The Campaign Builder's Guild

Pretty straight forward.

When playing TTGs, do you prefer your character to be in the Lower, Middle, or High power bracket?

[note]Originally, this was going to cover GMing AND playing, but I figure the results would become rather muddled by including both.[/note]

Definition:

I'll use D20 style levels, as I am only familiar with D20 and GURPS, and GURPS points are not a solid indicator of power.  These are ballparks based on my general reading on the subject, and may not reflect precise class nuances.  I do apologize.

Low Power:  Levels 1-6
Middle Power:  Levels 7-12
High Power:  Levels 13 and beyond

Mine is Lower Power Levels.  In pretty much every TTG, once you start to go beyond Olympic level expertise, or become uncannily talented in a wide number of disparate fields for no discernible reason, I kind of lose interest.  Lower power characters are closer to home, are more believable and easier to connect with, and ultimately are more "human" to me.

Have at it!

M.

Depends on the genre. If we're talking something focused on mysteries/investigation, political intrigue, drama, or horror then low-powered is the way to go. For comedy or plain action oriented stuff the level can be higher. And then there's games where the PCs take on roles of (demi)gods or other similarly superpowered beings, where a high power level is a necessity.

Oh yeah, genre.

Well, that throws a wrench in it.

M.

I definitely have a preference regarding both genre and power. I don't play d20 any more because of it, actually. In my games, if one person goes up against three people in a fair fight, they almost always die in the first few seconds, PCs included. I feel that knowing how weak and fragile they are makes players more intelligent and gives the game an edge.

I will put my vote in for lower.  I prefer a very slow and wide power gain, that is consistent enough and interesting enough to keep the players interested and fulfilled, while keeping the lethality pretty high. 
Part of the reasoning is my strength seems to be the very long campaign, and after playing a lot of T&T, D&D and AD&D in my youth, It did not work with the setting logic I wanted to create.  S0 it is not just playing the lower, it takes a long time to even get to the point of having 25-30 HP.

An addendum is that that we have a very high chance of critical hits, which is another part of lethality.  This is merely my take.

I put my vote on the side of "depends", with an added caveat that the system needs to be balanced at high levels for me to enjoy it. I like the idea of high level play, but in both D&D3 and D&D4, it fell apart.

If I had to pick a favorite part, it would be mid-level. Characters have developed into what they want to be, and the player isn't looking forward to getting their toys "soon" anymore.

I agree that it depends on genre, but, to generalize, I tend to prefer mid-level as well. I prefer games where the characters have already become (or at least are well on their way to becoming) the "thing they're supposed to be," that is, they have the iconic traits of whatever sort of hero they are in their genre. Like Xeviat said, they have their toys.

On the other hand, I prefer mid-level over high-level because I also like that the characters aren't so powerful that they won't still face challenges. Things that are obstacles for an ordinary human might still challenge them in some ways, but, on the other hand, things that would be impossible for an ordinary human might also merely be a "a challenge" to them. I like this juxtaposition. I also like that at the middle levels, characters are tough enough to face setbacks but keep on going.