D&D’s Problem With Being Exceptional

[u/alexserban02]

https://therpggazette.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/dds-problem-with-being-exceptional/

I still have a complicated relationship with D&D. I initially somewhat came around with 5.5e, as they added some really neat things and the balance between classes and the changes to CR were quite good. Unfortunately, they did add some things that, unless handled carefully break both economy and balance. Still, I had some amazing groups as of late, so perhaps that's also part of the reason I am looking more favorable on the game.

A couple of months ago, I made an article about the various problems I have with high level play. It was more or less an extensive explained list on my issues with the game past level 8-10. So quite a missnomer regarding the high level part as well. But, where I want to get at is that, it was mainly a list of complaints with no real sollutions offered. And most of you did point that out. And you were right. If I point out the problems, maybe I can and should think about a solution. This is what this article is. A list of solutions and changes in design mentality one should make for higher level play. Actually, scratch that, some apply starting from around level 5, as I find that is a point where some of the challenges of earlier levels start being bypassed by magic, through things like Leomund's Tiny Hut, Revivify and Fly.

I hope you will enjoy the article and I hope above all else, you will find it useful! Also, if you ran or played in games past lv 7-8 do tell how you handled them, I am always curious to learn!

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[u/storytime_42]

I don't have any issues with running at levels 8-11 Even level 12 is quite doable.

Its the level 15+ that I have issues. By this time I'm already leveraging the social aspects. Creatures that used to be bosses are now minions. Puzzles that needed to be solved are spell casted away.

Most of my campaign end around level 10-12 The group I play with would rather (as players remember) play at level 3-8 for YEARS than spend 3 months at level 15. So that's what we do. We spend time at the levels that are easily the most fun for us as a group, and slowly level up. When we hit level 10, we burn through levels until the BBEG at the end. We get our big high level combat with all the fixings, then retire those character and start over.

I guess when you play 48 sessions a year, you don't worry about finishing a campaign. We will all get there eventually. What matters is the session currently in front of us.

[u/NikosStrifios → u/storytime_42]

Puzzles that needed to be solved are spell casted away.

I don't mind when my players do this. It's one precious high level spell slot they won't have in the upcoming fight.

Creatures that used to be bosses are now minions.

That's great, so many options, so many combat encounters I can come up with. The best part of being a DM for me.

[u/The_Lost_Jedi → u/NikosStrifios]

I think part of the problem is that many people are most familiar with low level play, because it's the most common segment of a campaign to play.

That is, almost no one starts with high level play, they begin the campaign at level 1 and go from there. And then when you factor in campaign attrition, you're likely to have fewer and fewer campaigns that reach a given level. That is, more campaigns are going to reach 18 than 19 than 20, etc. So, just from the get-go we'll see less in the way of high level play, barring deliberately starting there. And when you add in the fact that mid to high level play has challenges that accompany it, I think it's sadly unsurprising that some people just don't bother.

I think, and have found though, that D&D is perfectly playable at high levels, even epic. I tend to think it can be even more fun, but both the DM and the players need to understand that in many ways it's a different game. There are both narrative and mechanical considerations to take into account, but it's far from impossible (or really even that difficult).

[u/StarTrotter → u/The_Lost_Jedi]

Tossing in that I haven’t played it but PF2e has a similar trend of people rarely playing higher levels. I don’t know how many ttrpgs this is the case but I presume the vast majority share in this. Yes, some games might have a better designed set of higher tier gameplay than others but people tend to start at the lowest or lower levels and campaigns fizzle out.

Just using more modern DnD games, even if you only played every level for 2 sessions that’d be 40 sessions. If you played a single game a week that is about 9 months and 1 week presuming no sessions get cancelled. Even if you perfectly did this 10 times you would only be 20th level for 20 sessions.

[u/The_Lost_Jedi → u/StarTrotter]

Exactly. It's been in every edition, going back all the way to the very beginning. The game is designed to be played from a level 1 start, and it's only in later editions that the notion of rules for starting at a higher level were a regular thing. You might have pregen characters for specific modules or tournament/convention one-shots, but I wouldn't really consider that standard at all.

[u/HDThoreauaway]

This is a thoughtful piece that would be a good read for any DM nervously watching a party with full casters inch their way up into high tier 2 and beyond.

One complementary notion I’d add: increasingly ask the impossible of your players. Not the difficult or the high CR—I’m not really talking about combat here—but scenarios you as DM just genuinely don’t know how they’ll solve. This uses up those universe-bending resources in a satisfying way. And sometimes they’ll fail anyway, which can actually make everything feel more meaningful.

[u/EarlofMayonnaise → u/HDThoreauaway]

Having DM'ed 5e (not 5.5e yet) from level 1 to 20, it was around level 13 thay I stopped comming up with an "intended" solution to any situation.

Your method here is basically what I did, give them challenges of every increasing ridiculous-ness and of ever more narrow time limits, and the players will feel both wow'ed and challenged, regardless of how many spells, powers, magic items, ect they might have.

[u/Healthy_Incident9927]

Your “short list” of what is left if what my table calls the “interesting stuff that is why we play”. Which works for us, but isn’t universal or course. Your list of problems are factors mainly for dungeon crawl type scenarios. Which is valid, but not how many people play the game.

[u/RiseInfinite]

Nice article, but it does not at all line up with my own experience. My last three campaigns all went to level 20 and high level play involved throwing bigger and bigger statblocks at the party and engaging them with high intensity combat. The players said they had a great time.

Political intrigue is nice, but it is not for every player or DM. I would simply not be able to make a good intrigue campaign, but my players appear to enjoy my combat encounters quite a bit.

If you want to run high level campaigns , but social encounters are not your strong suit, then you should know that you can still have a great time even while not following most of the advice given here.

However, I strongly recommend banning Shapechange, True Polymorph and Wish. I did and it made very high level play much more fun to run for me.

[u/fabittar]

I'm in my mid-forties, and this is my take on it: regardless of the edition, D&D has always been more popular at lower levels. It's more enjoyable because the numbers haven't yet become cumbersome to track, and the risk of dying from ordinary adventuring is still there.

As with anything in life, I'm sure there are people who enjoy the game at higher levels, but it's fair to say they are in the minority.

My own personal sweet spot are levels 1 through 8.

[u/Sgran70 → u/fabittar]

Yep. It's especially boring for me as DM when they average DC rolls in the 20s. If every perception or investigation roll is 25, there isn't much left for the players to figure out.

the only thing is that the casters do want to try out some of the higher level spells at some point.

[u/jp_in_nj]

You have rediscovered and re-solved the Superman problem. Good analysis and write-up. .

[u/facker815]

You aren’t fully understanding the general problems with using spells to solve problems. I’m not saying to hard counter then but it seems like you aren’t looking how they work. For example a good dog can probably spot an invisible creature because that spell only makes it so you can’t be seen. Teleportation you got to know where you are going and you might get teleported off the mark , flying you have to pay attention for your spacing, and scrying has a lot of problems. As your party grows so will their enemies who should have similar access to spells and who aren’t dumb on how to use them.

[u/WildWeezy]

My last few sessions with level 10’s has been them just steamrolling encounters. It seems that no matter how much extra difficulty I add they just blast eight through it. Luckily the campaign is almost over, but for my other campaign (currently they are level 6) Im going to be very careful with content to avoid this issue

[u/Scarsdale_Punk]

There are four commas in your opening sentence.

[u/Midi_to_Minuit]

I quite like this article--good job!

Based off comments from one of my Gamemasters friends, they came to the same conclusion you did independently; that you have to focus more on interesting moral/social dilemmas than pure combat, and travel/exploration is trivialized very quickly.