I'm going to be starting up a ROW game in the New Year and as a brand new GM I'm doing a lot of research and preparation now. Sorry if this has been asked before, I'm new to these boards too!
My question is: I have 5 players, what level of points-buy would you recommend they use to set up their characters?
15-point builds. They'll be getting +2 to a stat halfway through Book 1 in any event so it won't hurt them badly, and will keep them from being overpowered later on.
I say that because of the 5th player, btw. That alone will result in a group that isn't as challenged.
(Of course, it also depends on your players. How new are they to Pathfinder? Are they powergamers or less intense in number-crunching? If they're a bunch of new roleplayers, you might consider 20 or even 25-point builds.)
BTW, be very careful to read and use the recommended tactics. The first book can be lethal. Also, it is probably a good idea to have the group at level 2 before they hit the Lodge. I'd recommend having a couple side-adventures before the winter weather hits so to give the players some experience and give them a reason to want to save Helgren.
Edit: Alternatively, if you don't mind crunching numbers or have a program like Hero Labs, you could have everyone with a 25-point build, and upgrade the statistics of every monster and character in the AP by +1 for each stat. Paizo goes by an assumption of generic adventuring characters with stats of 15/14/13/12/10/8 before racial bonuses and penalties. That's a 15-point build. However, 16/15/14/13/11/9 is a 25-point build. Thus +1 to each stat balances the monsters with the higher stats.
Thank you for that Tangent101 =)
They're all pretty experienced with Pathfinder - I'm very much the over-enthusiastic newb! They know the rules inside out and often debate mechanics or feat combinations... So, yeah. They know what they're doing, which is why I'm trying to get myself prepared now!
The number of encounters in the first book made me wonder whether a 25 point build would be better, especially as they have to deal with the cold as well.
I suppose I could prepare slightly more advanced monsters for them to fight and bring them in if the set-ups in the book get beaten down easily.
(We're playing Skulls and Shackles at the moment, would the difficulty level be comparable to ROW? I know they're very different in approach, but I could ask the GM if he's modified the difficulty level...)
Skull & Shackles is one of the hardest APs!
but yes RoW might be a close second:)
Huh, ok. I'll ask the GM what he's done, if anything, to tweak the encounter levels for 5 payers. There's been a lot of near death in Skull & Shackles and I'd quite like to keep up that level of threat... We went for 25 point buy for that one, which is where my thought process was coming from.
I might have a few reinforcements in my back pocket and raise the HP of the odd encounter as needed. I suppose I won't really know until we start playing!
The absolute best adjustment for a party of five is adding one or two monsters to the fight, your group will have an extra set of hands, so the bad guys could use the extra hands as well:)
Another thing to consider, its a dark campaign, adding levity here or there can go a long way to prolonging the campaign, Zorka is your best friend for this:)
and welcome to the GM ranks:)
That's a good idea! Zorka is a good opportunity there, I like it.
One of the players is a big fan of the roleplay side of things, so I'm considering trying to add some random encounters that focus on that side of things instead of combat too.
If I increase the number of monsters should I keep the experience points the same as in the book? I've worked out where I think the levelling up should happen, so not sure if that would mess with things.
One thing you could also do is maximize the hit points of your enemies. Seeing you have just a fifth player that might suffice.
My situation is a bit different from yours actually - I had a pre-existing campaign switched over to the Pathfinder rules with players between 3-5th level (two 3rd, one 4th, and one 5th) with a couple GMPCs (one was supposed to become a kidnap victim for Night Below when I found RoW and fell in love with its storyline). So I've been using Hero Labs to vamp up encounters, recently excised the NPC Paladin (in exchange for a new player running a Brawler), and used the Mythic rules in place of the +2 to one stat. In short, my experiences won't be yours! ^^;;
That said... the first book is difficult. You have environmental rules that will especially annoy ranged attackers and lessen their effectiveness. And if you run the mini-boss at the Lodge intelligently (instead of by what his rules suggest) and the players are at 1st level? There's more than one TPK associated withe the Lodge.
I've heard the 2nd book isn't nearly as difficult from several sources. (I'm only halfway through it so...) I've also heard the 3rd book vamps up the difficulty again.
I wish you good fortune with this. Given your experienced player-base? You probably have less to worry about. And if your players are not seemingly having that hard of a time but are enjoying themselves thoroughly? Don't consider that a bad thing. If your players enjoy themselves even if you think it's a cakewalk, then you are doing a good job.
Edit: Also, consider forgoing XPs and just level them up by fiat at set points. :)
The games I've played with these guys have always ignored the XP tracker to a certain degree and levelled-up at certain points. I think I'll probably do the same and have worked out roughly where I want them to level up. I'll keep an eye the XP and add an encounter or two (if they aren't too beat-up) but want to do it at set points.
Thanks for the advice though!