D&D 5E What Do You Want from High-Level 3rd Party Product?

[MatthewJHanson]

A few threads on high-level play recently got me thinking.

As somebody who both loves high level play and also publishes stuff under the OGL, I'd like to cater more to high level play. I'm wondering what people who buy third-party products would like to see. Advice? Monsters? Adventures? Other?

 

[ECMO3]

A few threads on high-level play recently got me thinking.

As somebody who both loves high level play and also publishes stuff under the OGL, I'd like to cater more to high level play. I'm wondering what people who buy third-party products would like to see. Advice? Monsters? Adventures? Other?

For me it is adventures and I want one that starts at 1st level and goes to 20th.

 

[Reynard]

High level adventures are hard because there is so much potential nuance and context. So I think a good high level adventure is less about ploy and more about situation. This cabal of powerful warlocks is on the cusp of opening a gate for their patron to enter the world. Here's who they are and their motivations, and the important locations in the process. This is what it looks like if the PCs don't get involved. From there, you can run it in a way that embraces your high level PCs.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

For me it is adventures and I want one that starts at 1st level and goes to 20th.

I think 1 to 20 adventures are great, though at the moment it's a little more than I want to take on at the moment.

High level adventures are hard because there is so much potential nuance and context. So I think a good high level adventure is less about ploy and more about situation. This cabal of powerful warlocks is on the cusp of opening a gate for their patron to enter the world. Here's who they are and their motivations, and the important locations in the process. This is what it looks like if the PCs don't get involved. From there, you can run it in a way that embraces your high level PCs.

This is generally my thought as well.

Do you think you'd be interested in purchasing a high-level "adventure toolkit" like this? Some ideas I have are stopping an invasion force lead by an ancient dragon or exploring a wizard school that was destroyed by a magical accident that also left all kinds of crazy magical dangers in its wake (a mini Mournland for those who know Eberron).

 

[GuardianLurker]

Ditto on what Reynard said, but in addition (considering this might be an entry into high-level adventuring):

• advice on how high-level spells affect the tactical play.
• as well as specific advice on high-level tactics (and their counters). E.g. from back in 3e's day, scry-and-die and its counters
• examples of how high-level characters might interact with the plot. E.g. "A direct divination by the characters won't reveal the BBEG's location, but an indirect approach (e.g. Legend Lore + Divination) will still be productive."
• a well-constructed epic BBEG combat, along with why the included elements where used.
• oh, and advice on how to get out of the "it's just bigger numbers" mindset.

 

[Demetrios1453]

For me it is adventures and I want one that starts at 1st level and goes to 20th.

Well, it looks like the Vecna one next year will be doing that!

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Ditto on what Reynard said, but in addition (considering this might be an entry into high-level adventuring):

• advice on how high-level spells affect the tactical play.
• as well as specific advice on high-level tactics (and their counters). E.g. from back in 3e's day, scry-and-die and its counters
• examples of how high-level characters might interact with the plot. E.g. "A direct divination by the characters won't reveal the BBEG's location, but an indirect approach (e.g. Legend Lore + Divination) will still be productive."
• a well-constructed epic BBEG combat, along with why the included elements where used.
• oh, and advice on how to get out of the "it's just bigger numbers" mindset.

Good thoughts all.

Speaking of high-level tactics, my players came up with the idea of planeshifting to an alternate plane so they could use gate to pull through the adventure's big bad. I let it work once, and then all the other bad guys heard about it and came up with countermeasures.

Well, it looks like the Vecna one next year will be doing that!

Yeah, I was excited to hear that. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think 1 to 20 adventures are great, though at the moment it's a little more than I want to take on at the moment.


This is generally my thought as well.

Do you think you'd be interested in purchasing a high-level "adventure toolkit" like this? Some ideas I have are stopping an invasion force lead by an ancient dragon or exploring a wizard school that was destroyed by a magical accident that also left all kinds of crazy magical dangers in its wake (a mini Mournland for those who know Eberron).

I was just going to suggest this! Adventures are intended to be practically useful at the table, and since there are IMO too many variables to produce a "canned" high level adventure at a decent level of quality, the toolkit idea would I think be better. Let the DMs figure out how to make compelling content for their table to engage with, and give them the tools to make that easier. That would worth spending money on.