finally did return to the future and uncovered his own ancient writing, he threw the church into a upheaval like one it had never seen before. The High Pope himself had a few choice words for him. But, it was the beginning of a change that Ylin had been working towards for years.

Unfortunately, two years into the game, our DM ended up moving to Chicago, so the tale, sadly, is left unfinished, but I can say that it was the most incredible gaming experience I have ever had, and the richest and most vibrant character I have ever played. By the end of his career, Ylin was around 13th level and on the precipice of events that would have likely resulted in the creation of a New Church of Theorin with him as High Priest, and probably a holy war.

God, I miss that character!

[Ed Zachary]

What was most interesting about playing Ylin was the progression of his outlook as it developed over his many adventuring years. At the start, I played him every bit the archetypical hard-nosed Lawful Good type. The DM gave me a wide degree of latitude in detailing the dogma and tenets of the church, so the religion itself was deeply based on Ylin's beginning attitudes.

Excellent... the best games are those where the DM gives the players the freedom and creative liscence to shape the campaign. If the game is about the players, then they will add so much more.

To me the worst DMs are the contol freaks, who want the players to be bit characters in their own personal fantasy.

[Shadowfire757]

If I am reading the poll right than the highest I have ever leveled a character up to is 5th level although the DM let me start at 3rd since the edition was Advanced Second and in his opinion Wizards less than level 3 were useless as adventurers. I got to level up twice before the game fell apart and the DM got annoyed with intergroup arguments. Since then I have never really levelled up anybody because I am the DM or the game falls apart after only a few sessions, with nothing significant to warrant levelling up.

[ronpyatt]

A multi-class Egoist/Psychic Warrior/Soulknife at 28 lvl that turned evil for a short while. I began with that character at 1st level, and he quickly gained levels 4 or 5 at a time. Leveling up was such a pain, but in the end he was powerful enough to help take out a many unbeatable monsters on different planes. Funny, it was the Paladin in our party that kept us in trouble.

[Farcaster]

So, no 31st and beyonds?

[Ed Zachary]

So, no 31st and beyonds?

Once you get into the 20s, there is very little adventuring that can be done that will offer you a challenge. Characters of that level become the puppetmasters, directing the peons.

I think that the best levels for adventuring are between 7th and 16th.

[Farcaster]

Oh, I don't know. I think there are plenty of opportunities for adventure in the post 20 game, particularly in the planes. My current group is around 13th level, and to be honest, I can't wait to get them into the epic game. In our last campaign, their characters were well into the high 20s, and I had no lack of story lines to keep them occupied. The roleplaying aspect definitely becomes a more critical component of the game that this point, because there are just so many hecatoncheires and undead-baby-god atropals out there to slay.