| ElionGanon |
This has been a heavy topic of discussion and thought lately among my group for many reasons. Mostly these 2:
1. We have recently been dabbling in a "new" system called DCCRPG, (which you can find here on the paizo site), by Goodman Games. This system has a very unique O level dungeon style. At 0 level, your players play 3-6 characters, for a total of 20-30 characters, and they are all randomly generated. As a DM, you are EXPECTED to kill 75-80% of their characters. Their characters are completely randomly generated, and have 0 talents. They are poor peasant people.
After a few rounds of level 0 DCC characters, level 1 pathfinder characters feel like gods.
2. As we all hit a turning point in our professional and social lives recently, finding time to play with a constant group has become increasingly difficult. Character creation time has become a factor, because if we add or subtract players throughout a campaign, or begin new campaigns at higher levels, there becomes this "dead time" at the beginning of sessions where players are leveling or creating new PC, and that becomes a bit of a hassle or bore. (personally I don't like having everyone come with a premade character entirely completed, so that the party can form as a PARTY, not as 4 barbarians with insanely different backstories and experience.)
By playing at level 1, we can usually all crank out characters in 20 minutes or less, rather than slogging through magic items looking for ways to spend 10,000 gold, while our fighter sits out because he just bought good armor and a big stick.
TLDR Level 1 characters are fast and easy, and are heroes with the right perspective.