From my read throughs (on #4) of the book, and my experience here on the boards, I'd yes that it is an especially deadly dungeon crawl (at any point in the AP). But no, Chapter One is designed for a group of six 1st level characters according to the hardcover. In the character creation section it also suggests various methods for stats that are better than normal, as well as offering slightly more heroic Traits for locals to cauldron.
I personally will either start my players at 3rd level with no (0) experience, or as 2nd level gestalt characters (depending on if there are 3 or less players).
-c
I started the first chapter of the hardcover book with my players last night. Everything went pretty smoothly, however I noticed that some of the encounters in the Jzadirune seemed to be more difficult then what PC's of the appropriate level were capable of handling. For example the flanking Skulks in room J4, one pc walks in and gets sneak attacked by one right away. Is this dungeon supposed to be approached at a higher level (maybe level 2), or have other people have similar experiences with it?
I believe that is stated in the beginning of the book.
- Neomorte
I made the choice to let my players have max hp at every level. You might be surprised how hardcore that made them...
Did I miss something in the descriptions of the Skulks? I didnt think they had sneak attack. I know they aim for flank attacks, but even the room description does not say anything about they try for a sneak attack, unlike other areas involving the Dark Creepers.
No they don't get Sneak Attacks. I think that was just how he was describing it.
Actually I made the mistake of giving them a d6 of sneak attack damage, I could have sworn they did. I guess I misread, I've done a lot more reading I'm still working on how I'm going to play out the reoccuring NPC's. Do any of you have thoughts or suggestions on that?
The best thing to do is go through each chapter, and ask yourself how you can get the PCs to care about the events involved. Take a looke at major and minor NPCs who are involved. Jot them down. When you are done, scan through the list and find ways to make sure they are either in the background of the character, or can be included in some way in the action a few chapters before they are actually scripted into the HC.
Example. In Foundation of Flames, the 'lake monster' can make an appearance. So make sure that your players know that there are old (and probably false) tales of a lake monster no one has ever, ever seen.
When the crowds riot in Cauldron, and Skylar Krewis is trying to maintain order, but must also be rescued from the mobs, PCs should already know him. As a guardsman, make sure he is THE guardsman the meet in Chapter 1 when Jil's thugs are beaten up by the PCs.
If the PCs need a wizard, it should be one of the major NPCs they will meet later. Never have them meet a 'faceless' extra when it can be a significant NPC. After all, in books, how much time is spent on people with no name?
Have fun and good luck.
Poke around the threads for some ideas to get you started as well.
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If you have been reading the magazine version of the adventure, it states in the side bar for adjusting the adventure, that the skulks should have an additional rogue level, if the party contains more than four players or starts the game at 2nd oder higher level. When I started running the campaign, the HC wasn't even announced, so I ran it with that version, since both groups had 5 players (and one was even accompanied by the two half-elves).
Since the HC is now attuned to a party of six players (this is stated on the first pages - I have the book not at work at the moment, so I can't pinpoint the exact location), in lieu of the four PC's from the magazine, it should work fine for starting characters, the dungeon is still very dangerous (my groups had some tough calls playing through Jzadirune, though no one died - yet..).