I'm planning on using point buy for the character creation in my ST campaign. How many points would you guys recommend?
Ditto. 28 points is working very well. Not underpowered - not overpowered. Just right. :)
I'm planning on using point buy for the character creation in my ST campaign. How many points would you guys recommend?
I'm generous to my four players: They all rolled stats; I then calculated how much the best rolls would have cost in point buy, and let the players choose between their rolls and slightly-fewer-than-best-roll points (in our case, 31). So far (partway into "The Bullywug Gambit"), we've had one PC death, and several incidents of incapacitated/dying.
To help calibrate: Two players are 3.5e veterans, one is an old-time RPGer but new to 3.5e, one is new to tabletop RPGs, and I'm an old-time GM but new to 3.5e. I think the fights are getting a little deadlier as I'm getting more comfortable with the ruleset and know how to do better pre-game prep.
I'm planning on using point buy for the character creation in my ST campaign. How many points would you guys recommend?I'm running it for my Saturday group; 5 players, each building characters with 28 point buy. Seems to be working out pretty good.
That's a pretty good segue into my next question, actually. The AP is intended for play with four PCs, and it provides scaling info for players of inappropriate level. I, however, am thinking about running it with 5 PCs. Are there scaling notes anywhere for running with more PCs than it was originally intended for?
That's a pretty good segue into my next question, actually. The AP is intended for play with four PCs, and it provides scaling info for players of inappropriate level. I, however, am thinking about running it with 5 PCs. Are there scaling notes anywhere for running with more PCs than it was originally intended for?
I am running the AoW for a group that tends to fluctuate in numbers (we started with 10, now we have 4-6 at any given session). When we have 6 players, I have found that using the "Scaling the Adventure" suggestions for the higher level party tends to work fairly well in providing a challenge to the party without being over-bearing. 5 players is in that border area between normal and scaling, so I kind of play it by ear, but more often than not I leave the encounters as written.
28 point buy, with 4-5 players (fluctuates each week)
3 deaths in the first 3 adventures so far, but this has nothing to do with stats really. Just stupid players.
Five characters instead of four doesn't increase the party's combat power to a large degree. What it does increase is their staying power. You should run the adventures as written, throwing in the occasional extra encounter to compensate.
Creative Director
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Yeah; adding a 5th player doesn't really impact things that much. The group as a whole will gain XP slightly more slowly, and they'll have to split up the treasure more, so if you run the adventure as written it in large part self-corrects. You absolutely shouldn't up the level or hit dice of the foes to compensate, though. The best way to compensate for larger groups is instead to add a few more creatures to some encounters. Give the larger group more foes to fight, not tougher foes.
But one additional character's not going to be a problem. My group consists of long-time D&D players, and with 5 players at 28 point buy, the campaign's plenty challenging for them.
I'm running it for my Saturday group.
James, what adventure are you currently running for you group?
Yeah; adding a 5th player doesn't really impact things that much. The group as a whole will gain XP slightly more slowly, and they'll have to split up the treasure more, so if you run the adventure as written it in large part self-corrects. You absolutely shouldn't up the level or hit dice of the foes to compensate, though. The best way to compensate for larger groups is instead to add a few more creatures to some encounters. Give the larger group more foes to fight, not tougher foes.
But one additional character's not going to be a problem. My group consists of long-time D&D players, and with 5 players at 28 point buy, the campaign's plenty challenging for them.
You know, it's really awesome that the Editor-in-Chief is this active on the boards. This is why the gaming community rocks. Thanks, James.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Recommend, 28. But I'm going with 32, because we're all Living Greyhawk players, and a bit tired of 28 point buys :)
I'll be running with a group of 6, so on average I'll bump encounters by 50% size or 1 CR per foe (works out to 50% more experience either way).
Russ
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Creative Director
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I'm running it for my Saturday group.James, what adventure are you currently running for you group?
They're on "Here There Be Monsters." They just reached Fogmire. And Avner just got torn to pieces by a pack of hungry deinonychuses. The group itself is the same group I used to playtest "There Is No Honor."
My group used to use point buy, but mostly now we just roll. Our point buy was base 10 with each point to 15 being one point each, sixteen and seventeen are 2 points (7 pts and 9 pts respectivly) and eighteen is an additional 4 points(costing 13 pts). We used 24 pts. If a player dropped a 10 to an eight, they got 2 more pts to buy with. It makes for really really (really) strong characters, but also for faster paced games with fewer breaks. Bad guys are compensated too.
We're using 32 point buy. Because past AP's have been extremely difficult for my group (but much fun nevertheless) and my players are tactically inept high drama group sissies that need all the edge in combat they can get. ;)
Ok, maybe one player is capable of not spending random skill points and feat slots on things they ‘would just like or imagine their character to have’ or multi-classing themselves into the ground but he is still isn’t that much of a power gamer really –at least not as much as some of the people are I’ve chatted to online.
My players do things that are total suicide (in game terms) like roleplaying how shocked they are when an awesome bad guy bursts onto the scene -going as far as wasting a round being stood mouth agape and that sort of thing.
One time in AoW's a player died and even though they were fighting a load of psuedonatural fire giants at the time another player dropped to her knees besides her fallen comrade and roleplayed going into shock and despair -crying and screaming for a full round. The wizard had to slap her and teleport everyone to safety.
Still I think that’s a good thing really. :)
For Savage Tide one player has decided to play a fighter with an artistic side, she has burnt several skill ranks into drawing charcoal pictures and painting. She has also used up a feat to gain a wild cohort and then spent all her money gained from the bonus Sasserine noble feat on a easel and paints a masterwork saddle and horse. Another player (the wilder) has put ranks into profession: tailor.
Sure my group use action points, get a free district feat and are 32 point buy but it's really to help them mechanically stay alive rules-wise so their romanticised characters can stand a chance of survival.
I'm being EXTREMELY generous with my 5 players. Each gets a free 18 for one ability score, and the other five scores start out at 8 with 25 points to distribute between them. Effectively it's a 35 point buy system. I'm also giving them a free feat, a free regional feat (from the Savage Tide Players Guide), and a free skill focus feat. They also get max HP at each level and max starting gold. On top of all that, we're using the Action Points rules from the Eberron setting.
Too generous, you might say? Probably, but I also don't plan on pulling any punches during the campaign.