So after getting the first book nearly a year ago, and trying to start since then, I finally got started. Because I originally thought the AP was for 25 point buy (because it's mythic and that's what Staunton has)and because some of my players were relatively inexperienced, I gave my players 30 point buy. (Now I know that it's supposed to be 15). Because characters were already made, I allowed them to keep their ability scores, but I am optimizing foes and their tactics, (To a reasonable degree based on their INT), Implementing a death punishment rule (each time you have to make a new character, you drop five points in ability score buy.) and generally being a mean GM and not caring if the characters die. We have a human Paladin; a duergar Monk (unchained); a gnome Bard; and an elf Conjurer.
The characters went fairly easily through the opening encounters, with a few minor wounds. They went through A3 and bypassed A2 altogether, using ropes to get the disabled NPCs up. The Heucuva was a challenge mostly because of its DR, which no one could bypass except for the paladin, who was reluctant to use his smite rolled terrible, and ended up not hitting at all. The party eventually brought it down in increments of 2 and 1, and had to expend quite a bit of resources. The Darkmantles were fairly easy, but when they got to Millorn (Now a tiefling, because I optimized him) he was quite tough. Millorn was levitating in a darkness, and the duergar who could see him had a very hard time hitting his 22 AC, and with a combination of summon swarm and acid arrow he would have dropped the paladin were it not for a max rolled cure. he was finally brought down when the monk climbed the wall and jumped to Millorn and grappled him. With Millorn's spells effectively out of the way, the monk pummeled Millorn until he had 1 hp. Millorn then released the spell, attempting to kill both him and the monk. However the monk had control of the grapple and rolled well in Acrobatics. Since the mongrelmen were descendants of the first crusade, I had them all wear holy symbols of various good deities, so the party identified them as allies and freed Crel with relative ease. (Thinking about it, Lann and Dyra should be able to just barely lift the rock themselves if they take 20.) With the Mongrelmen guides, they continued to Neathholm, again using ropes to get past the chasm. Upon discovering the dead cultists the monk named them "crutraitors" (pronounced like "crutraders" so it's a better pun.) Once they got to Neathholm and talked to Chief, I had them level up (I don't use XP, I'm just having them level up at certain point, like the end of each part) Next time they're taking on part two, where I should be able to put in some more optimization. Anyway, here's my updated Millorn. (Assumes he has Mage armor and shield in effect)
Millorn CR 2
Tiefling conjurer 3
CE Medium Outisder (native)
Init +3; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3
Defense
AC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+4 armor, +3 Dex, +1 natural, +4 shield)
hp 19 (3d6+6)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4
Resist Fire 5
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk Club +3 (1d6+1)
Ranged ranged touch +4 (varies)
Special Attacks acid dart 6/day (1d6+1)
Tiefling Spell like ability (CL 3rd; concentration +1)
Conjurer Spells Prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
2nd—acid arrow, levitate, summon swarm
1st—mage armor, shield, summon monster 1 x2
0 (at will)—daze (DC 13), detect magic, mage hand, read magic
Statistics
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Augment Summoning, Scribe Scroll, Spell focus (conjuration)
Skills Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (history) +9, Perception +3, Spellcraft +9, Stealth +8
Languages Common, Abyssal
SQ arcane bond (club), prehensile tail, scaled skin, skilled
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds Other Gear mwk club, cloak of resistance +1
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The easiest way for you to fix this mistake is not so much to completely change the foes the PCs are going to meet so much as add more enemies and adjust the powerup they get at the end of the Worldwound Incursion.
Don't give them the ability score boost when the gain their first tier. Simple as that you will even things out a bit. How many PCs do you have? If you have more than 5 add +50% of the lesser enemies in an encounter and give any named NPC full hit points. If there's a single enemy encounter, roll on the table in the bestiary in the back and add that encounter with the single enemy (or choose one that is an appropriate match).
You're going to find that your PCs with such high ability scores are going to decimate almost every DC in the book and enemies won't be able to make saves against PC abilities. Hold off on mechanical boons the adventures provide until the PCs power levels fall back into line. In fact if you're using XP use the slow advancement and treasure.
My group is 7 strong, with 20 point buy and very experienced using Mythic rules as written. I definitely can't run the adventures as written, but you might be able to salvage it before book 2.
--Vrock and Awe
My group is only 4 PCs. And yes it would be easier to just adjust the number of monsters, I'm a kid on summer break, so I have a ton of time on my hands, and I find it more fun to optimize the enemies, and I have a campaign with a lot of PCs that I adjust the number of monsters, and find it annoying to run that many monsters, especially at higher levels.
If by the powerup at the end, you mean the devotion points, I will be surprised if they get the +5 hp. I'm not using XP, but I am making a lot of the NPC's items single use so there's none left for the PCs. If the rest of my NPC's do as well as Millorn did (he was really only defeated as the result a stupid idea by the mon and some lucky rolling) then there's actually a decent chance of PC death. :)
Thanks for your thoughts :)
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Early on, especially books one and two you'll find way to challenge a party of 4, but definitely think about running Mythic without any tweaks. Mythic allows for ridiculous damage output, but few ways to counter it. So far I've had 4 PC deaths (3 by one character alone) and it has been fun getting to play with the highest CR demons. A little mythic goes a long way!
--Vrock, Paper, Scissors