D&D 5E Looking for Campaigns for 14+ level PCs

[Eric V]

With Magic Resistance and multiple foes, I've not seen it 'ruin' a fight. It can terminate a single-monster fight very easily though. Against a quartet of Nalfeshnee it usually gets one, then the caster has to maintain concentration the rest of the fight vs those nasty pig-bites.

I mean, sure, but...4 Nalfeshnee is a deadly encounter for even 4 20th level PCs!* Is that an encounter you've run? Or is it similar to the above posters and you don't use the encounter building rules?

*(Mind you, a 5th level Banishment still has good odds to get rid of two of them: the demon needs to roll a 12 on its save, higher if the caster has any item that raises her spell DC)

 

[S'mon]

Oh I wasn't saying make the Marilith the BBEG. For a 17th level group I would have at least 2 Marilith's a Balor and maybe 4 glabrezus. If want them to fight a monster solo, it needs to be much tougher (tiamat level) or custom made (which is what I prefer).

Yeah, IME a serious fight at level 17+ will have a (close to) Tiamat-level BBEG or a bunch of CR 17+ about equal to PC numbers. the encounter building metrics are designed to avoid killing PCs with average-skilled players in a low/no magic items game.

Not every fight should be serious though, 5e is built for moderate resource drain fights too.

 

[S'mon]

Glad that's working for you. With the amount of damage my players seem to dish out, if my monsters didn't win initiative they'd pretty much be done by the time their turn came round. I given my rolls they rarely win initiative...

Yeah the elementals & vrocks died before getting a turn! The Chasme only got 1 attack, but it hit the barbarian with its necrotising proboscis and I think that was 48 off his max hp...
The stone dwarves were a minor (ie 'moderate') challenge; the plant zombies met the DMG criteria for Deadly though as they might well have turned some PCs into plant food.

 

[S'mon]

I mean, sure, but...4 Nalfeshnee is a deadly encounter for even 4 20th level PCs!* Is that an encounter you've run? Or is it similar to the above posters and you don't use the encounter building rules?

I don't use the encounter building rules. I did have a 2 Nalfeshnee vs 4 ca-8th level PCs in my Stonehell campaign; tough fight & the dwarf Cleric got ripped apart (I think he took 78 damage from the bite attack...), but the PCs did win.

 

[Eric V]

So, should adventure modules have "encounter guidelines" for at least the major encounters that address things like presence of magic items, "What to do to make it challenging if the party has multiple counterspellers" for wizard BBEG fights, backup plans for when the Marilith is banished on rd 1, that kind of thing?

 

[S'mon]

So, should adventure modules have "encounter guidelines" for at least the major encounters that address things like presence of magic items, "What to do to make it challenging if the party has multiple counterspellers" for wizard BBEG fights, backup plans for when the Marilith is banished on rd 1, that kind of thing?

I tend to think that normally the DM can just run stuff listed as being for a higher level. I guess not if his group is already 20th! In 5e I find it very easy to adjust fights, but maybe a sidebar on ideas if your 20th level PC players aren't newbies would be nice.

When I run 5e my rule of thumb is that a non-legendary monster of CR X can provide a moderate challenge to ONE PC of Level X. ie it runs a lot like 4e, not 3e.

 

[robus]

So, should adventure modules have "encounter guidelines" for at least the major encounters that address things like presence of magic items, "What to do to make it challenging if the party has multiple counterspellers" for wizard BBEG fights, backup plans for when the Marilith is banished on rd 1, that kind of thing?

What I'd like to see is what the expectation of the encounter is. Easy, Medium, Hard, Deadly. Then the DM can look at what's suggested and modify to fit their group.

 

[Reynard]

What I'd like to see is what the expectation of the encounter is. Easy, Medium, Hard, Deadly. Then the DM can look at what's suggested and modify to fit their group.

This is probably the best way to go.

You could do it like:
Area 1: Entrance Gate
Difficulty: Hard
Enemies: Melee Reach, Archers, Artillery Magic
Features: High Ground, Cover, obstruction (gate)

And then provide a list of actual creatures based on the design level of the module.

 

[dave2008]

So, should adventure modules have "encounter guidelines" for at least the major encounters that address things like presence of magic items, "What to do to make it challenging if the party has multiple counterspellers" for wizard BBEG fights, backup plans for when the Marilith is banished on rd 1, that kind of thing?

I like the idea, but it is probably not worth the word count. They should probably have some examples / advice in the DMG or similar book though.

 

[Quartz]

In the old Dungeon Magazine each adventure had a panel on scaling the adventure. The panel concentrated on levels but also worked for high magic vs low magic and presence / absence of certain magic.