My basic strategies for high-level play are as follows:
- Make the action feel significant
- Let the characters feel powerful
- Pump numbers (AC, damage, to hit bonus) if they’re not sufficient.
- Keep challenges different
Make the action feel significant
The basis for the closing stages of my Greyhawk campaign is this: A war has started between Ket and Veluna. Due to escalating events, the gods themselves are now on the battlefield (Xan Yae vs St Cuthbert). The characters need to find the Rod of Seven Parts to stop it.
So, already you have a conflict that feels epic. The gods themselves are in play! And the adventurers are on a quest to save the world (or at least the bit they care about).
To keep things manageable, each individual segment works as the centre of its own adventure, which should run 2-4 sessions, in theory) Some I have cribbed from classics (Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks are two such), others I have created (Djinn Castle and the Lost Vault of the Great Kingdom).
I determine where the segment is within the situation and create opposition to the characters. However, I rarely know exactly their path – that we discover in play.
Let the characters feel powerful
It is no good when an 18th level character keeps failing at everything. They’re meant to be one of the most powerful beings in the campaign world!
So, I fight the inclination to set everything at “Ultra Hard” difficulty and instead throw smaller encounters at them and let them succeed more than they fail.
Occasionally, much more. One of the great joys is when a player does something that surprises you. Even if it short-circuits your planned adventure, then if it’s truly creative, then it’s a triumph and should be celebrated.
The flipside to this is when the characters use the same tactic repeatedly. At that point, you need to step in. Scry + Teleport to the boss’s lair? When it’s the first time you didn’t anticipate, it’s a success and a joy. After that, the bosses of the world are wise to the idea and have countermeasures. (They’d have to, otherwise they wouldn’t be significant threats!)
Pump numbers if they’re not sufficient
Pay attention to player ACs, attack bonuses and hp. Scale monster numbers to fit. If PCs all have AC 25+, then use monsters with attack bonus +10 and up.
Give monsters 400 hp rather than 100 hp.
You don’t need to do it all the time, but at the higher levels, your personal knowledge of PC abilities trumps anything the system assumes. Make use of it!
Note: If only one character has an AC of 25+, then their reward for concentrating on that is to not be hit. You don’t need to adjust.
If most characters are at that level, then it’s time to scale the world to fit.
All of this is still done with an eye to the players feeling effective. I don’t often change monster ACs, because PCs hitting is fun.
An exception is when I want a particular challenge. AC 25? Perhaps it’s time to let the spellcasters take the lead!
Keep challenges different
It’s important to me for the players to have to think. One method shouldn’t always work.
Perhaps this time, fighting doesn’t work and they need to try role-playing and intrigue? Or perhaps a magical solution is called for?
Combat is fun though. But, as I don’t enjoy the answer to everything being fireball, I throw in curve balls.
As I select and adapt monsters, I often use targeted immunities (fire, weapons, spells, etc.) or surprises so that one tactic doesn’t always work. The players need to think!
For instance, I might use Golems immune to slashing damage or Space Trolls reflecting magic.
This is not in every encounter. Just a few so the players need to work outside their comfort zones.
The way to get better at running high-level Dungeons & Dragons is to run more high-level Dungeons & Dragons. I struggled with low-level D&D when I was new. But I got better with experience – and the same has occurred with high-level play. You can do the same!