D&D 5E Encounters for Level 11+ Characters

Sloblock

Explorer
I have to put together some travel encounters for my group, they have just levelled up to 11 and are about to travel through amountain region.


Most of the things I have found are for lower level characters, so with that in mind does anyone have any good ideas for encounters that are appropriate for higher level characters?
 

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Hiya!

If you want random, meaningless encounters for your campaign, well, just pick any monsters with a CR around 9 to 12. However, like most DM's (I hope!), you take pride in your campaign world. So...

What kind of mountains? Sparse, granite covered ones, or green-covered lush ones? Temperate zone? Tropical? Arid? What towns are near the mountain's base? Are they hodge-podge of random locations folks just kinda settled in from wherever? Is there a lot of civilized activity in the area like mining, trapping, or something else? Is the area the mountains found in, in some kind of dispute with nearby countries/cities/people? The list of questions you need to answer or at least think about is nigh-endless.

Once you have at least some of those answered you can then compile a list of races/monsters that are likely found in the area. This gives you room to add in the "unique" monsters and stuff. For example, if you end up with a bunch of 'low powered' monsters like goblins/kobolds/orcs, you can then place a "crazed Stone Giant that calls himself The Lord of Stone" who lives in a particular valley/pass area and allows nobody to pass without providing him with a gift or tribute. The small-fry monsters avoid him, but stay near him for protection from the unique 'winged owlbears' that nest and mate in the higher-up mountain areas. The woodsmen and miners in the area advise to avoid walking in the open to avoid a horrible death from either the owlbears, or, if too close, a large boulder landing on your head (thrown from a crazed Stone Giant).

Now that you have that, you can whip up some random encounter charts, make some notes that pop into your imagination during game, and all this info will be "repeatable" 6 months from now when the players have their PC's wander back down this mountain range on their way back. They will remember the things you placed, and it will all seem that much more real. Additionally, they can "plan" for the trip...like making sure to get a small barrel of pickled herring that the Lord of Stone seemed to be asking for last time.

Sorry I wasn't much help in the "here are some monster encounters" department...but if you think of the world FIRST, and then think of the PC's SECOND, you will be able to "wing it" no matter where your PC's end up. Your players will love you for it because they won't feel they 'wasted' something (spell selection, item acquirements, class choices, etc)...because they will be able to say things like "I guess we travel along the edge of the Benneth Mountains again. At least we can stop in at Springstart and see that cute serving wench, Ilya again! Oh, and don't forget to pack the barrel of pickled herring! A couple of extra healing kits too...those kobold traps aren't that deadly, but man do they sting!"

^_^

Paul L. Ming
 

I would suggest using this tool to set up parameters and produce random encounters. It's pretty fun to see the results and try to imagine a challenge involving what it gives you. Here are a couple of results based on a Mountain terrain for four 11th-level characters:

Medium Difficulty
2 Gnoll Fang of Yeenoghu
2 Yeti

The yeti are slaves, fearing the ice demons that possess the gnolls. Together they hunt the PCs and try to drive them toward a precipice with a drop of 120 feet into an area of jagged ice shards. An exploration challenge of some kind or possibly the Chase rules can allow the PCs to avoid being driven into this bad position or even allow them to turn the tables on the hunters. The yeti use their Chilling Gaze to paralyze the PCs while the gnolls push them off the cliff onto the ice shards below. If the gnolls are killed, the yeti take the opportunity to flee if things are going badly for them.

Hard Difficulty
1 Cyclops
1 Medusa
2 Orc War Chiefs

A cyclops carries a large, covered cage down a treacherous switchback trail. Inside the cage sits the medusa noblewoman Lady Slither who is being escorted by the orc war chiefs to a conclave of villains that takes place in the mountains on the night of the new moon. The medusa seeks to parlay with the PCs at first from behind her shade, ostensibly seeking no trouble from them, though it's clear the orcs desire blood. She tries to lure one of the PCs to the cage to receive her favor and promptly attempts to turn the fool to stone before ordering her brutes to attack. If the medusa believes she could lose her life, she tries to cut a deal, sharing the location of the conclave with the PCs in exchange for her life.

Give it a try - it's a fun creative exercise!
 

Thanks for the help

pming - I do try to make sure that the encounters fit into the world the PCs are travelling through. Also will make a list of the items you mentioned to set the scene

iserith - thanks for the URL that is great site, and I am off to start using it
 

I recommend titans. Any encounter is going to feel like a waste of time if the party just blows through it without hassle, and titans are one of the few things that might stand a chance of temporarily knocking out a character of level 11+.

You might also have some luck with a lich, if it can get the drop and them and isn't killed before it can act. Maybe have a titan for daytime encounters and a lich for nighttime encounters.
 




Things I used recently:

A pair of Chimerae.
Two stone giants.
A behir.
A horde of werewolf berserkers. :D
Two Marids (when using Lower Water to cross a river)
450 skeletons on 3 ships, with sundry minotaur skeletons, zombie ogres, and 1 Necromancer
(using Drow Priestess MM stats with reskinned spells).
 

They have a funny name in this edition. They don't just call them titans, for whatever reason. Empyreans? Empyreals? Something like that.

CR 22. Bit rich maybe, though Contagion - Slimy Doom could take it out for 3 rounds.
A CR 17 Dragon Turtle gave my group a good fight.
 

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