The upcoming movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is already highly anticipated, especially after the recent release of its trailer. Fans of D&D are excited to see the Forgotten Realms on the screen, as well as some of their favorite classes and monsters. Honor Among Thieves is sure to inspire many old and new players alike to jump into some new adventures in the next coming months.Though a party in a D&D campaign can start at any level, many players have experienced what it’s like to play as a level 1 character, whether as a new player or for the start of a new campaign. Low-level characters provide interesting gameplay because of their low power and hit points, and often cause players to work a little harder to stay alive. These are the memes that best articulate the experience of playing a level 1 character.
A Single Enemy
Combat for level 1 characters can be especially challenging, especially because of their low hit points and overall stats. It can take quite a lot for low-level characters to do effective damage to an enemy.
In order to have a balanced encounter in Dungeons and Dragons, the enemy needs to be at a reasonable challenge rating in comparison to the rest of the party. For level 1 characters, this could easily mean a comical amount of players against a single, mildly challenging foe.
High Ability Score
Usually, at an early level, a D&D character’s ability scores aren’t ridiculously high. As a character levels up, they get increases in these scores and become stronger as they gain more levels.
Occasionally, though, a level 1 character can get a massive ability score right off the bat, if their dice rolls are particularly lucky. Some DMs, however, are particular about balanced ability scores and might ask a player to adjust to fit the rest of the party.
Leveling Up
Level 1 characters are limited in what they can do, especially since they haven’t gained access to their sometimes overpowered subclass abilities yet. While this is great for new people still getting used to the game, some players are always anxious to level up.
The endless question of “did we level up?” is not just specific to low-level party members. However, level 1 players sometimes seem to think they can gain experience from any combat, even from defeating easy enemies.
Heavy Armor Master
For players with a first-level character, any ability can be a huge advantage for combat, which is why feats can be game-changers for level 1s. Some DMs don’t even allow feats until a character levels up enough to gain an ability score increase.
The feat Heavy Armor Master grants a character to be spared some of the damage that comes from most physical-styled attacks. While this can be life-saving to a level 1 character with few hit points, it’s hardly a change for higher-level characters who are commonly hit with large amounts of damage.
Backstory
Backstories are essential to any D&D character, no matter what level they start out as. Naturally, a player will want to make a character backstory that excites them, and might even go into great detail about the adventurer their character has become before the start of the campaign.
While a backstory can be whatever a player desires, a level 1 character can’t be that interesting statistically. Even if their backstory is very cool and thought out, a low-level character can only do so much in the actual game.
TPK
Though uncommon, TPKs, or total party kills, can happen in D&D. This is when the combat is so deadly that it wipes out all players in the party, not just sending the characters into unconsciousness but permanently killing them.
Since level 1 characters are so weak, it can be a little scarier for them when going into combat. While this can be stressful for Dungeon Masters too, it’s a great tip for DMs to make sure that their players aren’t stuck in a deadly situation right off the bat.
Eldritch Blast
Class abilities can be very fun to use, especially for level 1 characters who don’t have access to much else. Warlocks, for example, can use their ability Eldritch Blast even at the first level.
Class abilities are useful throughout any point of Dungeons and Dragons, and can give great power to a character, especially moves like Eldritch Blast, which some argue makes warlocks the best magical class. While this move is great for a player, it’s almost excessively powerful when used on a weak, low-level goblin.
The BBEG
It’s common for a DM to introduce the BBEG, or Big Bad Evil Guy to a low-level party without launching them into combat. There is usually no way a party of level 1 characters could do affective damage to a BBEG, who could easily defeat them, especially at level 20 as the meme implies.
Even though the characters will have no chance of defeating the main villain, it’s good for them to see the BBEG early on, so they can at least see who the final boss will be. This will give players a sense of what they need to work towards, if not to test their combat abilities.
Low Hit Points
Characters at higher levels might be relieved to only take 9 points of damage. To a level 1 character, however, 9 points could knock them unconscious in a single turn. This is likely part of the reason that starting at level 1 can be seen as an unpopular opinion for some D&D players.
Though all first-level characters have relatively low hit points, certain classes are more vulnerable at the first level than others. For example, wizards don’t wear any armor, so they have a high chance of getting knocked unconscious in their earlier encounters.
Nat 20
Natural 20s are well sought after in D&D combat. If a player rolls a 20 for their character’s attack, it means that the hit is critical, and they have the ability to cause bonus damage.
No player wants to be on the receiving end of a critical hit, especially not players with level 1 characters. An enemy’s off-chance roll of a 20 can mean death for a low-level character, which can be disappointing for a player that has worked very hard to create them.NEXT: Which Dungeons And Dragons Class Should You Play, Based On Your Enneagram Type?
