Masters of the Realm - Tier 3 D&D
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| Image © Wizards of the Coast by Billy Christian |
[5 min read]
In Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, the Dungeon Master's Guide describes four tiers of play that correspond with the character's levels and increasing impact on the world:
- Levels 1-4: Local Heroes
- Levels 5-10: Heroes of the Realm
- Levels 11-16: Masters of the Realm
- Levels 17-20: Masters of the World
There are many articles and videos about how the majority of campaigns - both official published adventures and those home-brewed by DMs for their own games - focus on the first two tiers of play, widely considered the sweet spot since the complexity and scope of higher tier play can become unwieldy and challenging for DMs to run. Also many campaigns just fizzle out naturally over time around those levels.
Since restarting 5th Edition, and my highest campaign character being Tomas of Tyr at 9th level, all my experience with Tier 3 and 4 play comes from playing 2nd and 3rd Edition D&D decades ago. Hence when an opportunity to play Tier 3 came up in a drop-in campaign online, I was eager to try it out! Please note that my experience creating a 13th level character will be different from someone who has played that character up from 1st to 13th.
A hostile environment
My first session of Tier 3 play in D&D 5E started with my character and other new heroes being teleported directly into the plane of Avernus to complement existing heroes in that campaign. This party of eight was escorting 35 clerics and paladins, exhausted after being recently resurrected, across the dangerous desert in search of a safe resting place in the form of wandering emporium. Being on a hostile plane of existence with the responsibility of a large group of important, but exhausted, NPCs instantly established the high stakes of the campaign.
The first environmental obstacle highlighted how deadly Tier 3 can be. Moving through the desert, a random meteor swarm threatened the whole group and was closing in fast, requiring quick thinking and two Walls of Force (level 5 spells) to be cast in order to shield the large group from the blast.
With dangerous foes
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Babau, image by Wizards of the Coast
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When the group came across some fiendish adversaries in a ruined tower, even a modest group of five challenge rating 4 and 6 demons plus some ghouls (which calculates as an easy encounter for 8 characters of 13th level) caused the party to use significant resources to deal with them.
My own character, Angoisse, suffered from a Heat Metal spell, was operating blind in a globe of Darkness, was reduced to half her health and her maximum hit points reduced by 10%, and required a Greater Restoration spell from the party's cleric after the fight.
A wealth of power to draw upon
While the party was never truly in danger from this encounter, it served as a great demonstration of the awesome power the heroes could draw upon - Greater Invisibility on a Gloom Stalker ranger for high repeat damage from afar, the Dawn spell from the cleric covered a massive part of the battlefield and damaging all the enemies in its light, a Harengon psi warrior getting in multiple attacks on the flying Chasme as he leaped 70 ft through the air, a summoned Beholderkin getting in damaging rays from its eyes, just to name a few.
By comparison to the other heroes, my character felt weak and largely ineffectual, other than the excellent paladin Aura of Protection granting +5 to savings throws around me. Before the game started I felt I had a strong combatant, but after a weak first showing I left the fight feeling a bit deflated. Looking back now I realised that by creating a brand new character at that advanced level, I didn't really know or capitalise on the capabilities of my character. For example:
- I had cast Armour of Agathys before the fight, but only remembered the damage on the enemies halfway through the battle
- I could have used the Shield spell as a reaction to have the Chasmes miss me (they did all the damage and reduced my max HP total)
- I completely forgot I had a Cloak of Displacement to create disadvantage on attacks against me
- I chose not to use my signature concentration spell, Spirit Shroud, because I was worried about using resources
Final thoughts
Tier 3 play certainly was a change of pace from my current Tier 1 and Tier 2 campaigns, and that difference was notable from the first encounter and the first battle - fifth and sixth level spells were being cast with abandon and having huge effects, the kind of power I hadn't come across yet in Fifth Edition.
It is too early to say whether I really feel the full weight of the narrative stakes in being Masters of The Realm - I am not yet invested in the outcome of escorting the NPCs across Avernus. But the setting itself certainly felt more challenging, being on an outer plane of evil where the environment was capable of wiping out the entire group.
The key learning for me was really about lowering my expectations of my own play at that level given that I was missing the history with the character and experience with the incredible arsenal at my disposal. I think for my next session I will spend a little more time upfront reviewing Angoisse's capabilities, and also, not be afraid to spend some resources to really feel the power of the hero at Tier 3!
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