ACK! I Hate level 15!!

[Mystery Man]

ACK!!

I'm at the very crazy and unpredictable level 15 and beyond stage. Trying to come up with fun and challenging encounters and my brain has decided to go on autopilot. It's that age of a PC where they can either handle a CR 20 with ease or get smashed by and EL 12 depending on what they're up against. :\ What have you done to make fun and challenging encounters at this stage?

 

[GlassJaw]

What have you done to make fun and challenging encounters at this stage?

Start a new campaign. Seriously. I'm not a fan of standard D&D high-level play either.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Consider the PCs abilities carefully and consider the monster's abilities carefully and decide weather or not it's a good idea to use the critter or not. I also recommend if you can't come up with anything simply wrap up the game with one final adventure and as has been suggested start over and make someone else DM.

 

[Jdvn1]

Hm, mix in more upper-level roleplaying encounters that show their impressiveness. If your characters have made an impact on the world, they'll have more influence with people. Maybe they have to organize a fighting force against an army, maybe they have to get two groups to put aside their differences and come together. Maybe they'll enter tournaments in order to do any of these. Or maybe just color tournaments.

One of the PCs was getting married in-game once, and it was custom (for important marriages) that there be a a melee tournament. The winner of the tournament would be the Protector of the marriage, presumably his duty was to keep the couple safe. Like a body guard. So a huge amount of people joined this tournament, including the other party PCs. There are safeguards, of course, to ensure that no one dies, but it's an interesting encounter.

There are also interesting tournaments in the Complete Warrior and Complete Arcane. They're fun and make the characters have to think a little, sometimes. And there's always the doppleganger encounter...

 

[Mystery Man]

Start a new campaign. Seriously. I'm not a fan of standard D&D high-level play either.

Actually don't get me wrong, I love high levels! I love access to new and cool destructive powers. I don't love making encounters. Getting better at it each time though, specially with advice from here.

 

[Jdvn1]

Ooh, also the planes serve for interesting encounters. In the Elemental Plane of Air, they have to make checks to be able to just control themselves. In the Negative Energy Plane, they constantly lose hp. The Positive Energy Plane, they constantly gain hp -- and if they gain enough they explode. Neat stuff in the Manual of the Planes.

 

[BSF]

I worry less about what the PCs can handle actually. I still try to find things that are appropriate challenges, but I sweat it less. I tell my players up front that as they get higher in levels they have so many options available to them that I stop worrying about the "solutions". I just try to keep the story engaging, the stakes high, and the affect of the PCs on the game world are very noticable. When the players know that the actions of the PCs will have a long term affect on the game world, they seem to be a little more interested. That doesn't mean each adventure has to be saving the world. But the impact of PCs on the cusp of casting Miracle and Wish should not be ignored or downplayed.

Admittedly, you can scale a campaign with this feel for lower levels. Nothing wrong with that either. If running high level PCs isn't your cup of tea, orchestrate something to cap off the campaign and call it the end. My last campaign was a game I stopped right around that level because I wanted to end the game on a high note. They had, quite literally, saved the world. And if they had failed, it would have cast a completely different slant onto the game this time around. I wanted to move toward showing those differences, trying new stories with new characters, etc.

 

[MerakSpielman]

At this point they can reasonably be assumed to be able to take on practically anything.

Quick advice: Don't present obvious solutions to major problems anymore.

Here are a few simple adventure ideas.

A hill giant army is invading. Five border towns need to be defended simultaniously. The party has 12 hours to prepare before the giants arrive.

Paladins keep showing up trying to kill the party. It starts off with a single low-level paladin, but their numbers and level steadily increase. They fight to the death. If captured, all they will say is "I will not talk to demons." They will not listen to reason and take any opportunity to escape and attack. There is no magical influence on them. There is, however, a magical influence on the party - everybody is detecting as evil (this influence can be dispelled, but it takes one dispel per person, and reappears every morning). Some evil wizard (perhaps hired by enemies of the party) is responsible, and has been Sending anonymous tips to local temples about a party of demons in disguise. The swarms of paladins will continue and increase as the party gets closer and closer to solving the problem.

A mad wizard is building a Doomsday Device. Nobody knows where. You have three days. Go!

A crowded nighttime festival attended by couple hundred people is being attacked by Shadows. The Shadows strike, then flee and hide (incorporeal - they can just sink into the ground if they want to. They then repeat from different directions. Actively attempt to avoid PCs, especially clerics. By the time the PCs realize what's going on, several villagers could have already been turned into more shadows. An exponential increase in Shadow numbers! Save as many villagers possible as quickly as possible!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I've said it before, I'll say it again: at level 15 the party should be hitting the planes. No more prime material for them! Move the center of the campaign off the planet.

The good news is that now you can pick up one of those template books and throw orc ooze ninjas at the party.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Start a new campaign. Seriously. I'm not a fan of standard D&D high-level play either.

That's just admitting defeat.

I agree that around 15th level, PCs should start off to the Planes. Its much easier to explain the high level craziness there than on the Material Plane.