7-8 pcs going into Thistletop......What changes would you make?

[Bran Towerfall]

Hi all,
I have a powerful group of pcs going into Thistletop this week. I will be taking james Jacobs' advice and change the scale from 5'feet to 10' to make encounters a little more fluid. What npc changes would you make to deliver a challenging test for these would-be heroes? max hitpoints is always an option, but seems like an easy fix. I would love to hear how you would increase the threat level of their adventure.

2 3rd level rogues
1 3rd level ranger
1 3rd level wizard
1 3rd level monk
1 3rd level fighter
2 2nd level fighters

oh, yes...no healing class lol

[Oserath]

On the first floor:

Look into toughening up the Warchief Ripnugget encounter in particular (I would give him the max HP). Give him some more minions, maybe throw him another fighter level, higher AC, etc. He can be mobile, which will help him against all your melee classes, but the ranger will keep shooting at him. Giving all the goblins some better armor, and a rank of fighter might improve their challenge. The commandos can become decent threats with a second level of ranger, gaining them a feat, power attack with the horsechoppers could put some serious hurt onto level 2s and 3s.

Second floor:

Fighting all of Nualia's mercenaries (Lyrie, Orrik, Bruthazmus) in one fight is probably most reasonable, and you might want to advance them all one level. That, or send them down to aid Nualia in the final fight. Also, the Yeth Hound bey is your best friend, it should send a few PCs screaming off, possibly into the tentamort room. Our ranger got grabbed by that thing, and the only reason he survived was that our sorcerer fled to the same room and got him away with a color spray.

Bottom floor:

The shadows should still pose problems, as they will have few resources against them. Mostly it will be Lyrie's MM wand and whoever got Nualia's sword and Korvus's sword. I'm not sure adding more shadows would be a good idea.

Malfeshnekor should still be capable of dropping most characters in a single round, and he should keep to corners, to avoid getting flanked by all those enemies.

[Bran Towerfall]

Oserath wrote:

On the first floor:

Look into toughening up the Warchief Ripnugget encounter in particular (I would give him the max HP). Give him some more minions, maybe throw him another fighter level, higher AC, etc. He can be mobile, which will help him against all your melee classes, but the ranger will keep shooting at him. Giving all the goblins some better armor, and a rank of fighter might improve their challenge. The commandos can become decent threats with a second level of ranger, gaining them a feat, power attack with the horsechoppers could put some serious hurt onto level 2s and 3s.

Second floor:

Fighting all of Nualia's mercenaries (Lyrie, Orrik, Bruthazmus) in one fight is probably most reasonable, and you might want to advance them all one level. That, or send them down to aid Nualia in the final fight. Also, the Yeth Hound bey is your best friend, it should send a few PCs screaming off, possibly into the tentamort room. Our ranger got grabbed by that thing, and the only reason he survived was that our sorcerer fled to the same room and got him away with a color spray.

Bottom floor:

The shadows should still pose problems, as they will have few resources against them. Mostly it will be Lyrie's MM wand and whoever got Nualia's sword and Korvus's sword. I'm not sure adding more shadows would be a good idea.

Malfeshnekor should still be capable of dropping most characters in a single round, and he should keep to corners, to avoid getting flanked by all those enemies.

thanks!! I did think of putting most/all npc together for the epic boss fight. I was wondering how that would change the cr of the encounter? yes, yeth hounds are nasty.....

[mcbobbo]

I would probably just let them blow through it as written, with the exception of piling more rooms together, as above.

Remember that Thistletop isn't important. It's a coincidence, story wise. It still works, story wise, for the party to go 'huh, that was too easy...'

[Grumpus]

I would consider making wider hallways and/or bigger rooms. I only GMed for a party of 4, and there were many times everyone logjammed in a 5ft hallway, or cannot fit in a room etc.