Season 5 - Preferred tiers for scenarios?

[Lanathar]

I am looking at running some season 5 PFS scenarios (from the low level side of things) in a sort of mini campaign

Now I am not used to PFS but see that many of the scenarios at the low levels are listed as 1-5 or 3-7.

I was interested in what tiers people thought those ones run best at?
Do some work better as level 1 or 2 than 4 or 5?

For example Library of the Lion looks like it could be quite hard for a Level 1 scenario if skills are poorly selected.

What are peoples thoughts?
Thanks

NB: I do not know whether this is the right board since I am not looking to run these officially (sadly only because 2 of my players are very keen on playing disallowed races). If this is not the right board for "non official" questions about scenarios, what is?

[Ascalaphus]

Officially both tiers are equally supported. Unofficially, some scenarios definitely have tiers that are better. Some are better balanced, or just have a cooler monster or treasure. And that goes for every season.

[Hmm]

Lanathar --

Rob Knop put together a Season 5 campaign, and you can see what he thought would make for a fun storyline. Maybe you can use it as a starting point?

Also don't worry about asking us for advice. You're running PFS scenarios, even if it's not for PFS. Where else are you going to find a bunch of experienced GMs to ask for advice? Feel free to ask us questions anytime!

Hmm

[RealAlchemy]

Certain scenarios in Season 5 (looking at Weapon in the Rift and Sealed Gate for example) are designed to be pretty epic and it's easier to be epic at the high end. The Destiny of the Sands series is one where if you want to play it in order with nothing else in between, the first two parts pretty much have to be in high tier.

[Lanathar]

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

Lanathar --

Rob Knop put together a Season 5 campaign, and you can see what he thought would make for a fun storyline. Maybe you can use it as a starting point?

Also don't worry about asking us for advice. You're running PFS scenarios, even if it's not for PFS. Where else are you going to find a bunch of experienced GMs to ask for advice? Feel free to ask us questions anytime!

Hmm

Thanks for this and the link.

This is the sort of thing I was looking for. I had found something similar that split the metaplots in half to make it shorter but another take is interesting. I am mainly worried about losing an inexperienced group to the prisons of Taldor in the library and them not having had chance to earn the prestige to get out

I think I will contact Rob about how the non series 5 scenarios fit with the theme

Also what should I do about faction missions? From what I can understand the success of these were influenced by world wide results and have already been and gone...

I am quite excited because I find the lore in the scenarios fascinating and it seems more likely to be revealed to the players in PFS than in adventure paths. It is unfortunate I couldn't convince them to make fully legal characters

[Ascalaphus]

Lanathar wrote:

This is the sort of thing I was looking for. I had found something similar that split the metaplots in half to make it shorter but another take is interesting. I am mainly worried about losing an inexperienced group to the prisons of Taldor in the library and them not having had chance to earn the prestige to get out

Library of the Lion:

In my experience that scenario is a tight challenge but not that likely to go completely wrong. Imprisonment is something that happens if the players refuse to even try to run away. For an inexperienced group, you should feel to increase the gaps of time between when groups of guards react to the alarm, so that the players can decide to run for it. The real punishment for doing badly should be not coming back with the information - you still get to come back, just empty-handed.

If you're worried about PCs not having the needed skills, consider this:

Library of the Lion p6 wrote:

Searching a room for texts requires a successful skill check, and multiple PCs can search an area simultaneously. Each researching PC can attempt a Linguistics, Knowledge (history), or text-based Craft or Profession check (such as Profession [librarian] or Craft [bookbinding]) to find texts. A PC might use a different skill or ability albeit with a penalty ranging from –2 to –5 at your discretion.

You can allow them to use Perception, at a penalty. Players tend to learn quickly that in almost every scenario Perception Is The Most Important Skill, so there'll be people who have it.

Make sure to mention the penalty to your players (even if it's small) because you don't want to teach your players that Perception can replace every other skill!

Lanathar wrote:

Also what should I do about faction missions? From what I can understand the success of these were influenced by world wide results and have already been and gone...

I think some of them are more interesting than others. To get a good idea of some key ones, I recommend you study the scenarios The Hellknight's Feast (kicks off several faction plotlines at the beginning of the season) and The Paths We Choose (draws conclusions from the season's faction plotlines). Knowing those scenarios will help you make decisions about what to do with factions in the other scenarios.

[Lanathar]

Lau Bannenberg wrote:

Lanathar wrote:

This is the sort of thing I was looking for. I had found something similar that split the metaplots in half to make it shorter but another take is interesting. I am mainly worried about losing an inexperienced group to the prisons of Taldor in the library and them not having had chance to earn the prestige to get out

** spoiler omitted **

Lanathar wrote:

Also what should I do about faction missions? From what I can understand the success of these were influenced by world wide results and have already been and gone...

I think some of them are more interesting than others. To get a good idea of some key ones, I...

Thanks for this.

I was definitely going to allow perception to be used at the penalty suggested. It seems PFS has a lot of skill focus but allow multiple options so that people aren't completely lost without the right skills in the group

A question on Hellknights Feast - from what you mention and what i read online this is the start of the main metaplot for the series (notably Pathfinder wiki for series 5 states this)

Does it still work if I run it much later on through starting a group at Level 1 (rather than 5). I will admit to not having had time to read it through

[Ascalaphus]

I played it much later and it was an eye-opener for me then, like "oh, this actually happened in a scenario?"

It's not a disaster if you don't play it very early, but it should ideally be played before Assault on the Wound.