Greetings!
We've just started RotRL:AE. It'll likely be a session or two yet before the players reach significant challenges, but I'd like to get a read on problem points.
The gist is, while we have 5 PCs in the party, there's not much in the way of spellcasting ability:
1. Gnome fighter, no archetype yet
2. Half-orc warpriest of Anubis (probably the most capable caster in the party)
3. Half-elf falconer ranger who's considering trading away spellcasting for something else as her player doesn't care for it
4. Dwarf skald built for melee with relatively low Charisma
5. Grippli swashbuckler (inspired blade for Dex-to-damage, might retrain to mouser if she can acquire D2d through an alternate approach)
The warpriest gets a good spell list but gets it later than expected, meaning recovering from certain ailments is going to be a challenge without a lot of potions/wands/scrolls. Arcanewise, a lot of the good utility spells that offer information, flying, and the like are going to be delayed or even off-limits.
I've read the AP up to partway through Chapter V, and this looks pretty gnarly for a party without at least one full caster.. What do you folks think? Should I make any major adjustments to compensate, or let them rise or fall on the strengths of their characters and their teamwork?
Do you have to have an <arcane/divine> caster for this AP? No.
Will it be more difficult if we don't have an <arcane/divine> caster? Yes.
Should we change our party makeup to have an <arcane/divine> caster? Maybe.
But no one wants to play an <arcane/divine> caster! Then don't.
But we'll die or suffer or it will suck! Then get a caster.
But that's not fair! Then play a different game or different AP.
Your party is going to do AWESOME in the first two books. But when they get well into Book 3 and for the rest, they're going to start to be very challenged. That's the point where a) the enemies turn into groups of large, high damage dealing creatures and b) the BBEG's turn into powerful casters. It's hard to counter magic with hit points, especially when you're losing them quickly.
Have they thought about item crafting? "No, no one wants to make magic items. That's boring." Cool. But at least acknowledge your taking the most expensive path through the AP - selling items at half price to buy them at full price. (Though the GM can tailor treasure directly to what the pc's need/want, assuming your comfortable with that.)
You have correctly isolated where it gets "gnarly" - Book 5. The margin for error there is really low if you don't have an arcane caster, a couple bad saving throws and it'll look a lot like a TPK (even if a couple pc's survive.) The system assumes the pc's have access to various powers as they advance in level - and it's not explicit in any particular encounter design but instead expressed more in longevity - utility magic both arcane and divine lets the pc's take on more encounters without resting. And in Book 5 the pc's end up in a spot where retreat is... challenging. And filled to the brim with high level casters.
I'd also observe your players are not really consuming the AP's obvious structure. It's called Rise of the Runelords. Three guesses which type of class is likely to get a lot of treasure. And your first two don't count.
Thanks for the advice!
Wouldn't you know it--I finally get around to posting this thread and it looks like we're gonna have a caster player (possibly druid/wizard/MT?) join the group after all. Now I just have to add a few more mooks and a little bit more treasure to account for the larger party and we're probably good to go.
Knowledge checks will probably be fine--our skald is naturally a bit of a Knowledge monkey. I suspect the gnome fighter will want to go Master Craftsman given the Master Tinkerer alternate racial trait. I have no qualms about players crafting reasonable custom items or recruiting a cohort for crafting or other gap-filling purposes.