High level ideas for Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

High level ideas for Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Knightstar
04-27-07, 05:06 PM well, it was bound to happen. After little more than two years of continuous playing, my group is finally cresting the mark and heading into the higher levels. At the moment the group average is 13th level (5 players, 3 are at 14th, 1 is 12th, the last is 11th) but i generally assume the group hits about a 14 or 15 CR rating.

now theyve been enjoying the campaing thus far and ive been busting my tail to keep it interesting, but i always have trouble when it gets into the higher levels and i do have a story im running in the game and im not ready to end the campaign just yet.

im basically trying to keep the adventures in context of the story, but im having problems trying to scale it for higher level characters.

simply put... help! any ideas for higher level adventures? ive been skimming through dungeon and the web, but id like to see what other folks are doing in eberron as they get toward the mid to high teens.

thanks ahead of time.
DragoonDarkfire
04-27-07, 05:23 PM Daelkyr, Quori or the Lord of Blades (Or Vol) are always a good idea.
Syltorian
04-27-07, 07:04 PM There could be a new planar invasion. So far, Dal Quor and Xoriat have already tried to take over Eberron; why not a different plane? For instance, the Sulatar in Xen'drik could finally open the Gates of Fire and create gates for Fernia to enter the world. In the Eldeen Reaches, the Gloaming could suddenly cease expanding slowly... and literally explode. A druid sect could use the magical event that triggers a powerful winter (check DMG II), in combination with Risia.

For dangers drawn from Eberron itself, consider what would happen if the Council of Ashkathla decides to combine their forces, and break through the Labyrinth, as well as take the sea-route into the Eldeen Bay. With their forces joined, they might be able to overrun the Ghaash'kala, and sweep into the Reaches, or even into Aundair.

Or else the foe comes from the dungeons beneath Sharn itself, a new culture created centuries ago when the Lady of Plague destroyed the old city. Monstrous hordes spill into the Undercity, the Cogs, and then into the Lower city. Or the aberrant marked become more prominent, with Greater Marks developping at an accelerated speed (and making their bearers overall more powerful, i.e. higher level).

Try and get the Dreadhold article in Dragon Magazine. There are some interesting prisoners in there that could be released. One lich who was active a few hundred years ago in Karrnath. An anti-Keeper of the Flame. A powerful Radiant Idol. These would be very dangerous, because they are not only high level, they also come with their own complications of why they cannot (or should not) be killed outright.

House Cannith develops new warforged in secret, but the things get out of control. House Vadalis creates a new species of magical beast, but it escapes (or takes out the entire enclave first). Karrnath has developped new undead, but the process has gone out of controle. The House/Nation in question does not want their error to be commonly known, and so needs someone strong, but subtle.

The Dwarves of the Mror Holds dig to deep, and uncover the enemy who destroyed their ancient civilisation, which now begins to attack the Mror Holds and beyond.

A large number of the dragons of Argonessen decide that it's time to destroy Khorvaire, the way they did away with the Giants and tried to do away with the elves. Perhaps because the Prophecy speaks of more occurences ressembling the Mournland if they were to continue to exist. The PCs need to deal with the dragons, and perhaps get alliances with Aerenal and find allies within the forbidden City of the Dead itself.

Xen'drik is also an easy one. Everything can hide in the jungle, and finding a suitably high-level challenge until then sealed off in their valley shouldn't be too difficult.

Could you tell us a bit more about where your campaign is at, at the moment, though? It would be easier to find something that actually fits in if we knew that. Do they prefer mystery, or combat? Remember that for mystery, the enemy can be a level 1 expert, and still be very difficult to find out for a level 20 group (provided he finds a way to counter divination magic). For combat, or even a mixed adventure of combat and mystery, you need more, of course.
mahavira
04-27-07, 07:49 PM 1. The groom at a high society wedding is revealed to be a Rakshasa sorcerer, who's after an heirloom of the bride's family: a minor artifact from the age of demons, a multi use arrow of dragon slaying. He kidnaps the bride, arranges a swap for the arrow, but she's charmed and runs right back to him once he has the arrow. He, and his other class leveled Rakshasa buddies are going to Q'Barra to kill the Dragon guarding the ancient demon city.

