Well, I had a player drop out due to school starting up, so I'm down to a party of 3. I thought I'd post the encounter adjustments I've made for others to use if needed.
I was pleasantly surprised that these took me about 5 minutes to scribble out on a piece of scrap paper rather than the hour or so I probably would have spent on it in PF1.
Lake Monster - Extreme 9, remove 30XP of challenge
Apply the Weak template to Lake Monster
Tulaeth & Treants - Severe 9, remove 30XP of challenge
Remove 1 Treant
Cyclops Longhouse - High 9, remove 20XP of challenge
Remove 1 Cyclops and the Smilodon
Roc Nest - High 9, remove 20XP of challenge
Apply Weak template to both Rocs
Liruthall's Lair - Severe 9, remove 30XP of challenge
Replace Fire Giant with Stone Giant
Giant Mercenaries - Severe 9, remove 30XP of challenge
Remove 3 Trolls
Night Heralds, no Ally Points - Higher than Extreme, remove 40XP of challenge
Remove 1 Mummy Retainer and 1 Cultist
Night Heralds, 2-3 Ally Points - Extreme 9, remove 40XP of challenge
Remove 1 Mummy Retainer and 1 Cultist
Night Heralds, 4+ Ally Points - Severe 9, remove 30XP of challenge
Remove 1 Cultist
The Night Heralds encounter is a little inexact, since the XP values don't add up nicely, but I figured a little wiggle room is okay. The XP totals don't exactly correspond to the challenge levels to begin with.
My party has defeated Liruthall and the Lake Monster so far, and seems to be having a good time. They've been sparing no spell slot on the challenging encounters.
Sounds great, congrats on the lake monster! This is the main PC killer in this adventure )
Thanks for testing how long it took to make the adjustments. In-house we found our guidelines to be easy and fast to use to help customize for various different party sizes, but that doesn't really mean as much as how it works for you guys. Glad to hear it was just 5 minutes of scribbling for the whole adventure!
I made adjustments the other way for 5 PCs and came to many similar adjustments:
Lake Monster - Extreme 9, add 30XP of challenge
Apply the Elite template to Lake Monster
Tulaeth & Treants - Severe 9, add 30XP of challenge
Add 1 Treant
Cyclops Longhouse - High 9, add 20XP of challenge
Add 2 Smilodons
Roc Nest - High 9, add 20XP of challenge
Replace with 3 Rocs with the Weak template applied
Liruthall's Lair - Severe 9, add 30XP of challenge
Add 3 Trolls
Giant Mercenaries - Severe 9, add 30XP of challenge
Add 1 Hill Giant and 1 Troll
Night Heralds, no Ally Points - Higher than Extreme, add 40XP of challenge
Add 1 Mummy Retainer and 1 Cultist
Night Heralds, 2-3 Ally Points - Extreme 9, add 40XP of challenge
Add 1 Mummy Retainer and 1 Cultist
Night Heralds, 4+ Ally Points - Severe 9, add 30XP of challenge
Add 1 Cultist
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I would hesitate to apply Elite to a level + 4 foe for a 5-player adjustment. That runs afoul of the recommendation to not supercharge a solo for a larger group. It might still work out, but it could be brutal (as an Extreme, it's already really really brutal; Extremes are usually meant to have a very strong TPK possibility).
Also, on an XP cost note, an Extreme should be worth 160, and the "Extreme+1" of the Elite serpent would be worth 240 (it's not in the book because it's so hard), meaning adding Elite to the serpent is worth +80, or roughly the amount you'd want for adding 2 additional players, if you did go that route. You'd want 40, which is tough to add without adding more critters.
Noted, thanks Mark
I suppose you might be able to also do a "half-elite" where you halve all the increases from elite, other than the danger of overbuffing a solo.
I also checked the book and think that the sea serpent is only a Severe encounter. This still makes Thebazily's 3-player adjustment of Weak template a good one (it just is -30/120 rather than -40/160).
I also checked the book and think that the sea serpent is only a Severe encounter. This still makes Thebazily's 3-player adjustment of Weak template a good one (it just is -30/120 rather than -40/160).
Yep, that's correct, it's Severe instead of Extreme. I remember making a mental note to fix that while I was writing my post. Oh well, it was getting pretty late after our session.
Glad to see that the adjustments for more players mirror what I did pretty closely.