I'm running the AoWAP and I have six PCs and I need to know what adjustments I should make with the adventures to accomidate more PCs, please any advice is good.
I'm running the AoWAP and I have six PCs and I need to know what adjustments I should make with the adventures to accomidate more PCs, please any advice is good.
None. AoW is scaled toward 6 PCs already. From what I've read, they'll have a hard enough time even with 6.
Really? I'm running it with three most of the time, and they kinda blow past everything.
I have 7 players in mine. I wouldn't change anything until you get to TFoE. I added a couple of guards here, a couple of kenkus there and they still had an easy time of it until they got to the ebon aspect. They had the fear of death but still made it out ok. Also if you don't add some extra NPCs or encounters they are going to fall behind in the XP department and not be high enough level for the latter chapters.
Thanks.
I've been running with a group of seven PCs. You'll want to make a habit of checking the PCs wealth versus the DMG wealth per level guidelines, as if you only give out what's in the adventure, your PCs will fall behind rather quickly.
I've added a few extra foes, and even more extra stuff, to the various adventures. For example, in Hall of Harsh Reflections, I moved Telakin into to maze (where the PCs made fairly short work of him) but added a Voidmind Umber Hulk (voidmind template is from MM3) into Telakin's lair, and I gave it magic bracers and possibly some other item(s). I also added a couple of lower-powered mind flayers (it takes three to create a voidmind creature) later in that adventure, but before they reach the final BBEG. In Champion's Belt, on the other hand, I'm just increasing the size of the opposition teams a bit, and allowing them to win more money on their wagers by the end.
I also have 7 players. What I have been doing is leaving things pretty much as is and just giving the majority of the encounters max hit points. So far there have been a few close calls but otherwise fights have been engaging.
We are just finishing up TFOE and they are about to encounter the Ebon Aspect - much of their resources have already been used up in the final encounter with the Faceless One and many are injured. Should be interesting.... :)
Cheers,
-Mike
5 players here... no problems. 4 of the 5 are seasoned players tho.
We have had everything from 3 players and an NPC to haveing 8 i know our DM maxs out most HP but other than that I think it stays the same
Also with the treasure the two of us who have been there every game have alot more magic items then anyone else but that is our reward for being faithful
Not enough GPs? Let the PCs sell the dungeons to the walls.
Not enough XPs? Throw in some wandering monsters from
the figure sets.
You can also use some of the other modules from Dungeon mag.
7 characters total is best for the AOW.
They get hurt but not TPKed.
Its ballanced, as every installment clearly states, for 4 people of X level.
Some parts of it are quite difficult, to be sure. Three Faces of Evil might be one of them.
But many parts are a coast.
I'm running it at the moment for a group that at its largest is 7.
By preference I add levels to things, or HD, before I add numbers, since numbers can skew the CR of an encounter very quickly.
Running AoW for 7 people without changing it will result in lower than average wealth and lower than average levels, I dont reccomend that at all. Bumping the wealth or XP to compensate results in a cakewalk.
Do the math, fudge when the recipe calls for fudge, and you get a better result.
We may be in agreement.
I was suggesting additional encounters.
Many of the encounters are difficult for 7 standard characters.
With the ball bering room, hall of mirrors, and Belt betting,
a savy group of characters should have no problem with GPs.
I am just starting my prep work on the AOW, and some of my players wanted to know whether or not they could Gestalt their characters. I have five regular players two have been gaming 20+ years the others just a few.
Just wondering whether the gestalt will overpower of not be enough.
