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

[Paul Farquhar]

Wrath of the Righteous is a Pathfinder game so mythic tiers are RAW. Though as this is a 5e thread it is outside the parameters of this exercise as you suggest.

Yeah, I know, but I didn’t want to state that outright in case they were talking about a 5e conversation.

Pathfinder 1st edition is a very different game to 5e. I’m more familiar with the computer version, where it throws several dozen mythic demons at the party in real time with pause. And still isn’t particularly difficult.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In Chains of Avernus the PCs (levels 11-20) are perused by a pair of Devil brothers that are both CR 21 and you must kill both in the same round to finish them off. It can be a very dangerous conflict that could occur at any point in the adventure.

I use quite a lot of puzzle fights, where the monster keeps getting back up until they figure out what they need to do to kill it. But that's more of a puzzle challenge than a combat challenge.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I like the post office idea. Delivering a wedding invitation from the fae to some demi god or something. The fae wants(needs) the person to come to the wedding (because of fae politics) and has charged the PCs to convince them with whatever means necessary.

Maybe the Demi god has a favorite gift that they can retrieve as a bribe before hand. Maybe the Demi god has an enemy or item that he wants to kill/steal but can’t do it themself because of (Demi god politics).

Meanwhile the original fae’s enemy tries to bribe the PCs to backstab the the quest giver by sending them on a separate mission (or trick them) as a way to humiliate the fae during the wedding. If the PCs refuse, the enemy dogs them the entire way.

Once they return, they can attend the wedding to ensure the side they supported succeeds (the wedding goes off without a hitch or the fae gets humiliated).

With the potential of side quests, you can throw in the undead city idea.

 

[Reynard]

So far, we have:
The PCs want to steal the crown from the Winter Queen, but the only way to get there is to work for the Interplanar Post and deliver another present to the wedding of the Winter Prince and the Raven Prince in the City of Death. Do I got that right?

 

[Chaltab]

What ruleset are you using? The CRPG? Not 5e out the box if you have Mythic tiers in any case.

“Use different rules” is certainly a solution, but outside the parameters of the exercise.

Using 5E with some supplement for the Mythic tiers. Not sure how that's relevant since the mythic tiers make us more powerful than standard 5E characters and thus harder to challenge.

 

[Marc17]

My pitch made up while reading this thread so far:

Start: Divination has shown that something bad is on its way. Not worlds ending bad but enough to summon the heroes and let them get prepared. Perhaps even journey to where it is supposed to happen. Perhaps some interaction to gain resources, aid, other there things before the adventure. Make it so it can tie into the local groups ongoing NPCs if they have them.

Upon arrival: The sky opens up, something comes out and flys through the sky. Obviously artificial perhaps even clues to who made it in the description, but. it is large. It strikes the planet far enough away to allow some exploration.

Exploration: as the party approaches, they encounter things, monster or NPCs, that have come the the object. More time they spend looking, there clues they get, but perhaps clued into that the less time they have till something bad happens.

Basic plot: The thing that fell was a planes traveling ship. Think of an ocean liner for angels capable to traveling through the planes. It has been infested/attacked by creatures, perhaps infernal, perhaps that one horror race from 3.x BoVD (or was that the horror book?). Player must enter the ship, defend themselves, aid others, find out who is in charge, find out that those in charge (perhaps not angels, but good or neutral beings) and that if the situation can't be brought under control, they are going to blow up the ship to stop the threat. Players options are to aid the crew, stop the spawning of the enemy, help repair the ship, defeat the evil boss, thus the ship can leave. There is a clock, and if it runs out, then the self destruct starts and the players choice is to save what they can and get off. (think, if angels had a space ship and it was infested with xenomorphs while going through whatever was happening in the movie Event Horizon for feel).

ETA: for effect, no need to follow normal euclidean geometry for the ship. Perhaps all sides of the rooms are surfaces and one must thus navigate the ship to get to what is needed on the ceiling. Certainly larger on the inside than the outside.

 

[Stormonu]

My pitch made up while reading this thread so far:

Start: Divination has shown that something bad is on its way. Not worlds ending bad but enough to summon the heroes and let them get prepared. Perhaps even journey to where it is supposed to happen. Perhaps some interaction to gain resources, aid, other there things before the adventure. Make it so it can tie into the local groups ongoing NPCs if they have them.

Upon arrival: The sky opens up, something comes out and flys through the sky. Obviously artificial perhaps even clues to who made it in the description, but. it is large. It strikes the planet far enough away to allow some exploration.

Exploration: as the party approaches, they encounter things, monster or NPCs, that have come the the object. More time they spend looking, there clues they get, but perhaps clued into that the less time they have till something bad happens.

Basic plot: The thing that fell was a planes traveling ship. Think of an ocean liner for angels capable to traveling through the planes. It has been infested/attacked by creatures, perhaps infernal, perhaps that one horror race from 3.x BoVD (or was that the horror book?). Player must enter the ship, defend themselves, aid others, find out who is in charge, find out that those in charge (perhaps not angels, but good or neutral beings) and that if the situation can't be brought under control, they are going to blow up the ship to stop the threat. Players options are to aid the crew, stop the spawning of the enemy, help repair the ship, defeat the evil boss, thus the ship can leave. There is a clock, and if it runs out, then the self destruct starts and the players choice is to save what they can and get off. (think, if angels had a space ship and it was infested with xenomorphs while going through whatever was happening in the movie Event Horizon for feel).

ETA: for effect, no need to follow normal euclidean geometry for the ship. Perhaps all sides of the rooms are surfaces and one must thus navigate the ship to get to what is needed on the ceiling. Certainly larger on the inside than the outside.

Could certainly pull in some ideas from the recent Alien: Earth for this.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

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.

On the heist angle I think the Dresden Files novel Skin Game is a great template for a high-level heist adventure -- stealing an artifact from Hades' vault.

 

[Marc17]

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.

My groups usual solution for this sort of thing was larger battles. PCs, plus NPCs, plus freed slaves or some other escort type versus minions, lieutenants, and boss. Protect the escorts, probably take on lieutenants, deal with some traps or other hazards, to get to the boss all in one fight. Expects the PCs to start out at full and puts all desired encounters together all at once. However, I think one such battle of ours took three or four months of weekly play. Lots of people have stated they don't want that.

Another solution might be to put something the players have to do. Solution one of my LARPS does is to put in a bunch of other tasks. In that case, it's something for the non-coms to do and requires skills the combat characters don't have. I this case, it could be something that drains the PCs of actions, drawing out the battle as the have to do the tasks before the boss loses some lair bonus that keeps them from an easy battle. Could incllude NPCs also. Destroy the crystals giving the BBEG legendary save and HP refresh every round. The chosen NPCs must be in the proper magic circles and recite the ritual to bring down the Leomund's Imprevious Bunker spell that prevents them from fighting the BBEG. Illusions and more legendary illusions to make the PCs play whack-a-mole. Pull the angel feathers out of the the BBEG's body which are making them literally immortal and immune to spells and wounds. That sort of thing. The BBEG is, after all, in their lair at the apex of whatever evil scheme drew the hero's attention anyway.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

My groups usual solution for this sort of thing was larger battles

I don’t find that practical in 5e. It becomes slow and unwieldy. Players get bored when they spend over half an hour waiting to take their turn. And many of the NPC combatants on either side can’t make a meaningful contribution anyway. Allies are a liability.

1st edition or BX were much better for large combats.