Throughout aDungeons & Dragonsadventure, 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.

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.

A gigantic turtle-like creature, carrying an entire city on its back, emerges from the depths of the ocean.

What Are Tiers Of Play?

In Dungeons & Dragons,there are four tiers of playthat adventuring parties fall into.These tiers are based on your party’s cumulative level, and dictate the type of adventures they may go on.

Local Heroes

1-4

Players will contend with smaller-stakes conflicts, like defending farms or villages from low-level monsters.

A low-level adventuring party on a wagon in Dungeons & Dragons.

Heroes Of The Realm

5-10

Players may be tasked with solving problems within a kingdom or small principality.

And adventuring party wielding various weapons in Dungeons & Dragons.

Players will confront slightly more powerful monsterswho may have larger schemes and machinations underway.

Masters Of The Realm

11-16

Adventuring parties at this tier will beresponsible for the fate of an entire nation, continent, or even the world.

An adventuring party climbs down a dark staircase in Dungeons & Dragons.

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.

The cover art for the 2024 Player’s Handbook, featuring an adventuring party fighting a dragon.

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 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 hooksthat you can use for this tier of play, along with every other tier.

Sample Adventure Hooks For Local Heroes

Here are someexamples of adventuresparties might go on as Local Heroes.

Generally speaking, these adventures will not prove lethal to the party, and involve favors of lower import and relativelylow-level monsters.

As the party reaches a cumulative level past five, the party will become Heroes of the Realm, meaningthey are more likely to face higher-level creatures.

As players progressbetween 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 someexamples of adventuresparties might go on as Heroes 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 missionsthat 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 andhelp defend an entire continent or large population within the world.

Sample Adventures For Masters Of The Realm

Here are someexamples of adventures partiesmight go on as Masters of the Realm.

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 importantas Challenge Ratingor 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 featuresthat death is a near-constant threat to them.Whatever they face off against should be lethal and have serious consequencesfor the Material Plane and beyond.

Sample Adventures For Masters Of The World

Here are someexamples of adventuresparties might go on as Masters Of The World.