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Very nice, Zoetrope.

Just what I was looking for.

Thanks


Adding my thanks to the author of the 6-pc-conversions.

I'm currently using them as a baseline to scale up the difficulty of all the encounters for my 5 player (power) party (currently playing Varnhold Vanishing).

This is saving me a lot of time and for this I'm very grateful ;)


Hi all and thanks again for your comments.

Replying to runebladex, yes I knew the party was far above average (for their level); my bad I remembered (mistakenly) the fight with the howlbear was for 7th lvl PCs.

My surprise was not in the party defeating the howlbear, but in slaughtering ALL the monsters in the caves (almost every mob had the advanced template, many of them were increased in number and all ganged up against the party) so easily.

For the remaining chapters of the AP (perhaps excluding last one, said to be more "challenging") I'm adopting the solution several of you suggested.
I picked up the 6-players conversion and added more "spice" on it (or, sometimes, I totally rebuilded specific encounters).

This means more work, yes, but it's the only solution, in my opinion.

Just yesterday the PCs started investigating in Varnhold so, in a couple of weeks, I'll be able to tell you if the modification adopted, to challenge them (yes, they like it this way), work.
If this is the case I'll share, on request, this modifications on permission of the 6-pc-conversion author (I'm using his/her work as a baseline after all).

P.S. already asked for, but, is there a way to receive email notifications of replies on this thread?


Lot of good advices so far, thanks.

As suggested I already checked the 6-player conversion and realised it's not enough challenging for my players (25 pb makes a difference, smart experienced players too, but, at least, they are underequipped and I let minor/major bosses use Hero Points too).

So I started a major revision of (almost) all the encounters in Varnhold Vanishing even if I (really) like the idea of letting the players skip many of them to face directly V's dungeon, after talking with the centaurs.

In fact this is the most logical approach for them and I was recently thinking how to lure them away from this course of action.

The dungeon, besides, will help with the "15 min day" issue (because it's absolutely true that a party with full resources is far more powerful) and will force the casters to use their powers sparingly/wisely (they probably will, contributing to "boost" the difficulty of the fights for the group).

Finally I completely agree on James' point about the need, for the GM, of a "dynamical" approach to the various situations.
I'm DMastering (uops, copyrighted? LOL), GMastering for many many years (started with the "red box") and know very well how to adapt "on the fly" the encounters, but I also think that this should be the extreme solution, not the norm.

In fact I set up the howlbear encounter exactly as James suggested (almost all the creature - howlbear included - had the advanced template, I raised the number of low level monsters and ganged them up against the PCs in subsequent waves, but the result was the one already described in the initial post).

So far so good; I'm working to upgrade the encounters listed in the AP to an average of CR (party's medium level +3, perhaps more for boss fights), even if I'll leave few encounters/random encounters as they are (cakewalk fights should occur sometimes; it's a good thing and a moment of relax/fun for the players).


First of all thanks for the comments/advices.

I feel more comfortable knowing that I'm not the only GM who thinks the encounters in the first 3 AP (4th not downloaded yet) are on the "low-difficulty" scale.

At first I thought I gave the players to many options to choose from (i.e. every option present in every pathfinder manual) along with a 25 PB, but I really wanted to let them pick up whatever they wanted for their PCs (luckyly the Ultimate Magic/Combat was unavailable at the time :D).

But even if I knew their builds were solid, their party (well assembled) consisting of 5, not 4, members and I expected smart combat behaviour (most of them are really experienced players from D&D 3rd Edition), I still suspected the encounters listed in the APs were far too easy for the target "iconic" PCs.

So, I'll try the 6-players "boost" and, if still not enough, I'll add more.
I already play all the encounters stretching monsters' abilities and tactics as much as possible and introducing difficult "battle environment" for the PCs, but the only hard fights were the stag lord's fort (I added several bandits, upgraded them all, played them very smartly trying to overwhelm the PCs with number and tactics) and the troll lair (one of the few time I caught the players off-guard so that I was able to surround them with almost all the trolls forcing the casters to defensive casting and giving the others quite a beating - no deaths on the party side, but very hard fight).

Just the last two considerations.
I let them use Hero Points because I'm really against the raise/resurrection easy button (I prefer let them using 2 HP to prevent dead, if possible), but I let the "minor/major" bosses to use them too (Villain Points ;).
I agree, also, with Warforged_Gardener when he says to arrange group encounters and not solo encounters.

I know very well the combat dinamics introduced, in particular, by the D&D 3rd Edition. I know the power of middle-high level spellcaster, I know the danger of a group gangin up against a single opponent, even if very powerful.

In the end, as said, I'll use the 6-players conversion (just to save time, if possible) ready to scaling up the challenge in case it's not enough.
I'll use the slow advancement rate if needed and pack monsters, playing them smartly (unless they are just mindless undead or such), as I'm already doing.
I'll use the environments/traps whenever possible trying to give the players what they expect: a challenge.

P.S. are there also 8-players conversions? :D
P.P.S. how can I enable e-mail notification of replies posted in preferred threads?


Bobson wrote:

...

Finally, how does the druid get standard action summons?

Evil_Lincoln is right, it's the Bear Shaman template (gives the summoned "augmented" - by feat - bear also some temporary hps).

In any case you're right, the encounter was for a party of 6th - medium - level and they played it just after hitting the 7th.
This makes a difference (4th lvl spells available) but the encounter was not simple for even 7th lvl PCs.
The adventure clarifies that the various monster present in the howlbear lair leave the combat as soon as the creature appears.
Instead I use them to harass the characters as much as possible even when the howlbear confronted the party.
I gave the violet fungi and the shambling mound the advanced template (same for the howlbear) and it made little difference.

