I am planning on running the Carrion Crown AP with my game crew in a few months when our current campaign wraps up, and I am a huge fan of point-buy for character generation.
What level of point buy do you feel is appropriate for this AP? What's the "standard" level that Paizo designs around re: stats and XP progression? I know there's a fast, medium, and slow progression, and several levels of point buy.
I had the medium XP progression and 20 point "high fantasy" point buy allocation in mind, but I am curious what you all think.
When I run it I'll likely go med experience and 20 point buy attributes. If I find a group of particularly good roleplayers, I would bump it up to 25, as CC relies a lot of knowledge skills and social skills, so if I trust the players to make combat capable characters with the extra points put into mental stats I'd prefer that...but I know most people are going to find it hard not using the extra points to make even more badarse of a warrior...
This question seems to come up with each new AP.
All APs that use Pathfinder rules (ie Council of Thieves onward) are designed to be played by 4 PCs built using 15 point buy and the medium experience track. Many people opt for more PCs and higher point buys but with reasonably skilled players, you'll find that many encounters will have to be upgraded to pose a challenge to them.
The APs are balanced around 4 characters, using 15 point buy, and are spending roughly 20% of their feats/charbuild on "roleplay" or "suboptimal" choices.
Any increase you make past those (ie more characters, higher point buy, or better optimization) will make the AP easier than it is intended to be.
The APs are balanced around 4 characters, using 15 point buy, and are spending roughly 20% of their feats/charbuild on "roleplay" or "suboptimal" choices.
Any increase you make past those (ie more characters, higher point buy, or better optimization) will make the AP easier than it is intended to be.
Where is the bolded area from? I have never seen that party anywhere.
The APs are balanced around 4 characters, using 15 point buy, and are spending roughly 20% of their feats/charbuild on "roleplay" or "suboptimal" choices.
Any increase you make past those (ie more characters, higher point buy, or better optimization) will make the AP easier than it is intended to be.
Unless you also adjust the module. I use 20 point buy, but slow exp chart, and create a number of side plots that correlate to the theme/flavor of the AP. My players like epic storyline with a dash of sandbox so this is a way for me to tailor the campaign to their playstyle.
As a result of slow exp, I also adjust treasure per encounter so WBL is maintained, and I optimize the encounters because my pc's are optimized with a 20 point buy. The primary reason for using 20 as opposed to 15, is that 15 can be rough for MAD builds, whereas 20 isn't much in the way of power creep for even a SAD build. As a result, I think it gives the maximum flexibility for minimum power creep.
Thanks for your responses, everyone!
I guess I'll move to 15 point buy then... my current game has some LUDICROUSLY high stat-lines, so I think it will be nice to run something much lower powered, but I anticipate a lot of player grumbling if they can't come out with two 18's.
I think lower power characters are better for horror anyway, if my Call of Cthulhu experience has taught me anything. It's easy to forget you're playing a game with terrifying creatures and situations when your statline is so good your "weakest" stat is still a 14.
Thanks for your responses, everyone!
I guess I'll move to 15 point buy then... my current game has some LUDICROUSLY high stat-lines, so I think it will be nice to run something much lower powered, but I anticipate a lot of player grumbling if they can't come out with two 18's.
I think lower power characters are better for horror anyway, if my Call of Cthulhu experience has taught me anything. It's easy to forget you're playing a game with terrifying creatures and situations when your statline is so good your "weakest" stat is still a 14.
If you haven't read my post above, consider using 20 point and adjusting encounters accordingly. For SAD 15 is fine, but for MAD characters it can be difficult. Furthermore, no AP "as is" will ever fit a party as well as an AP adjusted and tailored to their playstyle. If time constraints are a consideration, then I would run as is, but otherwise customization is always the way to go.