I've noticed today that the PCs are supposed to be hitting 2nd level when they complete the glassworks, but I can't see how this is possible for a standard party of 4 unless additional encounters are added.
By my calculations (assuming the PCs defeat all enemies and get max XP in all situations):
17 standard goblins (2295 XP)
2 Skeletons (270 XP)
1 Goblin Warchanter (200 XP)
2 Goblin Commandos (400 XP)
1 Goblin Dog (400 XP)
The Vinder Family (800 XP)
1 Tickwood Boar (600 XP)
Trouble at the Rusty Dragon (600 XP)
Tsuto (800 XP)
Rescue Ameiko (1200 XP)
Total XP available: 7567
That's 1891 XP per PC. Not quite enough to reach 2nd level even assuming they get a bonus for good roleplaying at the rusty dragon, successfully calm Ven Vinder, which is a difficult roll, and don't allow Tsuto to escape, which is very possible for him. It's even more of a gap if they don't manage to do everything successfully.
Am I missing a source of XP somewhere in here? (It's the anniversary edition by the way)
The anniversary edition uses the fast xp chart, not the medium one like most APs.
It is mentioned in the bottom left corner of page 11 of the anniversary edition.
Really? Hm, that's weird. No wonder it reaches 18th level by the end I guess.
Creative Director
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Really? Hm, that's weird. No wonder it reaches 18th level by the end I guess.
It's not really weird at all...
The original Rise of the Runelords was a 3.5 Adventure Path, and as such used the D&D Experience Track. Which is, in fact, an even FASTER track than the Pathfinder fast track... especially at higher level.
When I converted things over, I had hoped to have the new version follow the Medium XP track, but doing so would have more or less meant that characters would lag about a level (and in a few cases, two levels) behind what the original adventures were written for. Which would have forced me to do one of 3 things:
1) Add in some artificial XP awards that felt hollow.
2) Add in about 64 pages overall of new adventure content.
3) Rebuild each adventure to use monsters that were 1 to 2 CR less powerful.
All three of these options were bad.
1) This would have felt like cheating and would have cheapened the actual XP and story awards.
2) This would have meant the book's price would have gone up, and would have meant it would have taken an extra 4 months or so (most of those to design that extra 64 pages) to get the book to the printer, which would have meant not only missing Paizocon and Gen Con, but would have put us in real danger of missing 2012 entirely. Having the 10th anniversary book come out on the 11th anniversary year wasn't an option...
3) A lot of the monsters in the adventure path are really iconic. Hook Mountain Massacre wouldn't be the same without large numbers of ogres. Fortress of the Stone Giants wouldn't be the same without large numbers of stone giants. And rebuilding each and every encounter would have probably taken more time than option #2 in the end, so there's the disadvantages of #2 above as well.
SO! The best solution at the end of the day was to use the fast track, which STILL worked out to be a little slower than the original adventure path's track, but that got made up for the fact that there ARE some new encounters, and for the fact that we gave out XP awards for haunts this time, and for the fact that we were able to do more with story awards.
So, just as the original, you end up at about 18th level by the end.
Rise of the Runelords was originally written for 3.5, which the fast XP track is the closest for how fast advancement was in 3.5. Paizo either had to add lot to make the AP fit the medium track, or add a little to fit the fast track.
Edit: Damn, ninja'ed by James Jacobs, lol
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Ah, okay, that reasoning makes a lot of sense. Thank you both.
(The ninja was ninja'ed by the dinosaur? Hehe.)
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yes i had this issue also. My pc's were dying tying to get into thistletop. Not to mention i was tweaking it to make it tougher. I think now with me appropriately leveling them and with the 3 point system they will essentially be on the fast track. 3 points and you level, 1 per session, sometimes more.
I'm having issues figure out how to replace the bonus xp reward system i was using. I had various things like rp bonuses 25 xp times lvl, awarded up to 3 times per character per session. 100 xp times lvl per journal entry written, max of one award per session. Now they want more gold as a reward, lol. They already get plenty from what i can see in the loot listed for most of the adventure.
Interesting, thanks for that James
I have six PCs; the players have been together for 14 years now and most work fairly well together. We're using the medium track, so they're a level behind (as ROTRL indicated they would be) and it's just fine.
They cut their teeth on my murderous 2nd-ed campaigns, so 3.5 and Pathfinder are walks in the park compared to those days.
Mr. Jacobs was nice enough to go ahead and include "The PCs should be Xth level by Y event" for the entire campaign, so I'm just using that data for my party and dropping experience entirely.
This works better at my table for 2 reasons -
1) My table always has at least one of our players missing because of work or other responsibilities.
2) I'm the only one who has Hero Lab currently, and my players, well, they're stilling learning to take care of their own stuff.