Doomsday Dawn Party Size

[Bruno71]

It seems that the Doomsday Dawn adventure was designed for a party of 4 PCs. What guidelines should we use for running larger or smaller parties? Chapter 5 gives equipment lists for 5 or 6 PCs. But the encounters as written are probably designed for parties of 4. Should we use the playtest rules to adjust encounters for more players? Is there a maximum party size?

[Harrythefish]

Bruno71 wrote:

It seems that the Doomsday Dawn adventure was designed for a party of 4 PCs. What guidelines should we use for running larger or smaller parties? Chapter 5 gives equipment lists for 5 or 6 PCs. But the encounters as written are probably designed for parties of 4. Should we use the playtest rules to adjust encounters for more players? Is there a maximum party size?

ADJUSTING ENCOUNTERS

Pathfinder assumes that the typical group consists of a
Game Master and four players, but often a Game Master
will find that the number of players interested in her game
doesn’t always align with this expectation. Rules for
adjusting encounters according to the number of players
can be found in the Pathfinder Playtest Bestiary.

Sorry here it the passage from the bestiary:

Diff erent Party Sizes
For each character in the party beyond the fourth,
include additional creatures worth an amount of XP
equal to the Character Adjustment value for your
encounter on Table 5. Don’t adjust the actual XP the
characters each gain for defeating the encounter.
If you have fewer than four characters, use the same
process in reverse: for each missing character, remove
creatures worth an amount of XP equal to the Character
Adjustment on Table 5 from the encounter, but keep the
XP that the characters each earn the same.
It’s best to use the XP increase from more characters
to add more enemies and the XP decrease from fewer
characters to subtract enemies, rather than making one
enemy tougher or weaker. Encounters are typically more
satisfying if the number of creatures is fairly close to the
number of player characters.

[DM Livgin]

OK, Here are my 5/6 player adjustments:

Sewer Ooze, 5: no change. 6: Elite.

4 Goblins, 5: Add Goblin Warrior. 6: Add Goblin Warchanter.

6 Centipedes. 5: Add Centipede. 6: Add Zombie Brute (omg...)

Mindfog Fungus. No change? Confusion should scale will with the party size...

2 Quasits, 5: Add Homunculus. 6: Add Quasit.

Mixed Goblin Group, 5: Add weak goblin dog. 6: add elite goblin dog.

4 skeleton guards, 5: add 1 skeleton. 6: add 2 skeletons.

Drakus, 5: add giant rat. 6: Add elite giant rat (the rat in the text is a editing mistake).

[Shadrick Hawkins]

Thanks I was wondering if someone had done this yet. My playgroup has 6 players. I like what you have here, and will be using it to help guide my own adjustments.

For the 4 goblin fight in A2 I am probably going to add a total of 2 Goblin Warriors for 6 players instead of adding the 1 Warchanter. It seems to be designed as a low level X-on-X fight against some scrubs to get the Players used to using the new rules.

For the Centipedes, given how cramped that room already is - and how much more cramped it will get with 2 more PC's I was thinking of going with the elite template on some of them - but wasn't 100% sure how many to modify for a "Severe" encounter vs. 6 PC's. If I am understanding the chart and the template correctly, I think 3 elite and 3 normal matches the XP budget (3*40+3*20=180XP).

Assuming I do that with the Centipedes, I'd probably use the Zombie Brute you mention as the 6 PC adjustment to the Skeleton Guards fight instead. Probably starting him prone, to fit the description of the room. Either that, or the classic Skeletal Champion, to play around with the shield Actions.

As for the fight with Drakus, I am thinking of adding 2 giant rats (instead of an elite) to give him more flanking options. This seems to fit since he has sneak attack and is the final boss.