I am about to get started writing my first homebrew-Golarion campaign (mostly to be set in Vudra), and I am looking for some advice: my group and I have been playing together for fourteen years now. Two of our players (and most frequent GMs) usually play very optimised characters and have very high system mastery (as well as being good roleplayers). The rest of us are good at playing the game, but not as good as those two.
Personally, I am more of an RP person than a rules person (yes, I know, and I still play PF), but one of the reasons I volunteered to GM is that I want to improve my rules knowledge as well.
So, yesterday I told them that I'd start work on my campaign now (I mean I have to invent a region from whole cloth), and they immediately asked for character information (amount of build points, alignment and class restrictions etc). They also volunteered that the good players had already written up potential characters for the campaign.
One of them wants to play a dhampir optimised for fighting in melee, and the other is currently playing a very efficient gunslinger in Skulls and Shackles and so wants to do it again...
Long story short, does anyone have suggestions for how I can make sure these characters don't breeze through encounters and the players still have fun? I was thinking of starting the campaign at level 4 and letting it go to 20/ mythic tier 5. It is set to be a travel adventure with urban intrigue and later planar politics.
Also keep in mind that I am about to start my first job, so I don't know how much time I'll have to prepare sessions, even though I have lots of time to prepare the initial campaign now.
Thanks in advance!
Makamu
Encourage the other players to make very different characters. Then design encounters where different characters can be strong. And in some encounters, it’s fine/good for the experienced fighter/gunslinger feel optimized and strong. And then other times, bring on the swarms of ghost rats.
Okay, that sounds like great advice - thank you.
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Have you DMed before?
If not I highly recommend starting with a published adventure. It doesn't have to be a full adventure path or heck even pathfinder. But it should be pathfinder compatible. Prep the adventure (reading it, understanding the tactics the monsters will use, etc.) and run it as is and don't worry about the PCs breezing through it. The point of the adventure isn't so much to challenge them but rather to get a feel for what characters are capable of.
You should also be comfortable adjusting things on the fly if an encounter is too hard or too easy. If any players are using optimized characters you should probably go ahead and set all the enemies HP to max. Sometimes I'll even give my monster's one final gasp if it feels like they went down too easily.
For example, my monster has 5 hitpoints left and the PC just nailed them for 30 damage. It's only round two and he's the BBEG and it would kind of suck for everyone if he went down already. So instead, the attack leaves him at 1 hitpoint. If any other PC lands a blow and does any kind of damage he's dead, but the players don't know that. It creates tension because they just threw everything they had at him and he's somehow still up. Now my monster gets to potentially do one more thing before he drops. Even if he doesn't, he's probably getting dropped by a less optimized character. Everyone feels like they contributed and the fight is more satisfying for everyone.
I do try to keep these kind of shenanigans to a minimum though so the players don't catch on that it's what I'm doing.
Even if you've DMed lots of games, published adventures can still be useful. They take less effort to prepare, which gives you more time on the custom stuff. If players are blowing though things too fast then plan adventures based on a higher level. You might find that maybe your group is only really properly challenged when they are up against things that are for 3 levels higher then their actual level. Though in this case you may need to reduce the xp they get for such an encounter or use a slower xp track in order to keep their progression from going off the rails. Alternatively, you can use milestones which grants you a lot of freedom in terms of encounter design.
Have you DMed before?
Yes, but only twice, and we did not finish either campaign. The first time was a version of Curse of the Crimson Throne that went off to do its own thing somewhere in book two, but still fun.
The second was a campaign for newbie PF players with one of my current fellow player as a helpmeet to help us all out with the rules. It was great fun because it allowed me to grow along with my players.
If not I highly recommend starting with a published adventure. It doesn't have to be a full adventure path or heck even pathfinder. But it should be pathfinder compatible. Prep the adventure (reading it, understanding the tactics the monsters will use, etc.) and run it as is and don't worry about the PCs breezing through it. The point of the adventure isn't so much to challenge them but rather to get a feel for what characters are capable of.
