I asked this question in the older product line under Shackled City but perhaps not many read or peruse the area. All of Paizo's Adventure Paths are usually designed for 4 player characters. I plan on running a shackled city campaign and see that in the introduction it recommends 6 player characters. Has anyone run this adventure path and who can speak from experience? Is it designed for six player characters regarding challenge? It is stated and seems like a difficult adventure path as it is and I don't want to doom the party from the start if they only begin with four or five characters. Would appreciate some input. Thanks in advance.
I couldn't find any reference to 6 characters being recommended in the introduction to the Shackled City hardcover. As such I'd assume it's designed for 4 characters, as virtually all other published WotC and Paizo adventures.
In any case, if an adventure recommends 6 PCs, then the challenges should be tailored to that amount of PCs.
Which page is the reference to 6 PCs on?
It is on page 400 under character creation. Paragraph 3
Interesting. It's strange to tuck that kind of information away in the character creation chapter rather than in the introduction to the adventure itself, where that kind of information is usually placed.
Since the book says the challenges are created for a party of 6 characters, you should probably tone it done a little for a party of 4 characters. At least until you can gauge how well they handle those encounters.
You might want to try some encounters as-is, too, but if you do I'd suggest leaving the path open for retreat if the PCs have a hard time (or for the enemies to withdraw from combat).
(I haven't actually had a chance to play this yet, despite having had the book since it was released..)
It is on page 400 under character creation. Paragraph 3
I have played part of with my old group 4 years ago,we had 4 players and the dm didnt adjust for it we lost two characters very early in the game.better to get six players but will still be challanging for that many.
Shackled City can be used with 6 people just due to its difficulty, but if all of the players are really good then you might want to adjust if you want to keep the same level of difficulty.
If you only have 4 players then they better be good. It is not as hard as AoW, but it is still not a walk in the park.