Just don't allow conversions that you find unbalanced. I don't like the linked conversion.
Also, by RAW, a 6 man party has an APL 1 higher than normal. You need to offset that somehow. Low point but and starting people off as NPC classes and then leveling them into PC classes instead of getting to second level (and then advancing as normal).
You could beef up encounters, but it is probably not a good idea for a new DM.
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IMO, new DMs, unless they have proven system mastery as a player, should stick to a single game system and not mix and match. It is much harder as you have to know two game systems in order to make sure things are balanced well when mixing. It is easy for some crossover or combo that was never anticipated due to mixed systems to wreck your game or at minimum make life difficult for you.
I suggest CRB or CRB+APG for new GMs. That still gives players plenty of options, but limits the amount of material the GM has to know. While what you posted isn't enough info to tell, I suspect you will run into some issues with your necromancer and have to re-write or mod some areas of the module to account for his presence.
For more AP specific advice, check the years of threads that are in the RotRL forum for suggestions.
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I run for 5 players and I keep them 1 level behind the advancement track. I don't use XP so I cant be much help to you there. I think the best thing you can do is frequent the Rise AP forum section for specific advice on how to handle things. When running an AP its a great source of info and inspiration regardless of number of players too.
Oh dear sweet Science, do not allow those two classes. I've seen warlocks in action and that extra damage is just as annoying and broke as you fear. Looking at what the necromancer gets that's some scary stuff too. DR better than a barbarian, infinite decent touch attack that doesn't provoke, selective negative channeling? Spells are kinda meh but no way José. You're being way kind or naive or, as you stated yourself, inexperienced. To be honest you screwed up from the start. Too many people & those two classes. Now you're gonna struggle. I'm sorry for ye, best of luck amiga or amigo.
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Kalacha I am not sure if they had the advancement track in Rise of the Rune Lords or not. The only AP I have ran is Carrion Crown. There is a page in every book that has a paragraph called the advancement track. Basically it tells you what level the PCs should be when they reach certain story arcs. So you know when to tell everyone to level up. Its real sweet and I absolutely love the feature of the APs. Perhaps someone more acquainted with the Rise AP can comment on the advancement track for you.
I believe it does, or at least the Anniversary Edition does. Our party is in an opposite state as the OP's. We are running a group of three but we are using the fast track. Three slow moving sessions in and we just reached 2nd level.
Our party-
Elf Thassilonian Scholar Wizard( Conjuration/Teleportation spec.)
Angelkin Aasimar Paladin of Iomedae
Human Lorewarden Fighter.
To the Op, good luck and have a fun time. So far we have had a blast. I did not look at the links for the conversion PCs but since you are new to DMing it would probably behoove you to stick to primarily CRB + APG for now. Maybe once you all have got your feet wet you can choose to do some tweaking and reworking of the PC's by adding further options and supplements but this may not even be needed.
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Anyways can you guys give me any tips? Anything you can help me with will be much appreciated.
I'm also currently the GM for 6 friends playing RotRL. Here is my advice:
1) I wouldn't allow the conversions you linked. If your opinion is that they're overpowered, stick to your guns. Your players may grumble, but they'll forget about it. As others have said, Core+APG is a good start.2) For my game, I don't use XP, I simply tell the players to level when they reach certain points. I keep them about 1 level behind the advancement track outlined at the beginning of each chapter of the Anniversary Edition hardcover.
3) In most fight, I increase the number of minions by ~50%. Instead of 4 Stone Giants, they have to fight 6, for example.
4) For important NPC enemies, I will generally add a level or 2 or rebuild them to suit my tastes.
5) I usually don't allow important NPCs to fight alone. This keeps important fights from getting overwhelmed by player actions as quickly as they otherwise would.
6) I tweak the treasure (replacing some items with ones better suited to the characters), but I don't really add anything. this keeps the PCs behind on Wealth (which is another fine tuning knob the GM controls).
That's it, in a nutshell. I hope you take some of the advice in this thread to heart. You'll have a ton of fun. :)
-Skeld
As for the players loving their characters, ask them if it because they know the builds are super effective, or if it is the character concept they like. If it is the build, then let them know straight out if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. If they like the concepts the dread necromancer could easily be a wizard with the necromancy school favored, a cleric with the right domains, or even an alchemist with the right archetype. The warlock could be replaced by a magus, or a blaster-focused sorcerer.
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Kalacha,
I flagged this post to be moved to the RotRL forum. You will get a lot more direct and helpful responses to some of your future questions there than here in the general advice area.
If you are interested in level up points try checking Here . I stopped using individual XP and keeping track when my regular group went to 7 players, then later to 9. It is far too much work to track, and waaay more work to try to fix the encounters if your party gets split across different levels or gets too far ahead of the AP. I highly recommend the leveling points in that thread, I used them and they worked perfectly.
I will re-iterate...you will solve most of your character problems by going pure Pathfinder. Don't use any conversions of 3.5 material or third party stuff, just stick to the Paizo books. Later on when you get more comfortable in your role as GM, add away as you like. RotRL is a great storyline, but it does take some work for a GM to keep all that going, keep track of a large-ish group, and keep pace with all the less-often used rules you will run across.
As an FYI, they can get a similar feeling character playing a blasting sorcerer and a juju oracle, oracle of bones, or necro specialized wizard. It won't be exactly the same, but it will be balanced with all the rules, feats, etc in Pathfinder.
