D&D 5E Top Three Tips for 5e at 9th Level

[Stalker0]

Don't let them have Animate Objects.

At least the full 10 objects....not even for the power, but simply for the amount of time it takes to use. If you do use it, I think you should have the player just preroll a large list of attack rolls and damage (or use averages) to make the execution time better.

 

[Fenris-77]

Nah, just snip all the time-consuming, encounter ending stuff that is going to cause problems and go home happy. No need for half measures when you are looking to run a con game. Give them the tools they need, not the tools they want. I don't have a problem with a mage having to actually think and plan rather than just unlimbering the handful of truly excellent spells at a given level for a given encounter.

 

[Larnievc]

1: I always have the characters AC, Max HP and passive perceptions noted.

2: Know the party’s rough damage output.

3: Remember the normal logistical worries about travel are inconsequential to them.

 

[MarkB]

It's a precarious spot where characters are gaining access to the more game-changing spells, but still have very limited spell slots for them. So you're in that awkward place where you can't build encounters with the assumption that the players won't have access to something that can trivialise them - but you also can't assume that they will have access to something that will save their bacon or get them through a difficult area, because maybe they already blew their 5th-level slot today, or decided to take a different spell.

 

[jgsugden]

I'm unsure what advice to give when you harshly discourage general advice, but ask such a broad question.

If you have 30 years experience, the transition from 5 to 9 should not be hard. I am having trouble understanding how you could have extensive 5E experience and a total of 30 years of experience and not be very familiar with what a 2E, 3E or 5E adventure experience is like at 9th level.

 

[Reynard]

I'm unsure what advice to give when you harshly discourage general advice, but ask such a broad question.

If you have 30 years experience, the transition from 5 to 9 should not be hard. I am having trouble understanding how you could have extensive 5E experience and a total of 30 years of experience and not be very familiar with what a 2E, 3E or 5E adventure experience is like at 9th level.

I didn't ask about 2E or 3E. I asked about 5E because that's the edition that I dont have much experience running in the 9th level range. So since I know "how to run D&D" in a general sense, I was asking for specific advice as it relates to 5E at that specific level. I'm not sure where your confusion comes in since a number of folks have been able to provide specific advice, but maybe this clears it up?

Every edition is a different game with its own quirks at different tiers of play. I do not want to rely on 3.x assumptions, for example, when there is a bigger pool of experience than ever before from which to request experience based advice. 5e is probably the most played edition of D&D ever made, by the most diverse player base ever from grognards to kids.

 

[Nebulous]

Revivify is a factor - dropping PCs is easy, killing them is harder, and keeping them dead at 9th is near impossible. Your only worries about going full bore at the PCs are a player sitting out for much of a combat, and foes with too much defenses and HPs so it turns into a boring grind. Hit hard. Harder. No really, harder then that. Look, you got the fighter down to 22 HPs. Oh look, he's just been polymorphed into a giant ape and has a new 150-odd HPs. Really, pound on them.

Hahaha, I love this. I am removing Revivify from my games, i can't stand having a 3rd level Raise Dead, and the designers knew it was crazy powerful so it has that artificial safeguard of 300gp of diamond dust, but all that does it make the PCs always seek diamond dust or exchange gold for diamond dust, or what the hell, does the deity sprinkle diamond dust into the cleric's pocket when she gets the spell?

Anyway, I was rambling. Yeah, at 9th level it is damn near impossible to keep a PC down. TRY to kill them, hit them with crits when they're at zero, focus fire on someone downed before they're revived and suddenly at 50% hit points like nothing happened.

 

[jayoungr]

I'm a fan of hazards that force the PCs to take some damage just to get to the monster(s). Wall of Fire, for example.

 

[CleverNickName]

In my experience, power creep really starts to become an issue around this level, and a lot of chickens start coming home to roost. So with that in mind...

1. Beware the 10-minute workday. Make it harder and riskier to take rests in the middle of an adventure, and track the party's resources more carefully. If you hand-waved things like food, encumbrance, and ammunition at lower levels, it will really come back to haunt you now. Don't let magic become a substitution for careful planning.

2. Use intelligent monsters, and make them act intelligently. Put enemy snipers behind cover, and at altitude if possible. Give all monsters a variety of weapons to use: reach, ranged, melee, etc. Upgrade their armor if it makes sense to do so. Place monsters in groups of 4-10. Have them use skirmisher tactics, have them focus their attacks on one character at a time, give them healing potions. Enemy spellcasters should use debuffs and summoning spells frequently, and board wipes sparingly.

3. Give the adventurers something to spend their money on. Cash flow starts to become a problem around this time...and if you were hand-waving things like spell component costs and living expenses at lower-levels, it will really come back to haunt you now. Perhaps a traveling merchant has a magical sword for sale, or a new alchemist opens shop in town? Maybe it's time to buy a castle or a ship? Treasure really isn't a reward if all you can do with it is just carry it around.

 

[jgsugden]

I didn't ask about 2E or 3E. I asked about 5E because that's the edition that I dont have much experience running in the 9th level range. So since I know "how to run D&D" in a general sense, I was asking for specific advice as it relates to 5E at that specific level. I'm not sure where your confusion comes in since a number of folks have been able to provide specific advice, but maybe this clears it up?

Not really. 30 years of experience - exptensive 5th edition experience... and apparently vastly expansive experience running 5th level - but you are unsure of what to expect from 9th level in 5E - but don't want general advice?

It is confusing. It is a bit like saying, "I've been driving a car for 30 years. I've driven a number of different cars. I don't need people to tell me how to drive a car. However, can someone explain how you back up a car?"

The above advice that has been provided is pretty general. Listing HP, AC and Passive Perceptions is not level specific advice.
There is some stuff specific to certain spells (animate object), but if you're run a lot of 5th level adventures, these types of spells should come up in the hands of enemies yo've run, right? And your individual rule tweaks (Do you allow flanking to grant advantage, for example? Does it require a reaction and check to identify a spell being cast?)

9th level versus 5th level is mostly similar... things really change the most at the tier marks (5, 11, 17). Yes, you get some new character abilities, some new spells, but they're all still formulaic with existing spells you've seen at 5th level. The differences between a 5th and 9th level PC isn't that much different than comparing two different 5th levels PCs.

If I'd run dozens of 5th level adventures at cons and was now planning to run a 9th level adventure for a different group of players, I'd just reuse the 5th level adventures and bump up the monsters.