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I've got some players who want to start a new AP, and I've had good times with another group running Carrion Crown thus far. Trouble is, some of them really, really don't want to start at level 1 (they've been in lots of 1st level one-shots as of late, and their lack of survivability has been driving them nutty).
Are there any APs that can be modified to start at 4th level, i.e. the second book in the series? I'd actually say Carrion Crown (lots of the opening Professor stuff could be moved to Lepidstadt), but one of my potential players already played it.
Thoughts?
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I've got some players who want to start a new AP, and I've had good times with another group running Carrion Crown thus far. Trouble is, some of them really, really don't want to start at level 1 (they've been in lots of 1st level one-shots as of late, and their lack of survivability has been driving them nutty).
Are there any APs that can be modified to start at 4th level, i.e. the second book in the series? I'd actually say Carrion Crown (lots of the opening Professor stuff could be moved to Lepidstadt), but one of my potential players already played it.
Thoughts?
All of them, with a little bit of work. Seriously, you can generally backstory in whatever you need from the first book, or add the "item" in an early 2nd book quest.
I would start them at level 3, and just not give them any XP for most of the first book or let them start with 0 XP.
You can probably start any of them with book two, but you have to change the hook, and do something to account for not playing through book one. The less the party cares about the actual story the easier it is to get away with. If the story is paramount then I would go with starting them at level 3, and just reducing XP somehow. I am running AoW as a side campaign, and I started them at level 3 instead of 1 since I am running it for a bunch of noobs.
*minor Second Darkness spoilers ensue*
Book 2 of Second Darkness is one of the best adventures out there, and the rest of the AP is only tangentially related to the set-up in book one. You have a treasure hunt for a valuable meteorite that crashed on an abandoned island, so the hook is money and getting to it ahead of the other groups.
That said, Second Darkness is probably one of the most complained about APs, although to be fair, one of the biggest complaints is the complete change of focus from book one to the rest of the adventure, so you'd be avoiding that. Book 5 honestly requires a major rewrite to make the PCs the protagonists rather than the guys who stand around and watch a bunch of NPC cut-scenes, so you'd still have to do something with that.
If you were willing to run a shorter campaign, book 3 ends with a BBEG fight and a banquet to reward the PCs for their heroics that would make a great endpoint; you'd just have to change the plotline to make the BBEG of book 3 the BBEG of the whole story and defeating him the method of solving the problem, which is quite doable. Alternatively, you could also end with book 4 if you make the plotline "find a McGuffin while undercover in the drow city and return it to Kyonin." That would mean a party completing the story around level 12.
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*minor Second Darkness spoilers ensue*
Book 2 of Second Darkness is one of the best adventures out there, and the rest of the AP is only tangentially related to the set-up in book one. You have a treasure hunt for a valuable meteorite that crashed on an abandoned island, so the hook is money and getting to it ahead of the other groups.
That said, Second Darkness is probably one of the most complained about APs, although to be fair, one of the biggest complaints is the complete change of focus from book one to the rest of the adventure, so you'd be avoiding that. Book 5 honestly requires a major rewrite to make the PCs the protagonists rather than the guys who stand around and watch a bunch of NPC cut-scenes, so you'd still have to do something with that.
If you were willing to run a shorter campaign, book 3 ends with a BBEG fight and a banquet to reward the PCs for their heroics that would make a great endpoint; you'd just have to change the plotline to make the BBEG of book 3 the BBEG of the whole story and defeating him the method of solving the problem, which is quite doable. Alternatively, you could also end with book 4 if you make the plotline "find a McGuffin while undercover in the drow city and return it to Kyonin." That would mean a party completing the story around level 12.
Second Darkness 2 is one of the best books in the whole line. It is a shame the rest of the AP doesn't meet the same quality.
You can cherry pick more than you think if you are careful. I combined RoTRL and CoTCT with very little problem just by cutting things I didn't like from each AP and moving locations a bit.
Kingmaker book 2 is relatvely simple to start with. Start by granting the kingdom charter, presume the northern greenbelt has been explored, and go from there. (You'll need to bulk out the council with NPCs from the first AP),
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I've got some players who want to start a new AP, and I've had good times with another group running Carrion Crown thus far. Trouble is, some of them really, really don't want to start at level 1 (they've been in lots of 1st level one-shots as of late, and their lack of survivability has been driving them nutty).
Are there any APs that can be modified to start at 4th level, i.e. the second book in the series? I'd actually say Carrion Crown (lots of the opening Professor stuff could be moved to Lepidstadt), but one of my potential players already played it.
Thoughts?
Having the same problems in the past. I fixed it by changing two things.
1: Max and double starting HD.1D6 = 12 1D8 = 16 1D10 = 20 1D12 = 24 + Con Mod + Favord Class
This gives them enough starting HP to take 2-3 hits and it not kill them. Gos along way at lower levels to keaping them alive long enough to get to the mid levels. And by level 5 with rolling HP they are back in to normal HP numbers.
2: I use two options for starting gold. Varies on what game im starting. With kingmaker I gave each player a list of gear and gold they started with. All of there list where low value. With the exception of the one that started with the noble back ground. He recived the funds of most of the group. And employed the other members to join him at first. Worked very well in the story seting to do it that way. Established him from the start as being the leader. (I made the players pick there role in the kingdome befor they made characters.)
A: Me giving them a set equipment list. Avg. 300 GP or more depending on what there playing. I use this to keap there starting gear up but there starting coin low.
B: Starting gold of 300GP per player. This lets them get a bit better armor then normal but not enough to get a better weapon. And lets them have enough starting coin for a few points of cure light wounds for a few of them that don't use more expensive armor.
Rise of the Runelords could work. The party would lose a lot of the personal connection to Sandpoint, but that's fine: just have the attack in book 4 target their Fort.
Serpent's Skull also could work. Just give 'em a map and drop them in Eleder.
I hesitate to suggest it (since I think it's one of the strongest first instalments) but I suspect Curse of the Crimson Throne would run fine from the second instalment on - the relevant information from the first book could easily be relayed as 'recent events'.
As I say though, it would be a shame to skip that chapter, in my opinion.