I am in the camp of "I don't regard the level of the character what-so-ever in RP". It is a purely game mechanic for me.
Same goes for jobs. There *are* more jobs than just those your characters can take up. My bard is a chocobo trainer IC!
And I also know some players who level really slowly because RP is what they enjoy, not leveling, not running dungeons. Roleplay. Am I going to say that they can't play an aged wise powerful mage because they are still level 20? Heck no! I would be depriving myself of some great opportunities to run stories with them. I had my level 50 paladin get badly beaten up by a level 16 Brass Blade. That same Blade most recently beat up a level 50 Bard as well, for a story arc. That Brass Blade is probably never going to see beyond level 30, because he was created to be an NPC (I am looking at you <NPC> FC!) and the time investment needed to level up someone who would just basically fill roles in a story as needed would be a total waste of their time.
And yet to disregard them as lowbies? Some great scenes would have never happened.
So yes, I am a firm FIRM believer in that levels should not be taken into account when roleplaying. Let your imagination soar!
Same goes for jobs. There *are* more jobs than just those your characters can take up. My bard is a chocobo trainer IC!
And I also know some players who level really slowly because RP is what they enjoy, not leveling, not running dungeons. Roleplay. Am I going to say that they can't play an aged wise powerful mage because they are still level 20? Heck no! I would be depriving myself of some great opportunities to run stories with them. I had my level 50 paladin get badly beaten up by a level 16 Brass Blade. That same Blade most recently beat up a level 50 Bard as well, for a story arc. That Brass Blade is probably never going to see beyond level 30, because he was created to be an NPC (I am looking at you <NPC> FC!) and the time investment needed to level up someone who would just basically fill roles in a story as needed would be a total waste of their time.
And yet to disregard them as lowbies? Some great scenes would have never happened.
So yes, I am a firm FIRM believer in that levels should not be taken into account when roleplaying. Let your imagination soar!
