Paradigm-altering spells and zones of play

[Mendicant]

So I started writing this in response to this thread (Two to five wish spells cast in immediate succession can grant a creature) but it got away from me a bit, and it seemed like a potential derail, so I'm giving it its own thread.

Because of the vast disparity in power between levels, D&D in some sense is actually a series of games stacked on top of each other. Higher-level play is qualitatively different from lower-level play in ways that Skyrim, say, never achieves. There are some major inflection points where PC's leave certain challenges (and thus stories) behind, while opening up new ones. This is one of the system's great strengths. Unfortunately, it isn't expressly noted in the core game documents, and a lot of class, encounter and environment design--homebrew and official--doesn't really keep this principle in mind. As a result you get balance issues and adventures that don't work. In fact, a lot of the stories I read from frustrated players seem to originate with DMs who want to run a particular sort of adventure at an inappropriate party level, get flustered when character abilities run ahead of their envisioned solution space, and then resort to cheap nerfs or DM fiat to keep the party from running them over.

I'd like to try and nail down the major zones of play, and the primary spells that delineate their boundaries, in order to create another tool like the tier system for people to use when building campaigns and writing houserules. Doing this would mean not only noting where the shift happens, but what kinds of stories really work in that zone, which classes begin to flag or pull ahead in that zone, and the least invasive houserules to shrink or expand that zone.

Here's an example of what I'm envisioning:
Heroic zone
Range: lvl 1 - 6
Paradigm shifting spells: Fly, Scrying (Honorable mentions: Speak With Dead, Protection from Energy, Remove Disease, Water Breathing, Air Walk)
Especially appropriate adventures: Arduous overland journey, murder mystery, high seas adventure

[Holcane]

If i'm reading this right, I think Teleport and similar spells should be another shift and set into open world sandbox games.

[Zancloufer]

I would argue up until maybe 8th level is still heroic. e8 while not as popular as e6 is still a decent balance point. Yes there are some powerful 4th level spells but it's mostly a large power jump from level 2-3 spells, or just a more versatile version of it. Dimension Door and Polymorph are probably the closest to game shattering but they are still not massive jumps from stuff like Alter Self and Transposition/Abrupt Jaunt.

9th until probably 14 or 16 is where we get into high fantasy. Wall of Money, Fabricate, Raise Dead, Teleport, Planeshift, Lesser Wish. There are some really huge game shatters there.

Around 9th (maybe some 8th level) spells become really silly. Wish, Time-Stop, True Resurrection, Miracle, Teleport Circle and Genesis stand out. I mean you can literally bring someone back from Super Dead, make a NEW PLANE OF EXISTENCE and tell time to shut up wizards are speaking now. This is "Oh Gawd I don't think it can become any more broken" point.

21st level+ is basically either a continuation of 9th level silliness or you have relatively intact Epic Spellcasting. In the later case you no longer have a game, just a series of charts and tables made by spell-casters as they break everything.

[Mendicant]

I think if you push levitate, fly, and their ilk up one spell level, or if you aren't playing w full casters in the setting, then yeah, 7th and 8th can easily function as the capstone tier of a "heroic" campaign. Without some of those spells off the table or nerfed though, 6th-8th is a real shift to a new paradigm.

By 7th and 8th, Water Breathing is cheap and long-lasting enough to really start doing extended delving underwater. Undead minionmancy opens up. Flight or airwalking are on the table for anyone with a full progression, radically affecting encounter design. Between speak with dead, scrying, and locate creature mysteries become much more complicated to do well. You really aren't in Kansas anymore.

[Metahuman1]

Your next bracket could, Ironically, be summed up as "Super Hero/Shonen Anime". Your party is practically a small army of they've been built and are played competently. From the perspective of the level 1-3 NPC classes, even level 1-3 PC classes, there nightmarishly, freakishly, superhumanly powerful at whatever they do. the bards diplomacy makes his political enemy wake in cold sweats at the fact that he can destroy them with a few words whenever the urge hits him. Squads take one look at the Warrior types and throw down there weapons and surrender and pray he's the type to take prisoners. Magic users talk about how a problem just can't be solved right before the caster does it as a standard action and they stand there quivering at the kind of power needed to do what they just saw this caster do and do casually.


I'd say this runs till about 7th level spells, so, lvl 7 to lvl 13-14.


Paradime shift spells: Divine Power, Righteous Might, several of the Bite of the Were X spells, Polymorph, Disintegrate, teleport, Plane Shift, Simulticram, Force Cage, Wall of Force, The Wall of Money spells, The Orb of X line, Summon X comes into it's own really well during these levels, Baleful Polymorph, Telekinesis, Scrying and True Seeing and basically any divination spell at this level and Sending and Permanent image.


