I'm fairly new to DMing and am about to start running Serpents Skull, when I suggested this to my friends 6 of them displayed a large amount of interest. I (being probably too nice) agreed to this as I did not wish to leave anyone out.
Does anyone have a simple way of adjusting APs for extra PCs? is it as keeping the PCs level recommended -1, or should I adjust the hit dice of all enemies?
Thanks.
The Core book recommends treating your party as being 1 level higher for the purpose of designing encounters. In a lot of cases that is equivalent to adding one more creature per encounter. I'm not sure how much more XP you'll need per book to keep everyone on track. You could probably add up all the XP and compare that to what 6 PC's need to stay at the appropriate level. The beginning of each book says what level PC's should be.
This AP is oddly treasure-light so you may find yourself adding a good deal more of that as well. I did even for my 5 man party.
Careful scaling up all of the encounters, some are much deadlier than others. It is probably best to exclude scaling up some of them and make up the difference elsewhere. The GM reference, Obituary Thread, and various campaign logs are good references for finding these encounters.
Best,
A
It depends on how experienced your players are. I'm running for 7(!!), but all but one of them are kids, and two of them are playing extremely ineffective characters.
So my solution has been to just give the bad guys max hit points for every encounter. It's worked very well. There are a few encounters where you look at the bad guy, look at their max hit points, and think, "Ooooh, noooo... that's going to be BAD." In that case using the Simple Advanced Template WITHOUT the boost to Armor Class works well.
Giving all the bad guys the full Advanced Simple Template really tends to kill PCs at lower levels, so I like extra hit points. The bad guys last longer, allowing them to do more damage, and it's worked well in my campaign so far (the PCs are up to 10th level, and I've killed around a dozen of them).
The campaign IS very loot-poor; you'll need to make sure to adjust loot upwards by at least 50%.
I have 5/6 regular players in my game as well. They are all very well seasoned players
I give XP from the 6 player column and use the slow advancement track.
I don't give any additional GP/treasure.
Weapons/armor of < masterwork quality cannot be resold.
I add mooks/ give extra hp, etc to some not all encounters.
I've also began experimenting with the use of other skills other than perception to devalue it.
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I've also began experimenting with the use of other skills other than perception to devalue it.
I'm not a player in *this* AP, but speaking as a player in OTHER AP's, I have to say, "BLESS YOU!!!"
The idea that you're a cleric/fighter/paladin/sorcerer/etc. with all of 2 skill points per level, with Intelligence not an otherwise-useful attribute, and you have to spent one of those two points EVERY LEVEL just to buy up Perception because EVERYONE needs it to survive in the APs is just... annoying... to say the least...
I've also began experimenting with the use of other skills other than perception to devalue it.I'm not a player in *this* AP, but speaking as a player in OTHER AP's, I have to say, "BLESS YOU!!!"
The idea that you're a cleric/fighter/paladin/sorcerer/etc. with all of 2 skill points per level, with Intelligence not an otherwise-useful attribute, and you have to spent one of those two points EVERY LEVEL just to buy up Perception because EVERYONE needs it to survive in the APs is just... annoying... to say the least...
Thanks lol
6 players is exactly 50% more than the "normal" 4.
So with multiple enemies, it's easy. If there are 4 goblins, make 6 instead.
For mini bosses and such, you can increase their rolls and stats by +1 or +2, whichever makes you happier.
I would not, however, just add the advanced simple template. Since that puts +4 to AC (2 from a +4 Dex and 2 from natural armor). On a boss, that could be murder for PCs.
I usually feel it out based on the individual fight. And just add 1 or 2 to their rolls, and +1 to all their DCs and such. Slightly harder, players have fun. Everyone wins.