D&D 5E Just Finished a Lv.1 thru Lv.20 Campaign -- Ask Me Anything

[CleverNickName]

You described your game as a sandbox, but I assume at some point the game funneled towards the final act of saving the world/stopping the main villain. Was there a specific level where this happened?

Not really. There were no main over-arching villains in the campaign, and the whole "saving the world" thing was added at the last minute as a story point. This whole campaign was a series of smaller adventures, loosely connected by NPCs and their hometown.

I'll back up.

The story of the kraken-god was a minor sub-plot to help explain why a member of the party multiclassed with warlock. It was never intended to be a villain. The player wanted to multiclass with warlock (ugh), and decided on the Fathomless pact, from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, because it fit the campaign the best. So I invented that kraken to be his warlock patron, and arranged a meeting with some kraken cultists to indoctrinate him. They would then send him on occasional missions to recover various McGuffins.

Fast forward a few levels. The kraken patron became an adversary when the warlock decided that he was going to defy the kraken and keep a quest McGuffin for himself--and he was already 20th level when he made that decision. The player wanted to tie up that last loose end before the campaign ended, so I wrote one last adventure to be our grand finale. (By the time the party is 20th level, "saving the world from a would-be god" isn't a major story, it's a regular Tuesday night.)

If that player had given that McGuffin to, say, the Merchant Guild faction or the Arcane Academy faction, they might have had a completely different ending. Like, say he gave it to the Merchant Guild: that would have probably started a war between nations, and the final adventure would have been to defend their homeland against a fleet of invading warships. The Arcane Academy has several sketchy NPCs working there; the McGuffin might have fallen into the hands of a mad wizard or lich.

Or he could have just given the McGuffin to his patron. His kraken patron would have ascended to godhood without flooding the world, I would have added a new deity to the pantheon, and the heroes would have sailed off into the sunset.

 

[TwoSix]

Not really. There were no main over-arching villains in the campaign, and the whole "saving the world" thing was added at the last minute as a story point. This whole campaign was a series of smaller adventures, loosely connected by NPCs and their hometown.

I'll back up.

The story of the kraken-god was a minor sub-plot to help explain why a member of the party multiclassed with warlock....not a main villain. (He went with the Fathomless, from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, because it fit the campaign the best.) I invented that kraken to be his warlock patron, and arranged a meeting with some kraken cultists to indoctrinate him. They would then send him on occasional missions to recover various McGuffins.

Fast forward a few levels. The kraken patron became an adversary when the warlock decided that he was going to defy the kraken and keep a quest McGuffin for himself--and he was already 20th level when he made that decision. The player wanted to tie up that last loose end before the campaign ended, so I wrote one last adventure to be our grand finale.

If that player had given that McGuffin to, say, the Merchant Guild faction or the Temple of Dawn faction, they might have had a completely different ending. Like, say he gave it to the Merchant Guild: that would have probably started a war between nations, and the final adventure would have been to defend their homeland against a fleet of invading warships. The Arcane Academy has several sketchy NPCs working there; the McGuffin might have fallen into the hands of a mad wizard or lich.

Or he could have just given the McGuffin to his patron. His kraken patron would have ascended to godhood without flooding the world, I would have added a new deity to the pantheon, and the heroes would have sailed off into the sunset.

Great storyline. Love the description of the methodology, your playstyle sounds pretty similar to my "default" playstyle for 5e and 5e-like games.

Were there any Tier 4 (level 17+) abilities that you found were particularly bothersome (or time-consuming) in play, maybe something in hindsight you were like "I probably should have house-ruled that?"

 

[Tonguez]

So how did it compare to other editions of DnD as far back as you remember, was it quicker or slower to progress? more or less complexity burden? was there a learning curve?

and how do high level martials fare both against spellcasters and against the challenges of the fantasy world?

 

[Tonguez]

After that first adventure when the heroes saved the baby from the burning shop, I had everyone roll a d20. I asked the player who rolled the highest, "who did this shop belong to?" He chose one of the merchants in my campaign handout, who was a member of the Arcane Academy--the same school that the artificer was attending. That meant they would gain favor with the Academy, be rewarded with some potions and scrolls, and would get to know the professors and politics of the local college. If he had said "a priest from the Temple of Dawn," they would have gotten different rewards, and the campaign could have had a very different tone.

So how much detail do you put into the campaign handout? were the merchants all predetermined plothooks, did you predeisgn the factions (eg Arcane Academy) or were they developed with players too?

 

[CleverNickName]

Were there any Tier 4 (level 17+) abilities that you found were particularly bothersome (or time-consuming) in play, maybe something in hindsight you were like "I probably should have house-ruled that?"

All characters got really top-heavy around 17th level--the players were overwhelmed with too many options to choose from, and once they decided, their characters' actions took forever to resolve. At that level, every single character is rolling the dice a half-dozen times on every single round. Even the "simple, straightforward" fighter: move, attack, attack, attack, action surge, move some more, attack, attack, attack, second wind...and this is even without the artificer forcing rerolls on every round with his Reaction, or the wizard/druid adding even more actions with the Haste spell. It was a LOT, and it was EVERY ROUND.

So to answer your question: no, not really. All of these characters and their abilities/class features were equally bothersome and time-consuming at Tier 4. I gave the abundant attack rolls of the Fighter as an example, but they all suffered from it: the monk and the infinite Ki points, the endritch blast spam, the "um aKSHully" reactions of the artificer...

 

[CleverNickName]

So how did it compare to other editions of DnD as far back as you remember, was it quicker or slower to progress? more or less complexity burden? was there a learning curve?

