So I've been considering running a game of Legacy of Fire with my online group. I would consider them to have a very high Pathfinder IQ in terms of how to build a very strong character with all the best options and gear. So in reviewing the books to Legacy of Fire I can tell even with updates to PF the encounters are still very easy, or at least will be for my group of players. So my question is would it be advisable to limit the access to more recent material and stick with a leaning towards CORE and perhaps the ACG only?
Upgrade the NPCs, including extra mooks.
Thanks thats advice I will certainly accept. I suppose more to the point my concern regards being cautious about some of the newer material that may through some of the early written APs like Legacy of Fire off in terms of balance. For example I recently finished running Mummy's Mask but Occult Adventures had just come out when I started it. One of the players took a Psychic that had the ability to effect Constructs and undead with mind effect spells and it seemed, at least from my perspective, to make many of the encounters pointless. So I'm now feeling a bit gun shy about some of the new material in this prospective run.
So perhaps some advice on what I should look for or be concerned about?
You have all the tricks the PCs have in their toolbox, plus. Don't be afraid to use new stuff yourself.
Also, figure out the vulnerabilities of the new classes. (Everyone has some.) Use them against them.
I suppose so, was hoping not to have to do enormous rewrites but I suppose with a 3.5 AP that will be unavoidable.
You don't have to rewrite everything, though extra mooks are never a bad idea. You just have to rebuild some monsters with extra abilities or as new classes.
Alternately, take into account the general style of play -- someone does lots of mind-control stuff? Recall that protection from <alignment and magic circle vs. <alignment> will shut down a lot of that (or boost Will saves a bit). Someone is a melee powerhouse --- add more mooks, have someone target his weak points, etc.?
Everyone has weaknesses. We know the weaknesses of the older classes better because we've been playing them for such a long time. The newer classes' weaknesses we have to learn.
Just to affirm tonyz's response, you should be able to run mostly as written. Increasing the enemy numbers, upping their hit points, and using the PF stat blocks instead of the stat blocks in the book have all worked fine for me.
Also, keep in mind that you are in *absolute, total control* of their equipment/loot for a large part of the AP. Use that to everyone's advantage (to theirs in giving them useful loot for their characters, and to yours in limiting the scale of the loot received if you want to keep their power level down).
I think I will be much more conservative with the wealth than I have in the past. I was always very open to player shopping and maintaining the WBL for the entire party and felt like that was a bit of a mistake as it led to some very powerful characters. I am also going to pair down my group to 4, maybe 5 players. This is going to lead to some hurt feelings I fear as my overall group has quite a few people in it.
But otherwise there is nothing thats going to create a massive imbalance like mind control spells vs constructs and golems did in the Mummy's Mask?
I don't think so really. You may want to think about spicing up both Kakishon and Bayt Al-bazan for your players.
They are railroaded into both situations, singled handedly cause the release of the BBEG and possible end of the world (possibly against their own will), cannot escape, cannot shop, and return only to have to resave a city they already saved. I would spice up these books as much as possible to at least provide some rich story elements.
For example, I have used those times for them to also create alliances with others that will be able to aid in the large battle in Book 6. I have sprinkled journals and other sources to be able to draw the story out more, which is actually pretty good.
Simple solution would be to use medium track XP instead of fast, if the majority of the group is particularly high-powered characters. You can decide that *after* they pick (and no need to say why). I played through LoF with Pathfinder Druid, Wizard, Monk, and Ranger. Challenging.
In other news... you finished Mummy's Mask in 9 months!? Wowza. I just hit 2 years and nearing the end of book 3.
Yes indeedy, Mummy's Mask in 9 months, but it was really consistent play weekly play. As great as that story was, later on it seemed not to have as many opportunities for RP and I think that helped speed things along. I had a similar experience when I ran Giantslayer.
I tend to level players not via xp but rather at the rate of story, so I think if I find my encounters becoming too terribly trivial I may just slow down the advancement. Otherwise I hope for a fun adventure.
John Mangrum did a bunch of conversions here, and others contributed, so that might save you some work. However, those are all pretty straightforward 3.5->PF conversions. Remaking NPCs as newer classes will take more work. I did a fighter/cleric to Warpriest conversion later in the thread, but didn't play my game with it. I think the general rule I followed when I did conversions at home was to raise the NPCs a level to keep their CR the same and give them a touch more durability.
Even using conversions, my players found a lot of the encounters as written easy, and they didn't have access to anything past APG at the start. I actually ran the first two modules twice (for different groups), and the only fatality was at 2nd level when the barbarian ran away from a lycanthrope, leaving the rest of the party (witch, rogue, ninja, gunslinger, druid) to fend for themselves. I don't think limiting them to older material is going to change much about that. I think either way you'll have to do your homework to tailor the encounters to your party.
I've been running LoF with a mostly Core party of four and it hasn't proven much of a challenge as written. An optimized archer has pretty much dominated it with help from very competent wizard and cleric. Poor rogue/fighter hasn't had much to do. I advance by XP which has helped to slow leveling down and make the AP more challenging. I toughened things up early on and character level fell behind in Book 3. We completed all of book 4 at level 8 and it wasn't a problem other than powering down the final encounter
As for updating, I tend to just sub PF monsters and pull PF NPCs from somewhere to sub in for the 3.5 versions. At this point, there are tons of PF NPCs around to pull.
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I mostly ran Howl of the Carrion King as written, with stats adjusted to Pathfinder. Overall, it wasn't too challenging, but my players did a good job of altering encounters in their favor.
I'm utilizing the Monster Codex for the second book. There are a lot of good gnolls and gnoll encounters in there. That should up the challenge without too much work on my end.
As for treasure, there isn't much of an opportunity to purchase or sell until the end of the first book. The fourth and fifth books take them away, so there's no buying or selling there as well. I wouldn't worry about player wealth too much.
You don't have to rewrite everything, though extra mooks are never a bad idea. You just have to rebuild some monsters with extra abilities or as new classes.
Alternately, take into account the general style of play -- someone does lots of mind-control stuff? Recall that protection from <alignment and magic circle vs. <alignment> will shut down a lot of that (or boost Will saves a bit). Someone is a melee powerhouse --- add more mooks, have someone target his weak points, etc.?
Everyone has weaknesses. We know the weaknesses of the older classes better because we've been playing them for such a long time. The newer classes' weaknesses we have to learn.
Every class does have weaknesses.
...Except of course the Synthesis Summoner.