I feel my players have been under-challenged for a little while. We're reaching the end of Hook Mountain Massacre, and they actually almost beat Black Magga (albeit lucky rolls were involved.)
I'm hoping to withhold new levels from them for a little while, perhaps not leveling to 9th until they dispatch Barl Breakbones. This means they will be 1 level behind for the start of FotSG, and I probably want to keep them lagging a bit.
So tell me, what events in the last three chapters are the dealbreakers? At which points am I a cruel GM for not letting them be at least which levels? Any and all advice is much appreciated.
What kind of party you have? Knowing that helps me and others to help you.
Fight against BBEG of FotSG [aka Mokmurian] turned our really challenging to party of four 11th level characters. He is awesome enemy but were deadly if party donät what they are against. I recommend that your PCs are at 11th level when facing Mokmurian. Of course depending on your group, six or more PCs cam handle him at 10th level but expect somebody dying in action.
I'll write again when you told more about your group. ^^
Currently:
They reached 8th after taking Ft. Rannick, and we're just heading up to Skull's Crossing now.
How is your group doing against the named ogres? (i.e. those with fighter or barbarian levels)
Are you playing the monsters as they are stated in the mod, or are you Pathfinderizing them?
Is your group using fairly standard ability scores, hp, treasure, etc.?
What was the last encounter faced by the party (other then Black Magga) that you considered a good challenge?
How is your group doing against the named ogres? (i.e. those with fighter or barbarian levels)
Are you playing the monsters as they are stated in the mod, or are you Pathfinderizing them?
Is your group using fairly standard ability scores, hp, treasure, etc.?
What was the last encounter faced by the party (other then Black Magga) that you considered a good challenge?
They did well against named ogres, but bad planning had them attacking the entire second floor of Rannick at once.
I've been using the Pathfinderized HMM ogres that are linked in the community created stuff thread. I quite often buff the enemies with advantages not in the book, and the players still seem to have an easy time for most encounters.
Ability scores are on the high side, between 20-25 point builds.
HP are discarded if they are less than the median result. I tend to jack up the HP for the villains too.
As mentioned, they're getting better treasure than most runelords parties I have read about, because the Ardwright can re-purpose Large and Evil items into useful things. I do give him as hard a time as I am comfortable with, but he did make the character to accomplish this.
The last encounter they were really challenged by was the second floor of Rannick. Jagraath killed the Fighter (hence a new barbarian)... but this was largely due to poor planning.
By the XP numbers, they should be 9th now, but I have them at 8th and things are starting to feel about right (as long as the Paladin is not mounted). As a GM I like slower progression, so I'm curious about how slow I can make it without a TPK...
OK, sounds like you are very close to being balanced for the start of FoSG. You could probably save 9th level as a reward for beating Barl, then the players have some time off. You could use that time to throw in a couple of short side-quests or even single encounters to allow the party to try out their new 9th level toys. Have them do a little overland travel and face some non-giants for a change of pace.
The start of FoSG should be about right for your party if they are level 9. It is also a fairly easy to encounter to adjust in the middle of the action.
I also like slower advancement, so I tend to throw in a lot of single encounters that are party's CR+2-3 during overland travel, when folks get bored, or just for the hell of it.
I wish I could alert you to trouble in the later books, by my group is just about to face Barl, and I'm always amazed by what they breeze through, and what is a near TPK.
I'm always amazed by what they breeze through, and what is a near TPK.
I hear that!
I'm always amazed by what they breeze through, and what is a near TPK.I hear that!
I can't help you with the later adventures, as my party just finished BO. But we're using the slow advancement path and the 6 party members are split evenly between 3rd and starting 4th level. I tend to buff up encounters by 50% to account for the 6 member party (though I need to add more treasure).
so, far, with slow advancement they've held out pretty well. many of the encounters were VERY close (in some the party skated by with less than 25% HP at the end of the encounter.)
I think that your party should be OK as long as their feats and items are OK.