New DM Seeking assistence


Advice


So, I decided to run a campaign that is mostly, story, the combat is more to introduce new NPC's and there lays a problem. My PC's, and I have looked through their sheets, seem to be built on a whole different level then my NPC's are, and I am trying to figure out how to build a NPC to challenge them in future battles. It is a mythic campaign, so and I just gave them mythic paths. So, I maybe bit off more then I could chew.

Any suggestions as to how I can easily even the tables, without making the npcs too strong. (I do have two advance players, and two novice players)

Also, another hard part, is trying to make the novice players not feel insufficient in power or need in the group.


First thing you should do is pair off your players and get the experienced players to help the novices with refining their characters so that they are more on par with the stronger characters.

Second these NPC's are they mythic? If not they should pose no real problem to the PC's, you shouldn't even the tables by making the NPC's more powerful that would negate the coolness of being mythic. Instead make them more numerous. That what I would do, and only if the situation called for more challenge.

To give more advice than that I'd need more details. Also honesly Pathfinder is meant for combat, if you want to play a game where combat is secondary you might try a different game. Have you heard of fate? It also happens to be very new player friendly (to an extent). It can require some work on your end if you want magic in the universe though.


Tegadas wrote:

So, I decided to run a campaign that is mostly, story, the combat is more to introduce new NPC's and there lays a problem. My PC's, and I have looked through their sheets, seem to be built on a whole different level then my NPC's are, and I am trying to figure out how to build a NPC to challenge them in future battles. It is a mythic campaign, so and I just gave them mythic paths. So, I maybe bit off more then I could chew.

Any suggestions as to how I can easily even the tables, without making the npcs too strong. (I do have two advance players, and two novice players)

Also, another hard part, is trying to make the novice players not feel insufficient in power or need in the group.

Personally, Mythic rules complicate things a lot more than you might want them to. I wouldn't recommend it unless your players are already familiar with the rules of Pathfinder. (Hint, our group has been playing Pathfinder for over 4 years, and we still mess up on certain standard rules.) And if you were going to implement them, then I wouldn't start them off with Mythic paths straight off the get-go. An introductory campaign which leads them to pick their paths is probably the best way to immerse your players into the basics, and then move onward with the more complex options.

If you want to make your PCs super-powered, then it's okay for their first couple encounters to be cakewalks. After all, I think the PCs wouldn't be too happy that their first encounter was extremely tough and almost (if not did) lead to a TPK.

If you're concerned about the NPCs being too weak, beef them up with Advanced Simple templates, and give them max HP. This will give the illusion of the bad guys being tougher with them not really being that bad. Another alternative is to throw out more of the same bad guys at them to make them think strategically versus the action economy.

If you have novice players, then I'd suggest you mention to the more experienced players to offer their opinions as to what the novice players should be doing as far as character choices, keeping in consideration the character concepts the novices want to accomplish. It also doesn't hurt for the DM to say a couple tidbits for the players to think about in their decision making.

I'd also suggest you have the novice players read up on the rules for combat and such regularly to familiarize themselves with how combat is supposed to work (and after they read, ask you how you handle combat, so they know how it works at your table). All of the rules are online on the Paizo website, so they can look it up and reference it for themselves.


If you browse these forums enough, you eventually find a game designer that advises GMs to avoid the "Elminster Syndrome" of having super powerful NPCs running around alongside the player characters. This tends to make the players feel insignificant in their own game where they are supposed to be the heroes.

If you are using these types of super powerful NPCs, they really need to be far away handling their own trials and dangers. My advice is to move them far away in your campaign and only allow the players to encounter them rarely - if ever.

If this is a homebrew campaign, I'd advise running a properly published module whether it's from Paizo or another publisher. It is very difficult balancing high level games - or mythic games for that matter if your homebrew is not of a significantly higher level.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Run Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path. It's Mythic and they already did most of the work for you.

Oh FYI, get ready for:

Martials with 2000+DPR.
Save modifiers of +40
Spell DCs in the 50's...

I strongly recommend house rules on:
Extra actions. If anything make it cost extra Mythic Power and do not allow casting of another spell. Stick to the 1x Quickened and 1x standard limit. Except for your bad guys...let them break the rules with dual initiative and so on.
Mythic Vital Strike. First decide how it works.
Beyond Morality. Keep or ban.
Mythic Haste...or be prepared to gnash your teeth a lot.

And remember, a pc only gets 1 swift/immediate per round, no exceptions. So no "I smite, quicken Divine Favor, Fleet Charge, and full attack" nonsense.


Personally, I like to run my games keeping occam's razor in mind. The rules of D&D are VERY complicated and there are so many things to keep track of. Mind you, I've never run mythic so this is pure pathfinder experience talking.

I was a player with two separate DM's and both of them ran no weight/encumbrance, no money weight, and didn't bother with worrying about food or drink, mostly because we had create water and good survival checks. This was a HUGE weight off our shoulders because we could focus on playing, instead of calculating how fast we can run and etc because we picked up an extra sword.

Before I rant to much, here are a few bullet points I like to keep in mind.

-Keep it simple. Try not to load on to many extra things. I learned this recently. Try running a pre-made campaign, keep it simple.

- Most players love story, but not that much. You don't need to go ham and write pages and pages of lore, back story, etc, unless the players will be interacting with it. I made a map, 3 pages of lore, and the players are invested.

- Keep track of wealth by level. Seriously, I had a huge problem with this. I had a rogue who went waaay over their wealth by level because they were constantly saying (and I mean constantly), "I look for loot" and rolled for perception. This was also my fault, but it is still important to make sure players are getting what they need.

- Keep plot points simple as well. I read one DM who said he likes to make villains that pursue something simply for the players to understand. Fame, wealth, power, are great examples.

- This one is arguable, but be careful with NPC's that follow the players. Sometimes having that wizard or fighter that follows the players can take away their thunder. They are good to have every now and then, but be careful with them.

Happy DMing :)

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