You ' ll find I can be quite persistent . <| sep |> A thousand times yes . <| sep |> 5 e ' s raw rules only let you go up to level 20 technically , but older systems allowed higher levels than 20 . Multiclassing in 5 e also offers some interesting possibilities because , while level 20 is a cap , technically players could still progress by learning new skills in other classes . NPCs also don ' t follow player rules , even when playing classes that players can . You can give an NPC more spell slots or more spells , higher level cantrips , extraneous things classes couldn ' t normally access like weapons proficiency or powerful enchanting skills , etc . Ripley was level 20 by a player characters perspective , but not necessarily from an enemy perspective . Matt also explained that she was already a fairly high level fighter with some wizard training when she left Whitestone and that circumstances , as well as the fusion with Orthax that probably was more complete than Percy ' s due to alignment and personality made her gain strength quickly . This is perfectly acceptable reasoning for an NPC being very powerful .