D&D 5E Legendary Adventures: Epic 5E Kickstarter

Wish that killer D&D 5E game didn't end at 20th level? Keen on taking up a fight with a god? Looking to sunder worlds? I have a thing for you.



What is this? A 128 page sourcebook for adventuring through 21st–30th level, including epic hazards and a bestiary of 50 lethal monsters.

How much is it? $12 for the PDF, $30 plus shipping and handling for the shiny hardcover.

Why? Many years ago, before the before time shortly after 5E came out, the Hypercorps 2099 Kickstarter (my second project; this is #10) hit a stretch goal for a 5E conversion. I am immensely proud of how the Pathfinder version of that book came out, but the 5E conversion just didn't jive right. It can still be fun mind you—the numbers just didn't work out right for the Hyper Score framework.

That still drives me right up the wall.

This book is my fix for that and after a year of playtesting I am EXTREMELY pleased with how it came out! Not only are the rules tight as a drum, but this is easily the prettiest book I've ever put together.



128 pages sounds extremely short for you. What are you hiding? Your keen instincts are correct—there is more to this project than the book. Throughout the rest of this month I'll be posting Epic Archetype Features to www.epic5e.com for every single D&D 5E archetype. Originally these were going to be included in the book but ultimately I decided that online was the smarter choice. First of all I'd need to run a playtest game every day for more than a year to playtest all of that material, and perhaps more importantly it would have made most of the book into archetype features (roughly 30 pages of material).

That'd hardly be an agile tool! This whole design—the epic class levels, the hazards, the monsters—is fundamentally built on the principles of D&D 5E, reinforcing and strengthening them for high level play. So as much as I love big honking tomes (and I do, I've made several in excess of 300 pages) the right choice design-wise was to go lighter rather than heavier.

When does it end? The Kickstarter closes on Thursday, April 22nd at 4:59 PM EST. You've got just under a month to get your pledge in!

Where can I pledge? Right here! Legendary Adventures: Epic D&D 5E

First Stretch Goal: Epic Depths, an adventure for 21st level characters that'll be unlocked at $10,000

 

[dave2008]

what happened to epic level 6 games where after level 6 you stop leveling and just gain new boons and skills like the one in tarsha?

Was that something Mike was working on or is this just a random comment?

 

[Mike Myler]

Was that something Mike was working on or is this just a random comment?

I....I don't...think I have worked on this? Hypercorps 2099 could do stuff like that (level 6 cyberpunk superheroes ahoy) but the 5E version was very swingy.

 

[Lefi2017]

Was that something Mike was working on or is this just a random comment?

no some of my veteran players mentioned this as a concept from older editions since pc at that level are on the age of balance and world bending power

 

[ccooke]

I'd consider getting it (I don't run epic stuff, but some of my games do end up close to it, so mining for ideas is a thing). I don't see any examples of the work, though (other than the slightly obnoxious fast slideshow, which is tantalisingly unreadable).
High level play is harder to balance, and without some material so I can judge the balance, I'm not going to put money down for something like this.
(Art-wise - I think both the front and back cover are good D&D art. I don't think that the front cover really communicates "This is a group of epic-level characters", though. From what glimpses we can get, the books do look really nice)

 

[Mike Myler]

I'd consider getting it (I don't run epic stuff, but some of my games do end up close to it, so mining for ideas is a thing). I don't see any examples of the work, though (other than the slightly obnoxious fast slideshow, which is tantalisingly unreadable).
High level play is harder to balance, and without some material so I can judge the balance, I'm not going to put money down for something like this.
(Art-wise - I think both the front and back cover are good D&D art. I don't think that the front cover really communicates "This is a group of epic-level characters", though. From what glimpses we can get, the books do look really nice)

Here ya go—GIF slowed down to screenshots

As usual monsters are double-balanced between the DMG's monster chart and the Blog of Holding's rubric!

 

[ccooke]

no some of my veteran players mentioned this as a concept from older editions since pc at that level are on the age of balance and world bending power

E6 is a really interesting concept based on 3.5e. It's based on the power level and mechanics of that edition, though, and the idea doesn't translate perfectly into 5e for a number of reasons. Feats being much smaller in number, more powerful and (fundamentally) an optional feature is one issue (and never mind that a lot of half feats add to your ability scores, and would thus be partially wasted once you get to 20 in the relevant stats). In addition the power levels in 5e are much more constrained and while there is still debate as to when (and if) characters become too powerful, it's much more subjective than in 3.5.

 

[ccooke]

Here ya go—GIF slowed down to screenshots

As usual monsters are double-balanced between the DMG's monster chart and the Blog of Holding's rubric!

View attachment 134664
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View attachment 134666
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Thank you, that helps a lot!
settles down to read

 

[dave2008]

no some of my veteran players mentioned this as a concept from older editions since pc at that level are on the age of balance and world bending power

There have been many discussion of an 5e E6 or E10 on this forum before. I just didn't understand (and still don't) why you brought it up here, in a thread about going beyond level 20!

 

[dave2008]

Here ya go—GIF slowed down to screenshots

As usual monsters are double-balanced between the DMG's monster chart and the Blog of Holding's rubric!



View attachment 134666

First, I like a lot of what I am seeing and thank for posting the stills. I am going a different way with my epic rules, but I like what you've done.

However, I have to ask: is there a reason your not using legendary actions? I am sure I have seen third party products not on the DMsGuild use Legendary Actions. I ask because having 9 attacks on your turn seems a bit much. If you don't like or can't use Legendary Actions, why not just give it two turns? I feel that would make this beast more interesting than attack 9 times on its turn.

 

[Mike Myler]

First, I like a lot of what I am seeing and thank for posting the stills. I am going a different way with my epic rules, but I like what you've done.

However, I have to ask: is there a reason your not using legendary actions? I am sure I have seen third party products not on the DMsGuild use Legendary Actions. I ask because having 9 attacks on your turn seems a bit much. If you don't like or can't use Legendary Actions, why not just give it two turns? I feel that would make this beast more interesting than attack 9 times on its turn.

Some things do have legendary actions (28 out of the 50 monsters in here) but during playtests it became apparent pretty quickly that too much LA is no bueno. So in addition to a decent chunk of monsters that don't fiddle about with turn order, there's a sidebar about what to do with lots of monsters in play all with Legendary actions.

l