Appropriate Quests: Negotiating peace among different planar factions. Saving a town/city from an army by taking on the entire army by themselves or with minimal help. Laying Waste to a well known and tremendously well defended fortress or prison or city by themselves. Unseating an emperor and putting whomever they favor for the job on the throne. Exploring the outer planes possibly as some kind of plane traveling pirates.

[Eldariel]

Well, each spell level has their own standouts, but level 3 is probably the first one to really pay attention to. Suddenly you get restriction-free targetable Fly-spell, Dispel Magic, Explosive Runes (bombs), Shrink Item (boulders or whatever), Animate Dead as Clerics, etc. That is to say, you can now interact with magic. You can now clear mundane obstacles by just flying over. You can now produce underlings. You can now spend downtime to prep stuff for when the situation calls for it. Et cetera.

Then you have level 4 spells with Polymorph as the big one (it can literally do anything) and perhaps most importantly Scrying as the first divination to get really strong direct information on distant places and targets with no way for them to strike back. But it's mostly a vast increase in the combat prowess of the casters (Black Tentacles, Solid Fog, Greater Invisibility, Freedom of Movement, Death Ward, Divine Power, Dimension Door, Enervation, etc.) alongside getting stuff others got earlier (Animate Dead for Wizards, Air Walk for Clerics/Druids, Dispel Magic for Druids, etc.). Druids getting Reincarnate is kind of a big deal though; suddenly you can actually come back to life, avoid death by old age, etc. It's worth noting that on this level Druid finally has enough Wildshape attempts and duration to stay Wildshaped all day should they so desire. On level 8 they also get Large Wildshape for some incredible combat forms.

Level 5 spells completely alter the game though. Teleport and Plane Shift completely change how adventuring and movement work on macro scale. You also get Contact Other Plane and Commune to essentially solve any questions deities can know with enough effort and diligence at basically no risk. Clerics also get Raise Dead & True Seeing, while Druids get Control Winds among others to create Tornadoes and the like. Then there's Magic Jar for body stealing shenanigans, Lesser Planar Binding for some really terrifying options (Nightmare for Etherealness and Astral Projection, anyone?), etc. And simultaneously your caster level begins to hit the point where enhancements can be foregone in favour of Greater Magic Weapon/Magic Vestment. There's also Lesser Planar Ally though that's not nearly as powerful as Lesser Planar Binding. And Permanency makes various buffs sustainable. Dominate Person is also worth noting though generally I'd outsource such tasks myself.


After that point, things keep getting progressively more silly with superior versions of minionmancy (Planar Binding/Greater, Simulacrum, etc.), Control Weather, Limited Wish, Ethereal Jaunt, Greater Teleport, Greater Scrying, etc.

Level 8 has Polymorph Any Object and Mind Blank. Those spells completely alter the way the game works. There's also stuff like Greater Planar Binding, Earthquake and company with significant campaign-level implications.

Level 9 spells of course completely remodel the game with things like Shapechange, Wish, Miracle, True Resurrection, Astral Projection, Gate, Disjunction, etc. This needn't even be discussed.


The biggest break point before like level 15-17 is honestly level 5 spells, so level 9. That's the biggest shift towards the strategic aspects rather than the tactical ones and promoting the PCs from pawns to players. Note, I didn't cover the economy-breaking spells like Wall of Iron and Fabricate, but those are plentiful as well.

[jmax]

the bards diplomacy makes his political enemy wake in cold sweats at the fact that he can destroy them with a few words whenever the urge hits him.

Obligatory Doctor Who reference (minor spoilers). (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe5OynLQbJc)



Well, each spell level has their own standouts...

The biggest break point before like level 15-17 is honestly level 5 spells, so level 9. That's the biggest shift towards the strategic aspects rather than the tactical ones and promoting the PCs from pawns to players. Note, I didn't cover the economy-breaking spells like Wall of Iron and Fabricate, but those are plentiful as well.

Concur on spell levels being the major inflection points, and I think you've really nailed which levels those are. Whole categories of combat encounters are completely shut down with fly (supplemented by a few levitate spells so the rest of the party doesn't get killed). Notably and along the same lines, at the same time the wizard gets fly, the druid gets Wild Shape. While not a spell, the long duration and high flight speed available with an eagle means that scouting is now a complete non-issue*.

