Why YOU Should Try LEVEL ZERO in 5e & DCC!

Levels! They are the benchmarks we use to measure  the power of characters in roleplaying games,   and if level 1 is the BASELINE, the starting  point for RPG heroes, what the heck is level   0 and WHYY would you want to play at level  0? Quite simple really, level 0 is for-- It’s for people who like awesome  stuff like 500 new monsters for   5e! I even got to write one!  It’s all in DUNGEON DENIZENS:   the latest wildly successful Kickstarter  from our sponsor, Goodman Games! All 500+ monsters were fully illustrated in  physical mediums, including my own--which   came out pretty creepy--the nesufti! These  little creatures are cat-like homunculi   crafted by vampires, from marshland clay,  the bonemeal of murderers, and most vitally,   the blood of their creators. The nesufti is the  first line of influence for its vampiric master,   creeping into villages at night,  and gradually poisoning sleeping   victims with the vampire’s blood  to prime them for undead servitude! The nesufti believe they are helping these victims  by inching them towards immortality, and above   all, these little weirdos want companionship  with their new blood brothers and sisters! You can check them out with over 499 other  monsters--and MORE being added as stretch goals,   plus cool add-ons like a GM screen,  2-page dungeons using the new monsters,   cardboard pawns of the monsters, and more! Dungeon  Denizens is available for 5e and DCC, but the   Kickstarter ends on March 21st! And remember  to use the LINK BELOW so they know who sent ya! Ahem, so I’m Bob, this is where we learn how to  have more fun playing RPGs together, and level 0   is for an RPG character BEFORE they become the  hero! As someone who enjoys BOTH the heights   of superheroic overpowered fantasy adventure  AND the depths of grimdark gritty wilderness   survival adventure, I think level 0 is the  perfect place to start your own hero’s journey! And logistically, it’s the BEST way to  ease new players into a new system! So   I’m going to share how I’ve homebrewed  and run level 0 characters in 5e,   and how to build a level 0 character by  the book for Dungeon Crawl Classics--which   is famous for their incredibly fun  and memorable level 0 adventures! And I have a fun announcement about that at the  end of the video! But hey, leave a comment below   sharing whether you’ve ever played a level  0 character, and let me know how it went! Now THIS is Luna Alqamar, a level zero 13 year old  half-tiefling with no character class and abysmal   ability scores! I made and played this character  in 2016 when my friends and I had been into D&D   for a year at most, and none of us, not even the  GM, really cared about the rulebooks! You can tell   because we still didn’t understand the difference  between character sheets of different editions! We homebrewed EVERYTHING in  those days including these   level 0 characters for a simple one shot!  We the players did not know it going in,   but the premise of this one shot was for  us and a group of other adolescent NPCs to   safely escape our village as it was raided  in the night by a small army of goblins! I specifically remember my character’s older  sister, Terra (see what I did there, Luna,   Terra?) She got cut down by a goblin right  in front of me as we snuck out of our house   through a window! It was pretty brutal, but that  is some classic hero backstory material! And   rather than just making it up myself and writing  it down, we experienced that backstory moment! So for the story--for character development--this  kind of backstory-focused level 0 is awesome!   For the mechanics… like I said,  we didn’t know what we were doing! Seriously, look at these stats: all  9s and 10s, with 4/10 HP remaining,   and an armor class of only 10! So every check,  saving throw, and attack roll was TENSE! We   scrambled to use anything at our disposal  to gain advantage! And for a 5e one-off,   it was super fun! But unless you want to  play a horror game where your one character   is LUCKY to make it out alive, this is not  the ideal way to run a 5e level 0 session. Shortly after that one shot, I ran my first  session of D&D--well, wildly homebrewed D&D,   and I had all the characters start at level  0! --As you can see on this hard-to-read   spreadsheet I made in 2016 to keep track of the  weird homebrew classes like “Vampire Knight!” So these characters also began with LOW stats,  but each one got a 5e background! This was   a BIG upgrade because backgrounds  provide some equipment, some gold,   proficiency in skills, tools, or languages,  and sometimes a useful character feature! Using backgrounds results in level 0 characters  who CAN go toe-to-toe with a goblin and likely   come out on top! And for 5e, this is pretty  close to how I would run