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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1426995" data-attributes="member: 151">Here's some more High-Level play suggestions: No man is an island: The PCs are, by high-levels, virtual demi-gods. Their friends, neighbors, family, allies and others are not. And they are vulnerable. High-level play does not have to be just about threats to the PCs...in point of fact, it usually isn't, on the grander scale. Look at PC's story hour, Sepulchrave's and mine: these characters are fighting for king and country, for the defense of all that is just and good and the right for level 1 commoner farmers to live in peace. A recent development in my game had a church of Pelor desecrated, with Orcus sending a bully squad to send a message solely to the party as a form or retailiation. And it made them MAD. I mean MAD. And when some being or beings transported the entire hometown of one character off-plane? You can imagine the reaction. Consider how high-level players interact and protect the many NPCs that make up their world.  Find ways to bring danger to them, and for the PCs to deal with it.  It makes for a great story.  But don't overdue it, or you'll stifle the players or make them feel paranoid and unfairly persecuted.  Just do it enough so that they remember that sheer, raw personal power does not a society make. Divination requires the right question: Much is made of divination spells, but many of them have serious limitations. If multiple enemies move against the party, and use remote agents or obscure agendas, divination becomes a useful tool, not a game-buster. Remember, too, that deities have agendas of their own, and even a good deity may choose to keep his followers in the dark for the greater good, regardless of how that may inconveinence his supplicant today. PC used a brilliant tactic in his story hour, for example, where an evil NPC (Soder, iirc) lied about his name, which screwed up the divinations they used, when they assumed that the name belonged to the evil NPC, and not a different NPC entirely. Constantly offer new challenges: This doesn't mean tougher monsters, but new experiences. Use new environments such as the underdark, underwater, unique demiplanes and unique conditions. Keep the situation fresh, and suprise your players. They'll love you for it. You'd be suprised how much a simple addition like a powerful snow storm or loud noises can completely knock the legs out from under a high-level party. Have a battle in a lava tube...with LAVA. Fight in a room full of shifting walls of force. Let the players use their powers in new and creative ways to deal with the challenges. It doesn't have to be about powerful enemies, but situations that call on the players ingenuity to handle. Check in with the PCs: It's a good idea to scan your PCs brains at every level, of course...but actively pursue input at higher levels. Find out what your PCs are looking to do ("I want to become a guildmaster!"), what they feel is working ("Man, I love being able to turn plant creatures!") and what's not ("Every combat feels like the spellcasters do everything.") Ask their intentions, to save yourself unnecessary work. ("I think we need to deal with Lord Gunges...once and for all. Next week, we're going after him, I think.") High-level D&D can be a lot of work for a DM...there's no shame in stepping outside the role and looking for ways to make it easier. Be Flexible: High-level games have features that will require you to just slide with some things. When a player can head to Mt. Celestia on a whim, and then pop-off to Sigil as an afterthought, you won't have everything prepared ahead of time. Don't try to. Just have the essential data and reuse it. Be prepared for a whole adventure to be sidetracked by a single spell or PC ability, and move on. Don't plot tightly, or you'll only end up disappointed. Don't invest a huge emotional or tactical weight to anything that can be decided on a roll of the die. That isn't to say to ignore it or not hope it will work as you planned...just don't let it ruin your story if it does. Let the players do what they do best, and revel in the joy when they outsmart you. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: Don't try to track as much data as you did during low-levels. You have exponentially more data to deal with. Don't worry if you got the hit-dice of a creature wrong, or forgot an ability or simply didn't do X, Y or Z. Just have fun, and let the dice fall where they may. No one's checking your math for errors, and if they are, just let them know that you decided to change something and move on. The goal is to have fun, not worry about exactitudes. Let yourself be human, and never mind the mistakes. You, as a DM, have a lot to worry about, and you're going to forget a rule, misread a spell, misapply a bonus....so what? If everyone is enjoying the game, that's all that matters.</blockquote>

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