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Have you experienced very high-level (18+) play in 5e? Tell me about it!
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<blockquote data-quote="MonkeyWrench" data-source="post: 6978893" data-attributes="member: 20730"><p>I've run two tier 4 5e campaigns: Tyranny of Dragons until 17th lvl and Out of the Abyss to 20th lvl. Both were heavily modified from the book. </p><p></p><p>ToD</p><p>1) Main party: Frenzy Barbarian, Ancients Paladin, Trickery Cleric, Light Cleric, Assassin/Hunter. Ancillary party members (provided spell support or backup, 11th-14th lvl): Lore Bard, Diviner Wizard, GOO Chainlock, Open Hand Monk, Swashbuckler/Champion, Dragon Sorcerer. </p><p></p><p>2) biggest fight was the finale of the campaign to stop Tiamat's arrival. Party had 2 Adult Silver dragons and an Ancient Gold Dargon as allies plus support from their ancillary spellcasters. Opponents were 5x Ancient Chromatic Dragon (each color), 1 Ancient Black Shadow Dragon, 6x Mages riding 3x Adult Dragons (blue, green, and white), 12x Frost Giants (mostly ranged support) plus about 20 CR 2-3 cultists and mercanaries providing ranged support from battlements. </p><p></p><p>3) fight was pretty epic if cumbersome to run. Both the Pally and Barbarian were down to less then 10% hit points by the end and every dragon, including allied dragons, died. Highlight was the Paladin, riding the gold dragon, crit-smiting twice in a row on the Shadow Dragon. </p><p></p><p>4) I learned that dragons have fallen pretty hard from their heyday as the premier monsters. No spell resistance, no immunity to normal weapons, very limited ability to deal with PC abilities beyond LR. Since then all my dragons have their old color specific SLAs plus a host of resistances and immunities. </p><p></p><p>OotA</p><p>1) Vampire Necromancer (Demonomicon), Lich Death Cleric (Cloak of Invisibility plus some custom SLAs from DI), Oathbreaker Paladin (Axe of Dwarvish Lords), Immortal/Champion (Blackrazor), Fiend Bladelock (Vorpal Blade)</p><p></p><p>2) mostly masses and masses of drow and demons. During the campaign's final sessions they assaulted the stronghold of House Baenre (after unleashing 4 Earthquake spells in the span of a day to soften up the noble quarter resistance). Fights included:</p><p>- running the gauntlet of the Baenre courtyard where 20 Drow Elite Warriors and 5 Assassins sniped away at the party from stalactite arrow slits</p><p>- breaking through front gate guarded by a legendary balor, 2 stone golems (max hp), 5 CR 12 Drow Warriors, 2 drow priestesses, and 2 Yochlol</p><p>- assaulting the main hall: 30 zombies, 2x Drow priestess, 5x drow elite warriors, CR 18 drow Champion, drow Archmage, CR 15 drow weapon master, CR 18 drow high priestess, 3x drow Mage </p><p>- confronting the Matron and her entourage: Matron Baenre, 2x iron golem ( w/ wall of fire), lvl 20 drow bladesinger, 2x drow high priestess, drow Archmage, marilith, 2x CR 12 drow bodyguards </p><p></p><p>3) most fights were over within 2-3 rounds and with anything less than CR 15+ being basically a speedbump. AoEs, high mobility melee combatants, and counterspells were the real battle winners in these fights. The party went through the above combats plus some lesser fights all in that span of an in-game hour (took about 6 hours playing time) without a short rest. It was basically a blitz as they knew if they let the drow regroup, it was over for them. The goal was to get to the heart of the stronghold, cast double earthquakes, then travel to the ethereal to avoid the worst. Very epic, but they did it without breaking a sweat. </p><p></p><p>4) this campaign, from start to finish, was meant as a stress test for 5e. We played with all the options plus legendary/artifact level magic items. High powered DnD the way we like it. Our verdict; 5e is not built for this style of gaming and I had to do a lot of prep work to make combat encounters that were challenging. Most fights were over in 1-2 rounds with the Immortal/Champion and Paladin routinely doing 150-200 damage a round between them. Standard monsters need significant boosts to AC, hp, and damage, even with spell support. After this campaign I've considered going back to 2e for my high-powered DnD fix (our group's preferred play style); perhaps it's my rose-colored glasses, but I don't remember having to work so hard to make the system work at those levels.