level 0 today! Start with the stats of a 5e commoner, choose your  race and apply any special features, then choose   your background and write down any equipment  or special features. But I have two issues with   this old method! First, that would technically  leave us with only 4 HP which is basically 0 hit   points in 5e, and second, the 5e backgrounds are  only available in the player's handbook! Ideally,   this should be a character you can make for  free, so here are two possible solutions. Just set the HP at a nice and even 10 and  use the free PDF of One D&D backgrounds,   linked in the description! This is nice  because you can also pick your race aka   species from this PDF, and these backgrounds  give you more bang for their buck by coming   with a unique special ability called a feat, in  addition to some equipment and proficiencies.  Solution 2: Just pick a 5e class from the 5e SRD  which is also free, linked below! Then calculate   your hit points like you normally would at level  1, and keep one piece of the main class feature. So the Barbarian for example would  have its d12 HD, but I would ignore   all of these proficiencies except maybe  simple weapons, and ignore the equipment,   and unarmored defense. Rage, however, being  the defining feature of the barbarian class,   should absolutely make an appearance  during this level 0 backstory adventure! That character should rage  HERE for the first time,   and it should be a little sloppy! Since  they’re supposed to get two uses at level 1,   they should only have 1 use at level 0. Then  I’d only keep one or two of these bullet points,   and only let it last for only 30 seconds  instead of the normal duration of 1 minute. You can follow this pattern for each martial  class pretty easily, and for spellcasters who   would normally start with a bunch of spells,  I’d say 1 cantrip and 1 first level spell slot. Following this method for 5e, you’ll end up with  a would-be heroic character who is likely to   survive their first low-level adventure,  and come out with a great story! Plus,   it’s way faster to make a character this way, and  way easier for new players to get into the game! If that sounds intuitive to you,  give this video a like! Or if you   have a different idea for level 0  in 5e, share it in the comments! Now if you want a tried and true, wild  level 0 experience, you have to try out   Dungeon Crawl Classics because it’s built into  the game! Overall, DCC plays similarly to D&D,   but one of its defining features is the use  of a level 0 “funnel” to begin a campaign! Funnels get their name for being deadly adventures  that whittle down a large party of level 0   peasants into a normal party of level 1 heroes!  The standard approach is for each player to create   3-4 random level 0 characters, and I’m going to  walk you through the steps for creating just one   character using the free quickstart rules--and  yep, you know it, the rules are linked below! Step 1: Determine ability scores; 3d6 in order  for each. Note ability modifiers on Table   1-1. The abilities are: Strength, Agility,  Stamina, Intelligence, Personality, Luck. Of course, 3d6 results in lower stats than a  typical 5e character has, and the modifiers are   lower, but ALL stats and DCs are a little lower  in Dungeon Crawl Classics, so it kinda evens out. Now let’s see… *rolls 3d6 boom, boom, boom.  Okay, 12 for STR that's actually quite good.   And 12 for Agility as well! 8 for Stamina. Okay,  another 12! Okay, what's going on here?? So only   a 7 for Luck. That's not good, and a 10 for  INT. So pretty down the middle for this guy! For those modifiers, between a 9 and a 12  is just a +0, but STA and LUC are both a -1! Step 2: Determine hit points; roll  1d4, adjusted by Stamina Modifier. Obviously 1d4 HP very low compared to 5e, but  again, all the numbers are a little lower,   and you do get a bigger HD at level one depending  on your class, and if you survive to level one! *rolls 1d4... a 1. A single hit point  adventurer! And technically we had a   minus 1 to our STA...I'm pretty sure  it's minimum 1 HP (is confused lol). Step 3: Determine Lucky Sign--this is one  of my favorite things about DCC characters,   having this unique lucky or unlucky skill--roll  1d30, adjusted by Luck modifier on Table 1-2. And that gives us the birthsign of "conceived on  horseback" so we would add our luck modifier to   all mounted attack rolls! But say that  this player for whatever reason really   wanted to have this character--you know,  we assume they survive--really wanted to   have this character be some kind of mounted  fighter, cool! I would let them find a way,   either bargaining with a Patron or maybe  finding some ancient relic, that allows   them to change their stars! Right? Change their  birthsign so their mounted attack rolls aren't   forever given this minus 1, and they can have  that go to something hopefully less important! Now step 4: Determine 0-level occupation;  roll 1d100 on Table 1-3. This result will   include the character’s 0-level  starting weapon and trade goods. So this is basically our background and it  includes our character’s race!