In the first or second session of Red Hand of Doom, my 6th-level druid functionally saved the entire Elsir Vale's population west of Brindol by flying from Vraath Keep (where you get the map of the Red Hand's plan and timetable) up to Cinder Hill to confirm and get a rough count of the Red Hand Army's existence and numbers. Convincing everyone to evactuate after that was pretty trivial. With animal messenger to send warning ahead, each settlement had been vacated by the time the Red Hand got there.

Especially amusing, your party doesn't even need to have a druid to do this. Avarthel, a 6th-level elf druid the module provides as a possible hireling, could do it for you just as easily.

4th-level spells are most notable for the earliest version of Scry-and-Die. Arcane eye plus dimension door lets the players easily kill almost any single remotely level-appropriate creature. Adding in non-Core spells can mitigate this somewhat - your players will never forget the first time they encounter anticipate teleportation.

5th-level spells, as you say, eliminate travel as an obstacle - including across planes if you have a cleric. That's probably the biggest shift, but the new combat options are also immense. Lesser planar binding also eliminates any restrictions on buying whatever item you can afford - bind a Lantern Archon and have it be your personal shopping assistant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21792834&postcount=21), courier, or Amazon Prime delivery service. Greater teleport at will as a standard action, self plus 50 pounds of objects. 50 pounds of objects is enough to move up to a Type III Bag of Holding, so you can easily do anything up to 1000 pounds. At that point, if your DM allows any concept of supply and demand affecting prices (necessary to counter Wall of Money), you can retire from adventuring and live entirely on arbitrage from buying low in one area and selling high in another (don't actually do this!). Throw in raise dead as your first option for reliably coming back to life without wrecking your building, and 5th-level spells are probably the biggest game-changer in the whole spectrum.

6th-level spells introduce heal, suddenly making in-combat healing useful and reducing the risk threshold of almost everything, and true seeing, which is the end of illusions being useful.

7th-level spells represent another minor inflection point mostly due to the presence of a single spell: control weather. That one spell lets you shut down entire armies all by itself. Greater teleport shreds anything remotely resembling travel problems that teleport didn't destroy already.

With 9th-level spells, you are limited only by your own creativity and knowledge. I prefer shapechange myself (shameless plug: check out my new 3.5 Shapechange Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?517934-The-3-5-Shapechange-Reference)!), but gate and miracle will certainly take you as far as you could possibly want. Wish is a bit too expensive for my tastes, but its power is unquestionable.



As far as types of adventures for each level, my take is as follows, with the caveat that nearly any adventure type is feasible for a party without full casters or magic items that duplicate the above effects.

Caveat: I've never actually been a DM. I know a fair amount of theory, but most of this comes from having been on the player side and knowing what I can do with it.

1-4: Almost anything on a small scale. Just adjust the challenge of the monsters and be judicious with flying enemies. Carrying messages and even ordinary McGuffins is a valid quest as long as someone wants to stop you. Protect a village from a marauding goblin tribes or a small family of ogres.

5-8: Indirect combat with armies, or potentially direct combat against armies of mooks along with an army of their own. Travel quests are still possible, but the distances become much greater. Be prepared for clever players to upend your plans. Local Scry-and-Die becomes a serious headache. (In the mid-level game I play in, we're addressing this by changing the surprise mechanics - instead of having a surprise round, we're going to try giving unaware combatants a -20 penalty to initiative.)

9-12: All but multi-continent travel is effortless. Engaging very large military forces is plausible, if not quite whole armies. (Soloing small armies is viable if you add some non-Core spells - Frostburn's blizzard comes to mind.) For combat, expect clever strategy to wreck your encounters - but embrace it instead of fighting it. Any trick the players pull on you can be thrown right back at them. If a PC dies and is brought back, start worrying about how you're going to explain every vanquished enemy staying dead.

13-16: Intercontinental? Interplanar? Might as well be down the street. Every challenge must be uniquely crafted. Armies fall at the PCs' might. Clever problem solving and unusual combat challenges are great here. Iconic monsters like balors and pit fiends are the baseline for truly challenging boss fights. The line between cakewalk combat and TPK starts to get quite thin. Fortunately, raise dead's material cost is merely an inconvenience now.

17+: If your players have no shame regarding the use of cheese, you're in for a rough ride. If your players are reasonable, you can deal with even serious optimizers, but it's a significant challenge. Every encounter must be hand-tailored. You'll need to instill serious fear into the players to keep them from just decapitating every enemy organization by going straight for the head. In the higher level of the two games I play in right now, we're functionally in this category, and I'm seriously impressed with how well the DM is handling it.

If you don't mind a bit of rocket tag, 13+ can be handled by throwing stuff at the PCs with abilities equivalent to their own. Mirror cheese! Be prepared for things to get messy though.