I'm starting a new party and I really want to master an Adventure Path. Which one do you suggest? They're all new players to Pathfinder, but they've played several other RPGs before and they learn fast.
They stated that:
-They don't want heavily urban adventures
-They want to face a wide variety of monsters/enemies
-They would prefer a campaign were they don't have to travel half Golarion (same area, same country, etc), so they start knowing the world by steps
-One of the players would like to have water-based encounters once in a while, but it's fine if there's no water at all
-One of the player would like to face drow, but she's fine if there's none
Party
-Half-elf Summoner (Quadruped Pouncer Eidolon)
-Gnome Alchemist (I'm multitalented)
-Elf Fighter (Shield Tactics)
-Half-orc Rogue (Brute Tactics)
I really like these kind of party with no full spellcasters (no Level 9 spells) and they already know about the "buy a bunch of cure light wounds wands" and "potions, scrolls and battlefield tactics are your best friends"
Well Rise of ther Runelords, Shattered Star might fit the bill (they're all centred in one region, Varisia). Carrion Crown while undead heavy does boast enough variety of monsters and takes place in one country (though it takes you on a good road trip).
Second Darkness has drow but is probably the least liked of the APs. Shattered Star has at least one adventure where drow play a role.
I was thinking in RotR too. I haven't read anything from Shattered Star, I'll give it a look.
What's wrong with Second Darkness? Is it too cheesy? Too OP? Weak story?
More "votes" for RotR.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire are OGL and all the other APs have full Pathfinder rules, right?
Do you think the party would be fine? Which enemies/abilities/spells/etc. would be a pain in the neck for this group?
Kingmaker
Serpent's Skull actually has Drow in one section of it. Involves a lot of traveling though.
ROTRL seems right up your alley.
Kingmaker
Yes that meets most of the important things your party wants.
It's not very much urban, while there are new monsters here and there a lot of encounters are vs a limited selection of enemies. you mostly stick to your own kingdom and while they are not many we've had water encounters. No drow so far.I don't know RotR so I can't comment on it but I know a part of CC and I think it's not good.
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Right coming to the defence of Second Darkness here.
The AP is fine but it has two big issues.
2) The Elves that you are trying to help are just dicks all the way through. This comes to a head in book 5 where after enduring horror in book 4 that you cannot oppose the Elves openly call you liars and ignore the issue that you are presenting. Then they lock you up and try to kill you (sort of). This makes many people annoyed. Basically book 5 is terrible.
Bearing those two things in mind the AP is fine. In fact book 6 is fantastic. Book 4 + (particularly) 5 are the issue but with some work the AP runs fine.
That said I don't recommend it for your group. I'll go through the AP's in order to give you an idea which of the AP's are good for your group.
-They don't want heavily urban adventures
This rules out Curse of the Crimson Throne, Shackled City and Council of Thieves.
-They want to face a wide variety of monsters/enemies
Most of the AP's do this. But the following have recurring enemies that appear a lot:
-They would prefer a campaign were they don't have to travel half Golarion (same area, same country, etc), so they start knowing the world by steps
That exludes Jade Regent, Legacy of Fire, Second Darkness, Age of Worms, Serpent's Skull and Savage Tide
-One of the players would like to have water-based encounters once in a while, but it's fine if there's no water at all
Skull and Shackles is your best bet for this.
-One of the player would like to face drow, but she's fine if there's none
Second Darkness does Drow a lot.
OK so my suggestions are as follows:
1) Kingmaker: A bit of a different style of campaign but it meets all your main objectives. I didn't care for it too much but my players liked it.
2) RotRL: I've found it a bit boring but it does tick your main boxes. It's pretty vanilla but done well enough.
3) Carrion Crown: A pursuit AP but one that takes place in one country. I loved this one.
4) Skull and Shackles: Yarr! Ticks all your boxes and adds some aquatic fun in there too.
Thank you all for your suggestions, specially FallofCamelot. That breakdown of every single AP was really neat. I did a chart comparing all the info you all gave me and RotRL was the winner.
I have more questions, though.
Before you commit to an adventure Path, I'd suggest the three part series that begins with "Crypt of the Everflame" and finishes with "City of Golden Death". It's tightly focused, and it has variety.
How would you mix Price of Immortality with the first part of RotRL? I got this idea from Lazarx suggestion (why don't we have both?) but I don't really have much info about PoI. I know it's composed on three adventures (level 1, level 3, level 5), but I don't know where is located in Golarion, for example.
Would it be difficult to pull this off? Would the characters have an unfair advantage with those extra levels they would gain with extra adventures? Would the storyline be confusing? Would it be better to run PoI first and THEN go to RotRL? Play RotR a little and THEN go to PoI? Any ideas are welcome.
I ran Kingmaker and had some good fun with it. The one modification I'd add to that of the previous posters is that it can be an urban game -- it really depends on what the GM wants.
While Curse of the Crimson Throne and Council of Thieves are pretty urban without much wiggle room, Kingmaker has the players raise their own kingdom. Some groups prefer to down-play the kingdom building, and focus instead on exploring the wilderness and delving dungeons. Other GMs (and groups) get really into the kingdom building and enjoy emphasizing politics, trade agreements, satisfying the citizens, secrets, threats of war ...
It's a really versatile adventure path. It has everything you need, but also has lots of room to add in what you want. Except maybe deserts. I never did figure out how to get deserts in there.