First time running a high-powered campaign...

[Kularian]

So, I like things managable as a DM. I try to keep everything fairly balanced, help out characters in need, etc. Also, rarely do I kill a character unless absolutely necessary. But for awhile now, my players have been clamoring for a high-powered campaign, and after much moaning and groaning, I figure I'll give it a try.

So here's what I've got so far: A war-ish campaign, which the standard PHB races have banded together to resist assault from the monsters of the world, who've been united under a powerful leader. Semi-cliche, but my crew is all about the hack 'n slash, so I'm not too worried.

I'm planning Gestalt 40-point buy characters that are 'God-Sends', essentially trained warriors from the Planes of the Gods in order to help humanity (and Elfity, Dwarfity, etc.) Now, like I said, I've never done anything like this before, so if anyone has any advice, I'm open to hear it. I think I've got the war part down, and a number of interesting plot hooks/devices that I plan on using, so I'm alright there, but still any advice is appreciated. However, I'm mainly looking for things that pertain mainly to high-powered campaigns, like "definitely don't do this," or "you can do this on occasion," etc.

Um...what else...They'll be starting at first level, as even though the 'soul' is strong, the bodies they are placed into aren't yet, so that's where leveling comes into play. I'm allowing everything from the Core books, and then other books on a case-by-case basis, depending on what it is my players are trying to break, Magic items will be fairly rare, as it is a war campaign, but I'm devising something that allows them to communicate with others on the God Planes in order to purchase things that way...maybe.

Any ideas, or any other needed information? The setting is Greyhawk, I suppose. The 'generic' setting, as it were.

I appreciate the help!

 

[Voadam]

Include encounters that allow the PCs power to shine. Whether it is obsequious merchants and servants, a lot of minor minions to crunch, or a BEG the party stomps on quickly.

Your players asked for high powered so make sure to give them the experience of feeling powerful in game every once in a while.

Also have powerful foes so they feel they are part of the clash of titans.

So a healthy mix of comparative challenges.

Don't overestimate the power of gestalt, the limit of actions per round is pretty strong. Individuals can cover more party niches and give themselves a little boost, but a rogue fighter still has an achilles heel of weak will saves.

 

[Imagicka]

Greetings...

Well, running high-level campaigns can be difficult. I think you've got the first problem solved... Unless you know the players well, and can trust them, never start the party off at high level. No high-level party is the same as any other, because you can't really be high-level without having magic items and weapons.

Starting them at 1st level is probably smartest, since you've never let them play characters at high level before, while your running... Easing you into the hot-water of high-level.

Personally, I find war-campaigns to be difficult. Especially if any mass-combat is going on. So, I try to avoid it. In war situations, I would have the players being a group of elite problem solvers. Infultration, assassination, spying... all the good stuff.

As for magic-items and weapons. I would be making side-adventures for them to aquire them.

 

[ThorneMD]

Here are my suggestions both for the campaign idea and high-powered play.

First Campaign Idea:
This might be coming from the fact that I recently picked up Weapons of Legacy and really enjoy it, but since they are supposed to be God-Sends, why not give each a weapon of legacy. This way you can still make sure they have the needed magic, but don't have to call on the power of the Gods.

High-Powered Play:
This depends on your idea of high-powered. I recently played in a campaign that ended at 19th level and DM'ed a campaign that ended at 12th. Both can be considered high level by the right person. I'll assume you mean up to around 20th level.

1. Give them mystic enemies to fight. One of the most memorable fights that I've had recently included a fight with an Young Adult Green Dragon played the correct way. It kicked out butts but we all loved it.

2. If its a war, give the players control some of the armies. This usually makes them feel even better than then normal people, especially when they take out 50 enemies in a matter of seconds.

3. As much as they are God-Sends, I wouldn't involve the Gods too much. If I were a player and the DM included the Gods in everything, I wouldn't feel too powerful. Make the character the central issue. Have assassins from the other side try to take them out, if an enemy mage spots them then the brunt goes there, etc. Things like that could make it seem like the enemies need them dead to succeed.

Just my thoughts. Use as you wish.

