The purpose of this post is twofold - the first is to tell you what we will be running once we get started... we recieved the Anniversary Edition today and obviously the GM is going to need to read through it and begin work on his adjustments, additions, etc. I hope to get a campaign journal going once we start if anyone thinks there will be interest in it.
This is the four-man party we'll be running - obviously not all the way up to level 20 but I wanted to get the builds finished just in case:
Human 20th level Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
She'll be a switch hitter with a hadnful of ranged and melee feats but will make full use of the various options to maximize her Lay on Hands ability. Group's leader and part-time face.
Human 2nd level Urban Barbarian / 18th level Archer
Pure range specialist with a twist. We've created a sort of combat school which teaches mental focus, mind over body as represented by the Urban Barbarian dip and a combination of early Feats and Traits.
Halfling 18th level Archivist / 2nd level Halfling Opportunist
Our primary healer, buffer, face and wild card. Terribly, dangerously inquisitive and remarkably affable but not much of a combatant.
Half-Eleven 20th level Master Summoner
The player's an expert on the class and brings a great deal of combat versatility to the table as well as a small-sized uber-stealthy scout.
Its tough to fill every role with just 4 party members so its possible we might pick up an NPC here or there along the way but I wanted to get a sense from those who have played the AP (none fo us have) as to whether we seem to be sorely lacking in any important areas, or any advice with regards to things we might want to consider once we get going.
Also, I'd love to see the party compositions of other groups who have played or intend to play through the campaign themselves.
Things have been changed up a little - we still have four players but one of them is torn with regards to who he wants to play.
The characters that are locked in will be:
Elven 2nd level Lore Warden / 15+ Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Built as a a switch-hitter weilding an elven curve blade and a longbow designed to maximize the Lay on Hands ability with Extra LoH feats, the Fey Foundling feat and the eleven Paldin favored class option. Really more of a tank and a face than anything.
Half-Elven 17+ Master Summoner
Summons elementals almost exclusively and has a small scout-style eidolon.
Human 2nd level Urban Barbarian / 15+ level Archer
Pure range specialist with a twist. We've created a sort of combat school which teaches mental focus, mind over body as represented by the Urban Barbarian dip and a combination of early Feats and Traits.
Now, the fourth player had been considering the Halfling Archivist/Opportunist, thinking it to be ideally suited for the AP itself as well as well designed to provide additional healing and to deal with traps... but he isn't sure that he'll have as much fun being less of a combatant. He has another character ready - a counter-part to the archer in a Human Urban Barbarian / Lore Warden who wields a reach weapon and takes the Whirlwind Attack feat line. With that character this would be a very offensive group but would sorely lack in rogue-type skills as well as healing. There was a thought that Amieko could be convinced to join us, but she is a face rather than a burgler.
Any reccomendations from those whom have played the AP? We had thought to make both characters, the Halfling from Sandpoint and perhaps the player coudl switch between the two as needed - but that's not really how we tend to play. The thought was also put forth that we might just include him as an NPC, a fifth member of the party, but we had kind of hoped to run the campaign with just the four of us and whatever NPC's had been written in...
I will be running this AP in a couple of weeks for 5 players. They have asked me if they could start at 2nd level, but with 0 XP. I wanted to know if this would hurt the AP or not? As this is my first GM try with an AP I just want it to be fair to both.
I will be running this AP in a couple of weeks for 5 players. They have asked me if they could start at 2nd level, but with 0 XP. I wanted to know if this would hurt the AP or not? As this is my first GM try with an AP I just want it to be fair to both.
I don't see a reason why you should start from 2nd level. Burnt Offerings is maybe THE best first level adventure Paizo have published so why not take all it have to offer from level one to level four? Still, nothing stops you from starting it with 2nd level characters, first couple of sessions might be more easier to your PCs (more hp, more spells, better attack rolls, maybe more feats depending on classes) but nothing game breaking really. You maybe want to ask your players why they want to start at level two, is there real reason for it (other than list I wrote above)?
Back to topic at hand: I would like to run Anniversary Edition to someone but most of my gaming group have already played this AP under my gm'ing some years ago. So no RotRL anniversary game for me.
I will be running this AP in a couple of weeks for 5 players. They have asked me if they could start at 2nd level, but with 0 XP. I wanted to know if this would hurt the AP or not? As this is my first GM try with an AP I just want it to be fair to both.
This is what we almost always do with new parties/characters, but then that's almost always for homebrew campaigns that take it into account. there's no reason why you can't do so here, but if you do I'd recommend that you beef up the early encounters in Burnt Offerings, at least double the number of goblins in most encounters to keep things sporting.
I would recommend that you start at L1, as the module assumes. PF characters are a lot harder to kill than they were in 3.5 (higher hp, don't die until you're at -CON), so I wouldn't worry about that.
As for ability score generation, I'd recommend that you either do a 15-point buy, or use the Hero Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
This is more a matter of play style, but I have never liked the whole "character build" concept, where you plan out all of a character's feats and special abilities all the up to L20 before you even start playing. I prefer my players to have a general idea of the kind of stuff that they want their characters to do (and to let me know what that is), and have the character grow organically. That way, things that happen in-game can have more of an influence choice of the character's development.
FWIW, I have a 6-character party, and we've been running RotRL for about a year now. We're about a third of the way through "Hook Mountain Massacre," and I just switched from using my own conversion of the classic version to the Anniversary Edition of the AP. My PCs are...
Female human (Chelish) paladin of Iomedae
Male human (Taldan) cleric of Sarenrae
Male human (Chelish) wizard (universalist)
Male human (Ulfen) barbarian (invulnerable rager archetype)
Male half-elf (Varisian) fighter/rogue
Male dwarf ranger (combat style: crossbow)
Everyone is currently at level 8.
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I started running RotRL for my group a few months ago. I switched from my converted version to the hardcover last session when the players moved to the 2nd floor of Misgivings. I currently have them set at level 5 (as of last session). Also of note: we don't use XP and are currently about 1 level behind the advancement table included in the hardcover.
The party consists of (all 5th level):
Female Aasimar Paladin of Sarenrae
Female Half-elf Ranger
Male Half-elf Rogue
Male Human Wizard (Evoker)
Male Tiefling Alchemist (Chirugeon)
Male Dwarf Cleric/Fighter (Weaponmaster)
-Skeld