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Message: <blockquote data-quote="J-H" data-source="post: 9793778" data-attributes="member: 7020951">-Ran a 13-20 campaign-Currently have a party that just hit 18th level.-Currently running some 20th level encountersMy thoughts:1. Don't worry about how the party is going to solve a problem.  Just make an interesting solution or challenge.  They'll come up with a solution.2. Don't allow a 5 minute working day all the time.  Use time pressure to make them drain resources.3.  Don't give your spellcasting NPCs & enemies a full list of 30 prepared spells.  8 is plenty.4.  Avoid Prismatic Spray, enemy healing spells (except Heal, it's limited but chunky), and Prismatic Wall.  Enemies who heal too much aren't fun to fight and Prismatic X takes too long to resolve.5. If a player can't tell you what they're doing on their turn within a 30 second hourglass, they dodge or basic attack.6. Lots of itty bitty minions with +4 to hit don't matter.  Either omit them or run them as a squad.7. You can handwave encounters that the party will crush.  Group of paladins going after a necromancer?  "You run into a group of six ghouls and cut your way through them in seconds."  It's also fun for them to have this happen sometimes.8.  Don't skimp on magic items, especially for martials!  Every martial character should have at least one mobility item (flight, spider climb, teleportation).  By 15-17, they should also have a good signature weapon.  Holy Avenger, Vorpal, Hammer of Thunderbolts, Short Sword of Backstabbing, etc.9.  Start handing out boons around level 15-18.  You don't have to wait until 20.  The 2014 epic boons are not great; I made a book of boons that's on the DM's Guild, and I've heard the 2024 epic boons are pretty decent.10.  Don't run dragons or other big bosses out of the box.  I use multi-part dragons and I give them useful legendary actions.  My favorite dragon fight I've run was a 15th or 16th level party in an elven city among the trees fighting a black dragon.  It could use a legendary action to Hide (+15? something like that) and move up to half its speed at the same time.  They spent several rounds maneuvering and readying actions to try to get shots on it while it hid amongst the trees and maneuvered to line up its breath weapon.  Every dragon should have thematically appropriate actions like that.11.  Striking a balance between solo monsters, bosses with minions, and having too many things on the field is tough and will be different for everyone.  If the party brings NPC allies, have them fight some of the enemy minions/troops just off-screen and describe it without rolling dice.12.  Tying into "no 5 minute working days," Meteor Swarm, Sunburst, Vorpal Action Surges, and barbarians who shrug everything short of a vorpal sword off are all things that will wreck some of your encounters.   Feel free to have enemies use similar abilities, as long as you're aware of the party's resurrection capabilities.</blockquote>

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