30th Level Adventure in the next DUNGEON mag!

[DaveMage]

Author of "The Quicksilver Hourglass" here.

Welcome to the posting world, Anson!

 

[DaveMage]

Try making 46th level characters. I've actually got it down to an art where I can do it in a day.

You really need to make those high-level characters available to the gaming public somehow...

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It's about time someone did an epic level adventure. I agree with earlier posters who feel epic adventures are literally unexplored territory. As far as I know, there are no epic level adventures for 3e/d20. The last adventure for any edition of D&D that went up above 20th level (that I know of) was that Bloodstone module which discussed 100th level PCs. I'm really looking forward to this issue.

 

[GlassJaw]

My problem with epic levels is the sheer volume of work it takes as a DM to prep a 20+ level adventure. A stat block on a 22nd level wizard can take forever to do. Also issues of encounter balance become ever more difficult.

So true. I wouldn't even think of attempting it without computer/Excel assistance. And even after you have everything created, the fun is just beginning - running a high-level adventure is a challenge in itself. I know the rules inside and out and I still forget things here and there even in low or mid-level adventures.

Either way I like the seeing the higher level adventures if nothing else than ideas and how someone else does high level adventures.

I agree. I'm not a huge fan of high-level (17th level+) d20/D&D but published material really helps. I certainly don't want to see a module written for above 20th level with any regularity but once in a while is fine I guess.

 

[Shade]

My problem with epic levels is the sheer volume of work it takes as a DM to prep a 20+ level adventure. A stat block on a 22nd level wizard can take forever to do. Also issues of encounter balance become ever more difficult.

But it tends to scale. That 22nd-level wizard might be the only encounter for the entire evening, whereas you might have had to spend just as much time preparing enough 10th-level encounters to fill the same time frame.

I've found that in my current 22nd-level campaign, we're lucky to get through one encounter a session (around 5 hours) and extremely blessed if we get through two!

I'm really looking forward to this adventure? Any new monsters in their, Anson?

And thanks for having the courage to submit an epic-level adventure!

 

[Rystil Arden]

I don't know what all the fuss about making high level characters is about. I have a level cutoff of 40 for my campaign because after that it becomes a game of rock-paper-scissors (i.e. Character 1 has spells that automatically kill everyone, but Character 2 can kill him because he has unassailable SR, but Character 3 can kill him because she deals over 500 bonus Smite damage each attack). Anyway, I've had to create such things as level 40 Shade Lich Sidhe Wizard/RedWizard/Archmage/ArcaneLord and Sorcerer/Incantrix/Archmage (married couple) and they take about an hour each at most. What took significantly longer was the CR 100+ Relentless Apocalyptic Three-Headed Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon that I probably didn't really need to stat up...

 

[Stalker0]

I don't know what all the fuss about making high level characters is about. I have a level cutoff of 40 for my campaign because after that it becomes a game of rock-paper-scissors (i.e. Character 1 has spells that automatically kill everyone, but Character 2 can kill him because he has unassailable SR, but Character 3 can kill him because she deals over 500 bonus Smite damage each attack). Anyway, I've had to create such things as level 40 Shade Lich Sidhe Wizard/RedWizard/Archmage/ArcaneLord and Sorcerer/Incantrix/Archmage (married couple) and they take about an hour each at most. What took significantly longer was the CR 100+ Relentless Apocalyptic Three-Headed Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon that I probably didn't really need to stat up...

I agree....there comes a point when you have enough power. I mean, frankly all your power is really in your gear at that level. A 40th level character who gets hit by a couple of disjunctions or epic dispels is fish food. Why not just have a 20th level monty haul game?

If you wanted to really go for teh next stage in power, go with deities and demigods and ascend.

 

[DaveMage]

I mean, frankly all your power is really in your gear at that level. A 40th level character who gets hit by a couple of disjunctions or epic dispels is fish food.

I'm not sure I agree with this (although I do agree that equipment *can* play a big part).

I've been reading the epic feats available, and quite frankly, at 40th level, you will have 12 or more epic feats. Once you have a few of those, depending on which class you are playing, you may not need any equipment... Heck, even without the epic feats, a 40th level rogue, while sneak attacking, even with a mundane dagger, does 1d4+20d6 damage... (72 point average). Presuming 3 attacks/round, that could be 216 points of damage per round!

 

[Rystil Arden]

I agree....there comes a point when you have enough power. I mean, frankly all your power is really in your gear at that level. A 40th level character who gets hit by a couple of disjunctions or epic dispels is fish food. Why not just have a 20th level monty haul game?

If you wanted to really go for teh next stage in power, go with deities and demigods and ascend.

Actually, I would disagree on the point that all your power is in the gear, except for maybe fighter types. Case in point, the Shadow Lich Archmage I created didn't have any of his gear because he had his primary phylactery destroyed and then was pilfered, but he managed to save the last essence of his life in his defeater's shadow and is about to make a comeback. Even without any magic items at all, he can easily take on most level appropriate challenges because his effective caster level for Illusion spells is 60 (68 for Illusion vs SR) and his Illusion DCs are 40 + Spell Level, so he just throws around 90-100% real Shadow Conjurations and Evocations He can even beat the drow who took the Improved SR feat at every possible opportunity from 21 to 40 and has some 67 SR, but he can't beat his wife, who can deal hundreds of d6s with each spell (silly incantrixes...although she doesn't have a good enough caster level to beat the drow).

 

[Rystil Arden]

I'm not sure I agree with this (although I do agree that equipment *can* play a big part).

I've been reading the epic feats available, and quite frankly, at 40th level, you will have 12 or more epic feats. Once you have a few of those, depending on which class you are playing, you may not need any equipment... Heck, even without the epic feats, a 40th level rogue, while sneak attacking, even with a mundane dagger, does 1d4+20d6 damage... (72 point average). Presuming 3 attacks/round, that could be 216 points of damage per round!

Come on, that Rogue's not the way to go : A level 40 Paladin who takes every single feat in the Epic Smite can deal 14x her level damage on successful smites, which is 560 damage. Remove one of those for the Lion's Charge feat, and she can charge in for a full attack that does an extra 520 damage each on the first round (and adds her Charisma bonus to hit).