Throughout a Dungeons & Dragons adventure, your party will campaign through many different tiers of play. These tiers of play will dictate everything about your adventure, from tone, adventure conflicts, and even the types of monsters your party might come across. This scales over the course of your adventure.
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If you’re a first-time DM, or running a veteran table, you’ll want to tailor your tier of play and your campaign to the right calibration. But, just how do tiers of play work? This guide has everything you need to know to understand tiers of play and how to apply them to your campaign.
What Are Tiers Of Play?
In Dungeons & Dragons, there are four tiers of play that adventuring parties fall into. These tiers are based on your party’s cumulative level, and dictate the type of adventures they may go on.
|
Tier Of Play |
Level |
Details |
|---|---|---|
|
Local Heroes |
1-4 |
Players will contend with smaller-stakes conflicts, like defending farms or villages from low-level monsters. |
|
Heroes Of The Realm |
5-10 |
Players may be tasked with solving problems within a kingdom or small principality. Players will confront slightly more powerful monsters who may have larger schemes and machinations underway. |
|
Masters Of The Realm |
11-16 |
Adventuring parties at this tier will be responsible for the fate of an entire nation, continent, or even the world. Extraplanar travel and fearsome foes await the party at this tier of play. |
|
Masters Of The World |
17-20 |
Players will go on adventures across the multiverse, determining the fate of the entire material plane and worlds beyond. At this tier of play, adventurers will contend with evil deities, malicious ancient dragons, and the most formidable enemies imaginable. |
While most campaigns start at the Local Hero tier of play, you can start campaigns at higher tiers if your table so desires.
However, it is not recommended you start at Masters of the World, as you’ll have nowhere to go tonally in terms of adventure types in your campaign.
Local Heroes
Local Heroes is the main tier of play that most parties will start at, even if they start at a slightly higher level than one.
This tier of play is characterized by relatively low-stakes adventures, where the party is just getting to understand their abilities, and learn what it means to be heroes.
Chapter Four of the 2024 Player’s Handbook has a handful of sample adventure hooks that you can use for this tier of play, along with every other tier.
Sample Adventure Hooks For Local Heroes
Here are some examples of adventures parties might go on as Local Heroes.
- A village is being tormented by goblin bandits.
- A family of farmers needs an escort through a dangerous forest.
- A group of mountaineers is stuck after an avalanche and needs help.
Generally speaking, these adventures will not prove lethal to the party, and involve favors of lower import and relatively low-level monsters.
Heroes Of The Realm
As the party reaches a cumulative level past five, the party will become Heroes of the Realm, meaning they are more likely to face higher-level creatures.
As players progress between tiers of play, create a milestone roleplay moment that marks this occasion, so that players feel a larger sense of progression.
This tier of play is characterized by more dangerous scenarios and monsters, and the party’s actions may also have larger consequences for a specific region, city, or kingdom.
Sample Adventure Hooks For Heroes Of The Realm
Here are some examples of adventures parties might go on as Heroes of the Realm.
- A spell plague is spreading throughout a kingdom.
- A large crime syndicate is attempting a coup on a sovereign nation.
- A group of mages is attempting to steal magical artifacts for their malevolent designs.
Masters Of The Realm
Once the party reaches level 11, the stakes of their adventures need to ramp up significantly. At this point, the party should have had their hand in several higher-stakes missions that had significant consequences.
Incredibly high-level monsters like Ancient Dragons and Archmages can be used as antagonists at this tier of play.
Now, the party must put their skills to the test and help defend an entire continent or large population within the world.
Sample Adventures For Masters Of The Realm
Here are some examples of adventures parties might go on as Masters of the Realm.
- Two kingdoms are at war, threatening to use magical superweapons of mass destruction.
- A maniacal cult is attempting to resurrect an ancient monster of unimaginable horror.
- Extraplanar aliens are pouring in from another dimension, thirsty for blood.
Masters Of The World
The final tier of play is reserved for high-level characters level 17 and beyond. This tier should be reserved for the climax of your campaign, in which players will likely face off against their greatest threat yet.
Remember, tone is just as important as Challenge Rating or creature type when it comes to conveying a tier of play. As players level up, impart seriousness and the high-stakes nature of the situation to your table.
At this point, players should be comfortable enough with their abilities and features that death is a near-constant threat to them. Whatever they face off against should be lethal and have serious consequences for the Material Plane and beyond.
Sample Adventures For Masters Of The World
Here are some examples of adventures parties might go on as Masters Of The World.
- A devious lich is attempting to ascend into the pantheon.
- A cruel world-conquering tryant has emerged in the Material Plane, threatening to bring all of creation under his thumb.
- A cult of Mind Flayers is attempting to create a plague that will exterminate all of humanity.
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