I'm guessing that while it is in the magazines, Age of Worms is ment for 4 characters, same as most of the other adventures. However, if/when it comes out in hardcover, it will be tweeked enough for it to be ment for 6 characters. It's what was done with Shackled City and I don't see why they won't treat Age of Worms any differently.
The players in the game I'm DMing actually just added a sixth person and seventh character. We've had five PCs since Three Faces of Evil began, then added a cohort NPC in Hall of Harsh Reflections. Now that one of the original players is leaving in a few sessions, we've added another player to take his place. Another NPC cohort will soon be added as well (for rather nefarious purposes, I might add... /evil laugh), bringing the total party size up to 7.
I think that it's actually a good thing for the AP, since part of the advice given to the players on how to kill Kyuss is gather as many allies as you can. It gives the playes a better idea how to manage their (many) resources, and streamline combat.
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My group has five players (one PC each), with characters generated on a 32-Point Buy. There have been numerous near-deaths and two fatalities so far, and we're just finishing the Whispering Cairn!
This AP is no cakewalk. Even if it was originally intended for four characters, very little (if any) tweaking is needed to make it a challenge for six.
My gang started with 6 but has increased to 8. Most of the sessions have had 1 or 2 players absent and their characters left in town to arrange supplies or some such. The party is fighter heavy with 1 thief, 1 mage, 1 cleric, 3 fighters, 1 monk and 1 ranger/cleric. The first couple of sessions went fairly sommthly for the party so I began to tweak things slightly (usually just maxing hit points for the existing monsters). Finally killed a character when he went charging into the chamber of the lizard chieftan and was cut off from support. He nearly killed the chieftan but the last swing by the chief was a crit and down went the dwarf. I think that the player is now switching to another spellcaster, maybe a mage. I have come close on a few encounters before this to killing characters but I generally don't like to do this (unless a player does something stupid) since we only play once a month.
We started out with 7 but, due to people not making it, usually only have 5 characters playing a session.
they were all created with 32 pt system.
I would NOT go with only 4 players...They will die fast and often.
I like 6 as challenges come over very hard...If anything I would tweak the enemies to lower their abilities if only trying with 4 characters. I tweaked to make the enemies harder with 6-7 players and found it way too hard for them. the playing expience lost itelf. Remember..You are playing for fun. Dont make it too easy and cheesy but hard enough they they enjoy the belief that their death can be achieved.
We have had numerous near death experiences, 3 confirmed kills and a TPK last session, from the 2 hiding archers on the ledge in the chasm of the 3FoE, that got turned into a 'the enemies take your unconcious bodies into the lair of the female barbarian. She wants to use you as allies in her battle against some chokers'.
This is a hard adventure
We started out with 7 but, due to people not making it, usually only have 5 characters playing a session.
they were all created with 32 pt system.
I would NOT go with only 4 players...They will die fast and often.
I like 6 as challenges come over very hard...If anything I would tweak the enemies to lower their abilities if only trying with 4 characters. I tweaked to make the enemies harder with 6-7 players and found it way too hard for them. the playing expience lost itelf. Remember..You are playing for fun. Dont make it too easy and cheesy but hard enough they they enjoy the belief that their death can be achieved.
We have had numerous near death experiences, 3 confirmed kills and a TPK last session, from the 2 hiding archers on the ledge in the chasm of the 3FoE, that got turned into a 'the enemies take your unconcious bodies into the lair of the female barbarian. She wants to use you as allies in her battle against some chokers'.
This is a hard adventure
the group i am playing in at the moment only has two player characters, both were 30pt builds and started at 3rd instead of 1st... that said we almost had a TPK in the first encounter. we have been left wondering at the wisdom of neither of us chosing a cleric but with a high enough level in UMD we are coping with a wand of CLW... it is possible to survive it if you play it well enough (and of course the DM tailors the adventure accordingly.
I run a group of four players who started the campaign at 2nd level (I explained that as their all being elves and having traveled to the starting location, earning XP along the way). We lost one in the "ball chamber" to the Grick (they didn't use the one magic weapon they'd found), but nothing else. Even the fight at the Observatory (while close) didn't kill anyone. I expect we'll likely lose someone in the "Three Faces" adventure since it's basically a slaughterfest and these aren't terribly experienced players. I'll probably bring in a few cohorts as backup.