I know they have the upgrades for a 2nd or 3rd level party playing the first adventure. With 6 players would you include those changes? I mean they are a 1.5 level party to start, would that round to two and in act the encounter modifications? I don't know if 6 first level characters will walk over the Carin encounters.
Jason
I know they have the upgrades for a 2nd or 3rd level party playing the first adventure. With 6 players would you include those changes? I mean they are a 1.5 level party to start, would that round to two and in act the encounter modifications? I don't know if 6 first level characters will walk over the Carin encounters.
Jason
1.5?
He refers to a standard party *1.5, with standard party being 4 players strong.
I'm DMing Savage Tide for 6 players, and no, you shouldn't use those changes because having higher CR creatures isn't the same as having more of them. By putting higher CR monsters in AP you'll just end up with more player deaths than usual. What you need to do is just multiply every encounter with 1.5. If there are 4 goblins, put 6 of them. If there's 1 boss, give him 2 goons with CR equivalent of half his CR in XP. Actions are more important than CR in D&D.
1.5?
I know they have the upgrades for a 2nd or 3rd level party playing the first adventure. With 6 players would you include those changes? I mean they are a 1.5 level party to start, would that round to two and in act the encounter modifications? I don't know if 6 first level characters will walk over the Carin encounters.
Jason
Ok but when they all level to 2nd, 2x6 PCs=12\4 makes them a 3rd level party. At that point do I add the monsters for 2nd/3rd in the side bars to any remaining level one encounters that they might find?
Ok but when they all level to 2nd, 2x6 PCs=12\4 makes them a 3rd level party. At that point do I add the monsters for 2nd/3rd in the side bars to any remaining level one encounters that they might find?1.5?
I know they have the upgrades for a 2nd or 3rd level party playing the first adventure. With 6 players would you include those changes? I mean they are a 1.5 level party to start, would that round to two and in act the encounter modifications? I don't know if 6 first level characters will walk over the Carin encounters.
Jason
Thing is, using method I described above, they'll always be the right level for the chapters and you'll always just add more monsters. They get more XP, but there is more of them, that way they stay the same level the campaign suggests.
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I think that there a lot of things to consider in regards to your question. Are your players experienced? Are they using just the core rule books or are splat books allowed? Are you an experienced DM? Can you make adaptations on the spur of the moment? Is there anyway you can more effectively play the creatures as they are? Better tactics, strategies, or use of feats?
I have been running AoW for two years now with a group that shrinks and grows from 4 to 8. I have added extra creatures when necessary, improved bad guys when I needed, and fudged a few dice rolls when the occassion called for it. The overall lethality of this campaign will keep a party of six average, core rules originated, characters challenged. In my humble opinion.
I am currently running Age of Worms at 15th level with mostly the same group of players (if not PCs) and the group has certainly found enough challenge without me modifying very much at all. In the beginning I added a few extra monsters or toughened up a boss fight. The only time I wish I was harder on them was in the Champion Games, when they walked all over the competition.
As a rough rule of thumb, I'd add more creatures to encounters, but not advance creatures to be tougher. That way there is more XP for the group to share, there are enough monsters so everyone can participate in the fight, and things are interesting without getting too hairy. Some parts of the Age of Worms are hard enough without modification, so I wouldn't worry about the adventures not being challenging enough. Once you get to playing more, you will have a better idea of how to handle your particular party.
A series of (c. 2004) articles by Sean K. Reynolds, found on Monte Cook's website:
Dealing With Large Parties Part 1: Challenging Encounters
Dealing With Large Parties Part 2: Handling All Those Players
Dealing With Large Parties Part 3: An Afterword
Part 1 will be the most relevant to the question at hand, but the rest may be of interest as well. Possibly it's more useful for designing encounters from scratch than for adjusting those found in Dungeon adventures... But generally speaking, IMO where D&D 3.x is concerned, SKR seems to know what he's talking about, and here he addresses the very issue you're dealing with - so I figured it was worth finding the articles again and posting some links for you. Hope you find them helpful!
Kang
Anyone knows in which # of Dragon Magazine is that article he's talking about, Dungeoncraft, located?