This is going to sound weird, since I was JUST NOW complaining about how much combat dragged at high levels, but honestly? 5th Edition is probably the best edition I've ever played for high-level characters. In 3rd Edition/3.5E/Pathfinder, combat would have taken twice as long, maybe even longer. We still talk about a battle in my last 3.5E campaign, where two groups of 6 soldiers were fighting each other...that battle took six hours to resolve. And the characters were only 14th level.

The only other edition I've ever played for any length of time was B/X or BECMI, and we stopped playing shortly after reaching 15th level (out of a max of 36). So it's not really fair to compare them.

and how do high level martials fare both against spellcasters and against the challenges of the fantasy world?

I'm going to make a lot of people mad here, but you asked so...

I think the "martials vs. casters" thing is a myth. The line between magic-users and swordsmen was already blurry at 1st level, and it only blurred more as the levels piled on. By the time our heroes were 13th level, the line between the two might as well have been invisible: the artificer was charging into battle with a magical axe, while the fighter was shooting cantrips.

I know lots of people here say this is a big issue with 5E, but I've never seen it.

 

[billd91]

All characters got really top-heavy around 17th level--the players were saturated with too many options, and their actions took forever to resolve. At that level, every single character is rolling the dice a half-dozen times on every single round. Even the "simple, straightforward" fighter: move, attack, attack, attack, action surge, move some more, attack, attack, attack, second wind...and this is even without the artificer forcing rerolls on every round with his Reaction, or the wizard/druid adding even more actions with the Haste spell. It was a LOT, and it was EVERY ROUND.

And that's without even counting the legendary actions of the legendary monsters kicking around... and lair actions. That said, I did still have some fun with the high level encounters in the 1-20 campaign I ran and finished a few months ago. I am glad, however, that the number of PCs did whittle down a bit from a max of 11 to a more manageable 6.

 

[CleverNickName]

So how much detail do you put into the campaign handout? were the merchants all predetermined plothooks, did you predeisgn the factions (eg Arcane Academy) or were they developed with players too?

I guess the easiest way to answer this question is to show you.

Here are the pages from my campaign handout for the Town of Threshold, the aptly-named "starting town" for the characters. (That's right, I have been starting my campaign in the same town for almost 40 years!) My original text, which was written over the pandemic lockdowns, is in black text. The players' new additions (the Arcane Academy and the Huntsman's Guild) were added later, in blue text.

The Arcane Academy came into existence when one of the players rolled up an Artificer, and the player and I needed to find a way to stitch the character into the story. The Huntsman's Guild came into being when the druid wanted to sell the pelts from some bears that they had killed, and the two of us came up with it on the fly.

My imagination sometimes runs away from me.

EDIT: Looks like my plot hooks didn't print. These were intended to be little teasers, to help the players decide which factions they wanted to make friends with. When the campaign started, these plot hooks had not been developed past this simple description....but over the course of the campaign, "The Lines of the Earth," "The Green and the Gold," and "Fragments of the World" all became full-blown adventures.

This is the text that should have been in the sidebar, pages 35-37:

Spoiler: Missing Sidebar Text

GUILD QUESTS​

Each faction has a special side-quest to help you advance through the ranks…similar to Skyrim. You can read a little teaser about them here in the sidebar, next to each entry.​

​

THE LINES OF THE EARTH​

(Arcane Academy faction quest) This side quest will advance you up through the ranks of the Mages’ Guild, taking you from a lowly college freshman to a Graduate of Arcane Studies. Along the way, you will unlock an ancient mystery of immense power that could unmake the world!​

​

STOLEN CROWN​

(The Crown faction quest) In this side quest, you will work to uncover a century of treachery against the monarch. Your investigation will set things in motion that will shake the very foundations of the island!​

​

KNOCK ON WOOD​

(Enclave of the Old Faith faction quest) This side quest will advance you up through the ranks of the Enclave, and send you on a rescue mission to save one of the Enclave’s elders from the grasp of a necromancer.​

​

THE GOLDEN LADDER​

(Guild of Veracian Merchants faction quest) The Merchant Guild side quest will see your characters advance through the ranks of the Guild, from Apprentice to Journeyman to Master. Along the way you will be swept up in a web of intrigue, assassination plots, and piarate lords.​

​

THE BELLE OF THE BALL​

(High Society faction quest) This side quest will move you through the most secretive and elite circles of Arushi, as you rely on your wit and your intuition to solve a murder mystery.​

​

HEAR THE HUNTING HORN​

(Huntsman's Guild faction quest) This quest line will send you on a monster hunt of epic proportions, from the oldest and darkest forests of Taevara to the realm of the Archfey, as you join Herla in The Great Hunt.​

​

FRAGMENTS OF THE WORLD​

(Taevarian Archaeological Society faction quest) This quest line will send you all across Taevara, helping to destroy an ancient evil that threatens to re-emerge…​

​

SANGUIS LUNAE​

(Temple of Dawn faction quest) An old evil returns, and its corruption has spread to the highest offices of the church. Bring your silver bullets!​

​

THE GREEN AND GOLD​

(Town Guard faction quest) Rise up through the ranks of the Town Guard…beginning as a lowly Private and working your way up to the title of Chief Investigator. This side quest will send you deep undercover, tracking an unknown evil and foiling an assassination plot against the Crown.​

​

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Awesome thread - thanks for putting it together @CleverNickName!

I may have missed it but how did you handle XP and leveling?

 

[CleverNickName]

Awesome thread - thanks for putting it together @CleverNickName!

I may have missed it but how did you handle XP and leveling?

Since we were playing over Roll20, I tracked everyone's XP and they leveled up organically across the entire campaign.

To make things easier, I used an API script called "Lazy Experience," which automatically collected the XP from defeated monsters and distributed it to the different characters at the end of the gaming session. It would also let me award bonus XP for things like traps, quest rewards, and exceptional roleplaying, with a single click.

I recommend it for anyone who uses Roll20.