The only time that I had a party reach the third temple was in 3.5. They were around 12th level if I recall. The Balor in the hallway did more than just slow them down, he did a number on the party and they had to regroup. When they came back I had Zelkor, Banth and the Spectre Wizard from the temple on level 4 there also as they were never defeated. That made it a bit more of a challenge to the party although they did defeat the demons/EHPs. Perhaps it is different in the pathfinder version as to what levels they will reach by then.
Which as I look at them I have to ask a question, are you referring to the temple on level 12 or 14? Because the temple on 14 is the fourth temple and yes is a lot tougher. Have not had a party get there yet.
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Joanna, I think offering a "take 2" is a huge DM flaw and a Major softball when dealing with hordes of enemies. You have effectively eliminated any lower level threat once the PCs figure out the required save DC. The chance to always get hit (even at high level) by a random member of a horde or the chance to lose a save on a 1 vs a random member of a horde is what makes lower level hordes dangerous and something that should not be ignored by higher level PCs. So that rule is way too generous to PCs IMO.
And I would say that with the PCs level and threat disparity, guaranteed options (one with a full or partial effect) are more effective tactics then a series of binary saves - again though, if you have enough incoming binary saves all it takes is rolling a 1 (by toileting the "take 2" option) and the party is hindered and possibly screwed. As it should be.
Also if you empower the PCs at chargen and as they play, of course you are going to encounter CR and power disparities. This module assumes that the DM is not fudging or is overly rewarding to PCs (this includes pc power, liberally defining POC abilities, etc). Once you allow high point buy or non-standard (and tested) PC options then you, as the DM, need to examine the encounters as written to keep them a challenge since your PCs have already gone out of the box on expected ability and power (not even talking about gear here).
I would question any group/DM that took this module as a cake walk as either cheating or having a very generous or protective DM who is not making the module as dangerous as possible via manipulation, friendly rules interpretations, and stacking or pacing of CR appropriate areas to best benefit the PCs.
I am not sure what Take 2 is, never heard of it before, but I am guessing it is allowing the players to take a 2 on saves. Yes, this does gank the module in many areas that does depend on gangs to make up the CR. I have a hard time ever seeing RA as a cake walk and it would take severely broken characters to make it so.
Each level comes with a recommended difficulty level which tells the GM what levels the PC's need to be to tackle the level. The problem is that you can occasionally come across CR20+ encounters in levels that are listed for level 6-12s (though they are generally hard to find unless the PC's really search the level). Typically, the lower you go the harder it gets. For the most part if the party matches the difficulty level they should not have too hard a time with most of the encounters, so longs as they don't go down the well.
I'm running Rappan Athuk and I'm loving it. But I've always been confused by the Difficulty Level for each dungeon level. Early in the book, it says that the Difficulty Level corresponds to the character levels of a SIX character party. However, my group has four players and I'm not sure how to read this. Furthermore, I often see dungeon levels where it seems like the Difficulty Level seems to presume a FOUR level party: Level 1A, for example, has a Difficulty Level of 10, but none of the encounters go above CR 12.
I know that everything doesn't need to be "level appropriate" -- this is Rappan Athuk, after all. But the designers do make general assumptions for what strength of party they expect to enter each level. So my question is: if I only have four players, should I adjust the Difficulty Level of each dungeon level upward by one?
How experienced are your players?
How experienced are your players?
Not very experienced at all. But they know from the get-go that the dungeon is deadly and are hoping for that kind of experience.
The best thing to do is read over the level and make that determination for yourself, but yes 4 characters will have a harder time than 6 in most places.
Sure, I'm just hoping to glean what the designers intentions are. For now, I'm guessing that "Difficulty Level" presumes a six-member party as it says toward the beginning. That would make Level 1A not particularly difficult, however. If I feel that a level is not challenging enough, I will up the encounters.