Do i add in my NPC's lvl when i calculate APL? She's a bard who will cast buffs but wont fight unless she has to. I just want to avoid a TPK on the first encounter here. Any help would be hot...
Do i add in my NPC's lvl when i calculate APL? She's a bard who will cast buffs but wont fight unless she has to. I just want to avoid a TPK on the first encounter here. Any help would be hot...
Casting buffs means they're doing the most important thing anyone could do for them. I'd include them in the APL for what the PCs could fight, and subtract their share of XP from the PCs'.
cool beans thanks.
Any advice on balancing the encounters? the first battle i have for them is 6 NPC warriors (lvl 3) for a CR of 6 (APL 6). I'm looking at them here and thinking they're gonna get creamed really easy, even if i add a couple of CR2 Worgs. Am i wrong, or overthinking this? I have a story device for calling off the worgs if it turns out that it's too much for my PCs. My worry is that it will be too little.
How many PCs are there?
Also, I tend to have my first encounter or two with a new party be easy enough, just to make sure people know what they are doing with their characters before throwing them in to a big serious fight. My players so far have also not been very experienced, if your players know the game well this might not be an issue.
cool beans thanks.
Any advice on balancing the encounters? the first battle i have for them is 6 NPC warriors (lvl 3) for a CR of 6 (APL 6). I'm looking at them here and thinking they're gonna get creamed really easy, even if i add a couple of CR2 Worgs. Am i wrong, or overthinking this? I have a story device for calling off the worgs if it turns out that it's too much for my PCs. My worry is that it will be too little.
The party is level 6? Oh, yeah. They'll destroy those guys.
Their to-hit is likely +4, right? The thing is that like I wouldn't put these guys up against a group and expect them to be a strong threat. These're the mooks that James Bond guns down before chasing after the real bad guy. I'd put up 4 warriors at level 5-- that's APL+1, and will probably be more dicey. With a bonus bard? Heck, I'd do 4 warriors at level 6. They've got 40 or so hp, and a well-built level 6 fighter or barbarian could probably drop one in a single full attack.
But, for an inexperienced group with a bad comp, they could be tough. If the party doesn't work well together on top of that? Even tougher. Judge it on a personal basis, the difficulty of your encounters, once you've gone through and gotten used to the ropes.
How many PCs are in your party?
EDIT: Solid advice from the evil space creature above.
Great name mantis.
I'm counting on 4 PCs at lvl 6 + my Lvl 6 NPC giving me an Apl of 6 (5x6/5=6). The chart has the 6 NPC warriors at CR 1 per. We are all as experienced at PF as people who didn't do actual playtesting can be. But I'm not experienced at GMing anything other than Storyteller system. Thus the doubts. But that is good advice. the first encounter should be easy, if anything to allow me to get the feel of their Characters so i can hit them with more tailored to them challenges later. Yeah, i'm gonna go with the easy guards first, with the option to call off the worgs. And the second session is where i'll start trying to murder them.
Thanks!
One more thing to keep in mind in building encounters is that an even CR encounter isn't really meant to be that hard. A decent party is meant to be able to survive a half dozen encounters of their CR per day, barring crazy rolls. If you tend to only run 2-4 encounters per day, don't be afraid to toss APL+1 encounters at them, with an APL+2 or even +3 'mini-boss' type battle if appropriate.
Good luck running the game, and have fun with it!
Is this is the first game you have run or just your first campaign?
In any case, for the first few fights maybe try keeping your NPC's somewhat flexible in terms of levels, hitpoints, ac, etc....
If it's looking to easy you can toughen them up a bit. If it's looking to hard you and soften them up a bit. It's a good way to keep your party alive until you can get a feel for their power level.
I am running ym first Pathfinder game and I constantly find myself underestimating my players power level.
I have always found it easier to increase the difficulty in the middle of a fight than it is to decrease it. Reinforcements show up. Sometimes, the look on the player's faces is worth it alone. Having the bad guys suddenly pull punches or a tactical retreat always feels forced, for me. Therefore, I always aim low until I get a feel for things.
If you are already an experienced GM, you know that GM NPCs are a touchy subject. I would ditch the Bard the first opportunity you have. Killing her off could make a good point and serve two purposes.
first time Gamemastering.
My story limited to six sessions till our regular gm gets back from holiday, and the story i want to tell just requires higher level PC's. I hate playing a low level character, and I'm sure they want to start at a higher level. I have limited them to core classes.
As for the NPC- i've found that it's way easier to steer the party with an NPC at the wheel. And she's a story element herself so best to combine the beats. Plus she let's me increase the CR so i have more options with encounters.
Good point about positioning. I was going with 4 S&S Warriors and 2 Ranged. It would be easy to add additional ranged guys if the party takes care of the originals too easy. Thanks for the help.
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first time Gamemastering.
As for the NPC- i've found that it's way easier to steer the party with an NPC at the wheel.
Make sure your players are fine with this style of play; not everyone likes to be steered by NPCs. In fact, I would bet that most people prefer not to have the DM lead them around the story. I would recommend the use of adventure hooks tailored towards the characters, not an NPC to lead them by the nose. If the Fighter is a mercenary, make it clear your story is where the gold can be found. If the Wizard likes learning new spells, make it clear to him that your story will give him many opportunities to learn hidden lore. If the Cleric is sworn to fight the followers of an evil god, tie in the evil god's church to your existing bad guys. Basically, it's much more rewarding for players to decide to do stuff on their own rather than having an NPC tell them what to do.
So, before the campaign starts, ask your players if they're fine with having an NPC lead them through the plot. If they say "Yes," feel free, but be ready to kill off this NPC or otherwise get rid of her as soon as it becomes apparent the players aren't happy with the arrangement. If they say no to being lead around by an NPC at first or sound at all grudging, reluctant, or uncertain, don't use your NPC.