How D&D finally made playing past level 20 worth it

Dungeons & Dragons is finally encouraging level 20 gameplay with new mechanics and suggestions in the Player’s Handbook (2024).

While many D&D players create and build characters with the hopes of reaching their maximum potential, the fact is that few campaigns actually reach level 20.

For one, many prewritten adventures end somewhere between levels 12 and 15. High-level play is also a huge challenge for Dungeon Masters, who need to account for their players’ powerful and potentially world-altering abilities and players who tend to gain more complex options as they get stronger.

Even those groups who are up to that challenge may find that experience underwhelming, though. After all, Dungeons & Dragons is about the journey and character development – both in terms of narrative and mechanical builds.

All that can make level 20 feel like the end of the line, meaning those who even make it to level 20 will probably only get to use their most powerful abilities for the grand finale of the campaign.

However, the Player’s Handbook (2024) makes a big change and interesting suggestion that makes level 20 play more enticing.

Wizards of the Coast

The first of the newly revised Core Rulebooks overhauls D&D’s feat system, which was previously an optional mechanic. The PHB (2024) introduces categories for feats: Origin, General, Fighting Style, and Epic Boon.

That last category is perfect for encouraging high-level play. Epic Boons can only be chosen once you’ve reached level 19, with every class getting one at this point.

Beyond that, the section on level advancement and rules associated with it makes an interesting suggestion: giving players additional feats once they’ve hit max level.

The section reads as follows:

Bonus Feats at Level 20

A DM can use feats as a form of advancement after characers reach level 20 to provide greated power to characters who have no more levels to gain … Epic Boon feats are especailyl appropriate for these bonus feats, but a player can choose any feat for which their level 20 character qualifies.

Player’s Handbook (2024), pg 43

While the PHB suggests giving characters a new feat for every 30,000 XP they gain after reaching the max level, those who use milestones for advancement can offer upgrades after major story or campaign events.

This advice gives players a reason to stick with their characters for the long haul by providing something to work towards outside the narrative.

Wizards of the Coast

It’s also part of a larger shift from D&D’s designers to give high-level play more attention. In August 2023, lead designer Jeremy Crawford teased that more high-level content was in the works for the rules revision and other projects.

Since then, D&D has released Vecna: Eve of Ruin, an adventure that takes players from level 10 to level 20, culminating in an epic showdown with the iconic villain.

Wizards of the Coast’s typical focus on lower-level content does make sense. In the aforementioned interview, Crawford referred to levels 1 through 10 as “the heart of the iconic D&D story” – and he’s not wrong about that. The early levels see players go from near-powerless to capable adventurers.

But while the zero-to-hero story arc will always have its place in D&D, promoting play at higher levels – including the highest level – has plenty of merits.

This is the point where players can really live out their power fantasies. Martial characters can deal multiple powerful blows (often with extra effects), and spellcasters gain stunning powers like True Resurrection and Time Stop.

With D&D being such a flexible game that lets players adventure however they choose, it’s great to see the designers providing even more ways to enjoy the world’s oldest roleplaying game.