Slacker2010 |
Im made this for those new to PFS, like me, that were kind of down on how easy it was. Now, I only have 8 played sessions and 3 DM sessions under my belt so I know my experience was limited.
So far, the best games are the ones we got to play up. We still blew through them but there was a slight hint of danger. Still all in all I wished PFS was more challenging. I got to have that experience this pass weekend.
My group is all level 3, mostly cause PFS is just kicking off here and its the same regulars. Our DM had a season 4 scenario that was 1-5 so with 5 players we got to play up. I don't want to get into the details, but it was brutal and fun. But due to us getting started late, and the length of the battles (cause of us being lower level, they where extremely challenging) we ran over on our time and didn't get to the end of the scenario. So it counts as a failed mission we got 0 PA and Fame. We did get most of the money we should have gotten (I'm assuming we got all the treasure except for the final fight). And while I still believe with more time we would have prevailed, its still counts as a failed mission. This was a huge blow to my ego and at the same time I'm really excited that scenario will increase in difficulty and not be so easy.
So for new players to PFS, if you feel all the 1-2 stuff is too easy. It probably is, but level 1's are squishy and it needs to be. I'm excited for what i get to see next in PFS. The missions seem as they will no longer be a walk in the park. There is hope!
Lamontius |
OP, yeah, I think you'll find that playing up in Season 4 and Season 5 is no walk in the park by any means. That, and you'll definitely see some increased lethality as you go up in tiers, especially when you're new to them. (As I am, having played only a handful of 5-9 and my first 7-11 just a couple of weeks ago.)
In addition, the new secondary success conditions make for folks having to work for that extra prestige instead of it being an afterthought, as many of the faction missions were previously.
All in all, yeah, it's a blow to the pride and ego but it also makes you a wayyyyy better player when the game gives you occasionally kick in the teeth and you're driven to improve/learn further.
Slacker2010 |
@Thomas Graham: It had a chase scene first. This took some time due to being unfamiliar with it. Then we finished 3 other encounters. Still not sure if we missed the 2nd PA or didn't get to it. Up till now I have always gotten 2 PA and full credit for everything. So getting a chronicle sheet with 0 PA is a reminder that we are not infallible.
@Lamontius: I agree, I think it will make me a better player and while I was kind of upset over the missed PA and fame. I'm really was excited about the difficulty increase. I put the title of the thread like it is for future PFS players doing searches about this.
Spaarky |
One thing to point out slacker. If your party was all level 3 you actually had the choice to play up or play down. Most of the people that complain about how easy PFS is are talking about earlier season stuff that was designed for 4 people and are playing with 6. Also, and this is nothing against your gm by any means, I have seen hard scenarios made easy by poor gms and easy scenarios made hard by good gms.
FLite Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento |
Victor Zajic |
Benrislove wrote:Five players apl 3 would be play up with the 4 player adjustments.Yeah. For season 0-3, there is the caveat that if no one is in the high subtier you can choose to play down, but there isn't an option for season 4 and on.
I'm fairly certain that rule applies to seasons 4 and 5 also.
CWheezy |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I have noticed when character hit the upper end of 5-9 and 7-11, their characters who are just for fun and can't really contribute in combat are brutally outclassed.
This isn't an issue in the lower brackets mostly because the combat can be ended by a fighter hitting a guy once with a greatsword. When you have to deal with 4-5 rounds of events, it starts to show.
It is just something to keep in mind when you start to level your character. Monsters become real killers in the mid levels, so you have to be ready for it
Nefreet |
Also, to the OP, difficulty isn't always judged by combat. There are plenty of missions where skilled or Diplomatic characters are needed, and you can completely fail if you have neither. I was the social character in a group just last night, and found out afterwards that if I hadn't made the checks that I did (which were impossible for the others to make) then we would have lost one of our PP (and possibly had a much tougher final fight).
Sniggevert |
Chris Mullican wrote:Yup, sorry I missed that he said S4. It is only for seasons 0-3 that they get to choose.You actually don't get to choose.
Read the context from above...there is a time when the table does still get to choose if they want to play down. We were discussing that specific time.
Sniggevert |
I believe he said at 3. You don't get to choose then. The only time you can choose us whether to round up or down from a .5 and in most cases that won't make a difference either.
For scenarios written in Seasons 0 to 3, when the APL is in between subtiers, a party of six or seven characters must
play the higher subtier. Parties with four or five characters
must play the lower subtier. In the fringe case where there
are no players that are high enough to have reached the
subtier level (such as a party of six 3rd level characters), the
group may decide to play down to the lower subtier.
EDIT: The case in question was a group of nothing but level 3's in a 1-5 scenario, so sub-tiers were 1-2 and 4-5. No one was in the higher subtier (however, this specific case was season 4, so this didn't come into play, but it is an option to choose for older scenarios).
Slacker2010 |
You finished three encounters. You should have gotten 1xp.
We did. Only thing we didnt get was about 250 gold and 2 PA/2 Fame.
Also, to the OP, difficulty isn't always judged by combat. There are plenty of missions where skilled or Diplomatic characters are needed, and you can completely fail if you have neither. I was the social character in a group just last night, and found out afterwards that if I hadn't made the checks that I did (which were impossible for the others to make) then we would have lost one of our PP (and possibly had a much tougher final fight).
This has happened to me in our Group. I play a paladin with my only real skill is Diplomacy since I have a jacked up CHA. It does make you feel good.
The Fox |
Nefreet wrote:You finished three encounters. You should have gotten 1xp.We did. Only thing we didnt get was about 250 gold and 2 PA/2 Fame.
Something sounds off.
Looking through the scenario, I don't see how it is possible to be missing out on approximately 250 gp.
GreySector RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8 |
The Fox wrote:Looking through the scenario, I don't see how it is possible to be missing out on approximately 250 gp.Sorry I didn't add it up, I just ball parked it. I'm not at home to look at the chronicle sheet.
- Encounter 1: 428gp
- Encounter 2: 135gp
- Encounter 3: 310gp
- Encounter 4: 528gp
- Encounter 5: 626gp
So if they only missed the last encounter they would have received 1,401gp out of 1,904gp with appropriate calculations for out of subtier gold.
That is actually a great question... How do you calculate out of subtier gold if the PCs don't get max? Do you go through the encounters on each subtier, figure out how much they earned on each subtier, and do the average with those numbers?
kinevon |
I believe that question has been answered before, in one of the many threads on Out of Sub-Tier gold, but the easiest way to do it is:
Determine total OoST gold.
Determine OoST gold for all missed/failedf encounters where the PCs wouldn't receive the gold rewards (I have had a failed final encounter where the PCs managed to grab at least some of the rewards there while running aweay.)
Subtract the missed amount from the total amount, just using the OoST amounts. Same as you would do for the regular in-sub-tier rewards.
I think someone mentioned making up a table for each scenario, and putting it in the GM Shared Prep drive.
GreySector RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8 |
Subtract the missed amount from the total amount, just using the OoST amounts. Same as you would do for the regular in-sub-tier rewards.
You can't do this in seasons 0-4, as the gold is always listed as earned (and often totals up to more than the total gold available on the chronicle sheet).
In season 5 the gold is listed as subtracted from the total if the PCs fail to get it.