Level of Play part 2 (21st+)

[El Mahdi]

I haven't played or DM'd into Epic with any group, but I have done one-off high level adventures, almost universally starting at 20th every time.

 

[Deset Gled]

IMO, Epic levels are fun for one-offs, but I would never actually play a campaign there. Once you hit a certain point, things are bound to spiral out of control. I would much rather see design effort put into the lower, sub-heroic levels than the higher, god-like tier. YMMV.

 

[kitsune9]

If you play into the high levels or enjoy Epic, please take the poll.

Playing gods was never my thing, but for nostalgia sake, I would like games to go to 36th level.

Probably the highest level I DM'ed was 24th level and we used some rules from the Epic Level Handbook. I did DM a one-shot with 39th level characters from the ELH too.

 

[Stormonu]

Poll needs a "never got this high" option - it would get my vote if it were there.

I'm not even sure the game needs more than 12 or 15 playable levels, with the higher ones being the realm of NPCs and enemies. But I would sometime be interested in playing a divine-level or immortal-level campaign just to see how it might work.

To encourage such things the game needs to have rules - preferably presented as an option - as to how one might ascend to divinity.

Lan-"we can all have career goals, right?"-efan

Rats. Is there any way to edit a poll?

With 5E being an "inclusive" approach, I don't think they can feasibly throw out high-level play, though they could move it to a supplement. There were immortal rules in BECMI, and the 3E Deities and Demigods book took a stab at making playing divine characters possible, but it never really struck me as a workable or well-thought out system.

Personally, I've not run or played in a game that has been above about 14th level. I did have one player whose wizard reached 18th level, but that was via magical augmentation and manipulation (He later lost the levels in a tragic incident with the Styx river).