2. Treasure hunters have woken a lich from the age of giants who starts uniting the barbaric giants of Xendrik.

3. A true necromancer with tomb tainted soul lives in the Mournland and has been using the copious bodies and necrotic energy to make those high CR undead which armies are basically powerless against (Devourers, nightshades, charnel hounds etc.)

4. Abberrations lead by a high level mind flayer psion have surrounded Olian with beholders and are in the process of flooding his roots with the distilled essence of Xoriat.

5. The wars of shavarrath boil over onto the material plane. A force of demons led by a 3 headed Glabrezu battles a force of devils lead by an Erinyes fighter. If left unchecked, hundreds of innocents will die and the land be left uninhabitable.
ArrowBlue
04-27-07, 09:05 PM A previous thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=825997) dealing with similar issues, may help.
Knightstar
04-28-07, 03:12 AM thanks for all the suggestions. the only reason i hadnt posted more info about the party earlier was i didnt want to drag and make way too long a post. heh.

party's been whittled down to 5 (it started 2 years back with 8, and theyre PCs have either left or died).

First is Haans d'Vadalis, human Druid/Ranger/Beastmaster (lvl.14 altogether, dont recall the various levels) and is a nephew of the Patriarch of the House. (already had some issues with them)

Lyr, Fighter 10/Sor1 was human, and gained the half-Dragon template when an artifact shattered when he was turned to stone. former soldier of Cyre.

Drake. Human Scout14... party comic relief. no, really... a solid scout, but pretty much a coward.

Jacob Human Level12 Cleric of the Host, he is the healing stick. his last character ended up shifted to another plane via a prismatic ray, so here comes the healer.

Allandar, Human Conjurer11, ancilliary member of the Royal Eyes of Aundair and tasked to watch the group after the last mage was disintegrated during a fight with a lich.

i tend to avoid the random fights, and play villains smart if theyre smart and real stupid if theyre stupid. theres been quite a few plots and the group DOES have villains available. ive just inro'd a plotline where a cabal of mages trapped in the Shadow Plane since before the Daelkyr War are planning to invade Eberron and some old enemies of the players have actually been gathering items and weapons to make sure the invasion doesnt happen. there's also aspects of the Draconic Prophecy involved.

ive got lots of ideas, so i appreciate what help. my problem is setting up the high level adventures so that it still challenges them (some mystery and only a few combats) because three of these guys have never had high level PCs before and are really starrting to flex the high level muscles. does it seem like ive got enough going to keep interested? or should i be working on something else here that im not seeing?
tallric_kruush
04-28-07, 01:25 PM Some very good ideas have been given above. Well done, guys.:tiphat:

I hate to offer a solution that may point to a publication you don't own, but if you do own Secrets of Xen'drik, it seemed made for this sort of thing. You definitely have a party that could handle the wilds of Xen'drik, though you would know whether they'd actually want to leave Khorvaire. It seems they've accomplished a lot on the mainland. That could mean a break would be good, if they're drawn south in the right fashion. Their old enemies would be waiting when they got back, and maybe a few would even show their faces in Xen'drik.

At any rate, there are several suitable adventure paths laid out within the book. Some involve saving the world from extraplanar enemies and powerful artifacts, some the Blood of Vol, etc... One particularly enjoyable enemy, suitable for higher levels, is Prokres the Death Giant. He's one of those guys a party could love to hate, and likely is too strong to challenge directly until truly high levels. If you prefer using adventures of your own devising, there's a lot to mine in the book and plenty of versatile maps and sites. I feel it's some of the best money I've spent in a long time.

The party's old enemies could easily have reasons for showing up in Xen'drik, and lots of new enemies are to be made in Xen'drik, as well. It's a good place to "flex those high-level muscles", too. In Xen'drik, "flexing" is encouraged.;) It may keep you alive...and it tends to disrupt the setting a little less when it's out in the middle of the world's biggest jungle/desert/mountain range/etc... It's also easy (at least IMO) to switch seamlessly from crunching heads to solving mysteries in a place like Xen'drik. If the party gets the least bit tired of one, the other is always waiting around the next corner, or break in the trees, etc...

