4E Paragon Tier Adventure/Campaign ideas?

[Gruns]

Hey all...
I know this topic comes up often, but I enjoy reading all of the answers every time, so here's my turn...
The 4E group that I DM for is about to hit level 11 soon: Paragon Tier. For the first 10 levels, I've just been throwing random, unrelated little adventures at them, as we get a feel for the game and whatnot. Well, for the Paragon Tier, I'd like to do something a little more meaningful. I'm just looking for ideas for a "campaign" that would take the charactars through all ten levels of the tier. Something along the lines of a Red Hand of Doom type of mega-adventure. I don't need all of the details spelled out for me(that's the fun part!) or the entire adventure written. I'm just looking for something cooler than what I normally throw together, which is more or less, "go kill all of the bad guys and take their stuff". I just need a good hook or a plot twist to give the campaign a greater purpose.
A preemptive thanks, and looking forward to hearing some great ENWorld ideas.
Later!
Gruns

 

[siliaris]

It depends on what type of campaign one likes best..
Well, I always like to begin with a huge twist...
The whole campaign takes place in a big city, at the centre of which is a mage school. A powerful coven of warlocks devoted to the Primordial Ectherius (they do all this icy stuff in a hidden sewer complex), steals powerful magic items, with unknown purposes (forgotten in age long past...). The pcs are hired to help, and return the items, which they do, with difficulty. They infiltrate layer one of the base. Then, when the pcs return, they are arrested, and realise that the city's academy is evil. They have to escape from the dungeon, through the sewer complex, where they are apprehended, and have to become allies with the cult (which used Ectherius as a pretense, and is the remainder of mages loyal to the city, as they were driven out by the power hungry archmagi of the academy) via diplomacy. They are then forced to recover the magic items, which can overthrow the seven rods of the academy archmagi (something like that).

 

[arscott]

Alright. The big thing that you need is a villain and his plan. My advice is to comb through the monster manual in the level 18-22 range, and see if there's a creature in there that sparks your interest as a BBEG.

That Deathpriest Hierophant seems promising--and if you're planning on buying 'Open Grave', you're likely going to have plenty of undead threats to throw at the players. For the sort of necromancer that wears a giant horned skull thing on his head, raising an army of undead and taking over the world, one country at a time, seems like a perfectly reasonable goal.

So what would he need to do? Divine magic is particularly potent when it comes to stopping undead threats, so maybe the necromancer's first step is to weaken the prominent churches. Perhaps he'll send an early strike force of powerful undead to attack prominent temples (the level 11 vampire lord stands out as a good mini-boss to lead such a siege). Or maybe he'll be more subtle, and not involve his own troops yet. Maybe he just riles up some early-paragon antagonist (such as drow or yuan ti) to raid a poorly defended border area, diverting the priest's attention. Or maybe he uses his political influence to embroil the churches in scandal of some sort, pitting them against each other, or against the crown.

Once that's done, what next? The invasion of the undead army should probably wait until the end of the tier, so what other plots would he have in store? Maybe he's trying to get the essence of the shadowfell to bleed over into the world, strengthening his undead army--and the players will have to track down a ritual book in an ancient wizard's lair--and travel to the shadowfell to perform the ritual and stop the bleed.

continue this process of specific threats orchestrated by the BBEG until you're ready for the final, tier-ending confrontation.

Things to keep in mind:

-Keep your monsters thematic, but not monotone. Make sure there are sections of the campaign where they're facing off non-undead villians (such as that wizard's lair mentioned above, which might be filled with constructs and traps, or guarded by summoned devils, or overrun with unfriendly fey. And even in the sections where they're fighting undead, mix it up a bit--Besides undead, the party might fight mortal and demonic followers of orcus.

-Bring back old favorites. Did any badguys from the heroic tier survive? What are they up to now, and how does that interact with your BBEG's plan?

-Always be flexible. If the PCs go off and do something you don't expect them to, run with it. Feel free to retroactively alter your BBEG's plans so that your party ends up smack in the middle of things.

Besides the Hierophant, here are some potential BBEGs that stand out:

-If enjoy intrigue campaigns, something centered in the Feywild will probably work well. Slap a template on that Ghaele of Winter and you might have a powerful devotee of the Prince of Frost.

-There seem to be a lot of elemental creatures in the Paragon tier. Maybe an Efreet Cinderlord might make the perfect BBEG for a campaign focused on the denizens of the elemental chaos.

-And of course, there can be threats that are much more mundane in nature. A BBEG doesn't need to be a powerful necromancer, fey, or elemental. A greedy king with enough well-armed followers can still be a major paragon-level threat.