It's No Longer A Joke

[Kesh]

I'd be shocked if the DMG doesn't at least address the question of "What if I want to keep going past 30?" It may be as simple as, "The rules don't work well beyond that, but feel free to try." Or more complicated like, "Keep following the XP progression, you get X powers every Y levels, you may want to invent some new powers, etc."

 

[malraux]

I'd be shocked if the DMG doesn't at least address the question of "What if I want to keep going past 30?" It may be as simple as, "The rules don't work well beyond that, but feel free to try." Or more complicated like, "Keep following the XP progression, you get X powers every Y levels, you may want to invent some new powers, etc."

It certainly strikes me as a great area for 3rd party publishers to create something. It seems like a small but very motivated fan base exists for really high level play, which is a good area to target for 3PPs.

 

[Mercule]

I'd be shocked if the DMG doesn't at least address the question of "What if I want to keep going past 30?" It may be as simple as, "The rules don't work well beyond that, but feel free to try." Or more complicated like, "Keep following the XP progression, you get X powers every Y levels, you may want to invent some new powers, etc."

I believe that the possibility of running past 30 has already been mentioned by someone at WotC. I don't remember where, though.

 

[haakon1]

As of the release of 4E, it will actually be possible to win D&D...

WOTC should send a small trophy . . .

 

[Korgoth]

WOTC should send a small trophy . . .

It could have Gary Jackson stiff-arming a kobold.

 

[Darrius Adler]

Following on from my post to Hussar...

That is an interesting question, and I wonder whether it represents a change in the underlying philosophy of D&D over the years.

When I used to play in the 70's and very early 80's, we played the game for as long as someone wanted to run adventures/maintain a campaign and nobody ever considered potential "level maximums" as an issue. This is probably because level advancement was so slow that you only gained a level about once in every 20 sessions or so, after hundreds of encounters so character objectives were much more 'story based' if you will.

Since 3e, I suppose, "gaining a level" has come more to the forefront in terms of character objectives. It is much, much more attainable (by design) and as a result can easily become much more of a character objective (heck, I know that when I play 3e I'm much more focussed on the 'gaining a level' bit than ever before ).

So the question of "what if you want to want to go to 31st level" is an issue for the 'level driven' game, but perhaps not so much for the 'story driven game'.

Does that make sense?

Cheers

Make sense to me. My games have never reached epic levels due to my over all plot for the campaign coming to an end before reaching that far (or the group falling apart before reaching the end of the story). Also I have to say that it looked like running an epic level game would require more prep work than I have had time for. With 4e coming out and epic levels being built in I am thinking that for once I may aim for ending in the epic levels for once. Just need the books to arrive so I can start slapping my ideas together with monsters that fit and probably design some new evils to use. Highest level character from any of my games was a 13th level bard at the end of a Ravenloft campaign.

 

[Magus Coeruleus]

As a couple of other posters mentioned, Frank Mentzer's Immortals Set for BECMI had an endgame way back in 1986.

(All you had to do was reach level 30ish, become Immortal, rise to the rank of Hierarch, become mortal again, and do the whole thing a second time. Piece of cake. )

Dood! Stop giving away the Secret of the Multiverse! Or I'll have to send a Blackball after ya.

 

[jmucchiello]

I assume someone will come up with names for the next couple decades of levels:

31-40: Legendary Lore - as your name drifts into legend you game powers and abilities related to the story of your legend. Sample Lores: The Lover, Vengeance, Endless Journey, Justice Bringer, King Maker, Sacrifice (anything that is core of a story)

41-50: Immortal Icons - Beyond legend, you are what people think of when they think of these things -- basically things found in deity portfolios. Icons: Youth, Love, Magic, Life, Death

I'm sure Upper Krust can make up a foe for someone who is the icon of life.

My question is will anyone want to see a revised Beyond Level One for sub-heroic play. All those extra hit points must come from somewhere.

Levels -9 to 0: Common Beginnings ....

 

[MindWanderer]

Since you can swap a paragon path for a second class, it would be reasonable to duplicate that progression at levels 31+. Allow characters to add a second (or third) class, paragon path, or epic destiny. Continue all mathematical progressions the same as levels 1-30, including monster advancement. The maximum potency of powers will go down compared to their level, but the synergy added from more class options will make up for that.

 

[shadowguidex]

I'll worry about my players hitting level 30 in a few years. Not at all worried about it now.