Hey everyone. I've just finished the first chapter of Kingmaker with a group of four players recently. Party consists of a human paladin of Abadar, human cleric of Shelyn, human pyromancer (third-party class), and a kobold slayer from the Advanced Class Guide playtest.
I've let them all use 25-point buy since they've been eager to play as relatively high-powered characters, but the encounters have been seeming a bit on the easy side. The owlbear at the Stag Lord's fort nearly killed the paladin but there hasn't been a ton of close calls. Said player has mentioned it'd be cool if the fights ramped up in difficulty. Naturally, I am sure that the books become more difficult as time goes on, but I want to make sure they don't have too much of an easy time.
I had thought of using the Advanced template on creatures to amp them up in response, but was wondering what your take on that would be? +4 to each stat seems to blow 25 point-buy out of the water and may make things a bit too difficult, but in comparison making every enemy 25-PB on the fly could take awhile. Maybe just boosting one ability score by 4 would suffice?
Thanks to anyone for their help in advance.
1st the AP is usually thought for 4 PC using 15 build points. And even in this way, not a lot of encounter will be too hard for the party.
Using 25 means as GM you will need to do a lot of work to adjust the difficulty.
Adding some templates and maximizing the HP should be a good way to do it.
2nd Using 25 build points means also that your PCs Ability will be very high even for the Kingdom building statistics.
So I think you should seriously evaluate if making your Players re-build their characters with 15 build points, for the rest of the AP.
I have a group of 6 players. We used 20 pt. buy and they just got to Mythic Tier 2.
To keep them challenged, I start with the 6 player conversion Lee mentioned, and then I rebuild named bad guys and single monster encounters with an eye to making them absolute murderers rather than the somewhat generic characters/beasts they are.
I play the enemies smartly, but rather than trying to kill off PCs, I let them do a bit of dramatic grand-standing and monologue-ing if they have the upper hand. If a PC is near death, spread the pain around, but do it slyly so you don’t look like you’re playing softly (or if you're desperate, roll a die and act like the method or attack or the target was "randomly" decided). This will help keep the tension up.
I also use a (probable) house rule that death doesn’t occur until the end of the dying PC’s turn which occasionally allows the other players to brave all the attacks of opportunity, jump through a wall of fire, and save their comrade at the last second.
There's a couple house rules at work here, but nothing major (the point at which death occurs and a hit-and-run ranger combat style)
CR 8 (+8 levels, +1 mythic tier 2, -1 moderate alcoholism)
CE Male Human Ranger 3/Rogue (Thug) 6
Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +6 (+2 Dex, +2 Terrain, +2 Mythic)
Perception +15 (+17 v. Humans)
AC 23, Touch 14, Flat-footed 20 (+2 Dex, +6 armor, +1 Deflect, +1 Dodge, +1 Shield, +2 natural)
Hp 102 (66 +9 Con +9 (favored class) +18 temp Con)
Fort +7
Ref +11
Will +3
Defenses
Offensive Defense
Evasion
Uncanny Dodge
Death at -46, staggered at less than 0
Speed 30
Melee Masterwork Whip +14/+9 (1d3+5/x2, 15' Reach, +2 Disarm, Trip)
Special Qualities
Mythic Power (7/day), Surge (+1d6)
Marshal's Order: Rally
Favored Enemy (Human) +2
Sneak Attack +3d6
Frightening
Brutal Beating
Tactics:
Before Combat Before combat, the Stag Lord will use his wands of Aspect of the Bear and Bear's Endurance. If it is dark out, he will also use a dose of his nightdrops
During Combat During combat, the Stag Lord will use his first melee attack to inflict nonlethal damage which will allow him to use demoralize against his target as a free action. Subsequent attacks against that target will treat it as flat-footed and allow the Stag Lord to inflict sneak attack damage. When he has the chance, he will forgo 1d6 sneak attack dice to sicken his target for 3 rounds. He spreads his attacks around to keep as many enemies as possible shaken and sickened. This also keeps his 'Offensive Defese' ability up.
Morale The Stag Lord has delusions of grandeur, a mind fogged by alcohol, and everything to lose; he fights to the death.
Str 20 (22-2, moderate addiction)
Dex 14
Con 16 (14, -2 moderate addiction, +4 bear's endurance)
Int 13
Wis 8
Cha 12
BAB +7/+2
CMB +14
CMD 19
Feats
Combat Expertise, Enforcer, Dodge, Mobility, Dazzling Display, Rogue Talent (Weapn Training [Weapon Focus (Whip)]), Diehard , Rogue Talent (Combat Trick[Spring Attack]), Whip Mastery, Rogue Talent (Offensive Defense), Shatter Defenses, Whirlwind
Pertinent Skills
Acrobatics +14
Intimidate +13
Stealth +11
Survival +8
Languages Taldane
SQ
Amazing Initiative, Hard to Kill, Track, Favored Terrain (Hills) +2
Combat Gear
Masterwork Whip
+1 Darkleaf Do-maru
Ring of Protection +1
Buckler
Cloak of Resistance
Dust of Tracelessness
Nightdrops
Wand of Aspect of the Bear (CL 3rd;7 charges)
Wand of Bear's Endurance (CL 3rd;6 charges)
Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds (CL 3rd;5 charges)
Potions of Cure Moderate Wounds x2
Stag's Helm
Slow Track XP? :)
Or just award less XP. If you halve XP awards, over time they'll fall to 2 levels below the expected level, which should equate nicely to the boost they get from 25 PB.
The other problem in general with Kingmaker is that it is very conducive to the 15 minute workday. Oft times you will only have 1 or 2 encounters in a given day which makes it that much easier on the players as they can go Nova. Throw in the fact that it is also probably the most crafter-friendly campaign around and you have yourself a campaign that can be very easy (at times) on the PCs.
Of course, the main counter to this is that a lot of the enemies are already pretty powerful as written, but that can also just lead to very "swingy" combats which isn't always ideal (varies from group to group). One possible tactic you could employ would be to increase the likelihood of random encounters during the hexploration. This makes it more likely that the party will have multiple encounters in a give day and will, in turn, make the fights that much more challenging.
My take on each and every case of PCs punching above their weight class is simple - let them. This will just mean they will progress through the adventure path faster, until the natural logic of things leads them to tougher enemies. This is particularly relevant for Kingmaker, where almost everything at parts 4 and 5 is insultingly weak and has no meaningful defences against high-level PCs.
Of course, I've also stopped bothering with calculating EXP for encounters many years ago, instead awarding EXP at session's end based on party's overall success, and using intended adventure levels as rough guidelines to how much I should give.