Hello everyone. I'm going to be running a campaign using the final Alpha playtest of the Pathfinder System (we'll be upgrading to the official version next August). It looks like the campaign is gonna be mostly set in the Darkmoon Vale. That said, has anyone had any issues running these modules with the new system? I've got a party of five players, so I'm going to be bumping the encounters up some as it is already, but any specific points any other DM's could share would be most appreciated.
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I had four players run through D0 Hollow's Last Hope a couple of weeks ago using Pathfinder RPG rules.
We used the racial hit point bonus option - great for 1st level survivability; the Gnome used speak with animals a couple of times which proved useful; the Human Sorceror chose weapon training in an Orision kopesh (two-handed weapon from the Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting hardcover), which he really enjoyed; so we trialled a few of the new Pathfinder RPG rules.
They did okay with most encounters up until the encounter with ...
... TPK! Admittedly, I scored three criticals against them, and they just went down, down, down :-(
They should have turned and run when things started looking bad, and returned better prepared, but it's hard to do when you have a companion or two on the ground unconscious and dying. They knew it was the final encounter for the evening, so I think they just wanted to stick it out and hope they got through.
With five players, and less freakish dice rolls, you should do okay. It was a climactic end to the adventure, though, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!
I hope you guys have fun!
Contributor
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Just curious, GG. Is there a reason you're using the Alpha rules, vice the Beta? I'm running the Darkmoon Vale adventures as a 3.5e campaign, myself, which I'm hoping to convince my players to convert to Pathfinder next year (it's PbP and taking a long time).
My Pathfinder RPG game is based on TC1: Into the Haunted Forest. I've got a large party, but haven't started increasing the ELs, yet. I'll see how they do in some of the tougher combats, first.
Thanks Dark. Due to the increased player load, I'm thinking about tacking some extra disposable treasure on along the way.
Just curious, GG. Is there a reason you're using the Alpha rules, vice the Beta? I'm running the Darkmoon Vale adventures as a 3.5e campaign, myself, which I'm hoping to convince my players to convert to Pathfinder next year (it's PbP and taking a long time).
My Pathfinder RPG game is based on TC1: Into the Haunted Forest. I've got a large party, but haven't started increasing the ELs, yet. I'll see how they do in some of the tougher combats, first.
The reason I'm having my players use the Alpha is really a cost issue right now. Printing out 400+ pages is a bit much at the moment for some of them. I'm using a "hybrid" of the Alpha and Beta (leaning more towards the Beta) rules for the crunch of the game. It looks like it should work out rather nicely. I'll keep people posted.
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Contributor
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The reason I'm having my players use the Alpha is really a cost issue right now. Printing out 400+ pages is a bit much at the moment for some of them. I'm using a "hybrid" of the Alpha and Beta (leaning more towards the Beta) rules for the crunch of the game. It looks like it should work out rather nicely. I'll keep people posted.
That makes sense. I haven't seen huge differences between Alpha 3 and Beta, anyway. I look forward to hearing how things are going!
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I'm currently running a campaign in Darkmoon Vale using all of the modules for the region, plus my own additions. The group began using the Alpha rules at the start, and we have upgraded with each release, to Beta at this point. The group consists of a half-orc monk, a half-elf ranger, a gnome scout/fighter, and a halfing wizard (transmuter).
I had been running the modules as written, including using the 3.5 versions of the monsters. In the beginning, there didn't seem to be any difference in power level between the PCs and the modules. However, around level 3, I noticed that the PCs were able to take on higher-CR encounters without much issue. Currently, the PCs are 5th level and heading to Piren's Bluff for "Tower of the Last Baron." What I have done now is increase some of the encounters with either more creatures or with advanced versions of the monsters. With NPCs, I have switched them to the Beta rules as well, in order to give the villains more survivability and better options. I want the PCs to feel challenged, so updated the encounters is key.
I'm currently running a campaign in Darkmoon Vale using all of the modules for the region, plus my own additions. The group began using the Alpha rules at the start, and we have upgraded with each release, to Beta at this point. The group consists of a half-orc monk, a half-elf ranger, a gnome scout/fighter, and a halfing wizard (transmuter).
I had been running the modules as written, including using the 3.5 versions of the monsters. In the beginning, there didn't seem to be any difference in power level between the PCs and the modules. However, around level 3, I noticed that the PCs were able to take on higher-CR encounters without much issue. Currently, the PCs are 5th level and heading to Piren's Bluff for "Tower of the Last Baron." What I have done now is increase some of the encounters with either more creatures or with advanced versions of the monsters. With NPCs, I have switched them to the Beta rules as well, in order to give the villains more survivability and better options. I want the PCs to feel challenged, so updated the encounters is key.
Excellent. That's what I needed to know. Thank you.
Ran the first game last week. Lots and lots of fun. Good RP between players and NPCs. Crunch-wise, combat was great, as explained in the spoiler below.
They safely made their way to the oldest tree in the woods, deciding to stay out of sight of the soaring wyvern. The halfling, ever the "run right in"-character, climbs the massive tree while the rest of the party gathered the needed moss. He was able to see the corpses but not the tatzlwyrm above him, so it was single combat with a dragonkin on a branch twenty feet in the air for him. A critical fumble on the part of the tatzlwyrm, I was rolling like crap, left it sickened (yay Critical Fumble Deck). The rest of the party takes up defensive positions around the base of the tree and the druid begins summoning something the rogue can flank with. The rogue, on the other hand, has a different idea and goes to bull rush the tatzlwyrm off the branch. In an amazing roll, he drops his shoulder and knocks the legless dragon off the branch, allowing for quick clean up by the half-orcs brothers waiting below. Using the Combat Modifier Bonus was simple and fun, giving the halfling rogue a route he normally wouldn't have chosen in the old system.