Just my two cents, since everyone else had provided so many good ideas for keeping the party in Khorvaire.
Splendide
04-28-07, 10:50 PM A PC with the half-dragon template just screams of potential for Chamber/Prophecy Cultist/Emerald Claw action.

The party come in contact with a fairly powerful gnome of the Korran family, who has travelled to wherever their base of operations is to meet with them and suggest a difficult matter which they could help to resolve. Perhaps some beastie in a mine in the Seawall mountains. If they agree, fine. If they don't, also fine.

After this meeting, have various `nobody' NPCs randomly be talking about how nice Zilargo is at this time of year in casual conversation near them, or an old sailor tell some kids a story about a great treasure some famous pirate or other has buried in the Seawall mountains. Essentially, through third-party NPCs, have the PCs receive the impression that doing this job is/would be a really good idea, but that they seem to be being railroaded a bit.

<PCs complete mission, its quite standard>

Next mission, follow a similar procedure - maybe a different gnome asking them to do something in Zilargo. Same third-party NPC chatter again - maybe they're looking forward to seeing who wins Flag Day in Trolanport, or similar. Railroading again, hopefully the PCs take the bait.

PCs go to mission, but one or two of them (hopefully half-dragon guy) meet Mysterious Stranger who advises them not to do this task. He doesn't offer an alternative and vanishes mysteriously. Mission is done or not, doesn't really matter because now they're in the intrigue.

Basically the half-dragonning of the Fighter has been uncovered and leading Draconic Prophecy scholars are fighting to make sure things happen as they wish - perhaps there is an advantage to having this group in your general area for some upcoming terrible event that is destined to happen. Maybe one group wants it to happen, and the other doesn't - but who knows which side the gnomish scholars are on? Or who this mysterious party is? Are they a rival faction of scholars? Is it a representative of the Chamber? Perhaps an agent of Vol even?

