It's getting ready to be my turn to run for the group that I have been playing with for years now, and I am thinking of running CoT, just because I love the idea of a campaign where you are actually making a difference in one place and not trotting across the globe.
I was just wondering what people's experiences where for the different levels of point buys and if it's going to make that much of a difference if I go with 15 pts vs. 20 pts. or even 25 pts.?
My group will be between 4-6 players depending on who all actually signs on for this one, and there is a fair spread of heavy duty role players, rules lawyers, and power gamers involved.
So, that's it for now. I want to give my team a good show, but I also don't want to be perma-face palming when they blast through all of the baddies "like butta". So come one, come all. No advice will go unconsidered.
Thanks, in advance.
I ran this one at a 25 point buy for 4 players, I think it ended up as a bit too high, as all the rogues in the mod can't seem to hit the AC's of the PC's. If you have more than 4 players I really wouldn't recommend a 25 point buy.
I think 20 fits things pretty well.
15 for 4-6 for sure as the game is designed around 4.
I prefer 15 point buys for even the standard 4 PC group, but I'm also the kind of GM that doesnt want to have to modify every encounter and I don't really like characters that are overpowered.
Thanks daemonprince and BobROE for your input.
I was kinda leaning away from 25 points already, so I really appreciate you telling me that 25 points seemed a bit much for your 4 player team. As my table may have more than 4 potentially I will definitely steer clear of the 25 point build.
As for Bob's table of 5 with the 15 point build. Did your player's have any problems building their characters under the standard point buy? Were there any player's who felt that this made their characters "not as good" because they couldn't have higher ability scores? I'm guessing the answer is no, but it never hurts to ask and admittedly one or two of my players may bring on the whining about low stats and I was wondering how another DM/GM handled it.
Thanks again to both of you, and I would also be very happy to hear anyone else's opinion on the subject.
15 for 4-6 for sure as the game is designed around 4.
I prefer 15 point buys for even the standard 4 PC group, but I'm also the kind of GM that doesnt want to have to modify every encounter and I don't really like characters that are overpowered.
Thanks for the feedback, Sunderstone! I also don't like to run games where the players are particularly overpowered because as fun as it is in the beginning, it can really contribute to the overall break down in the later levels of the game.
I don't really mind altering encounters from what's in the AP but I would prefer to do it because of what the players have done leading up to the encounter, as opposed to having to do it just because they PC's are too beefy for the encounter as written.
Not at all, but it was our first PF campaign so they may not have considered the existance of a higher point buy (my players don't read the core rulesbooks very closely).
Also, none of my players are really power gamers, so the lower stat values may not be a huge issue for them.
Thanks again Bob! The feedback is much appreciated. My players have been around the PF-block a couple of times and I'm sure they have all to some extent have had their noses buried into the core rules, as well as many of the other splat books. This makes my players a bit different than the ones you ran the AP for, however, I don't see any reason why the same rules couldn't apply.
I think I will go ahead and stick with the 15 point buy for the group. If my players are unhappy with it and have any valid points to bring up that might change my mind, I might go up to 20, but they'll have to be pretty convincing.
I've never been a believer in stats > role playing anyway.
I used a 20 point buy for my group and from level 1-4 it felt like the players were a bit too powerful. Halfway through level 5, I started ramping up the difficulty through better tactics and it seems to be just about right now. They just finished the Asmodean Knot and the most difficult fights were the shadows (I ran as written and nearly killed my wife's character), Sian (carved the ranger up into ribbons before a crit from the paladin ended her assassination career), the Flawed One (the rogue now has mummy rot), and the Outcast King (who got his slimy tentacles around said rogue and proceeded to take her to Pound Town before the paladin crit-smited him into oblivion).
Clearly, I need to focus on the paladin more.
Starting with the Knot, combat has had that right mix of near-lethality that has made things rather exciting but if I were to do it again, I would have probably gone with a 15 or 18 point buy originally.
I definitely would like to thank everybody for their input. Based off of everybody's advice I think I am going to go ahead and run the AP with a 15 point buy for character creation. You guys have been a big help! Thanks again!