You've asked a good question. Just tonight I ran the first session in an adapted AoW-Eberron campaign of my own devising. I have six PCs, and just added a seventh tonight as one of the player's significant others wished to play as well. Each PC started as 2nd level gestalt characters, with a bonus feat every level instead of 1st, 3rd, etc. We have:
Malharath - LG Male kalashtar paladin 2 (Silver Flame)//soulknife 2 (took the silver soulknife feat)
Lanharath - CN Male kalashtar lurk 2//duskblade 2
Kessler - LG Male human cleric 2 (Silver Flame)// monk 2 (Mark of Sentinel, unattached to the house, quite an involved background)
Timison - CN Male human artificer 2//wizard 2 (Mark of Making, Cannith apprentice)
Raesgar - N Male dark fey-kissed whisper gnome rogue 2//shadowcaster 2 (Mark of Scribing, has an awesome history, more interested in alchemy, posions, and shadowy nymphs that come in the night to kidnap you; if you've read the fey-kissed template in the Book of Templates you have an idea of what I'm talking about and how he has the dark template)
River Champion - CG Male goliath barbarian 2//totemist 2
Odell - LN Female human knight 2//fighter 2 (followed the three adventurers all the way from Sharn to Diamond Lake, aiming to get back at Tirra for some wrongdoing, a personal slight it would seem)
The game was originally adpated with six PCs in mind, and I decided to leave everything the same even though a seventh PC was joining. Each encounter in the Whispering Cairn was increased to a CR 5, more or less. For example:
- The wolf encounter became an advanced tiger.
- The beetle swarm that floods up the collapsed elevator shaft became Ulavant as a ghast, followed by three of his associates as ghouls (the rest of the bug encounters were changed or removed).
- The insane small water elemental became two insnae medium water elementals.
- Artophanx became an advanced half-fiendish medium earth elemental (5 HD).
- I removed the brown mold and instead had the orange paste spilling forth across the same area, providing suitable nutrition for three whip jellies (Tome of Horrors III).
- The lurking strangler became a shadow choker rogue 2 named Iisk, sent into the Cairn Hills by the Faceless One just as the original creature was. Once the group came down, the choker, still hiding, watched them fight with the jellies and then Artophanx, gathering information on these intriguing newcomers before hightailing it out of the Lair of the Architect (now that the PCs have the elevator working again) and heading back towards town to report to its master... the Faceless One will be interested in these adventurers.
- In Alastaor's Haunt, I replaced the grick with an average xorn, bound to the chamber to guard it, and the metal spheres with shifting sand, difficult terrain and random squares of quicksand (the trap still fires iron spheres, but the sand draws the spheres down into funnel-like chutes in the floor that channel the balls back into launch feeds). Devices in the walls stir the sand when an intruder falls into the room, so the device will have to be disabled to dig and search for Alastor's bones.
- I put a tall barn behind the Land's house, and that is where I had the owlbears keep their lair. What actually occured was the female owlbear's mate (an advanced male owlbear, brought to CR 6) was out hunting at the time Kullen and Co. arrived to dig up the Land family skeletons. Skutch wandered too close to the barn once they had finished (and stopped for a smoke break), and ended up drawing the ire of the owlbear prowling inside. Skutch was caught off-gaurd and torn to bits. Kullen and Co. ran when they heard him scream and took their revenge out on the female owlbear and her cubs, leaving none alive. They hauled off not only the Land family bones but the corpse of the female owlbear, deciding Filge would pay premium for the body. When the PCs arrive, the male owlbear has returned and is suicidal with rage, lashing out at anyone it can detect from its shadowy lair in the barn.
- Kullen is upped to barbarian 5 (w/PA & Mad Foam Rager); Rastophan is ranger 4, and lost his animal companion for Distracting Attack; Todrik is fighter 4, and lost the guisarme for a spiked chain; Merovinn became a beguiler 4. These four are battle-scarred mercenaries from the Last War, and convicted criminals on many accounts, ending up in Diamond Lake after they were illegally purchased and put to work in the mines. Smenk saw greater things in their future, however, and put their true talents to good use when ownership of the four passed along to him.
Lots of other fun in store (the Faceless One is going to be the first gestalt NPC they fight >:D). But all in all, I'd say that gestalt characters require a CR at least one higher than normal, especially if it is four or more players. I found that my group was quite challenged by the encounters I laid before them, and although none of it was a walk in the park (lots of negative hp tonight) they remained pretty much in control throughout, confident and ready for more.
