"The sweet spot" Topic

I have found that I prefer to play games in the low/mid level area, for AD&D 2dEd and Pathfinder that means 3rd-6th level. There is something about that particular relative mix of ability level, enemies that are challenging, and enemies that are just-outside-the-realm-of-possibility-so-don't-even-try-it that works for me.

The PC is neither a novice tripping over his sword nor on the cusp of reality-bending power. He is an experienced veteran with a more than reasonable chance of success in his areas of expertise (like he should be) instead of having a half-and-half chance of success (at lower levels) or only failing on a fumble, if even then (at higher levels.)

Things he has not become an expert in but still trained himself somewhat he can still succeed without relying on natural 20's. He is not handing out DPR that is jaw-dropping, but unless the dice are not kind will almost always do double-digits worth.

Casters are wielding a decent measure of might, able to come into their own without completely replacing or overshadowing what the melee and ranged PC's bring to the table, and using spells for battlefield control is just reaching a level of usefulness regarding spell access and duration.

It would not be unheard of for a party of those levels to be tackling a lowly goblin tribe, or clearing a town graveyard of 1HD zombies and skeletons. Either could be made quite deadly to a party of four 3-6th level PC's.

At the same time, it is not unheard of for a party like that to solve some high society intrigue, and in fact would be even more challenging because they are not high enough in power level or position to treat persons of interest and suspects as peers. It would make for a, "finessed," roleplaying experience.

Yep. 3-6th level is my sweet spot.

Your sweet spot?

You might look at a concept called E6 which capped characters at 6th level while allowing for character growth beyond that point.

"Paragon Tier" in DnD 4E (levels 11-20). Much for the same reasons above. Monsters are Iconic and Characters are not All Powerful, yet.

3rd to about 8th. Pretty close to the same. Later the HP just become too big for my taste. I hate seeing people handle 3 or more fireballs without breaking a sweat!

I'd go a bit lower and say 2-6 but I can't argue with 3-8 either.

Past that, and the humanity of the characters tends to get a bit too distant for my personal tastes.

Low enough to be fragile, high enough to be able to do some pretty epic stuff.

I'm in the 3-5 group with fighters on the low end and magic users on high end.

The same reason as Weasel said above.

I think that's the right level for classic and iconic D&D, And probably the vast majority of games out there.

But I'm looking forward to my current game getting beyond that, with the players becoming legendary heroes. IMHO, at that level the PCs have to be something special, not just level one scrubs that happened to survive long enough. There has to be some plot device to explain why they are so powerful.

I'd say 5-13 giving access to 3rd through 6th level spells. 13 may be pushing it where your campaign needs to feature mostly high level NPC adversaries, giants, nasties from the dark, etc. Above 13th is the realm of Dragons for me. None of this dragon youth killing in my games.

As mostly a DM of old the key for me was as the characters got higher level it was more important to feature smarter enemies as opposed to tougher ones.

2-4 through has a certain charm. 1st is a roll of the roulette wheel. That's not a bad thing really because most D&D groups start with more players than it ends with so you weed out the low level characters anyway.

Yep I reckon about 3 to 8 is a pretty good spot too. You are so desperate to hit level 3 to get a few decent skills and HP's but by the time you get to 8 you've had fun and want to try something else.

DEW

I have always loved lower level adventuring because you have to balance fighting with surviving. But then again that has always been my issue with D&D and it's other incarnations: they are at heart a hack-and-slash game where combat is the main purpose, as opposed to mystery solving and more "human interaction" type play. As pointed out above, the higher in level you get the more HP you have the less a big deal combat is unless you're up against something that can really put out damage. Way back when we were young we had the whole "with the way the rules are written, how many cuts with an axe does it take to behead a condemned 12th level fight…?" argument. Since then, I've preferred combat systems that were much more deadly, if for nothing more than to encourage players to attempt to find alternative methods to achieve their aims, as well as foster roleplay.

I mean, even at 3rd level it may be better to try to talk to a cave load of Hobgoblins than to try to attack them (as DEW showed with the Orcs in his previous campaign!) Skills are needed!

Yep, I'm with you 100%. I am most interested in fantasy RPGs where running away is almost always the correct response. That usually stops right around 5th or 6th level in most D&D campaigns.

Since I tend to run one-shot adventures, I usually have the group play level 4 characters in AD&D 1E/2E.