Mystery and intrigue huzzah! Basically there are no big villains yet, just rival forces fighting for the PCs attention. You can make one side villainous when appropriate.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Knightstar 04-27-07, 05:06 PM	well, it was bound to happen. After little more than two years of continuous playing, my group is finally cresting the mark and heading into the higher levels. At the moment the group average is 13th level (5 players, 3 are at 14th, 1 is 12th, the last is 11th) but i generally assume the group hits about a 14 or 15 CR rating. now theyve been enjoying the campaing thus far and ive been busting my tail to keep it interesting, but i always have trouble when it gets into the higher levels and i do have a story im running in the game and im not ready to end the campaign just yet. im basically trying to keep the adventures in context of the story, but im having problems trying to scale it for higher level characters. simply put... help! any ideas for higher level adventures? ive been skimming through dungeon and the web, but id like to see what other folks are doing in eberron as they get toward the mid to high teens. thanks ahead of time.
DragoonDarkfire 04-27-07, 05:23 PM	Daelkyr, Quori or the Lord of Blades (Or Vol) are always a good idea.
Syltorian 04-27-07, 07:04 PM	There could be a new planar invasion. So far, Dal Quor and Xoriat have already tried to take over Eberron; why not a different plane? For instance, the Sulatar in Xen'drik could finally open the Gates of Fire and create gates for Fernia to enter the world. In the Eldeen Reaches, the Gloaming could suddenly cease expanding slowly... and literally explode. A druid sect could use the magical event that triggers a powerful winter (check DMG II), in combination with Risia. For dangers drawn from Eberron itself, consider what would happen if the Council of Ashkathla decides to combine their forces, and break through the Labyrinth, as well as take the sea-route into the Eldeen Bay. With their forces joined, they might be able to overrun the Ghaash'kala, and sweep into the Reaches, or even into Aundair. Or else the foe comes from the dungeons beneath Sharn itself, a new culture created centuries ago when the Lady of Plague destroyed the old city. Monstrous hordes spill into the Undercity, the Cogs, and then into the Lower city. Or the aberrant marked become more prominent, with Greater Marks developping at an accelerated speed (and making their bearers overall more powerful, i.e. higher level). Try and get the Dreadhold article in Dragon Magazine. There are some interesting prisoners in there that could be released. One lich who was active a few hundred years ago in Karrnath. An anti-Keeper of the Flame. A powerful Radiant Idol. These would be very dangerous, because they are not only high level, they also come with their own complications of why they cannot (or should not) be killed outright. House Cannith develops new warforged in secret, but the things get out of control. House Vadalis creates a new species of magical beast, but it escapes (or takes out the entire enclave first). Karrnath has developped new undead, but the process has gone out of controle. The House/Nation in question does not want their error to be commonly known, and so needs someone strong, but subtle. The Dwarves of the Mror Holds dig to deep, and uncover the enemy who destroyed their ancient civilisation, which now begins to attack the Mror Holds and beyond. A large number of the dragons of Argonessen decide that it's time to destroy Khorvaire, the way they did away with the Giants and tried to do away with the elves. Perhaps because the Prophecy speaks of more occurences ressembling the Mournland if they were to continue to exist. The PCs need to deal with the dragons, and perhaps get alliances with Aerenal and find allies within the forbidden City of the Dead itself. Xen'drik is also an easy one. Everything can hide in the jungle, and finding a suitably high-level challenge until then sealed off in their valley shouldn't be too difficult. Could you tell us a bit more about where your campaign is at, at the moment, though? It would be easier to find something that actually fits in if we knew that. Do they prefer mystery, or combat? Remember that for mystery, the enemy can be a level 1 expert, and still be very difficult to find out for a level 20 group (provided he finds a way to counter divination magic). For combat, or even a mixed adventure of combat and mystery, you need more, of course.
mahavira 04-27-07, 07:49 PM	1. The groom at a high society wedding is revealed to be a Rakshasa sorcerer, who's after an heirloom of the bride's family: a minor artifact from the age of demons, a multi use arrow of dragon slaying. He kidnaps the bride, arranges a swap for the arrow, but she's charmed and runs right back to him once he has the arrow. He, and his other class leveled Rakshasa buddies are going to Q'Barra to kill the Dragon guarding the ancient demon city. 2. Treasure hunters have woken a lich from the age of giants who starts uniting the barbaric giants of Xendrik. 3. A true necromancer with tomb tainted soul lives in the Mournland and has been using the copious bodies and necrotic energy to make those high CR undead which armies are basically powerless against (Devourers, nightshades, charnel hounds etc.) 4. Abberrations lead by a high level mind flayer psion have surrounded Olian with beholders and are in the process of flooding his roots with the distilled essence of Xoriat. 5. The wars of shavarrath boil over onto the material plane. A force of demons led by a 3 headed Glabrezu battles a force of devils lead by an Erinyes fighter. If left unchecked, hundreds of innocents will die and the land be left uninhabitable.
ArrowBlue 04-27-07, 09:05 PM	A previous thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=825997) dealing with similar issues, may help.
