D&D General Tips for starting at higher-level?

[TwoSix]

1) Decide early if you're going to give the PCs magic items, and how you're going to distribute them. If you let the players pick, you're going to see a lot of cloaks of protection and characters with Str 8 taking gauntlets of ogre strength. If that bothers you (it doesn't bother me, but I know other people frown on it), then hand out your own magic items.

2) By 9th level, pretty much every "strong build" will be up and active. Take a look at the "How do I hurt the sorcadin" thread that's active right now; going into Tier 3, you need to know how to handle PCs with high ACs and saves.

3) Stretch out 10th level. By the book's XP chart, it's the longest level (in terms on number of encounters required to level) in the game, and for good reason. It's my pick for the absolute sweet spot of 5e.

4) Be ready to deal with some of the more problematic 5th level and up spells, like Animate Objects, Wall of Force, Magic Jar, Forcecage, Simulacrum, etc.

 

[GuardianLurker]

1. Pay attention to the "No Sale" and travel spells. Like "Private Sanctum" and "Teleport" respectively. They'll make a huge difference in adventure flow.
2. Determine how the player characters rank in the setting. Is their arrival on the scene a big deal? Does that change based on the locale? For example, a Lvl9 Fighter in Phandelver is a big deal, but not in Waterdeep. In neither case is the fighter's travel be remarked on. It's the difference between "Would Sir Knight like a table?" and "OH! Sir Bernard! Let me seat you at our best table!", and "Die, you tin can!" and "Run! It's Sir Bernard!" IOW, how large is the characters' reputation?
3. In terms of opponent design - especially casters - don't bother detailing the little stuff; just focus on their big guns/signature combos. They aren't going to survive in combat long enough for the rest to matter.
4. In 5e, Lair and Legendary Actions are your friends. Among other things, they're great ways to model bottom-tier minion actions. Don't be afraid to abuse the living (and unliving) stuffing out of these.
5. Swarms, Troops, Mobs, and other grouping templates are great ways to keep the medium-tier opponents relevant.

 

[LordEntrails]

Spend time on character creation. Maybe even a few sessions worth and yes, include a 'practice' combat or three. Or just start off with some easy ones that will let them flex things and try out various things. Let the players reconfigure their PCs after these early sessions.

Something I haven't done yet, but have considered for my next high level start; have each player tell one short story for each level so that they have a background, and possible even a party history to draw upon. So maybe 4 background stories that are independent, and then another 4 stories the players tell together to detail their shared history.

 

[Quickleaf]

4) Be ready to deal with some of the more problematic 5th level and up spells, like Animate Objects, Wall of Force, Magic Jar, Forcecage, Simulacrum, etc.

What tips do you have to be "ready to deal" with the aforementioned spells?

I'm assuming you're talking about...
Animate Objects = time to resolve multiple rolls, taking up space on map
Wall of Force / Forcecage = few methods to thwart RAW

I'm less familiar with how Magic Jar and Simulacrum are problematic.

 

[Horwath]

If I were doing it, I'd create a multiple-choice list of 8-12 previous adventures that individuals have had (2-3) and that the group has had (3-5).
Each choice has a relevant magical item, potion, etc. associated with it.
Once they've made their choices, everyone has an individual history of 2-3 adventures, plus a group history of 3-5 adventures.

Each one brings with it some sort of potion or magic item or two.

Example:
Several months ago, your group killed a young dragon terrorizing <city>. What color dragon was it? Where did it lair? they fill these answers in
"Starting" gear from fighting a dragon: 1200gp, +2 sword (great/long/short depending on party composition), Cloak of the Manta Ray

Several months ago, you aided some extraplanar creatures stranded on the Material Plane, helping them gather an item needed to return home and protecting them from a wizard who wanted to dissect him. What kind of creatures were they? They determine this
"Starting" gear from fighting wizard & dealing with extraplanar: Staff of Withering, 4 wizard spell scrolls (random), Dark Shard Amulet

good for you and I congratulate on this effort, but who has time? I would rather spend it on creating future adventure.

