D&D 5E PotA Sequel?

[Zardnaar]

We are currently playing PotA and I was thinking of designing a 5 level end of campaign storyline and try to get to level 20. I was also thinking of paying tribute to an older module such as The Night Below or Labyrinth of Madness.

5E at higher levels tends to be off the charts. I am thinking of an avatar of Tharizdun-some sort of nihilistic CR 30 Titan, casts spells as a level 20 cleirc or wizard, AC 25, borrows some ideas from Tiamat.

Being the Realms tie it into the Netherise/Sharn/Phaerimm with something like the Labyrinth of Madness or a underground city for the PCs to explore with a final encounter with Tharizduns avatar as he was behind the elemental cults.

Thoughts to finish off the game to get to level 20? Or just do a completely new mini AP for level 15-20. I know I want Dragons, maybe Drow and something FR involved.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Labyrinth of Madness is already set up to be a high-level adventure, so the monsters and traps and the like are probably at level equivalents you're going to need already. A dungeon that assumes the PCs are very high level can be designed expecting many type of abilities and skills will be available, even if the one-for-one conversion between editions might not be exactly the same. So that might be a easier and quicker option than trying to "raise" many parts of Night Below to challenge high-level PCs.

To add onto that... if you are afraid of the PCs being too powerful when they go through it... designing and building the Phaerimm to use will help you a lot. They not only are extremely powerful spellcasters in their own right... but they also "eat magic" as it were. So you can inhibit or restrict a lot of what the PCs can do by giving your Phaerimm anti-magic abilities. I personally created a phaerimm for use in the end of one of my Tyranny of Dragons campaigns (as the Netherese were antagonists for that one)... and I basically just used the Beholder's stats as a direct port. After all, it was already a high DC, it had powerful magical abilities, it flew, and it had a cone of anti-magic already built into its design. There really wasn't any conversion necessary.

So if you want to save yourself time and energy... just have a lot of Phaerimm ("beholders") flying around the Labyrinth to harry the PCs while they deal with it. And in terms of plot (as I don't remember the actual plot of that module), it could be something along the lines of one of the demon lords having accidentally broken the seal on the phaerimm prison underneath the Anauroch and they have to go reseal it. Otherwise thousands (if not tens of thousands) of phaerimm are going to reach the surface of Faerun.

 

[S'mon]

I find a good trick for high level 5e is to convert CR 21+ Pathfinder stuff over. There is tons available in the pfsrd - http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ - eg go to http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/bestiary-hub/monsters-by-cr#TOC-CR21- .

Some of the creatures in 5e Tome of Beasts are also good - lots of Uniques including Arch-Devils.

 

[Croesus]

The PCs in my group finished PotA at 10th-12th level. I'm now adapting (very loosely) the old G1-G3 giant modules, mixing in some Dungeon adventures for variety.

 

[Arnwolf666]

It pisses me off these big adventures don't go all the way to 20th level.