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.
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.
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.
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.
Just the last two considerations.
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.
P.S. are there also 8-players conversions? :D
Bobson wrote:
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.
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.
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).
So, what went wrong?
- damage dealer (ranger/barbarian two-weapon tree specialisation) 7th lvl (full rounding, with haste, is capable to deal something about 70-80 dmg);
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.
Possible solutions?
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:
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 ;)
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 ;) |