I would just do it:

Here is you GP/magic item budget and you think about history how you got it, if you can be bothered with it.

 

[Quickleaf]

1. Pay attention to the "No Sale" and travel spells. Like "Private Sanctum" and "Teleport" respectively. They'll make a huge difference in adventure flow.

What do you mean by "pay attention" to those spells? Are there specific tips you have for a GM in a game where those spells see use?

 

[Quickleaf]

Spend time on character creation. Maybe even a few sessions worth and yes, include a 'practice' combat or three. Or just start off with some easy ones that will let them flex things and try out various things. Let the players reconfigure their PCs after these early sessions.

If realistically there's just time for one session on character creation, what are the things you've noticed are most important to address for higher-level character creation sessions?

 

[LordEntrails]

If realistically there's just time for one session on character creation, what are the things you've noticed are most important to address for higher-level character creation sessions?

Joint party history development. Throwing high level characters together for the first time can be really awkward if the story line doesn't handle that well and the players are not in the cooperative mood.

Early character development can be done by the players individually. Practice combat can be done as just having the first two combats not be deadly

i.e. spend session 1 with the players building a narrative joint backstory. So much fun of gaming is the inside jokes, and play off of what has happened before. Give them this time to build that. Maybe tell them when they met and where they are now and let them fill in the in between time. Something like:

"You all got pulled together and became friends a year ago in Drakmal when the city was under siege by the invasion from the fell led by the fey lord Bramoth. You are all now in Athanial at the request of the Queen Wizard Sryania who needs your help. Tell me what happened in Drakmal and the time since."

 

[GuardianLurker]

What do you mean by "pay attention" to those spells? Are there specific tips you have for a GM in a game where those spells see use?

Mostly it's "Be aware (and beware) of their impact." more than specific guidelines.

For example, 3x had the "Scry and Die" tactic (Scry spell, followed by Teleport). Which meant that paranoid/prepared PCs would have Private Sanctum and/or Mindblank up to prevent the Scry part. (That's less of an issue in 5e.)

Teleport, and other high level travel spells, obviously sidesteps all the travel encounters and hazards, and let you have widely dispersed locations. One of the big things here is how much of a stickler you'll be for Teleport's error bars. You'll also want to consider how Plane Shift and Gate differ, both in the rules and in game world. I should point out that this also applies to non-spell travel as well. An airship, especially if it is a really rare mode of transport, poses many of the same problems.

Also, the high-level information gathering spells (and skills). Locate Object/Person, Legend Lore, Bardic Knowledge, etc. What are their limits? How do they compare? Inventive investigators will be able to use these to gather surprising amounts of information.

You might also want to consider if there are (expensive) mundane/non-magical counters to these issues. For instance, in the 1e days, a lot of high-security areas had 1/4" of lead explictly embedded in the construction of the floors/walls/ceilings. Which prevented scrying. I don't believe 5e has anything explicit like that, but its well worth considering.

 

[TwoSix]

Joint party history development. Throwing high level characters together for the first time can be really awkward if the story line doesn't handle that well and the players are not in the cooperative mood.

Early character development can be done by the players individually. Practice combat can be done as just having the first two combats not be deadly

i.e. spend session 1 with the players building a narrative joint backstory. So much fun of gaming is the inside jokes, and play off of what has happened before. Give them this time to build that. Maybe tell them when they met and where they are now and let them fill in the in between time. Something like:

"You all got pulled together and became friends a year ago in Drakmal when the city was under siege by the invasion from the fell led by the fey lord Bramoth. You are all now in Athanial at the request of the Queen Wizard Sryania who needs your help. Tell me what happened in Drakmal and the time since."

Agree with this. The last time I ran a high-level game, I gave them the backstory that they had previously (20 years prior) saved the kingdom from an invasion of elementals, and were hailed as heroes throughout the kingdom. Fat and lazy from their cushy government jobs, the heroes are called forth again when the kingdom is again in urgent peril.