So far my party (of 6) has dealt with the initial goblin attack, the burning wagon, the attack on Aldren Foxglove, the goblin in the closet, and the Glassworks (where they captured Tsuto and rescued Ameiko.) Using the Medium XP progression, they're not yet 2nd level. They still have the Catacombs and Thistletop to do. How concerned should I be, given that they're assumed to be 4th level by the end of Burnt Offerings?
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Is it just me or do the costs of lodging for flops and bunks seem ludicrously high? I only have figures for the various neighborhoods in Korvosa and Absalom, and obviously similar lodgings in Sandpoint would be a fraction of that. Even so, a bunk -- not even in a private room -- costs as much as 4gp per month in the least desirable quarter of the city, the Docks. Even a trained hireling only earns 3sp/day, which works out to about 7.5gp/month if he manages to work a steady six days each week.
So far my party (of 6) has dealt with the initial goblin attack, the burning wagon, the attack on Aldren Foxglove, the goblin in the closet, and the Glassworks (where they captured Tsuto and rescued Ameiko.) Using the Medium XP progression, they're not yet 2nd level. They still have the Catacombs and Thistletop to do. How concerned should I be, given that they're assumed to be 4th level by the end of Burnt Offerings?
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Is it just me or do the costs of lodging for flops and bunks seem ludicrously high? I only have figures for the various neighborhoods in Korvosa and Absalom, and obviously similar lodgings in Sandpoint would be a fraction of that. Even so, a bunk -- not even in a private room -- costs as much as 4gp per month in the least desirable quarter of the city, the Docks. Even a trained hireling only earns 3sp/day, which works out to about 7.5gp/month if he manages to work a steady six days each week.
In reverse order: lodging costs seem right on the mark, to me. Someone, I'm afraid I don't remember who, in the history of fantasy RPGs suggested "the Beer standard" which was an economic system that assumed that the average laborer in a fantasy game would want to earn enough to pay for lodging, some sort of inexpensive food (sausage?) each evening, and a beer at the end of the day. Unless the cost of food is out of scale to the cost of lodging, the figures you present seem right on the mark for that.
As for the XP progression - I haven't looked at the module, but have you verified that the CR/EL presented for the encounters matches the Pathfinder CR/EL value before awarding XP? I'm running Crimson Throne, and not all of the CR/ELs given under 3.5 have matched up exactly with the values presented in the Pathfinder Rules. Also, note that the module assumes 4th level by the end for a party of 4, rather than 6. That said, it does sound like they should be second level by now, just based on completion... As I said, I'm unfamiliar with the module specifics (still playing through the end of the AP as a player and entered the campaign late, in a subsequent module), so I wouldn't know, but are the RP-based XP rewards that they've missed? Also, have they had any random encounters? Sorry I can't be of more concrete help...
~Doskious Steele
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Two things worth mention:
- I believe to stay on track fairly closely with the suggested levels in the AP, you need to use the fast XP track. If you use medium or slow, you will have to add in your own side adventures, etc to fill in the XP gap. Or you can forgo experience altogether and use the "level at certain storyline points" method. I think Lisa Stevens and several other DM's have used this method. If you like giving out bonus exp for good RPing or clever ideas, then you might consider an alternative reward system (items, money, NPC connections,etc) if you decide to use storyline leveling.
- You will definitely have to up the monster count and challenge level some to compensate for 6 players in your game. This should also increase the XP awarded, which should help with leveling.
There are threads on both these topics in this section if you poke around.
Honestly I would recommend weaving an additional running storyline into your game, switching to fast level XP, or using the story points leveling system. Medium XP advancement using only the AP will most likely leave them short levelwise at critical junctures, like the endfight of AP2.
As an example, a ranger in my game took as part of his backstory that he was in Sandpoint hunting a network of poachers who were capturing and transporting exotic creatures (including fey, magical creatures, etc) from their natural homes to rich folks estates, wizards laboratories, vivisectionists, etc. I decided to build this idea into a storyline with additional encounters, etc, to make up the difference in XP since I too am using med XP advancement.
So far the party found several reduced animals in magic cages being shipped to magnimar. The rescued the animals, but have no idea what to do with one of them (a mastodon from up north)and the druid has to burn an endure elements every day to keep him comfortable. It will be interesting to see how he deals with this situation, lol
Good luck. It's great when B story lines intersect with the main plot naturally.