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

[GreatestHonor]

Did you mostly use official creatures, or did you use your own/other’s Homebrewed creations more?

Either way, what was your favorite monster of the entire campaign? Was there one statblock you were able to reuse a ton?

 

[CleverNickName]

Did you mostly use official creatures, or did you use your own/other’s Homebrewed creations more?

Most of the monsters I used in this campaign came from official sources: the Monster Manual, Volo's Guide to Monsters, and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount by WotC, Monster Manual Expanded (I, II, and III) by Dragonix Books, Tome of Beasts (I, II, and III) by Kobold Press, to name a few. I got them from the Roll20 Marketplace, so they were easy to drag-and-drop into my game--tokens and all. Some of the third-party ones were free with my Pro subscription, Humble Bundles, and Kickstarter rewards.

Most of the monsters were used as-is, but others were just redescribed. For example: the "beholders" in my game were Constructs, not Aberrations, and they were shaped like octahedrons. (I modeled them after the Hedrons, from the Zendikar block of M:tG cards.) Everything else in their stat block was unchanged.

But on rare occasions, I would develop monsters of my own. These were usually for specific quests or specific NPCs, when the textbook monsters wouldn't quite fit. I created a whole ensemble of plant-based monsters, including a Vine Dragon, for one adventure.

Either way, what was your favorite monster of the entire campaign? Was there one statblock you were able to reuse a ton?

My favorite monster of the whole campaign? Hmmm...there were so many...

I think my favorite was the Marilith General, from Monster Manual Expanded. In this campaign, she was a yuan-ti boss monster named S'set. She had so many reactions, and so many different weapons to use--she kept the heroes on their toes (and on the ground) for the whole battle.

The stat block that I used the most was probably one of the human ones...Acolyte, Bandit, Cultist, and Noble were pretty popular at lower levels, when the party was hanging around town most of the time. As they started getting out more and meeting more important people, they started encountering Knights, Enchanters, and Priests quite a bit. Archdruid and Archmage were used a couple of times for high level NPCs and villains.

 

[Tonguez]

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.​

​

BrillIant, thats a great resource and I really like the Factions and your "why join them" tips, your Advice from NPCs section is also inspired. Those plothooks a great too, interesting enough to prompt the PCs but vague enough to become anything you need.

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.

Yeah I'm increasingly of the opinion that the line isnt really a thing too, or more that Gish is just the standard form of how DnD characters work - and it makes sense that an adventurer in a fantasy world would use the tools available, despite the 'class' mechanics creating artificial distinctions.

As to time and complexity I too am getting the impression that 5e is better for handling high level in actual play, though I'm still relunctant to actually play that long ...

 

[GreatestHonor]

Most of the monsters I used in this campaign came from official sources: the Monster Manual, Volo's Guide to Monsters, and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount by WotC, Monster Manual Expanded (I, II, and III) by Dragonix Books, Tome of Beasts (I, II, and III) by Kobold Press, to name a few. I got them from the Roll20 Marketplace, so they were easy to drag-and-drop into my game--tokens and all. Some of the third-party ones were free with my Pro subscription, Humble Bundles, and Kickstarter rewards.

Great selection of books, still want to get a physical copy of Dragonix’s stuff.

Most of the monsters were used as-is, but others were just redescribed. For example: the "beholders" in my game were Constructs, not Aberrations, and they were shaped like octahedrons. (I modeled them after the Hedrons, from the Zendikar block of M:tG cards.) Everything else in their stat block was unchanged.

I’ve done that, used an Ogre statblock to represent a commoner who got blasted with an enlarge ray.

I created a whole ensemble of plant-based monsters, including a Vine Dragon, for one adventure.

Vine Dragons sounds cool. Do you have a link to them, would love to see em.

I think my favorite was the Marilith General, from Monster Manual Expanded. In this campaign, she was a yuan-ti boss monster named S'set. She had so many reactions, and so many different weapons to use--she kept the heroes on their toes (and on the ground) for the whole battle.

Nice. Big fan of the variants Dragonix made in those books

 

[CleverNickName]

Great selection of books, still want to get a physical copy of Dragonix’s stuff.

The Roll20 Marketplace has really grown over the years...they have a huge library of offerings. Even DriveThruRPG is getting in on the action.

Vine Dragons sounds cool. Do you have a link to them, would love to see em.

Alas, I deleted that monster shortly after that adventure finished. (Roll20 was running out of room.) I'll see if I can find it in my notes...

 

[GreatestHonor]

Alas, I deleted that monster shortly after that adventure finished. (Roll20 was running out of room.) I'll see if I can find it in my notes...

Ah, i understand that. Sometimes a monster is genuinely a one-time use

 

[Gecko85]

My very first 5e character was a Bard who I took from 1st to 20th. The high levels were a lot of fun, even though we were ridiculously OP.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Great selection of books, still want to get a physical copy of Dragonix’s stuff.

The three MME books are the only hard copies I've purchased out of anything I've gotten from the DM's Guild. So full of awesome monsters, and the art he commissioned for the revised versions is just incredible. The physical versions are definitely worth it.

 

[Smackpixi]

Were the players in the same place/plane when they were in the teens levels as they were at the start? How did you address high level monsters only showing up for high level PCs? Giving players more increasing challenges makes sense, but did you make it make sense for the world? A reason the high level enemies didn’t just steamroller the place on day one?

 

[CleverNickName]

Were the players in the same place/plane when they were in the teens levels as they were at the start? How did you address high level monsters only showing up for high level PCs? Giving players more increasing challenges makes sense, but did you make it make sense for the world? A reason the high level enemies didn’t just steamroller the place on day one?

1. Not really. The first 6 or 7 levels, they pretty much stayed on their home island of Taevara. Then they got regular access to a ship and could sail out to neighboring islands.

2. I used the Tolkien model of fantasy geography: the further they got from home, the more dangerous the monsters became. It also helped that the campaign took place entirely in an archepelago... some monsters were confined to specific islands.

3. I think I did. Nobody rolled their eyes or anything...

4. Distance mostly, but also a lack of awareness. Most of these high- level monsters were confined to their own uncharted islands hundreds or thousands of miles away... they were isolated and unaware of the characters' homeland.