We've decided to take the plunge and give AoW a shot. We're adapting it to our own campaign setting and it seems to fit surprisingly well.
I'm sure I'll be on here occasionally with questions from AoW veterans, and I'll start off with this one: We've already run a couple homebrew adventures with these characters. They will be starting at level 3. My guess is that this won't significantly affect the campaign, and may just make the Whispering Cairn a bit easier. Is that about right?
I'll be starting the path soon as well.
I think being two levels too high is going to create some big problems if it's not addressed. WC is normally a pretty challenging adventure, but third level is going to cheapen a lot of the more deadly hazards at the start.
Good luck! I started about a year and a half back (currently on Library of Last Resort) and these forums have been invaluable
Yeah, Whispering Cairn is pretty tough, but that might make it a fair bit less difficult. You might want to add a couple more enemies here and there (an extra wolf or two, maybe another zombie for Filge if they're level four by then).
On the flip side, you could leave it the same. It's tough enough that they problem won't have too easy of a time, and the low CRs mean they'll be earning less XP than an appropriately levelled party (assuming you're using 3.5) and they'll be leveling up more slowly. The first two adventures are very tough as is, and by the time they reach the third one, their levels should have corrected to the right range.
I'd say leave it as is, although if you think a climatic fight like Filge or the Wind Warriors need a bit more power, don't be afraid to give it to them.
I do kinda like envisioning the PCs going through Whispering Cairn easy and getting all cocky right before the Three Faces of Evil.
I have played through the first chapter and I can tell you it can be a meat grinder, starting at third level is a good idea. I agree with Jam Falcon and Kobold cleaver.
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We had a party death and 3 near-deaths at 1st level in the Cairn, but we knew this AP was meant to be an old school challenge with no hand-holding. The path lists ways to increase the challenge for a 3rd level party; without it the battles will be cakewalks. At 3rd, you will lessen the severity of some of the trap encounters.
In some character building sessions where the players got to know our town, these type of tombs were hyped up as places where adventurers go and don't come back. Lived up to the billing, and if it were a cakewalk, I think players would have been a tad disappointed. On the flipside, losing a character permanently stinks.
Where it Got Serious
Wind trap tunnel: discovered very early on, and the players had no idea what they were getting into. The fall killed a character and nearly killed another.
Showers: player went solo on a tether to explore the dark waters. Probably should have been a player death but used some GM leniency when the player was paralyzed.
Filge: a challenge if he's ready for them in combat. However, plenty of ways to handle this area rather than hack n slash.
Well my character died in the cairn not once but twice it just to be expected. Hope you had fun. It gets rough down the road good luck to your group.
An update - We've played 4 sessions now and we've just gotten past the face trap. Everyone seems to be having a great time. They got really freaked out about the water elemental and fighting it underwater . . . to the point that they went back to town and spent lots of money on scrolls/potions to beat it. Then it took the fighter 2 hits to take it down.
Maybe the best moment was that our cleric passed about 8 fortitude saves in a row, then an escape artist check to climb THROUGH the face where the wind was blowing out. So he made it to the bridge room a little early. Nobody else could make it through though so he turned around.
Starting at lvl 3 has been good/bad. There have already been a couple close calls: our ranger tried to take on Ulavant on her own underwater and she managed to surface on her LAST round before beginning to drown. Our sorceress got blown off the cliff by the face trap and was knocked down to -8 HP at the bottom. That was close. But then many encounters are far too easy; such as the elementals and the wolves.
For those who have played the whole AP before: at what point should I try to get everyone to the suggested levels? I don't want things to be easy like this for them the entire AP. But if they're 1-2 levels ahead through, say, blackwall keep? I guess I'm asking: is there a point where the AP gets easier and the suggested levels are very appropriate.
Encounter at Blackwall Keep is probably the easiest adventure in the AP, so that's probably a good spot for it. TFoE is very tough, and with the way it kind of pushes parties to do it all at once without returning to town, it's probably just as well that they're higher level for it.
I'd recommend you have them at appropriate levels by the the fourth adventure, because because that's where things start getting a bit more serious, and if they're overlevelled it will be a lot easier than it should be. Some of the fights, particularly the invisible stalkers near the beginning of the adventure, will lose a lot of their threat against a party that can easily fly and see invisibility. The leader of the doppelgangers also is quite a tough fight, but since he's likely to be fought without any allies, an higher level party will have little trouble with him.