 

[Kularian]

Include encounters that allow the PCs power to shine. Whether it is obsequious merchants and servants, a lot of minor minions to crunch, or a BEG the party stomps on quickly.

Also have powerful foes so they feel they are part of the clash of titans.

Don't overestimate the power of gestalt, the limit of actions per round is pretty strong. Individuals can cover more party niches and give themselves a little boost, but a rogue fighter still has an achilles heel of weak will saves.

I had kind of roughly sculpted that idea, but since I got an opinion on it, I'll definitely use it. I've got plans thus far for a few minor skirmishes, and then a larger CR 2-3 creature (that I think they'll be able to handle) that's wreaking havoc in the front lines. They'll be sent out to stop it, so hopefully they'll get a mix of both.

That makes sense, though the idea of Gestalt still scares me a little, But one of the characters plans on playing a Fighter/Knight, so if all the combinations are like that, I'm not too worried, hehe. Then again, I've got two who are quite proficient at building characters, so I'll be sure to keep an eye on them...

Starting them at 1st level is probably smartest, since you've never let them play characters at high level before, while your running... Easing you into the hot-water of high-level.

Personally, I find war-campaigns to be difficult. Especially if any mass-combat is going on. So, I try to avoid it. In war situations, I would have the players being a group of elite problem solvers. Infultration, assassination, spying... all the good stuff.

Well, we've had some high-level stuff, but nothing pushing 12th. Normal starting levels are 1-3 for us, so they'll be used to this, too. At least I think so. But yeah, this will probably go epic, if everything goes as planned.

For the war campaign, they won't be involved in any mass-combat, per se. Like, if there is a massive combat going on, I'll just center on the PC's portion of it, and add in creatures every other round or so until they're pushed back/win out against the onslaught. But yeah, they'll be doing the specialized missions too. That is, if their commander trusts them, forcing them to do what they need to do.

This might be coming from the fact that I recently picked up Weapons of Legacy and really enjoy it, but since they are supposed to be God-Sends, why not give each a weapon of legacy. This way you can still make sure they have the needed magic, but don't have to call on the power of the Gods.

1. Give them mystic enemies to fight. One of the most memorable fights that I've had recently included a fight with an Young Adult Green Dragon played the correct way. It kicked out butts but we all loved it.

2. If its a war, give the players control some of the armies. This usually makes them feel even better than then normal people, especially when they take out 50 enemies in a matter of seconds.

3. As much as they are God-Sends, I wouldn't involve the Gods too much. If I were a player and the DM included the Gods in everything, I wouldn't feel too powerful. Make the character the central issue. Have assassins from the other side try to take them out, if an enemy mage spots them then the brunt goes there, etc. Things like that could make it seem like the enemies need them dead to succeed.

Weapons of Legacy...I actually think I have that lying around somewhere. I'll give it a read. Thanks!

1. Mystical enemies? That makes sense, as the "rare and powerful" enemies are normally reserved for higher-campaigns...I like that idea.

2. They probably will eventually have some form of army control. At first, despite their origins, they'll be treated like a regular soldier, although maybe a bit better. Once they reach a higher level, depending on their actions, (5th or so,) then they can get some control if they want it, or perhaps be promoted to some elite squad, depending on their preference.

3. Good point. I hadn't planned on using the Gods much more than necessary, but I didn't really have a reason for it. That makes a lot of sense, and I'll probably cut down more than I had planned, hehe. And yeah, once they start making names for themselves, they'll definitely be targets.

 

[Abisashi]

Gestalt Hit Points

For rolling hit dice, I recommend letting them roll the hit die of both classes and keep the better (unless you are already doing something more powerful). It makes tank/tank class combinations a little more competitive with other possibilities.

 

[paradox42]

As a longtime DM of several high-level games run in an exceptionally high-power world, I'd like to contribute a few thoughts here.

