New to GMing, question about high levels


Advice


So I picked up the Beginner Box awhile ago and I've been playing it with a few friends as the GM. I have the Core Rulebook and we'll probably be transitioning into the full rules soon, but reading it has given me some concerns about how to effectively GM with high-level casters. It's going to be hard to design challenging combat encounters for my players when they're blowing them away with tornadoes, blinding all of them, summoning dozens of monsters to fight for them, stopping time, etc.

I'd really hate to spend a bunch of time on an adventure only to have the whole thing get resolved by my players in 5 minutes because of some crazy spell combination I didn't plan for. Anyone have any suggestions for how to handle this without just banning some spells outright?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Take a read of THIS thread.


Stop the campaign around level 10-12.

And you probably should outright ban some spells.


These are all high level spells, requiring high level casters. The simple answer is, don't dive in at a high level. Start the PCs at 1st level, (or 3rd, I suppose, if they've played through the BB). Start figuring out the 3rd level spells. Don't worry about 4th level spells till you start using 7th level casters. Use slow progression if you feel you need more time - hopefully your players will understand that you can only master so much at a time. (And get hold of all the free or cheap modules you can, and steal shamelessly.)


Start at low levels and work your way up even after you start to use the full rules. There is no secret formula. You will just have to get used to all the rules, and even then some GM's either can't do it, or they don't think it is worth the extra effort to run high level games. I enjoy it, but that is just me.


As others have said, start low levels. You shouldnt go above I'd say 8th level until you have a really strong grasp of the rules and how to create encounter.

The other thing you need to know is the game is a different game at high levels.

Levels 1-6 - lord of the rings
6-12 - Larger then life Action movie/tv show heroes
13+ - Justice League DC super heroes (think superman, green lantern, the power houses).

What this means is that the KIND of story you tell changes. In the low levels, the journey across the world is a dramatic one. Trudging through wilderness, fighting woodland creatures, and mostly humanish enemies. Everything is a threat. And big things like dragons seem completely out of reach without alot of preparation or some kind of magical maguffin.

At mid levels, you have your john maclain (die hard movies) types. Sure a cross country trip might take a while, but its not really dangerous, john doesnt get taken down by a wolf. And he cuts through 'normal' baddies with ease. He needs a big enemy to threaten him, and he needs alot of punishment to seem like he is on his heels.

At high levels, you are looking at superman.
"Oh no the bad guy is on the other side of the planet"
Superman: "And? I'm already there punching him in the face, where are you?".
"Oh no theres a swarm of sharks attacking those people in that crashed ship!"
Batman:"I have my batsharkrepplant spray, its cool".

You need to think long and hard about how to challenge high level characters, and usually enemies and encounters need to be tailored to challenge them based on what they can do. I am pretty sure more cryptonite turned up on earth then there was mass in the planet crypton over the course of all superman comics. Why? Because thats a really good way to threaten superman. When making high level encounters you will have to do stuff like that. You have to remember not to allow problems to be solved with moving fast, or communication, or xray vision. Bad guys have to be lex luthor levels of prepared for the unreasonable bag of tricks the party will have.

Even many experienced gms simply dont go into very high levels because it can be a real pain to navigate. In fact pathfinder societ organized play actually stops at level 12 for this reason.

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