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MonkeyWrench, post: 6978893, member: 20730"] I've run two tier 4 5e campaigns: Tyranny of Dragons until 17th lvl and Out of the Abyss to 20th lvl. Both were heavily modified from the book. ToD 1) Main party: Frenzy Barbarian, Ancients Paladin, Trickery Cleric, Light Cleric, Assassin/Hunter. Ancillary party members (provided spell support or backup, 11th-14th lvl): Lore Bard, Diviner Wizard, GOO Chainlock, Open Hand Monk, Swashbuckler/Champion, Dragon Sorcerer. 2) biggest fight was the finale of the campaign to stop Tiamat's arrival. Party had 2 Adult Silver dragons and an Ancient Gold Dargon as allies plus support from their ancillary spellcasters. Opponents were 5x Ancient Chromatic Dragon (each color), 1 Ancient Black Shadow Dragon, 6x Mages riding 3x Adult Dragons (blue, green, and white), 12x Frost Giants (mostly ranged support) plus about 20 CR 2-3 cultists and mercanaries providing ranged support from battlements. 3) fight was pretty epic if cumbersome to run. Both the Pally and Barbarian were down to less then 10% hit points by the end and every dragon, including allied dragons, died. Highlight was the Paladin, riding the gold dragon, crit-smiting twice in a row on the Shadow Dragon. 4) I learned that dragons have fallen pretty hard from their heyday as the premier monsters. No spell resistance, no immunity to normal weapons, very limited ability to deal with PC abilities beyond LR. Since then all my dragons have their old color specific SLAs plus a host of resistances and immunities. OotA 1) Vampire Necromancer (Demonomicon), Lich Death Cleric (Cloak of Invisibility plus some custom SLAs from DI), Oathbreaker Paladin (Axe of Dwarvish Lords), Immortal/Champion (Blackrazor), Fiend Bladelock (Vorpal Blade) 2) mostly masses and masses of drow and demons. During the campaign's final sessions they assaulted the stronghold of House Baenre (after unleashing 4 Earthquake spells in the span of a day to soften up the noble quarter resistance). Fights included: - running the gauntlet of the Baenre courtyard where 20 Drow Elite Warriors and 5 Assassins sniped away at the party from stalactite arrow slits - breaking through front gate guarded by a legendary balor, 2 stone golems (max hp), 5 CR 12 Drow Warriors, 2 drow priestesses, and 2 Yochlol - assaulting the main hall: 30 zombies, 2x Drow priestess, 5x drow elite warriors, CR 18 drow Champion, drow Archmage, CR 15 drow weapon master, CR 18 drow high priestess, 3x drow Mage - confronting the Matron and her entourage: Matron Baenre, 2x iron golem ( w/ wall of fire), lvl 20 drow bladesinger, 2x drow high priestess, drow Archmage, marilith, 2x CR 12 drow bodyguards 3) most fights were over within 2-3 rounds and with anything less than CR 15+ being basically a speedbump. AoEs, high mobility melee combatants, and counterspells were the real battle winners in these fights. The party went through the above combats plus some lesser fights all in that span of an in-game hour (took about 6 hours playing time) without a short rest. It was basically a blitz as they knew if they let the drow regroup, it was over for them. The goal was to get to the heart of the stronghold, cast double earthquakes, then travel to the ethereal to avoid the worst. Very epic, but they did it without breaking a sweat. 4) this campaign, from start to finish, was meant as a stress test for 5e. We played with all the options plus legendary/artifact level magic items. High powered DnD the way we like it. Our verdict; 5e is not built for this style of gaming and I had to do a lot of prep work to make combat encounters that were challenging. Most fights were over in 1-2 rounds with the Immortal/Champion and Paladin routinely doing 150-200 damage a round between them. Standard monsters need significant boosts to AC, hp, and damage, even with spell support. After this campaign I've considered going back to 2e for my high-powered DnD fix (our group's preferred play style); perhaps it's my rose-colored glasses, but I don't remember having to work so hard to make the system work at those levels. [/QUOTE]
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