When you’re trying to introduce someone new to Dungeons & Dragons, it’s often easier to stick to lower levels. As you level up as a player, your character sheet gets more complicated. It can be a lot to keep track of when you’re starting out. But once you have the hang of the basics, those higher-level abilities can start to sound pretty appealing. Playing D&D looks a little different as your character (and your opponents) hit those upper levels. The spells, feats, and abilities get more complex. It’s more to keep track of, but it can also be a lot more fun, especially if you like getting up to unique shenanigans.
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High-level D&D comes with its challenges. Scaling encounters to characters at level 10+ can be tricky for a DM, as my Sorcerer’s recent near-death during the first round of combat can attest. And yet, some of the best sessions can come from playing around with the truly superhero-level abilities that higher levels can bring. So, if your party is ready to tackle the challenge of high-level play, here are some of the best D&D adventures for characters at higher levels.
5. Murder in Thay
If you want to dip your toes into high-level D&D without delving into a whole campaign, a one-shot is the way to go. Murder in Thay is designed for characters level 13-14, offering a fun venture into top-tier character abilities. The module typically takes around 4-6 hours to complete, so you can run it in one marathon session or a few shorter ones.
Murder in Thay has players solving a murder in order to clear their own names after they’re framed for the death of a vampire noble in Thay. This adventure is available for under $5 from the DM’s Guild and will offer plenty of opportunities to get creative with the spells and feats you only unlock after level 10 in D&D.
4. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
If you want a longer spanning campaign that will take you up to the high levels fairly quickly, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is a solid option. The campaign does begin at Level 1, but is designed to hit high levels fairly quickly. With a little homebrew, you can speed this up as players take on the adventure in a sandbox fashion, giving both the DM and players a good bit of flexibility. In all, the campaign will take you all the way to Level 12, so it’s got plenty of solid high-level play on offer.
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden has some survival and horror elements, tasking players with navigating a frozen wasteland. Through a series of smaller quests, players will work up to confronting the Frostmaiden, who has plunged the world into an everlasting winter. This is an official Dungeons & Dragons campaign and is available on D&D Beyond for $59.95.
3. Tales from the Yawning Portal
Like the recently released Dragon Delves, this is an adventure anthology rather than a straightforward campaign book. That means there are plenty of difficult dungeons to choose from, including some specifically geared towards higher levels. In particular, adventures like Dead in Thay, Against the Giants, and Tomb of Horrors will take you through the most powerful options for player characters and enemies alike.
This anthology features classic Dungeons & Dragons dungeon crawls, with several deadly options to truly challenge players. They are designed as standalone modules, but you can string them together into a fuller campaign if your party wants to spend more time digging into the story. Tales from the Yawning Portal is available from D&D Beyond for $49.95 as a physical book or $24.99 for a PDF.
2. Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus
If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3, you know it begins with a brief trip through Avernus. My D&D group was delighted by this, as we had just finished a Descent into Avernus campaign shortly before the game released. Though most of the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, not Avernus, Karlach has plenty of fun callbacks that you’ll recognize in a playthrough of this sprawling D&D campaign.
Descent Into Avernus takes characters from levels 1-15, though some DMs can choose to start at level 5 to hurry things along. Players will find their way into the Nine Hells in an attempt to save the city of Elturel, which is being slowly pulled into Avernus. This can be a punishing campaign as you’re literally in D&D hell, but it gives some unique opportunities to put those higher-level character skills to the test. It is available from D&D Beyond for $49.95 as a physical book, or $24.99 as a PDF.
1. Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
To date, this is the only official Dungeons & Dragons campaign that’s designed specifically to start players at higher levels. It’s a challenging adventure, but a rewarding one if your party is ready to take on levels 5-20 in D&D. This sprawling dungeon crawl takes our adventurers into the domain of the mad mage, Halaster Blackcloak. Throughout 23 levels of dungeon, players will have ample opportunity to try out those rare tier four abilities found at levels 17-20.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage is technically the second module in the Waterdeep campaign, set to follow after Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. However, you can start your party here at Level 5 rather than running the intro adventure, and quickly make your way to the highest levels of D&D character creation. It is available on D&D Beyond for $49.95 as a physical edition or the digital PDF for $24.99.
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