D&D 5E Achieved Level 20

[beaumontsebos]

The characters in my 5E game have hit level 20!

The campaign has been ongoing weekly for the past 10 years. Several players cycled through, but the two have been with me from the very beginning and the third has been in the group for at least five years. We have a half-elf Shadow Sorcerer/Warlock of the Great Old One (17/3), a half-orc Oath of Vengeance Paladin and a red dragonborn Circle of the Stars Druid.

If you're interested, here's the wiki entry for the session: https://ur-delth.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/the-intuneric-eternal-won

Thought I'd share because nobody in my immediate circle really gets the significance...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How was it DMing increasingly powerful, increasingly versatile player characters? Did you have to change anything on your end as they leveled?

 

[Moonmover]

Congrats!

Are you going to keep the campaign going with these god-tier characters? Or, start over with new ones?

 

[Piperken]

That's an achievement for you! Compliments as well to the players who engaged with your campaign and those among them who managed to trek to an end.

 

[mikeburke]

I’m going to assume this was done through XP and not milestones? Epic!

 

[aco175]

I think the highest my group of 10 years has gotten was level13 or 14. Most of the campaigns end around 10/11 before the players want to start with new PCs of low level.

 

[beaumontsebos]

How was it DMing increasingly powerful, increasingly versatile player characters? Did you have to change anything on your end as they leveled?

It's a challenge for sure. The biggest change was that I needed to prepare on a macro level instead of a micro level. Instead of having a dungeon or confined locations to explore with definite encounters, things have become more open locations like a plane of existence with general information and a few spots that they would most likely visit. In addition, I would often ask at the end of a session, or when there was a decision point coming up, where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do once they got there. The idea of building one location for them to explore for days doesn't really work when they can simply teleport back to their flying ship safely orbiting their planet.

 

[beaumontsebos]

Congrats!

Are you going to keep the campaign going with these god-tier characters? Or, start over with new ones?

This campaign isn't done yet. We plan on having a few more months of gaming so they can use their god-like powers to finally defeat the big baddie.

After that, I'm not sure what we are going to do. Not even sure if we will keep playing D&D. But whatever it is, I'm going to make it more episodic. I don't think I can pull off such a long campaign arc again.

 

[beaumontsebos]

I’m going to assume this was done through XP and not milestones? Epic!

Initially it was strictly through XP. Later, I switched to milestones centered around approximate XP.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This campaign isn't done yet. We plan on having a few more months of gaming so they can use their god-like powers to finally defeat the big baddie.

After that, I'm not sure what we are going to do. Not even sure if we will keep playing D&D. But whatever it is, I'm going to make it more episodic. I don't think I can pull off such a long campaign arc again.

I'm progressing a long-running campaign to 20 (play by post, so we literally have a few years left). If we make it, I'm considering letting those who want to bounce around as level 20 mythic heroes come up with some stuff they'd like to do as one-shot sequels before moving on to something else.