I have 7 players, 4 experienced & 3 newbies. So far they have had some close calles but no TPK's yet. THe main problem they have been facing is slow advancement. With XP divided 7 ways, progress has been slower than adventures project. A few side quests have been used to keep them close to expected level. They are about to reach the climax of "GoW" and the highest rank PC is 9th. Still, with 7 of them most challenges have been met.
I started with 5 2nd level characters. I may bring in a 6th later. For the moment, I'm operating on the assumption that I essentially have a 3rd level party, so I advanced the encounters based on the guide from the modules as though they were 4 3rd level characters. In order to compensate for both the small gap between their actual average level and the level I'm using, and the fact that they're surprisingly reckless, I've added action points. They're going through the APs like popcorn, but they're putting them to good use. No deaths in the latest session, but I had two in the first when the PCs split the party in the sarcophagus room. That was before I added the Action Points. If they were careful, they'd do better, but I figure they're having fun so I should roll with it.
I have 7 players in my game, just started, haven't even fought Kullen's game at the Ferel Dog yet. Fortunatly, I never have to worry about too many players in my games because the people I play with split themselves up as reliably as a horror movie cast. The ghoul in the submerged part of the Lair of the Laborers almost killed someone because the PC was scouting it out alone. Silly monkeys.
I have six PCs. We finished 3FoE last tuesday. All characters are now level 5. Until now I added some monsters during the adventures. In Whispering Cairn I added a wind warrior in the true tomb, same beetles and an extra swarm. In 3FoE I didn't change the encounters. In the next installment ("Encounter at Blackwell Keep) I will add some lizardmen during the siege and add some encounters in the swamp.
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I have six PCs. We finished 3FoE last tuesday. All characters are now level 5. Until now I added some monsters during the adventures. In Whispering Cairn I added a wind warrior in the true tomb, same beetles and an extra swarm. In 3FoE I didn't change the encounters. In the next installment ("Encounter at Blackwell Keep) I will add some lizardmen during the siege and add some encounters in the swamp.
You could always add some pets like giant crocs to those lizard groups...maybe a giant lizard or two, or even throw in a young black dragon that the big dragon gave the lizardmen to 'watch'....a few lizard men with 2 levels of ranger and a comp longbow would be nice
Just ran my first session last night .... 6 total PC's at first lvl
Caius - Human Ranger
Sneak - Human Rogue
Derrik - Dwarven Cleric of Clangedin Silverbeard
Tarin - Elven Warmage
Roxas - Human Silver Dragon Shaman
Corad - Human Wizard
I ran them through the Mining Camp side adventure posted here as written and they worked together well and with the exception of the sleep spell cast by Ugloop nobody dropped.
First encounter with the wolves I added a hungry wolf and they handled that encounter quite well.
THEN came the acid beetle swarm and Mad Slasher encounter. I added a swarm .... WELL by the end of the fight ... nobody was at full HP and the only people standing were Corad, Sneak, and Caius. Sneak saved the day with a couple of his molotov specials, thank god that character is a pyro.
They ended the session going back to the mining camp to lick their wounds.
You could always add some pets like giant crocs to those lizard groups...maybe a giant lizard or two, or even throw in a young black dragon that the big dragon gave the lizardmen to 'watch'....a few lizard men with 2 levels of ranger and a comp longbow would be nice
Interesting ideas to strengthen the lizardmen. ;-) Thanks!
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Interesting ideas to strengthen the lizardmen. ;-) Thanks!
You could always add some pets like giant crocs to those lizard groups...maybe a giant lizard or two, or even throw in a young black dragon that the big dragon gave the lizardmen to 'watch'....a few lizard men with 2 levels of ranger and a comp longbow would be nice
lol a giant croc with a battering ram tied to it?
Crocs are slow on land.
Could the druid cast a haste on it?