90% of D&D Games Stop By Level 10; Wizards More Popular At Higher Levels

D&D Beyond has released some more data mined from usage of its platform. A couple of weeks ago, it published some stats on the most viewed D&D adventures, from Dragon Heist and Strahd all the way down to Rise of Tiamat. This time, it's a look at player characters by tier of play.

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Tier 1 is levels 1-4, Tier 2 is levels 5-10, Tier 3 is levels 11-16, and Tier 4 is levels 17-20.

Tier 1 contains the most characters created on the platform (as you would expect), followed in order by Tiers 2-4. About 90% of games do not make it past the 10th level mark, as the developer notes.

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This chart shows that the fighter is the most common class at all tiers, followed by the rogue. At third place it switches up a bit - the wizard becomes more popular in Tiers 3-4 than in Tiers 1-2, while the cleric and ranger both have a strong presence at lower levels but drop off at higher levels.

You can find the report in the latest DDB development video below.

[video=youtube;4tuIrGLKSik]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tuIrGLKSik[/video]​

 

[Ratskinner]

I would suspect that multiple factors contribute to campaigns ending around level 10:
1) complexity increases with level, at some point it becomes too much of a chore.
2) length of story arcs (and how many arcs are suitable to take a character from farmboy to demi-god?
3) approachability of high level characters...and their adventures
4) DM/player fatigue..I know most people in my group don't take notes..."Who is this guy again?"
5) stability of a group over time

 

[Sadras]

We are currently playing a long campaign (XPs reset to 0, on level up) and the character's have just passed midway between 10th and 11th. I am really looking forward to roleplaying the higher tiers with big stakes, impressively terrifying opponents, fantastical settings, exploring the multiverse and its history, cosmological puzzles and enigmas as well as uncovering long forgotten secrets, artifacts and 10th level spells.

I've done the lower levels for far too long, the challenge and excitement for me now lies at the higher levels and getting to use the other half of the monster's manual which has only been but inspirational reading material for the last 30 or so years.

 

[Raith5]

Is there any data there about how many people play WOTC adventures vs homebrewed adventures? If most people use WOTC adventures, then this data is not surprising at all - it is simple product of the adventures they supply (which seem to all top off at 15th level).

I am trying to get my head around whether this is a issue of the supply of adventures specific to 5e or something mechanical with 5e. I stopped playing 3e about 14th because the game more or less broke down because of the imbalance between casters and non-casters, I played 4e to 30th and that worked well at all levels, I have not played high level 5e yet.

 

[S'mon]

I definitely find 5e plays well at high level; the few problems IME are with mid-level spells like Banishment.

Currently GMing:

Runelords - PCs started at 1st, now 16th-19th after 68 sessions since November 2015 (the 16th is a new PC created at that level when we resumed campaign after a 13 month break; the one PC who started at 1st is 18th now)
Stonehell Dungeon (about to go on hiatus) - PCs are 5th-10th after dozens of games since 2017; new characters start at 5th which keeps advancement limited.
Primeval Thule - PCs 1st-2nd level after 2 sessions.
Princes of the Apocalypse - PCs 2nd level after 1 session.

My main 5e Wilderlands game saw one PC reach 20th after about 150 online sessions ca 2015-2017; never had an issue with the system at high level though CRs certainly aren't very accurate - at one point he (as Barbarian-19 Berserker) soloed an advanced Empyrean (AC 27 & 2 attacks for 6d6+10 & Stun save DC 15 CON) who was easily CR 25.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I wish there was a BASIC BASIC D&D which was still an RPG (not a boardgame), and was still a vigorous engine for exploring the D&D Multiverse.

The closest you will get to that is the FREE Basic Rules you can download from their website. It covers level 1-20 play, but still has less detail than the Starter Set and easier to learn with.

 

[S'mon]

Heck, I wonder, looking at the BECMI rules, what percentage of groups never got past E?

I ran BECMI for a couple years weekly, and we got to around 18th level at the end. At that point it definitely felt like the PCs had won the game they started playing at 1st level.

 

[S'mon]

I wish 5E had said something about that. Instead, people think Tiers 3 and 4 are boring or poorly supported. They're not. It's just that people play them the same way that they play Tiers 1 and 2, which is all wrong. By Tier 3, the PCs are among the most powerful creatures in existence. By Tier 4, they are practically gods. They should be reshaping the world, raising armies, founding kingdoms, unlocking the secrets of the planes, not helping villagers rid themselves of a pesky goblin tribe. But that, for some reason, is how some people choose to play the upper levels. And why not? 5E gives them no indication that it should be any other way.

Just started running 5e Primeval Thule. I love how the Heroic Narratives that replace PHB Backgrounds do very much support the transition to high level play. High level PCs get Followers, at 10th they become clan chiefs and noble rulers, all kinds of stuff that supports traditional 'endgame' play - and being written down in player facing rules it creates player expectation and anticipation, they can plan for long term goals with this in mind.

 

[jedijon]

Who fails to use consistent colors and positioning in ANY FORM of radial chart?

 

[5ekyu]

Just started running 5e Primeval Thule. I love how the Heroic Narratives that replace PHB Backgrounds do very much support the transition to high level play. High level PCs get Followers, at 10th they become clan chiefs and noble rulers, all kinds of stuff that supports traditional 'endgame' play - and being written down in player facing rules it creates player expectation and anticipation, they can plan for long term goals with this in mind.

I liked that approach but... if I were running them, each of the higher level elements would get an **if** added that ties gaining the feature to some accomplishment in service to the "narrative." Turn it into not just a new "sub-class" of unlocked features thst ttigger by level but a mapped set of objectives and rewards.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've heard a couple of people saying stuff along the lines of "well, a high level game should involve things like building a stronghold, running a kingdom, etc". I would suggest that this is exactly what players don't want to do. Why do people play D&D? - to escape their everyday lives, mostly. What do my player's everyday lives entail? Responsibility, organisation, management, homemaking. They don't want a fantasy where they do the things they are trying to escape from (with the stakes ramped up to 11)! They want a fantasy where they go out and bash a few naughty monsters.