D&D 5E Legendary Adventures: Epic 5E Kickstarter

Wish that killer D&D 5E game didn't end at 20th level? Keen on taking up a fight with a god? Looking to sunder worlds? I have a thing for you.



What is this? A 128 page sourcebook for adventuring through 21st–30th level, including epic hazards and a bestiary of 50 lethal monsters.

How much is it? $12 for the PDF, $30 plus shipping and handling for the shiny hardcover.

Why? Many years ago, before the before time shortly after 5E came out, the Hypercorps 2099 Kickstarter (my second project; this is #10) hit a stretch goal for a 5E conversion. I am immensely proud of how the Pathfinder version of that book came out, but the 5E conversion just didn't jive right. It can still be fun mind you—the numbers just didn't work out right for the Hyper Score framework.

That still drives me right up the wall.

This book is my fix for that and after a year of playtesting I am EXTREMELY pleased with how it came out! Not only are the rules tight as a drum, but this is easily the prettiest book I've ever put together.



128 pages sounds extremely short for you. What are you hiding? Your keen instincts are correct—there is more to this project than the book. Throughout the rest of this month I'll be posting Epic Archetype Features to www.epic5e.com for every single D&D 5E archetype. Originally these were going to be included in the book but ultimately I decided that online was the smarter choice. First of all I'd need to run a playtest game every day for more than a year to playtest all of that material, and perhaps more importantly it would have made most of the book into archetype features (roughly 30 pages of material).

That'd hardly be an agile tool! This whole design—the epic class levels, the hazards, the monsters—is fundamentally built on the principles of D&D 5E, reinforcing and strengthening them for high level play. So as much as I love big honking tomes (and I do, I've made several in excess of 300 pages) the right choice design-wise was to go lighter rather than heavier.

When does it end? The Kickstarter closes on Thursday, April 22nd at 4:59 PM EST. You've got just under a month to get your pledge in!

Where can I pledge? Right here! Legendary Adventures: Epic D&D 5E

First Stretch Goal: Epic Depths, an adventure for 21st level characters that'll be unlocked at $10,000

 

[Morrus]

Only WotC can make a 5e book.

Anybody can make a 5E book. They just can't brand it "Dungeons & Dragons". Both this and Level Up, and the D&D rulebooks, are 5E books.

 

[Mike Myler]

To summarize

Classes levels 21st-30th in Legendary Adventures: Not compatible with Level Up.

Monsters and other stuff in Legendary Adventures: Compatible with Level Up.

Why/How Legendary Adventures is not fully compatible with Level Up: Several elements of O5E class design are not present in Level Up (for example, fighters in Level Up do not have Action Surge) but appear in Legendary Adventures (like epic fighters getting another Action Surge at 30th level).
More importantly Level Up reinforces the social and exploration pillars (in addition to more tactical combat), and Legendary Adventures doesn't expand those principles in the same way. There are certainly pro-investigation and exploration features in Legendary Adventures, but there are no epic exploration knacks or epic combat maneuvers to continue the designs from Level Up.

Level Up is compatible with all the core 5E material and I'd wager nearly all third party materials, excepting the rare few that fundamentally alter the core class design (in this case by extending that design by 50%). Every other book I've made or bought and every article I've edited is compatible—if it's a dungeon, an adventure, a monster, feats, spells, magic items, hazards, diseases, traps, tertiary systems, mass combat, new classes, or anything other than altering the core classes then Level Up is compatible with it.
Aside from Legendary Adventures (and I haven't read them so I'm not sure, but I suspect 2CGaming's epic play materials might be in the same boat), Level Up is compatible with any 5E book in your library.

 

[dave2008]

Anybody can make a 5E book. They just can't brand it "Dungeons & Dragons". Both this and Level Up, and the D&D rulebooks, are 5E books.

While I agree in general, for the question of compatibility and Level Up I thought it was a useful distinction. Level Up cannot expect to be compatible with every "5e" product some 3PP publisher makes. The thing you can strive for is compatibility with D&D 5e. So in this discussion, I think it is useful distinction where:

5e = D&D 5e (by WotC)
5e compatible = any other 5e compatible product made by a 3PP. This would include most things on DMsGuild

 

[dave2008]

Classes levels 21st-30th in Legendary Adventures: Not compatible with Level Up.

Mike, I don't think this is true (and the source of @Corrosive 's confusion I think). If I understand correctly, you can use LA characters in a Level Up game. The only issue is LA doesn't provide lvl 21-30 versions of Level Up classes. So, by my understanding it is compatible, it just doesn't provide the classes in Level Up. That, to me, is different than compatibility.

For example, it would be the same if LA didn't provide a epic version of the Artificer. It would still be compatible with O5e, it just doesn't have that class option. It is the same relationship to Level Up classes from my perspective. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Edit: from perspective, compatibility means you can play both at the same table and be reasonably balanced. This is a bit of stretch with LA because it is inherently OP to both O5e and Level Up, but I think the general understanding this there

 

[Mike Myler]

I'm not understanding a lot of this confusion and think this is the clearest way to sum it up.

If you're using Legendary Adventures hazards or monsters against a Level Up character, it's compatible.​

​

If you're trying to make your Level Up character epic using Legendary Adventures it is not compatible in that way.​

Legendary Adventures incidentally does not include rules for Epic Artificers in the book because artificers aren't OGL, although those rules are around.

 

[dave2008]

I'm not understanding a lot of this confusion and think this is the clearest way to sum it up.

I agree completely! Nice clarification too.

 

[Morrus]

5e = D&D 5e (by WotC)
5e compatible means any other 5e compatible product made by a 3PP.

That’s not the definition of 5E we use when publishing 5E books.

 

[dave2008]

That’s not the definition of 5E we use when publishing 5E books.

That is fine, but it is a useful distinction I think. When people say 5e, they generally think of WotC D&D 5e.

 

[Mike Myler]

ALL STRETCH GOALS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED!



All of these will be made available for free for everyone who pledges for a PDF or hardcover of Legendary Adventures because the project has passed $25,000 in funding, yet it's not over! In a couple of hours the funding period ends and one last stretch goal remains: more cities.

MORE FINAL GOAL: 8 More Sentient Cities! ($28,000)​

When this stretch goal is reached the Dismantling Cities supplement expands to a total of 20 sentient cities for PCs to destroy, increasing the range of materials inside to include challenges for 27th level adventurers.

That $12 for a PDF or $30 for a hardcover and PDF now includes an epic adventure path sooooooo if you were on the fence before, consider jumping on over.

PS: Ends at 5PM EST today so you've got about 4 hours left to do it!

 

[dave2008]

ALL STRETCH GOALS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED!

View attachment 135916

All of these will be made available for free for everyone who pledges for a PDF or hardcover of Legendary Adventures because the project has passed $25,000 in funding, yet it's not over! In a couple of hours the funding period ends and one last stretch goal remains: more cities.

View attachment 135917

MORE FINAL GOAL: 8 More Sentient Cities! ($28,000)​

When this stretch goal is reached the Dismantling Cities supplement expands to a total of 20 sentient cities for PCs to destroy, increasing the range of materials inside to include challenges for 27th level adventurers.

That $12 for a PDF or $30 for a hardcover and PDF now includes an epic adventure path sooooooo if you were on the fence before, consider jumping on over.

PS: Ends at 5PM EST today so you've got about 4 hours left to do it!

Glad I noticed this post - just backed for a PDF.