Greets, folks. I just recently agreed to help keep a CotCT campaign running after the disappearance of their original GM. The party's a group of six, but I'm confident in my ability to handle the larger group. The issue I'm facing is that the original GM's method of ability score generation might really throw the party-NPC power curve out of whack; most of the characters' ability scores are equivalent to characters built with a 45 to 50-point buy, on average, with one individual possessing scores high enough to be equivalent to a character built via 77 points.
I'm looking for advice in re-balancing the AP's encounters to ensure that they remain a challenge. Does anyone have any ideas I can apply to this end?
I've been down the road your traveling in 3.5 and I personally believe that, since your really just starting, you should have them regenerate their characters using something resembling standard point buy.
If you do not you will need to rebalance every single encounter from this point forward. Not only is that a heck of a lot of work for a DM but your about to take a swingy game system where things like criticals can be lethal and make it a hell of a lot more swingy. If you rebalance the monsters to be similar to the PCs then your going to have characters and monsters that hit far more often and do far more damage when they do. Spell effects that are far more capable of doing stuff like penetrating magical defenses and that come with far better DCs.
Unless super lethal for both sides is the goal your better off toning things down.
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Honestly retro 15 or 20 point build is probably your best option. Sounds like there is a disparity in stats within the party and with points as high as you mention there might just be to much to try to finagle on the monster end. I suppose you could give every encounter a +2 or 3 EL, but how you go about doing that without overshooting and wiping them could get tricky.
Greets, folks. I just recently agreed to help keep a CotCT campaign running after the disappearance of their original GM. The party's a group of six, but I'm confident in my ability to handle the larger group. The issue I'm facing is that the original GM's method of ability score generation might really throw the party-NPC power curve out of whack; most of the characters' ability scores are equivalent to characters built with a 45 to 50-point buy, on average, with one individual possessing scores high enough to be equivalent to a character built via 77 points.
I'm looking for advice in re-balancing the AP's encounters to ensure that they remain a challenge. Does anyone have any ideas I can apply to this end?
** spoiler omitted **
Augmented simple template everything.
easiest 'fix' to do on the fly.
Greets, folks. I just recently agreed to help keep a CotCT campaign running after the disappearance of their original GM. The party's a group of six, but I'm confident in my ability to handle the larger group. The issue I'm facing is that the original GM's method of ability score generation might really throw the party-NPC power curve out of whack; most of the characters' ability scores are equivalent to characters built with a 45 to 50-point buy, on average, with one individual possessing scores high enough to be equivalent to a character built via 77 points.
I'm looking for advice in re-balancing the AP's encounters to ensure that they remain a challenge. Does anyone have any ideas I can apply to this end?
** spoiler omitted **
Augmented simple template everything.
easiest 'fix' to do on the fly.
Maybe if he applies to template three times in a row for every monster. Otherwise the players are going to rip up the opponents into shreds, especially when they get over level four.
My recommendation is also to have them rebuild their characters with standard point buy. I let my players build their chars with a 20 point buy ( using Pathfinder rules, not 3.5 ) and had to adjust every single statblock and still have to do so for the last module. It's really a damn hassle. Explain to them that they will have more fun being challenged, instead of facerolling the opposition.
I had a feeling the general consensus would be to have them repurchase their ability scores. Thanks for your input on this matter, everyone. It's truly appreciated.
Greets, folks. I just recently agreed to help keep a CotCT campaign running after the disappearance of their original GM. The party's a group of six, but I'm confident in my ability to handle the larger group. The issue I'm facing is that the original GM's method of ability score generation might really throw the party-NPC power curve out of whack; most of the characters' ability scores are equivalent to characters built with a 45 to 50-point buy, on average, with one individual possessing scores high enough to be equivalent to a character built via 77 points.
I'm looking for advice in re-balancing the AP's encounters to ensure that they remain a challenge. Does anyone have any ideas I can apply to this end?
** spoiler omitted **
Augmented simple template everything.
easiest 'fix' to do on the fly.Maybe if he applies to template three times in a row for every monster. Otherwise the players are going to rip up the opponents into shreds, especially when they get over level four.
My recommendation is also to have them rebuild their characters with standard point buy. I let my players build their chars with a 20 point buy ( using Pathfinder rules, not 3.5 ) and had to adjust every single statblock and still have to do so for the last module. It's really a damn hassle. Explain to them that they will have more fun being challenged, instead of facerolling the opposition.
3 times? I wanted at first to type a big long paragraph trying to say/show how wrong that was, but i'll simply not be confrontational and say that i disagree and that i think you are overstating things largely.
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I ran 2 groups through Curse of the Crimson Throne. By the end of A History of Ashes I was giving all non-class build encounters the advanced simple template. By mid way through Scarwall I was giving everything Max Hit Points. The party was rarely threatened unless I ran more than one encounter into each other.
My party had 20 pt build and a few extra perks probably resulting in a 25-30 pt build. If he has characters with 77 pt build 3 templates won't be enough.
But even if it was would you want to rebuild every encounter in Curse of the Crimson Throne? I mean every last one?
From where they were created at, reducing the characters' abilities to 15 points is rather steep. I think I'm going to allow 20 points, and make changes as needed; the game is a PbP, so it should be much easier to adjust stats and encounters slightly, and/or add additional templates as needed.
Thank you again for your advice. Now, to see if the group will accept this change. >.<
3 times? I wanted at first to type a big long paragraph trying to say/show how wrong that was, but i'll simply not be confrontational and say that i disagree and that i think you are overstating things largely.
Brutesquad already gave a very comprehensive answer. Yep, with something like a 45-50 point buy or higher, PC's are going to mop the floor with crazy amounts of opposition, especially once they get into the mid- to high-level range. You either severely buff up monsters and run multiples of those, or the players are going to steamroll everything.