D&D 5E Is WotC ever going to release something high level? Even as UA test material?

[S'mon]

I always stand in awe of people who talk about their 8, 10, 15 year long campaigns. I've never had a GROUP last that long, never minding a campaign.

As GM I always treat "group" and "campaign" as much the same - when a campaign ends, the
group disbands. When a new campaign starts there will be different players, though usually with overlap from prior campaigns. Otherwise I'd always be playing with the exact same people and never meet
any new friends.

 

[S'mon]

Since every level is a new level for me to DM, I have to be careful to understand what the party is capable of. What seems like a challenging encounter often just gets steamrolled over.

Not a problem IMO, players like steamrollering enemies & you can always make more encounters.

Forcing a fight which then TPKs the party can be a problem, though. I like to keep the deadliest stuff (a) signposted and (b) facing it clearly the result of player choice. I generally like to avoid world-ending plots so PCs can always avoid a fight they don't think they can win.

 

[Mephista]

I've been buying D&D products since 1e and I can't remember seeing a high level product that was any good. It might help if they tried putting out a quality high level product before saying that there's not enough demand for it. People talk and compare notes before buying things.

"Good" is subjective in the first place. Saying that there's no good high level product is entirely your opinion.

 

[Prism]

Isle of the Ape (1e) was always pretty fun as a high level adventure

 

[Zardnaar]

"Good" is subjective in the first place. Saying that there's no good high level product is entirely your opinion.

There is not that many of them and it is actually hard to remember them and they are not really part of the classic D&D adventures except for Vault of the Drow (10-14).

I don't think any 1E adventure is over level 14, Dungeon Magazine maybe.

BECMI had a few adventures for level 15-30+ IIRC there were 12 total I don't know how good they were and some of them at least deal with domain management (I think?).

Then you have the 2E boxed adventures (Night Below 1-12+, Return to the Tomb of Horrors etc) and Labyrinth of Madness.

3E had a few in Dungeon Magazine and City of the Spider Queen, any more?

Only the late 2E ones and 1-2 of the 3E adventure paths seem well regarded though.

I'm throwing around some ideas for a sequal to PotA involving an avatar of Tharizdun and using elements from the end of Labyrinth of Madness/The Night Below with a Tharizdun avatar being spellcasting Titan with legendary actions comparable to Tiamat from RoT.

 

[Maxperson]

"Good" is subjective in the first place. Saying that there's no good high level product is entirely your opinion.

Show me one you think is good. I'm curious as to which one it will be.

 

[S'mon]

Isle of the Ape (1e) was always pretty fun as a high level adventure

I always felt it went too far out of its way to screw over the players. But a conversion to 5e turning down the Gygaxian hostility might work very well. Also the endless exposition at the start needs cutting.

 

[Luz]

Show me one you think is good. I'm curious as to which one it will be.

If we're talking modules over 14th level, there are a few that were done decently:
H2 The Mines of Bloodstone is for levels 16-18 and does a pretty good job of challenging high level characters. There are some bits that were a little contrived for my tastes, such as the "Tests of Orcus" portion of the adventure, but overall a fun module. It's sequel, H4 The Throne of Bloodstone, on the other hand...

WG6 Isle of the Ape says for levels 18 and up, but anything over 14 will do. Yeah, it's got its share of faults like the heavy spell restrictions, but I found it does a good job of presenting a self-contained high level adventure that isn't an "end of the world" scenario. But I'm a big King Kong fan, so YMMV.

The Lich Queen's Beloved from Dungeon Magazine #100 is for level 18 and up. It's the only 3e high level module I'd include on this list. There were a lot of epic level adventures published for 3/3.5 and many of them are good, but frankly, the bloated epic rules system turned things into power gaming silliness. I liked the The Lich Queen's Beloved for doing an excellent job of portraying the githyanki world and presenting a pretty great villain. With some effort to tone things down and remove some of the epic rules craziness, it would be worthwhile converting to 5e for those looking for a high level module.

 

[Mephista]

Show me one you think is good. I'm curious as to which one it will be.

Hellbound: The Blood War

I've found that the best high level stories involve plane-jumping. At least for me.

 

[Maxperson]

If we're talking modules over 14th level, there are a few that were done decently:
H2 The Mines of Bloodstone is for levels 16-18 and does a pretty good job of challenging high level characters. There are some bits that were a little contrived for my tastes, such as the "Tests of Orcus" portion of the adventure, but overall a fun module. It's sequel, H4 The Throne of Bloodstone, on the other hand...

WG6 Isle of the Ape says for levels 18 and up, but anything over 14 will do. Yeah, it's got its share of faults like the heavy spell restrictions, but I found it does a good job of presenting a self-contained high level adventure that isn't an "end of the world" scenario. But I'm a big King Kong fan, so YMMV.

The Lich Queen's Beloved from Dungeon Magazine #100 is for level 18 and up. It's the only 3e high level module I'd include on this list. There were a lot of epic level adventures published for 3/3.5 and many of them are good, but frankly, the bloated epic rules system turned things into power gaming silliness. I liked the The Lich Queen's Beloved for doing an excellent job of portraying the githyanki world and presenting a pretty great villain. With some effort to tone things down and remove some of the epic rules craziness, it would be worthwhile converting to 5e for those looking for a high level module.

I really disliked the Bloodstone modules. I pulled up Lich Queen's Beloved and will look at it when I have time. Thanks for the heads-up. Hopefully it's good and I can use it. I'm not fond of animal type adventures, which is why I disliked the Isle of Dread, a module that is generally highly regarded.