If you start a new character run, do you have to have 0 mana when you start, if not, why? It makes sense to me to start fresh for new characters so everyone is on an even playing field. If not people can just instantly fully level up an item and be able to do it faster than others.

I dont necessarily think you need to start with 0 mana, but I see where you're coming from. The mods could add a new rule that says upgrading items is not allowed or a rule that states that you have to turn your mana into a mana token at the start of your run. This could be a solution although i dont know if this interferes with any standing records/runs.

It got removed as a rule many years ago since it results in a marginal difference at most. Banked mana is ok. Upgrading is ok.

So it got removed because it made it slower and wasn't classed fast enough of a difference to be called a speedrun? Or was it just a Quality of Life change to make runs slightly faster?

Wait, you can use banked mana :o That's huge gunna run this again. Upgrading and managing mana was one of the hardest parts

New question: when running the campaign, are you limited to just the campaign or can you do other maps to level up and get items? (Really want to get a nightmare new hero time in there eventually, haha)

While it's not explicitly disallowed at the moment, I suppose that should be allowed for NM assuming you only use the same new characters on the other maps and gear dropped during the run. Any other opinions?

I'd for sure say that should be all good Chiku. farming maps for levels and loot is probably gonna be a staple in NM new char runs, good luck on that man!