So I'm looking to run a Tier 3 -4 Campaign. Most likely with players using characters from other games that they never got to level up all the way.
What's the best adventure that caters to this? I want to have a read, get a feel for the best setting to use and try build a homebrewed campaign. Possibly starting on the Elemental Planes.
Any advice welcome and appreciated! Anything to watch out for, definitely include or exclude.
If you're planning to homebrew anyway, there's not a ton of reason to go looking for adventures. Creating a tier 3-4 campaign is just like creating any other campaign, just that you're going to want to expand the scale to account for the fact that level 10-20 characterse are approaching demigod status, and would not be dealing with local threats anymore, but interplanar or existential threats.
The biggest challenge with running tier 3-4 content is just how long everything takes. PC turns are longer, combats are typically longer, and so pacing becomes even more important.
There is no best setting for a high level campaign, they can take place anywhere, but your idea of integrating the elemental planes is neat I think, so if that's your first idea, jump with that and think of how the Elemental Planes might be threatening the material plane, and give the PCs a way to see and experience the threat first hand, before giving them a pathway to fixing it, maybe by going to the elemental planes themselves.
I don't think there are a lot of official adventures that go this high. Dungeon of the Mad Mage does, so you may be able to get some inspiration from that. But I think it's pretty self-contained with respect to the setting.
I would start with figuring out your main antagonists. Demons? Devils? Aberrants? From there you may be able to make a more informed decision on which setting might provide some useful lore to work with.
Thanks heaps for this! Definitely appreciate the advice; Elemental Planes threatening the Material Plane. Potentially for a lot of planar travel, perhaps gaining the attention of a planetar at some point.
Real problem are number of characters. My game has 4 PCs currently 16th level and all of the main characters have NPCs followers. Some have two.
This slows everything down tremendously. Particularly in large battles.
I personally think most battles should have no more than 8 total combatants. 4 on 4 is good. But if 4 players have 4 followers and they are going up against 4 bad guys with 4 followers....
Thanks heaps for this! Definitely appreciate the advice; Elemental Planes threatening the Material Plane. Potentially for a lot of planar travel, perhaps gaining the attention of a planetar at some point.
Thanks!
I can imagine the opening……
You wake up floating in an unending sky. Somehow you’re not falling, even though you should be. The last thing you remember is (the BBEG) laughing as it told you that it is going to conquer your homeland now that you’re out of the way. As you frantically check your equipment you notice that your magic item(s) that allow you to travel the planes is missing.
Then the first thing that they need to do is find tuning forks for different planes so that they can cast Plane Shift. And you can lead them around for several levels finding those tuning forks until they find one that lets them go back home.
So I'm looking to run a Tier 3 -4 Campaign. Most likely with players using characters from other games that they never got to level up all the way.
What's the best adventure that caters to this? I want to have a read, get a feel for the best setting to use and try build a homebrewed campaign. Possibly starting on the Elemental Planes.
Any advice welcome and appreciated! Anything to watch out for, definitely include or exclude.
Thanks!
If you're planning to homebrew anyway, there's not a ton of reason to go looking for adventures. Creating a tier 3-4 campaign is just like creating any other campaign, just that you're going to want to expand the scale to account for the fact that level 10-20 characterse are approaching demigod status, and would not be dealing with local threats anymore, but interplanar or existential threats.
The biggest challenge with running tier 3-4 content is just how long everything takes. PC turns are longer, combats are typically longer, and so pacing becomes even more important.
There is no best setting for a high level campaign, they can take place anywhere, but your idea of integrating the elemental planes is neat I think, so if that's your first idea, jump with that and think of how the Elemental Planes might be threatening the material plane, and give the PCs a way to see and experience the threat first hand, before giving them a pathway to fixing it, maybe by going to the elemental planes themselves.
I don't think there are a lot of official adventures that go this high. Dungeon of the Mad Mage does, so you may be able to get some inspiration from that. But I think it's pretty self-contained with respect to the setting.
I would start with figuring out your main antagonists. Demons? Devils? Aberrants? From there you may be able to make a more informed decision on which setting might provide some useful lore to work with.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Thanks, I'll take a look at that! Just wanted to get inspo.
Yeah I get you. Elemental is where my brain is going so I'll lock down that!
Thanks heaps for this! Definitely appreciate the advice; Elemental Planes threatening the Material Plane. Potentially for a lot of planar travel, perhaps gaining the attention of a planetar at some point.
Thanks!
Real problem are number of characters. My game has 4 PCs currently 16th level and all of the main characters have NPCs followers. Some have two.
This slows everything down tremendously. Particularly in large battles.
I personally think most battles should have no more than 8 total combatants. 4 on 4 is good. But if 4 players have 4 followers and they are going up against 4 bad guys with 4 followers....
even a 3 round battle takes forever.
I can imagine the opening……
You wake up floating in an unending sky. Somehow you’re not falling, even though you should be. The last thing you remember is (the BBEG) laughing as it told you that it is going to conquer your homeland now that you’re out of the way. As you frantically check your equipment you notice that your magic item(s) that allow you to travel the planes is missing.
Then the first thing that they need to do is find tuning forks for different planes so that they can cast Plane Shift. And you can lead them around for several levels finding those tuning forks until they find one that lets them go back home.
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