Returning to your suggestion I already considered using (and probably I will) the 6-player conversion, the problem is that I'm not sure it is enough.
Besides, as correctly stated by Evil_Lincoln, this will increase the XP gain, slightly speeding the PCs level progression, not a good thing in this case (that's why I was also considering adopting the slow character advancement present in the Core rulebook).
6-players conversion plus slow advancement perhaps is the best solution, after all.

Just hoping this "enhancement" will challenge the PCs, at least when it's "Minor/Major boss time".

Just for sake of curiosity, it's just my impression or the monsters/enemies set in this AP (random encounters at low levels excluded) are, for the major part, barely more that a nuisance for experienced players (and/or optimised parties)?


And so, finally, my players confronted the huge howlbear in his lair.

I knew already the party "potential" (see description below) and so I decided to group ALL the monsters in the first room/area, just after the shriekers gave the allarm (i.e. I let them arrive at battle location in 1 or 2 rounds, depending on the distance), ganging up with the howlbear (with the advanced template).

I expected a hard fight, it was a joke (the PCs didn't even use a single Hero Point; yes I let them use this optional rule for several reasons).
No, to be specific, it was a massacre.
The spiders/ettercaps/shambling mound "entertained" the PCs for a couple of rounds, the howlbear lasted, perhaps, three (without even touching a single PC).

So, what went wrong?
The truth is that the party is balanced and solid and I'm actively avoiding to throw, at them, potentially deadly opponents (i.e. CR more than 4 lvl over their medium level).
To help focalizing the situation the party composition (they can use all the build options in every pathfinder manual pubblished - I don't wanto to limit their choices) is:

- damage dealer (ranger/barbarian two-weapon tree specialisation) 7th lvl (full rounding, with haste, is capable to deal something about 70-80 dmg);
- druid (specialisation in conjuration) 7th lvl (summoning "augmented" grizzly bears as standard action plus healing and casting decent offensive spells);
- bard (specialized in buffing) 7th lvl (giving huge amounts of buffs/reroll to the group, sometimes "walling" due to good AC);
- wizard 7th (enchantment specialization, but not above tossing some scortching rays and a couple fireballs - in case of single powerful monster, not immune to it, likes to use his save-or-death-high-DC deep slumber);
- Fighter/Sorc (future Eldritch Knight) 7th lvl (combined) ho plays the "field controller" role (enlarge+reach weapon) or reverts to ranged damage with spells.

So, I'm quite worried about starting Varnhold Vanishing, 'cause I already checked the monster listed and they are no match (perhaps just the final boss) for my party.
It's true that monsters/enemies are possibily calculated against iconic character (the ones at the end of the AP, absolutely non optimized), but it seems to me they are far too weak.

Possible solutions?
Raise substantially the CR/number of monsters of every encounter and pass the advancement of the party on low-advancement rate?

Am I missing a more obvious solution that requires less (time-consuming) modifications to encounters?

Any suggestion appreciated.

P.S. sorry for wall of text and possibly not clear language (I'm not English motherlanguage)


Jeranimus Rex wrote:

...

Does this mean that the sickle end is used in close combat, while the metal ball is used with reach? The description is fairly vague on this point, and I'm not sure how I should interpret this.

I agree that the description of the kusarigama is quite confusing.

Even if your interpretation seems logic I must note that, being a double weapon, the kusarigama should grant the possibility to make attacks, with BOTH ends, at the same range (using the two-weapon combat rules).

Besides, considering the description (short) saying it has "reach", I also assume that, at least, one attack has reach.

Finally, checking the description of the double chained kama (that specify how to manage reach attacks) and the type of weapon (very similar) I'm inclined to let my players use the kusarigama as a double chained kama (i.e. use of both ends in close combat or only one attack - sickle or ball - in the 1,5-3 m range).


To be honest I do not understand the reason of this topic in the first place, besides, I do not share the same view of the OP.

Wyrd Edizioni has an Official Italian forum and an Official contact e-mail address where complains, if any, can be, and sometimes are, posted (and native language speaking is the optimal choice, imho, if you want to express your point of view or point out remarks on Italian PF products).

I'm also an Italian PF fan (started my 3rd Adventure Path few months ago) who usually buys Paizo products from this website (I've no prob with English), mostly, even if I've got several Italian ones (from Wyrd Edizioni in fact).

But the reason behind this choice is not tied to the Italian products' lack of something; it's just I can't wait playing new products as soon as they are available at the Paizo Store (Adventure Path in primis) and, luckyly, I don't need to ;)
Instead, personally speaking, I'm very grateful towards Wyrd Edizioni and Massimo who, quite bravely, took up the risk to invest on a RPG product on which very few, if any (in Italy), would have bet a single cent (we're talking the period before the huge success in US).

I'm not sure we'd have an Italian PF products line, today, if were not for that choice, and for this I owe Wyrd Edizioni a big "thanks".

I perfectly understand the difficulties in managing a project of this size (the translation and pubblication of the PF products line) from a company that is not so big (like almost all the Italian realities, to be honest) and also the frustration of the Italian customers who see and experience delays in the pubblication of that-so-much-desired manual or even the possibility that some products will be never translated/pubblished.

But, according to my opinion, something is always better than nothing, expecially if that "something", in my experience, it's a very good product (for translation - yes, I'm not talking about Core 1st print - and quality of materials).

Everything just IMHO (and sorry for my not perfect English ;)