High-Level Features for Mid-Level Campaigns?

Laurefindel said:

Long story made short, my campaigns usually run until level 11th-13th.

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Xaelvaen said:

One alternative method we chose for preserving balance while still eventually getting access to high-level material, was to reduce Hit Dice gains. We don't do it for every campaign; just once or twice it's come up where we wanted something more balanced, like the sweet spot you pointed out, but with more 'danger' and higher level capability.

I believe it was normal until level 3, and then you only gained Hit Dice at every even level thereafter, but you continued to get your class powers. This gives you the effective HP / HD pool of a 12th level character at level 20, but with all the abilities along the way. Makes the sweet spot last a bit longer in regards to party longevity.

A few things to keep in mind; my group enjoys gritty gaming, so the 'beaten, broken, and battered' feel is common in our campaigns. This certainly makes attrition a bit easier to achieve, while letting the characters get their 'nuke' buttons before it's time for the group to move on, while still reminding them they are quite mortal and fragile.

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Quartz said:

I think you're missing an obvious question: why do the campaigns stop there? There are plenty of adventures in Dungeon and elsewhere that can be used.

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Laurefindel said:

Long story made short, my campaigns usually run until level 11th-13th. The sweet spot for me is between 5th and 9th level; after the PC have enough hp to withstand challenging encounters, but before their low-level abilities become irrelevant (and before the PC have enough hp to face all but the most outlandish opponents).

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(please don't reply just to say how high levels aren't that difficult to play; that is a good discussion, but one we can have in another thread)

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Laurefindel said:

Needing some DMing advice, although more as a thought experiment than anything else.

Long story made short, my campaigns usually run until level 11th-13th. The sweet spot for me is between 5th and 9th level; after the PC have enough hp to withstand challenging encounters, but before their low-level abilities become irrelevant (and before the PC have enough hp to face all but the most outlandish opponents).

This however, means that I ignore 30% to 50% of the game material, that is, high-level spells and class features. That in itself doesn't impact the mechanics of the game as I use 100% of the material for that range of levels, but there are days where I'd like the PCs (and NPCs) to cast the occasional high-level spell, of use a high level feature.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with an Epic-11 type of game with added features instead of gaining levels thereafter, or some kind of houserule allowing PCs to tap into higher-level features/spells for a once-in-a-lifetime wish spell, or holy nimbus transformation, or action surged-4 attacks per round routine?

Magic is a bit easier to implement; rituals involving many acolytes, holy sacrifice (not necessarily the death of a person), specific moment in a year/decade/century, extremely exotic components, pilgrimage to a specific site etc. I have more difficulty coming up with anything for martial characters however. One-off divine blessing perhaps, or "ability coupons" handed out to players as reward throughout the campaign?

I'm opened to ideas,

(please don't reply just to say how high levels aren't that difficult to play; that is a good discussion, but one we can have in another thread)

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Li Shenron said:

The obvious idea is scrolls. Let the PC find/buy scrolls of higher level and see how it goes... each scroll is normally single-use so in the worst case it can disrupt the game balance once.

For non-spell high level features, you can still have them granted by other magic items. Make up an amulet or ring that grants the wearer whatever feature you want to try, but do not disclose how many uses it has before it runs out.

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cmad1977 said:

I like the scrolls. You can set up some pretty crazy encounters that the heroes couldn’t possible handle... but with that scroll of meteor swarm they might just have a chance...

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