Knightstar 04-28-07, 03:12 AM	thanks for all the suggestions. the only reason i hadnt posted more info about the party earlier was i didnt want to drag and make way too long a post. heh. party's been whittled down to 5 (it started 2 years back with 8, and theyre PCs have either left or died). First is Haans d'Vadalis, human Druid/Ranger/Beastmaster (lvl.14 altogether, dont recall the various levels) and is a nephew of the Patriarch of the House. (already had some issues with them) Lyr, Fighter 10/Sor1 was human, and gained the half-Dragon template when an artifact shattered when he was turned to stone. former soldier of Cyre. Drake. Human Scout14... party comic relief. no, really... a solid scout, but pretty much a coward. Jacob Human Level12 Cleric of the Host, he is the healing stick. his last character ended up shifted to another plane via a prismatic ray, so here comes the healer. Allandar, Human Conjurer11, ancilliary member of the Royal Eyes of Aundair and tasked to watch the group after the last mage was disintegrated during a fight with a lich. i tend to avoid the random fights, and play villains smart if theyre smart and real stupid if theyre stupid. theres been quite a few plots and the group DOES have villains available. ive just inro'd a plotline where a cabal of mages trapped in the Shadow Plane since before the Daelkyr War are planning to invade Eberron and some old enemies of the players have actually been gathering items and weapons to make sure the invasion doesnt happen. there's also aspects of the Draconic Prophecy involved. ive got lots of ideas, so i appreciate what help. my problem is setting up the high level adventures so that it still challenges them (some mystery and only a few combats) because three of these guys have never had high level PCs before and are really starrting to flex the high level muscles. does it seem like ive got enough going to keep interested? or should i be working on something else here that im not seeing?
tallric_kruush 04-28-07, 01:25 PM	Some very good ideas have been given above. Well done, guys.:tiphat: I hate to offer a solution that may point to a publication you don't own, but if you do own Secrets of Xen'drik, it seemed made for this sort of thing. You definitely have a party that could handle the wilds of Xen'drik, though you would know whether they'd actually want to leave Khorvaire. It seems they've accomplished a lot on the mainland. That could mean a break would be good, if they're drawn south in the right fashion. Their old enemies would be waiting when they got back, and maybe a few would even show their faces in Xen'drik. At any rate, there are several suitable adventure paths laid out within the book. Some involve saving the world from extraplanar enemies and powerful artifacts, some the Blood of Vol, etc... One particularly enjoyable enemy, suitable for higher levels, is Prokres the Death Giant. He's one of those guys a party could love to hate, and likely is too strong to challenge directly until truly high levels. If you prefer using adventures of your own devising, there's a lot to mine in the book and plenty of versatile maps and sites. I feel it's some of the best money I've spent in a long time. The party's old enemies could easily have reasons for showing up in Xen'drik, and lots of new enemies are to be made in Xen'drik, as well. It's a good place to "flex those high-level muscles", too. In Xen'drik, "flexing" is encouraged.;) It may keep you alive...and it tends to disrupt the setting a little less when it's out in the middle of the world's biggest jungle/desert/mountain range/etc... It's also easy (at least IMO) to switch seamlessly from crunching heads to solving mysteries in a place like Xen'drik. If the party gets the least bit tired of one, the other is always waiting around the next corner, or break in the trees, etc... Just my two cents, since everyone else had provided so many good ideas for keeping the party in Khorvaire.
Splendide 04-28-07, 10:50 PM	A PC with the half-dragon template just screams of potential for Chamber/Prophecy Cultist/Emerald Claw action. The party come in contact with a fairly powerful gnome of the Korran family, who has travelled to wherever their base of operations is to meet with them and suggest a difficult matter which they could help to resolve. Perhaps some beastie in a mine in the Seawall mountains. If they agree, fine. If they don't, also fine. After this meeting, have various `nobody' NPCs randomly be talking about how nice Zilargo is at this time of year in casual conversation near them, or an old sailor tell some kids a story about a great treasure some famous pirate or other has buried in the Seawall mountains. Essentially, through third-party NPCs, have the PCs receive the impression that doing this job is/would be a really good idea, but that they seem to be being railroaded a bit. <PCs complete mission, its quite standard> Next mission, follow a similar procedure - maybe a different gnome asking them to do something in Zilargo. Same third-party NPC chatter again - maybe they're looking forward to seeing who wins Flag Day in Trolanport, or similar. Railroading again, hopefully the PCs take the bait. PCs go to mission, but one or two of them (hopefully half-dragon guy) meet Mysterious Stranger who advises them not to do this task. He doesn't offer an alternative and vanishes mysteriously. Mission is done or not, doesn't really matter because now they're in the intrigue. Basically the half-dragonning of the Fighter has been uncovered and leading Draconic Prophecy scholars are fighting to make sure things happen as they wish - perhaps there is an advantage to having this group in your general area for some upcoming terrible event that is destined to happen. Maybe one group wants it to happen, and the other doesn't - but who knows which side the gnomish scholars are on? Or who this mysterious party is? Are they a rival faction of scholars? Is it a representative of the Chamber? Perhaps an agent of Vol even? Mystery and intrigue huzzah! Basically there are no big villains yet, just rival forces fighting for the PCs attention. You can make one side villainous when appropriate.