D&D 5E (2024) Let's Write A High Level Adventure

When I'm writing a higher level scenario I tend to have a concept and then other than any specific "dungeons" I just write scenes, or detail locations. Let the players use their spells and abilities to determine the path. Maybe consider that as a concept.
 

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Just spitballing here, but…

I agree that “save-the-world-from-the-apocalypse” isn’t the most original or most compelling story to tel at high level. So maybe the adventure should be an epic quest to FIX or RESTORE something in the world. So for instance:

The reason there are no new artifacts in the world is because the dwarves who used to make them lost access to the Forge of Creation. It was lost ages ago, in a war (or a cataclysm, arcane mishap, paperwork error, etc).

Of course, the lost forge is now in the heart of a volcano or whatever. And some epic-level monster built a lair right on top of its location. Or it’s guarded by an army of demons.

Heck… maybe the location is reasonably well-known, but it’s behind a portal that only opens for 24 hours once every 500 years. Now you have a timer for the quest.

If the heroes can find the forge and return with it, a new age of wonders can be born. They’ll have changed the world (in a good way), and their deeds will pass into legend.
 


I think the most useful high level adventure(s) would be ones built around achieving whatever long term character goals are most common, since many tables would be going into a high level adventure with characters looking at least vaguely towards some sort of retirement. Obviously the ideal option is to create custom content to fit specific PCs, but that's not possible for a prewritten module, so in lieu of that, just aim to check a lot of boxes that might be appealing.

So let's imagine a once great city, under the sway of some sort of evil super-Lich. It has become an unused city of the dead, full of plenty of high level undead. While the outer quarters are still inhabited by oppressed living, because most undead do not require the same things living do the upscale quarter is effectively empty and most institutions have fallen apart. Thus under Mr. Lich's tyrant rule it now has a castle with no lord, a mage tower with no wizard, a magic academy with no archmage, a grand temple with no archpriest, an arena with no star gladiator, a thieves guild just waiting for a thief king, defunct orders of paladins and rangers just begging to be reinstated by the right leaders, abandoned ships at dock waiting for new captains (I don't know why, maybe an undead leviathan stalks the bay), as well as treasures galore, magic items galore, mansions lying empty, and outlying lands with comparable draws for less urban types, etc. etc. And what the heck, the Lich lord also has a magic macguffin that could bring back a character's dead loved ones, the world's most complete spellbook, and has imprisoned a Warlock's patron or a Cleric's god.

Basically just load it up with hooks for high level players to want to go there and free that city and in most cases then semi-retire alongside their buddies as eminent adventurers in their fields and (to whatever degree players care for) leaders or leading citizens of this major fantasy metropolis.

So they quest for a while, eventually confronting and mopping the floor with Mr. Lich. Then settle down and remake the city in their image. There are minor quests to secure necessary reasources (or conquer a neighbor if you've got those sort of players) and also plenty of downtime to achieve whatever the players want the characters to achieve.

But while they enjoy the fruits of their labors, Mr. Lich has been reborn in his real phylactory (not the decoy he tricked them with) and he's out for revenge. A weird little island the PCs had an adventure on earlier is actually all just the back of an ancient sleeping mega-tarasque, and he's going to wake it up and send it to Kaiju stomp their city. And it can only be defeated with the five macguffins of mega-tarasque defeating... etc. etc. etc.

In any case, the details aren't my point, my point is offering an overwhelming menu of inducements to get PCs to go to, redeem from evil, settle down in, and invest in a place, have them fight to do so, and then threaten everything they've gained once they're pinned down.
 


...or just make better combats?
Doesn’t work. Unless the monster has an kill everyone with no save ability and wins initiative, it’s going down, probably in less than two rounds. Doesn’t matter how much you inflate it’s hit points, and minions are useless, the PCs will simply ignore them until after the boss is dead.
 

Honestly I like the idea of a heist scenario.

Perhaps the target is a very secure vault, in a dangerous plane of existence like Carceri or Hell. The target, whatever it is, is in a place that only a team of level 16+ PCs have any hope of getting into. The players will need to both gather information and do research, solve puzzles and problems, and possibly fight off the guards of the vault.
 


That's why you never just use one.
As I said, minions are pointless. Multiple bosses, the players will just split up and take them out one at a time. The only way those PCs aren’t going to win is if the opponents can take out the entire party in the first round of combat.

And that doesn’t make for a good encounter either.
 

As I said, minions are pointless. Multiple bosses, the players will just split up and take them out one at a time. The only way those PCs aren’t going to win is if the opponents can take out the entire party in the first round of combat.

And that doesn’t make for a good encounter either.
What are you talking about bro. I'm literally in an level 18 Wrath of the Righteous game with Mythic tiers and we still have brushes with death on the semi-regular. It's not impossible to challenge high level parties.
 

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