... the final ritual which summons all the Demon Lords into Menzobarranzan, also set up some magical environment whereby the PCs will gain a level of experience and a full heal/reset (mechanically having a Long Rest) after each demon lord fight. This lets them fight all the Demon Lords who have been summoned into the city, one at a time, and reach 20th level into the bargain.
Does that feel like a kludge / too fast progression / bad ending?
Depends what you and your players are looking for - if everyone is excited about doing a boss rush to finish the campaign then go for it. (Also aren't there potentially 8 demon lords present, not 5?). You'd probably need to nerf the stat blocks for all the Demon Lords too, doing something similar to the adjustments to the Demogorgon's stat block listed in chapter 17 to bring the CR nearer to the PCs level, at least for the initial couple fights.
For my personal taste, it feels a bit rushed. The ritual with the dark heart is meant to weaken the demon lords because the party has no hope of fighting them individually, which for me also poses some uncomfortable questions about the verisimillitude of the world - if a party of level 15 PCs can defeat the greatest demon princes of the Abyss one after the other, either they are some of the strongest beings in the universe or the demon lords are not actually very powerful and why is everyone scared of them?
Also, I think you would be robbing yourself of some good follow up adventures; perhaps one of the demon princes escapes elsewhere on the material plane, or the party has to venture into the Abyss to continue the fight/recover something. More indirectly, you could also explore the effects on the politics of the outer planes and the Blood War; maybe the Devils finally manage to push the Demons back out of Avernus and this has wider consequences for the outer planes.
Thanks for the response, @killerwraith418. Good points made about the power levels of the Demon Princes. I also agree that finishing at 15th level does open up some options for follow up adventures. Maybe I'm trying too hard to get the PCs to 20th level in a rush. :)
It depends on the Group. If you and your players like boss rushes, sure! Go ahead! If not, them don't. I agree with killerwraith about the power of the demon princes though.
Simply put: could you extend this campaign out to 20th level by making the PCs fight (individually) all 5 of the demon lords, one at a time?
Has anyone done this and care to share how it went and feedback?
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill
My initial thoughts on this are to have...
... the final ritual which summons all the Demon Lords into Menzobarranzan, also set up some magical environment whereby the PCs will gain a level of experience and a full heal/reset (mechanically having a Long Rest) after each demon lord fight. This lets them fight all the Demon Lords who have been summoned into the city, one at a time, and reach 20th level into the bargain.
Does that feel like a kludge / too fast progression / bad ending?
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill
Depends what you and your players are looking for - if everyone is excited about doing a boss rush to finish the campaign then go for it. (Also aren't there potentially 8 demon lords present, not 5?). You'd probably need to nerf the stat blocks for all the Demon Lords too, doing something similar to the adjustments to the Demogorgon's stat block listed in chapter 17 to bring the CR nearer to the PCs level, at least for the initial couple fights.
For my personal taste, it feels a bit rushed. The ritual with the dark heart is meant to weaken the demon lords because the party has no hope of fighting them individually, which for me also poses some uncomfortable questions about the verisimillitude of the world - if a party of level 15 PCs can defeat the greatest demon princes of the Abyss one after the other, either they are some of the strongest beings in the universe or the demon lords are not actually very powerful and why is everyone scared of them?
Also, I think you would be robbing yourself of some good follow up adventures; perhaps one of the demon princes escapes elsewhere on the material plane, or the party has to venture into the Abyss to continue the fight/recover something. More indirectly, you could also explore the effects on the politics of the outer planes and the Blood War; maybe the Devils finally manage to push the Demons back out of Avernus and this has wider consequences for the outer planes.
Thanks for the response, @killerwraith418. Good points made about the power levels of the Demon Princes. I also agree that finishing at 15th level does open up some options for follow up adventures. Maybe I'm trying too hard to get the PCs to 20th level in a rush. :)
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill
It depends on the Group. If you and your players like boss rushes, sure! Go ahead! If not, them don't. I agree with killerwraith about the power of the demon princes though.
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