[Unchained] Automatic Bonus Progression and Existing AP's

[Kuabatake_Sanjuro]

So I'm probably the 9millionth person to post Unchained questions but this one I couldn't find.
I really like the Automatic Bonus Progression as it basically cuts down on shopping time which at our table takes forever. Now I plan on running Jade Regent next and I would like to use the Automatic Bonus Progression (I'll just abbreviate it as ABP) but my question is this.

Can I have the PC's use ABP and keep the NPC's with the gear they have and still have a somewhat balanced game or do I have to strip the NPC's of their gear and recalculate them with ABP?

[Puna'chong]

I'd play it as-is and do ABP, for the most part. Jade Regent has some cool, interesting gear (like the Shrike in the first book), and it'd be easy enough to just cut the bonus damage stuff and keep the effects. Anything that's just a straight stat/damage/hit bonus would go, and things that have unique effects would still work fine.

APs also tend to be on the lower end of the threat spectrum, for the most part, since they are geared towards parties that aren't optimized and have relatively moderate amounts of system mastery. This means you don't have to worry about the game going to the other direction of the characters being unable to survive or hit things.

Jade Regent is fun. I think it's also a perfect candidate for ABP because of the traveling, and you would easily be able to introduce cool, unique, regional items and make those stand out rather than have your players stop at every market between Sandpoint and Tian Xia looking for a +2 greatsword.

[Kuabatake_Sanjuro]

Puna'chong wrote:

Jade Regent is fun. I think it's also a perfect candidate for ABP because of the traveling, and you would easily be able to introduce cool, unique, regional items and make those stand out rather than have your players stop at every market between Sandpoint and Tian Xia looking for a +2 greatsword.

That was my thinking since there really aren't a whole lot of markets between Sandpoint and Tian Xia. I have to say Unchained has a lot of really cool stuff.

[Puna'chong]

Kuabatake_Sanjuro wrote:

Puna'chong wrote:

Jade Regent is fun. I think it's also a perfect candidate for ABP because of the traveling, and you would easily be able to introduce cool, unique, regional items and make those stand out rather than have your players stop at every market between Sandpoint and Tian Xia looking for a +2 greatsword.

That was my thinking since there really aren't a whole lot of markets between Sandpoint and Tian Xia. I have to say Unchained has a lot of really cool stuff.

Oh, totally. I'm having a field day with it. I've already tinkered with most of the things in there besides Alignment and Crafting, but those don't come up in my games as often. My players don't generally like crafting stuff, and Alignment in one group is already pretty ground in, while the other group is relatively new and doesn't seem to quite understand why background stories are fun.

I actually had a character that did a version of ABP in a JR campaign. He was a Zen Archer, but he wanted to just have his bow upgrade instead of having to find new items all over, since it was his Shoanti tribe's sacred weapon. He took Vow of Poverty, too, so it was kind of fun. It worked out well, since I let him basically melt down magic items he found with the help of the Desnan cleric (forgot her name; it's been a while).