First, regarding magic items: D&D 3E is built upon the assumption that characters will have plenty of magic, particularly in the form of items- it cannot and will not be "high power" in any meaningful sense if you skimp on magic. If the idea of the "magic Wal-Mart" that people commonly refer to when discussing modern D&D's magic-item-purchase phenomenon really galls you, then I would suggest making an NPC artificer or some other spellcaster type who can craft pretty much any type of magic item- and let the party commission custom items from this person. Thus, they can develop optimized item combinations and get all the cool toys they want, but it'll take them a while to get them if they ask for too much at once.

Second:

Well, we've had some high-level stuff, but nothing pushing 12th. Normal starting levels are 1-3 for us, so they'll be used to this, too. At least I think so. But yeah, this will probably go epic, if everything goes as planned.

Egad! "High-level" but nothing pushing 12TH? Did you know that Dungeon magazine's three-tier system of adventures defines "high level" as starting at 13th? If you've never gone even as high as 12th, I'd advise against pushing the envelope of your standard game too much (for example, with Gestalts). I'd say, let them do 40-point-buy, or Gestalts, but not both at once. Otherwise you're probably just asking to be overwhelmed when the PCs get up to about, say, 9th level. That's when the first "game-breaker" spells begin to show up- the nasty ones like Raise Dead and Teleport that I frequently see complaints about on these boards. Of course, if you actually do stick it out and get up to 17th and 18th, you'll have even more fun things like Time Stop and Miracle to deal with.

Third: A house-rule that I, and several other DMs I know, have adopted in regards to hit points helps to provide a decent but not overwhelming power boost to careful players. Whenever hit points are being rolled for a level-up, the player rolls the hit die for the class the character is levelling up in, and simultaneously the DM rolls the same hit die. The player then has the opportunity to play "Let's Make A Deal" with the hit points thus rolled. If the player likes the number rolled on his or her die, then that's what the character gets and you're done. However, the player may, if desired, discard the result rolled on his/her own die and take the DM's result- sight unseen. Even if the DM's result is worse than the original one, the DM's result is kept. Of course, most players quickly figure out that the way to take advantage of this rule is to only take the DM's die when the player's die result comes up under the "average result" for the die type- i.e., a 3 or lower on a d6, a 4 or lower on a d8, etc.

Fourth: consider allowing characters to start the game with a free template, or something similar. For example, instead of playing just a human, the player could be a Half-Celestial Human. The "free" part comes from the fact that you don't count the Level Adjustment of the template when figuring out the character's "level" for XP-gain purposes. Thus, the character essentially gets to play with a more powerful race without paying the usual price for it. The key with using this idea is to make sure that the list of allowed templates is deliberately constructed to allow only templates with a +X adjustment- for instance, if you allow Half-Dragon, also allow natural Lycanthropes (since the level adjustment for both templates is +3), but disallow Half-Celestial (which is a +4 LA template) or Half-Elemental (also +4). Players who choose to play non-templated creatures might instead be allowed to play powerful races such as the ever-popular Drow, as long as the LA for the chosen race doesn't exceed the one for the allowed templates, or given extra bonuses on top of regular racial abilities. For an example of the latter, a regular Human character might be given a second bonus feat, or bonuses to an ability score or two without corresponding penalties.

OTOH, if you're used to low-level games, option #4 may be quite confusing to you and thus a recommended "pass."

 

[interwyrm]

Greatly vary the power of the enemies they are facing. That way, it really will feel epic when they kill a big bad guy. 150hp kobolds will kill that.

 

[jollyninja]

Might I make a reccomendation for a d20 product to take a look at? Iron heroes. When I ran a super high powered game in the forgotten realms, I replaced most of the classes with their IH counterparts I also used the feat progression and skill sets from iron heroes, adapting them for the druid, cleric, wizard and sorceror. I also encouraged Weapons of legacy to be used, and gave them magic items. The BBEG's I created usually ended up being about +6cr to whatever level the party was. The final battle of Red hand of doom was walked through as though the commander of the army was a mook despite my upscaling.

the gist of iron heroes is that the classes at any given level should be about equivalent in power to a standard DnD class but without the associated manditory magic items. So when you add the forgotten realms and the magic level implied within, you end up with characters capable of phenominal things.

I like the feat system so much, it's going to be hard for me to go back to the standard srd feats.