The PRPG System is working out great. :D
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Hello everyone. I'm going to be running a campaign using the final Alpha playtest of the Pathfinder System (we'll be upgrading to the official version next August). It looks like the campaign is gonna be mostly set in the Darkmoon Vale. That said, has anyone had any issues running these modules with the new system? I've got a party of five players, so I'm going to be bumping the encounters up some as it is already, but any specific points any other DM's could share would be most appreciated.
The time-frame of D1 makes it really tough for 2nd level characters - I would advise against buffing the encounters.
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The time-frame of D1 makes it really tough for 2nd level characters - I would advise against buffing the encounters.
With 3.5, I agree. The time live could push a party into encounters that they are not able to handle with low resources. With Beta, however, I noticed that the slight additions of just a reusable 1st level wizard power and better hit points made the PCs able to endure more. It does depend on the group, but a small increase in just one or two encounters might even things up.
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** spoiler omitted **
Glad that worked for your group as well.
My party just finished Tower of the Last Baron last Friday. Throughout the three sessions it took us to complete it, two sessions only had three out of the four players present. I didn't change any of the encounters, and I noticed the group was still having no problem overcoming the challenges, even one player down. Because of this...
My next adventure is Revenge of the Kobold King and I'm updating all of the NPCs with class levels to Beta. I want to know exactly how it all balances out.
So my PCs made it back to town with the cure in tow, lost a member (due to the rapidly approaching arrival of a new bouncing baby), and gained a new dwarven cleric of Desna. That said...
The spider swarm in the halfway house's basement has reinforced the usefulness of alchemist's fire and lamp oil to my PCs (I swapped the bat swarm for a flesh eating cockroach swarm from Pathfinder 13 last session). After that, Jeva was so much fun to play with. The PCs, already thinking that Elara was a sadist and child-torturer, took to her story right away. The new cleric, not wanting any harm to befall the poor girl, cast shield of faith on her as combat started with a trio of bugbears, and sent her running. She then spent a round repositioning herself and changed into her hybrid form, attacking the half-orc with Desna-protected glee, taunting the party with how she loved the taste of children's flesh. But, with a bleeding critical from the half-orc and a crushed trachea crit from the druid's animal companion (I'm using the Critical Hit and Fumble Deck), she was down and dead in a snap. The bugbears were no trouble either due to a nice initiative and an entangle from the druid. The "ghost" encounter was also a lot of fun, with the entire party trying to talk and reason with the spirit of Glintaxe. After the rogue made his Perception check, with the cube only being 15 feet away from the party, watching my PCs' eyes go wide when I plopped that gelatinous cube mini down was priceless. It was harrowing, but not overtly so. Only one PC got paralyzed, but luckily he was in the second rank (spiked chain user) and didn't get engulfed. The Travel domain's dimensional hop proved to be useful for the cleric getting around the "Killer Jello" to flank ("HA! Now you guys have +2 to hit the broad side of the barn!"). The game ended with the PCs hearing screams coming from their former-slave kobold friends screaming "AAAAAHHH! IT'S BITING ME!" (they went to the "warm room" [Area 2] to relax).
I can't wait until next session. :D
Hi @all!
Jumping into Betatesting next thursday. I'm gonna be the GM and have decided to do D0/D1/D1.5 depending on how fast the PCs make progress.
We have 4 PCs and since we only have 6 weeks (playing once a week for 4-5 hours) until our third player returns from holidays 8and Shakled City continues) I decided to use the fast XP-progression.
Now the question is: we want to use point-buy to create characters (i prefer 20 points), the players want 25.
Whow much of an impact do the +5 points have when using the module/in general (and what character creation method have you used). In addition, is it advisable to use the fast XP-progression or would this make it too difficutly to follow through the modules (I guess I will have to rework some encounters because the APL is much higher, especially at some later time) or would are the modules more "handable" when using the "normal" moderate XP-progression. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanx.
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Now the question is: we want to use point-buy to create characters (i prefer 20 points), the players want 25.
Well, based on my own calculations and observations, the 20-point buy presented in PFRPG Beta is most similar in power level to the 28- to 30-point buy presented in the DMG 3.5. This is the point-buy my group most often uses, and gives enough points in terms of power level and options.
Increasing the point-buy to 25 may be a bit over-the-top on the power scale, and using Beta with these adventures, I wouldn't recommend it, unless your group wants very powerful characters from the start. Beta does increase the power level of the game, so unless you convert the monsters and NPCs to Beta with the appropriate point-buy themselves, the PCs may have a very easy time of it.
The fast experience track should be just fine for the adventures, though.
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PDK and Galnorag: go 'way!
I was gearing up to run the Falcon Hollow series and was wondering if anyone had thought of...
changing the mysterious illness into the zombie plague?
I'd like to adjust the series of adventures to slowly ramp up to a class 2 or 3 zombie outbreak. If the PC's beat Hungry are the Dead, then I'd say they averted the disaster of the entire region being overrun.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what increase to CR contagious zombies would be? Does anyone have PFRPG affliction notes for zombie plague?
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I think it's appropriate given the subject matter. ;)