Starting out at "third" level seems good.

[anglefish]

In order to show off the SIEGE engine, I started my current group at 2,501 XP, which put the rogues at 3rd and wizards at 1st. (It's hard to show how useful those level bonuses are when you only have a +1.)

Now I'm think of upping the game where wizards have enough XP to start at 3rd to give them enough spells. I'm wondering if anyone else found this to be a good sweet spot if they found first level to be too daunting.