D&D 5E A Glimpse Of High-Level Play

[LordPwnington]

Quote of the game, from the warlock: "I've decided that my most damaging spell is dimension door, because it lets me get the paladin close enough to smite things."

I did that once as a Bard in a 3.5 game. Our DM said he spent about 4 hours building the boss, and I just dimension doored our fighter behind it, and he proceeded to deal like 150 damage in one round with a full attack (since I did his moving for him). The look on everyone's faces was priceless (I had just joined the campaign and was kind of new to D&D in general, so they weren't expecting anything like that).

 

[MortalPlague]

I did that once as a Bard in a 3.5 game. Our DM said he spent about 4 hours building the boss, and I just dimension doored our fighter behind it, and he proceeded to deal like 150 damage in one round with a full attack (since I did his moving for him). The look on everyone's faces was priceless (I had just joined the campaign and was kind of new to D&D in general, so they weren't expecting anything like that).

You have truly earned your username.

 

[LordPwnington]

You have truly earned your username.

Thank you!

 

[Prism]

We had a go at some high level play this weekend and the system seemed to pretty much hold together. Our DM said there wasn't much point in planning out the adventure as its impossible to predict what a high level party will do, so he simply gave us the situation. An army of devils was besieging our castle on the first plane of hell. There are three of us and we are 23rd level by the way.

First we had to figure how to get there with the new spells. Plane shift looked a decent option but we didn't have a tuning fork for the component so we ended up casting gate. Much cooler to open a rift to hell anyway

Then we needed to establish what the enemy general wanted so we sent out some envoys who returned saying that we needed to present ourselves for submission to the general who was a minor duke of hell. We decide that was a bad plan so we put together a much more aggressive option. Firstly we teleported to within about 2 miles of the camp. Actually pretty tricky it seems without having barely seen the place. Anyway we were lucky and arrived on target. Next up was a seeming to sneak though the enemy camp. There were about one thousand devils all told but I was surprised to find that non of them could see through the illusion. Must be just the major devils with such vision.

Once within dimension door range of the generals tent two of us cast it and in we went. The duke was pretty surprised to see us so we just laid in. Five horned devils arrived pretty smartish and was nice to see that a much lower level creature can still pose quite a threat. Protection from evil saved the day and so did shield. Oddly more effective than higher level spells. Chain lightning and prismatic spray seemed rather ineffective against devils with their magic resistance, good saves and resistances. We couldn't have won the fight without the fighter and rogue but couldn't have got to the fight without the wizard. I was planning on casting banishment but again components let me down as I didn't have anything repellent to devils.

Some fun things to see

Gate spell to hell. Such casual use of high level magic
A 20th level rogue critical hit
A hasted action surging fighter with an extra bonus attack from great weapon master - 8 attacks (he's 11th level) and several criticals

It seems that it was Bel lord of the 1st layer who put this duke up to it. Seems he is next on our hit list. Hmm... tricky

 

[MortalPlague]

There are three of us and we are 23rd level by the way.

Eh? Did you homebrew a few levels?

Five horned devils arrived pretty smartish and was nice to see that a much lower level creature can still pose quite a threat.

I'm finding that to be the case too. It's very refreshing from a world-continuity standpoint!

Protection from evil saved the day and so did shield. Oddly more effective than higher level spells.

I'm convinced that shield is one of the absolute best spells in the game. It's a must-have for any eldritch knight, in my books. And probably a high consideration for any wizard.

 

[machineelf]

Eh? Did you homebrew a few levels?

That was my question, too. Great write-up though, Prism!

 

[Prism]

Eh? Did you homebrew a few levels?

We converted the characters who were already 23rd. They are all multi-classed so pretty easy. Fighter 11th / wizard 12th, rogue 19th / cleric 4th and wizard 20th / fighter 4th

I'm convinced that shield is one of the absolute best spells in the game. It's a must-have for any eldritch knight, in my books. And probably a high consideration for any wizard.

One problem I noticed was the DM picked up one the shield being cast and the devils moved and attacked the wizard, nearly killing him. Might be worth saving that reaction for an opportunity attack rather than shield as an eldritch knight

 

[MortalPlague]

We converted the characters who were already 23rd. They are all multi-classed so pretty easy. Fighter 11th / wizard 12th, rogue 19th / cleric 4th and wizard 20th / fighter 4th

Ah, makes sense.

One problem I noticed was the DM picked up one the shield being cast and the devils moved and attacked the wizard, nearly killing him. Might be worth saving that reaction for an opportunity attack rather than shield as an eldritch knight

Good point. I'm thinking purely in terms of survivability, but battlefield control is a consideration too. Especially if you have the battle master feat.