Imper1um
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We've all encountered these parties.
- You are running an undead campaign. Vampires, Zombies, Undead Witches, etc. The party that sits at your table: Two Level 11 Paladins, Two Level 11 Clerics, a rogue with high AC, and a Wizard specializing in Holy stuff. You run the highest tier, but it's not enough. They don't have enough hit points. There's six AC 15 undead and they rape the undeadness out of them. It gets to the final fight and they've already prepared for undead. Consecrate goes off, the main boss is cornered, and all he has are minions which do absolutely nothing.
- You're running a campaign in which the enemies damage hard, but they can't hit worth their weight in copper pieces. Or, the party is full of rogues and all the enemies get their best damage...with Sneak attacks.
- You're running a campaign which the big bad guy is a spellcaster, but a Cleric with the Travel domain, a Wizard with Dimension Door or whatever gets the four fighters right around the Wizard with 48 HP and 18 AC.
These are just a few examples. As a GM playing Home-brew, I've always taken campaigns that just undercut the power of the players and add extras. Enemies take class levels. They pick up magical weaponry. They took the 25 point buy instead of 20. Unfortunately, in Pathfinder Society, it's not possible. You must run it [u]exactly[/u] as written.
So, here's an addition for future modules I suggest:
+APL Option (Name needs work):
Give the GMs the option, at the highest tier of the campaign, to add something extra per encounter. Let's say your party must be 7 players (PPP rules). I would want to give the monsters a little more 'oomph' to make the party think before they rush inside. This option is completely optional for the GM to run, and should only be ran if the ACL of the party is within the Level Range of the highest tier of the campaign.
For example, if you are in a Tier 7-8, 10-11 campaign, and the APL puts the party at 10.9, this option would be available, however, if your party's APL is 9.2, this option cannot be allowed. Furthermore, if your party is 3 or 4 players, this option cannot be allowed.
What I would request out of this is that the monsters are advanced. Under [u]no[/u] circumstances should this module addition [u]add[/u] extra monsters, especially if you're just throwing 36 AC15 monsters with +5 to hit against the PCs (those that have run this campaign know exactly what I am talking about.) Monsters should be harder to hit, bigger, and DCs should be bigger.
Lastly, this shouldn't change the overall gold output of the module. Just because you ran with this rule doesn't mean the PCs get any more loot, it just means that the monsters are more attuned to your party (which is how DnD/Pathfinder should be ran), and gives you the correct amount of gold anyways (since if you ran with the +APL, it's generally assuming that your party is bigger, so the total loot is bigger, but since your party is larger, the split goes more ways, so you get the exact same amount of loot.
Overall, I love PFS. It's open, it's nice, and everyone who plays is courteous and generally helpful, trying to have a good time. I try to 'spice it up' by 'filling in the gaps' when the module has no description for whatever, or for when a module doesn't list how a character reacts, and I'm glad that the PFS games that I've gone to have appreciated this. However, I don't feel like an appropriate GM if I don't challenge the PCs in RP and in Combat.
I would like to get feedback on this option, and see if it could get added to future campaigns.
Before I click Submit Post, One thing of note is that this shouldn't be a ruling to allow GMs to go 'oh, you can adjust the module if you need to'. This should be published with the campaign, as an official ruling on what levels should (or shouldn't be) applied to it with this ruling. Extra monsters, extra advancement, etc. Otherwise, some GMs could get 'overzealous' and we could get complaints.