so how often do you go above 10th level?

[Gundark]

Reading the newest L&L made me wonder how many of you actually play above 10th level? In all my years of playing rpgs I have only done it twice. A homebrew (3rd) that went to level 12, and the Age of Worms campaign that went to level 17 before collapsing under rules bloat . Other than that ... Well it doesn't happen for us. A D&D that goes to level 10, would actually be best. As a matter of fact I'd rather they focus on levels one to ten in the PHB (with a ton of options) they publish and release levels 10+ later down the road.

The problem with level ten plus that I am seeing is that they could in theory be done at any level. Rule a keep? Could be done at level one depending on the campaign. Travel to the planes? The same.

How many of you on a regular basis breakthrough the level 10 barrier (or are playing there long term) ? If the answer is yes, what does it look like? What kind of stuff are you doing?

What about your high level games says "this is high level D&D done right" ?

 

[Ahnehnois]

I've done in a few times, but it's been years. Sometimes I run one-shots or short games that start at higher levels. Building up to above 10th is somewhat unrealistic given my current schedule and group dynamics, and IME is pretty rare. Back in my high school days I played deep into epic a few times.

For me, good high-level play feels different from low-level play. There's a sense of wish fulfillment, characters can do seemingly impossible things and function like superheroes. "Epic" levels are aptly named, IME.

 

[Kinak]

Over half my D&D time has been spent over level 10, but that was almost all in one campaign that went well into epic levels. Another campaign poked briefly into the double digits. And I'd be surprised if my current campaign doesn't get over 10. So, quite a bit, actually.

To me, high level play is about player-driven impact on the world. Low levels are about making a place in the world and protecting it, gaining friends and enemies along the way. High levels are about changing the world itself, creating new things to protect, rewarding your friends, and punishing your enemies.

Now, I think that distinction has as much to do with time as power level. It takes a while for the PCs' relationships to the world and each other to build up. You can't, in my opinion, throw players straight into world-changing before they have those relationships to the world in place.

I think level-based progression works well with that, matching your power to change the world with the knowledge of what you want to change.

That said, I hope that they actually cap levels rather than just setting an arbitrary goal and letting the system collapse under it's own weight to create a "soft cap." If that means we get ten levels, great.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Jon_Dahl]

Never.

Longer answer:
Once my group had two 10th-level characters, one 9th-level character and one 8th-level character. This was the highest they could get. We are still playing in the same campaign (although there was a huge reset recently) and now we have one 8th-level character, two 7th-level characters and one 5th-level character. The one with the 5th-level character originally had a 10th-level character.

 

[Mallus]

Let's see...

The 3.5e campaign I ran until 2008 made it to 13th level.

The 4e campaign that replaced in made it to 13th level, too.

The AD&D campaign I'm running currently has PCs at 5th-6th level, with the odds of them ever making 10th pretty low.

The Pathfinder campaign I joined towards it's end last year ended with the PCs at 13th level (I'm seeing a trend here).

The Dragonstar campaign I played in a few years back made it to 9th, two assorted 3.5e campaigns I played made it to 11th and 6th, respectively.

 

[the Jester]

I pretty much always start a group at 1st level and pretty much always run them until they have a TPK (sometimes running alternate groups concurrently). So for me, the answer is "Pretty much always, once we get there."

You're right about ruling a keep from level 1- my group took over as the local authorities somewhere around 2nd or 3rd- but what sets high level games apart from lower level ones is the sweep and scope of them. While, yes, 1st level pcs CAN go on world-spanning quests that take them to the Underdark and thence to other planes, higher level pcs are more suited to surviving the experience, can pull more outrageous methods of travel, diplomacy and survival out of their portable holes, and it's far easier to justify interacting with the "Big Guys of the Universe" at higher levels (why would Thor speak to his first level cleric instead of his 13th level high priest?).

So, my current (mid-high paragon 4e) game sees the party dealing with some amount of plane hopping, going thousands of miles from home while on the Material Plane, dealing with ancient evils (from a previous arc of the campaign set several thousand years previous) and trying to prevent the rebirth of a dead evil god, now by attempting to confront the BBEG directly before he finishes finding everything he needs.

 

[Aenghus]

For campaigns, I always plan to - one-off games are different. I run campaigns that last years, with long-term PCs, so the survivors get to higher levels. I like to have a game where the PCs have (the option to) alter the game world by their own actions and efforts.

My 3.x campaign rose to 23rd level( so well over half the gameplay was over 10th level), and my 4th ed games rose to 21st level and 12th level (my current campaign) respectively.

 

[kitcik]

I have been playing D&D for 34 years and have been in many campaigns. Only one failed to get to 10th level, and that was due to a falling out between two groups of players which ended the campaign prematurely.

 

[am181d]

Almost never. Generally start 1-3 level and advance relatively slowly. Agree with the current WotC group think that the best level range is really 3-8.

That said, starting a Pathfinder game *at* Level 10 in the next week.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

I currently am playing a 3.5 game in which we are at level 14, although I'm trying to get the DM to wrap it up because I don't enjoy high-level much. Also, the game has been running since 2007 (~ once a month). I am planning on running a E6 game after this one.

Other than that, we had a 4E game that ended at level 15ish, because we got tired of the system. We replaced it with a PF game, starting the Shattered Star AP.

With yet another group, we're currently at level 5 in the Rise of the Runelords PF AP. There is good potential for this group to get to level 10+.

As far as other older games go, no, it has not happened often that I have participated in a high-level game.

AR