… 73! That gives us   a (human) locksmith! So our trained weapon  is a dagger and we have "fine tools" as our   trained goods! This character should get  probably +1d, right. Instead of a d20,   they'd probably roll a d24 on their  checks when they're doing stuff for locks:   breaking into a room, breaking  into a chest, what have you. Step 5: Choose an alignment! As it says later  in this doc, that’s Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic.   And by the way, you can of course choose an  alignment for your D&D level 0 character,   but I left it out because most people don’t  really use alignment in D&D. In DCC however,   there’s a good chance that alignment will come  into play during your adventures, and this   choice will affect your character’s abilities  for certain classes IF they reach level 1! For this guy, I’m gonna go with… Chaotic! Why not! Step 6: Determine starting money;  roll 5d12 copper pieces. Yeah,   gold is actually a treasure in DCC! And your  level 0 probably won’t have any at the start! Step 7: is just making sure we marked  our equipment from our occupation,   and giving us one other random  piece of equipment from Table 3-3. And we rolled a 23, that's a torch!   Pretty weak, very cheap, we could've  bought that with our copper anyway. Because it does say we can buy more  equipment with our copper pieces!   And I’m going to skip this step here,  but it’s good to do because even if   this character doesn’t survive, the  party may get to keep their stuff! Some other things to note: our AC is 10+/-Agility  modifier, our saving throws our modified by STR,   AGI, and PER, and I’m not sure if it’s mentioned  in the quickstart, but if you are playing a level   0 dwarf, halfling, or elf, the core rulebook  says you do get a subset of their features! For example, dwarves can see in the dark  out to 60’ and have a base speed of 20’,   and I don’t think they’re supposed to get this  next thing at level 0, but leveled DCC dwarves   can also smell gold and gems, and I think that’s  super cool, so I’d let them have it at level 0! Elves can see in the dark out to 60’ and they are  sensitive to iron, so wielding or wearing iron   equipment causes them to lose 1 HP per day. Elves  also get a +4 bonus when looking for secret doors,   and halflings can see in the dark out to  30’ and have a base speed of 20’. And again,   it doesn’t mention it specifically as a  level 0 trait, but halflings are naturally   small in size and lightweight, which can  be used to their advantage even at level 0! And halflings, elves, and dwarves all speak  their racial language in addition to common! Then Step 8 of character creation:  Attempt to survive your first dungeon.   If you survive and reach 10 XP, you  advance to 1st level. At this point,   you choose a class. Honestly, I  don’t think anyone calculates XP   for the level 0 funnel. Typically you  level up just for surviving, that’s it! And here’s the cool announcement, I’m going  to play a group of level 0 peasants in   a DCC one shot posted on Jorphdan’s  Jocular Junction! Speaking of cool,   remember to check out Dungeon  Denizens through the link below,   or this video about the main basics of DCC!  Thanks for your support, and keep building! :D

Channel: Bob World Builder

Views: 53,968

Keywords: level 0 player characters, level zero funnel dcc rpg, d&d, d&d 5e, how to play d&d, d&d player guide, dungeons and dragons, bob world builder, dungeon master guide, dnd 5e, dcc level 0 character creation, dnd 5e level 0 characters

Id: kJrFDEOIsGQ

Length: 13min 34sec (814 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/bobbness]

While I've been getting familiar with the rules very gradually over the last year or more, I've recently run my first funnel (Sailors of course) and got to play in one as well. Funnels really scratch an itch I've had since I started running D&D ~7 years ago. I made this video to hopefully show other D&D fans the possibilities with this fun part of DCC!

[u/b3nz0k41n]

I ran Sailors last sunday and it was our first DCC experience. It was...brutal xD Nobody cared about checking the rocks in the breach to the west and they all died...first TPK ever. I thought it was lame to roll up new chars after just 5mins and allowed them to make a reflex save so a few survived. It is really recommended to read the module twice and make notes. In those walls of text some info easily gets lost on the fly.

[u/fears_bane]

You like funnels because you like things that are fun.