I recommend something that was suggested to me on the forums when I started with Pathfinder. Everytime there is a rule you don't know well that comes up, like AoO, concentration checks, condition penalties, etc. Stop the game for a few minutes and look it up and have someone read it aloud to the group. Especially if you have veteran 3.5 players. Quite a few things changed from 3.5 to Pathfinder, and they may not be aware of them either.
Make every player write up their spells and have the info handy. When they go to cast, make them tell you what it does, the range, save, etc. If they can't, they cannot cast the spell. Simple and effective way for everyone in your group, especially you, to learn the game. Your players, if they truly care about the quality of their gaming experience and their GM, will support you while you learn.
I run a 5 and an occasional 6 player group through RotRL. Although I've been playing for years and years this was my first time GMing.
As Skeld suggested Core+APG is a perfect place to start. I have since opened the game to the other official sources at the end of chapter two. This was partly for us to get used to Pathfinder. Do this it's very helpful
I seriously dislike increasing mooks by 50%. My players are 20 point buy and are also good min/maxers and tacticians. Instead of more mooks and more fireballs for mooks I tend to max HP and apply the advanced template to everything (fairly easy to do in Hero Lab)
I find that because I usually have 5 players instead of a constant 6 I tend to give them the XP listed in the book divided by 4. We do have a google doc where players are responsible for posting current XP. Which is a very handy thing to have.
Go pure Pathfinder. The system is much better than 3.5, trust me. In addition, the added benefits of the Pathfinder classes is more powerful than the 3.5 classes. (Alternatively, you can put it this way to the players: you can keep the 3.5 classes, but you will get Feats and other abilities according to that, and won't get any of the special benefits that Pathfinder characters get including Feats every other level and class improvements.)
I disagree with what other people are saying for encounters. Increasing the number of foes increases the paperwork and also makes fights more difficult because of limited fighting space. Instead, give all your foes maximum hit points. That in and of itself will allow your foes to survive long enough to be a threat, while not significantly increasing recordkeeping and the like. Seeing you're thinking of leveling up characters at set points, the "lack" of XPs from fewer foes won't matter.
I have a thread on here that I converted it for 6 players in 3.5 so it can give you an idea for the challenges
I never do the links on here sorry
Definitely, if your players are ok with that, then give them levels at set points and dont count the xp..Its much easier and much more efficient in game..just remember that if they skip something and never go back you could add some wandering monsters, mini adventures and stuff like that, so that they do not feel like they are getting xp without a reason..
P.S: From personal experience, if you feel from the first session that something or someone is ''unbalanced'' you should talk to him/her now. If you dont, it will get harder and harder to convince people that they should change their PC even a little..
I have a thread on here that I converted it for 6 players in 3.5 so it can give you an idea for the challenges
Joey Virtue's conversion for 6 players is the standard, read it, learn it, live it.
Even though it is for 3.5 it still has some remarkable insights and adjustments.
I would also advocate NOT using non-standard conversions -- few of them are well balanced and you are just asking for trouble.
Finally, adjust your bosses. I jumped Nualia to around CR6 and my party (of 6 standard PFRPG characters) was challenged but still managed to defeat her. The same goes for Aldern Foxglove, Ironbriar -- though maybe not Xanesha.
It is worth noting that I don't use XP for advancement for this AP either -- PC's level when I need them to level. It allows me to throw in all sorts of side-quests, random encounters, and meaty filler.
CJ
Ditto to all said above.
I'm a relatively new GM (3 years), and my first GMing experience was using Pathfinder Rules for a Shackled City conversion (5 very experienced gamers), and I tried to manage converting from 3.5... it turned into a one sided bloodbath, culminating with one BBEG getting trashed in less than 2 rounds. We eventually scrapped that game, and just started RotR with that same group instead. The first thing I did was limit to Core & APG only. I'd also recommend disallowing Summoners and the Leadership Feat.
While they are rebuilding, if they haven't already have them use a 15 point buy rather than 20, as that too will help the min/maxing. Also, make the players responsible to track encumbrance and apply weight and speed penalties. We never made an issue of it before, but this time around I'm having them do it and it really has changed the game.
I too am going non-XP for advancement (one of the things I love about the Paizo APs is that advancement track!), but I still review XP in my encounter prep. I calc side-by-side the XP per PC in the materials (assume 4) with what my group would get (Total XP/#ofPCs). This way, I can balance adding extra critters with beefing stats, to ensure the total XP earned per PC is about where it should be.
For upping the encounters, here's what I've done in the past:
(warning, I'm a prep junkie, so this may be overkill... but might give you some ideas)
Toughness and Improved Initiative on cannon fodder.
Roll HP ahead of time, but any result less than average = average (e.g 2d8=9). Alternate is just give them all 80% HP or Max HP (I would do w/ 6 PCs).
BBEG or main NPCs - Advanced Template and/or extra levels.
Reinforcements enter from a side door about halfway through larger battles, to prevent swarming (now my players guard/barricade the doors).
Invis or otherwise out of sight caster healing the BBEG.
Lastly, and this is just something that has come with time, I really think about the terrain and how to best position each encounter. I try to take advantage of Cover/concealment whenever possible, and really try to play to the strengths of the NPCs or Monsters. Understanding Combat Maneuvers really well has also helped (we're magic heavy, and nothing makes a caster feel the danger of potential death quite like when they are pinned). And while goblins may not know how to exploit the party's weaknesses, I'm sure someone like
I have a thread on here that I converted it for 6 players in 3.5 so it can give you an idea for the challenges
Joey Virtue's conversion for 6 players is the standard, read it, learn it, live it.
CJ
Thank you for the kind words glad you enjoyed it