I've been thinking a bit about table level and scaling in the adventures.
As I understand the guideline, the average level of the table determines whether the scenario is played at 1-2 or 4-5. (or some similar levels).
From the adventures I've played thus far, this works reasonably well for tables of 4 players, but for tables of 5-6 it seems to break down, and the adventure is much easier than it was intended.
(In the Grandmaster Torch and Prince of Augustana adventures this last weekend, we had tables of 6 low level characters. At no point did any of the combats feel difficult or life threatening. For two of the combats, my character who was low in the initiative order, never had an opportunity to act before the encounter was over).
The average level of the party is the sum of each character's level divided by the number of characters. It occurred to me that a better indicator of the party strength in terms of an adventure designed for 4 characters would be the sum of each character's level divided by 4 (or however many characters the scenario writer designed the adventure around).
Thus, a party of six first level characters is a (1*6/4) level 1.5 party.
A party of six second level characters is a (2*6/4) level 3 party and could play either side of a 1-2/4-5 adventure.
A party of three second level characters and 3 third level characters is a ( (3*2)+(3*3)/4 ) = 3.75) level 3.75 party and should probably play the 4-5 tier. (Just imagine how easy the 1-2 tier would be for this party.)
Any thoughts?
One odd aspect of the system as written: a party of four 3rd-Level wizards and rogues has an APL of 3. Adding a 1st-Level barbarian and a 2nd-Level ranger strengthens the party, but reduces the APL to 2.5,suggesting that the party is weaker with the additional characters.
Hence with my proposed change, the effective APL would be 3.75 (15/4) reflecting an increase in the strength of the party through the addition of the lower level characters.
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An excellent call. This is worthy of a praise. I do hope this becomes the official way of calculating APL.
It removes the way of largely reducing or increasing the APL by adding one character. For example adding a 1st-level character to a team of 5 5th-level characters (APL 5) would in the current system would decrease the APL by two thirds (to APL 4.33). With the proposed system it would increase by one fourth (from 6.25 to 6.5).
Really now, 5 5th-level characters tend to beat a combat encounter of EL 6.
Good ideas. They're being considered for v1.2 and Season 1.
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It removes the way of largely reducing or increasing the APL by adding one character. For example adding a 1st-level character to a team of 5 5th-level characters (APL 5) would in the current system would decrease the APL by two thirds (to APL 4.33). With the proposed system it would increase by one fourth (from 6.25 to 6.5).
AGH! I have to correct my error here.
Adding one (1) 1st-level character to a team of four (4) 4th-level characters (APL 4) decreases the APL to 3.4 in the current version*, where as in the proposed version it would increase the APL to 4.25.
* Assuming the APL gets the extra +1 only when including the sixth character