You should also be comfortable adjusting things on the fly if an encounter is too hard or too easy. If any players are using optimized characters you should probably go ahead and set all the enemies HP to max. Sometimes I'll even give my monster's one final gasp if it feels like they went down too easily.
For example, my monster has 5 hitpoints left and the PC just nailed them for 30 damage. It's only round two and he's the BBEG and it would kind of suck for everyone if he went down already. So instead, the attack leaves him at 1 hitpoint. If any other PC lands a blow and does any kind of damage he's dead, but the players don't know that. It creates tension because they just threw everything they had at him and he's somehow still up. Now my monster gets to potentially do one more thing before he drops. Even if he doesn't, he's probably getting dropped by a less optimized character. Everyone feels like they contributed and the fight is more satisfying for everyone.
I do try to keep these kind of shenanigans to a minimum though so the players don't catch on that it's what I'm doing.
Even if you've DMed lots of games, published adventures can still be useful. They take less effort to prepare, which gives you more time on the custom stuff. If players are blowing though things too fast then plan adventures based on a higher level. You might find that maybe your group is only really properly challenged when they are up against things that are for 3 levels higher then their actual level. Though in this case you may need to reduce the xp...
Also thanks for those suggestions - I have a few APs I could run if the players feel like it, and I'll definitely read through the ones I have for ideas on how to build enjoyable encounters in what I hope is already an enjoyable story.
Thanks for the advice and examples.
Makamu
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First off, I'd suggest rethink mythic. It isn't really very balanced and it really really hard to build interesting encounters with the level of 'rocket tag' it opens up.
Secondly, Don't worry. Your friends are obviously excited about playing in your game, and I am sure will forgive any imperfections.
Third, don't be afraid to change what you initially plan (even during combat) if you decide that something is dying to quick, it has more HP. If it isn't going to be able to hit anything, increase its attack bonus. Obviously you don't want to make it impossible for the PCs to win, but a challenging encounter should be challenging and if your initial design isn't going to provide that, changing it makes for better gaming. A couple of cautions though, don't invalidate builds, I once build a trip character and ended up with everything we met being immune to trip (this can go the other way too, don't invalid choices of weakness by never having them come up either, if the party doesn't have trapfinding it shouldn't mean that therefore they will never find a trap.)
Forth, don't be afraid to ask you experienced players for advice and feedback. One thing in particular, is I'd ask them as a group to be responsible for making sure that they have builds where all the characters will be able to contribute (a character or two that is superior to the others can be a quick way to ruin fun.) This is a difficult task and requires considerable system mastery for a GM, but your experienced players should be able to handle it, and if they know that as a group they are expected to do so from the beginning it will likely avoid the problem.
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As a starting DM I would limit the resources available to the players at the beginning of the campaign.
It is much easier to run a game with just the core rulebook until you are familiar with how everything works, then slowly increase the amount of material allowed as you grow more comfortable with the material.
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I don't see much point in putting blanket limitations on player options. I can understand campaign specific limitations but a blanket ban e.g. core only just removes what I regard as one of the best features of Pathfinder i.e. a multitude of granular options. Additionally I don't believe limiting options helps with learning to GM since even in a core only campaign there still going to be more variables then you can realistically manage, so why even try to?
Something I found that helped (as a GM and player) was to put together cheat sheets for rules you might not always recall but you think will come up in play. Also what helped me get to grips with the 'how' of rules was to delve into the 'why' of rules.
I'm not too keen on the writing style or the whole angry schtick but I find this post on the Angry GM to have been particularly informative: The Death of the Gygax: Why Rules Exist.
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I was thinking of starting the campaign at level 4 and letting it go to 20/ mythic tier 5.... ...Also keep in mind that I am about to start my first job, so I don't know how much time I'll have....
Wish is not going to be a problem for a long, long time.
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Spiritualist would be another ban I would suggest to a new DM; the potential of their ghost is huge, and it can really screw up your plans if they use it well.
Easy example, using it for scouting after every door: now your ambush failed, the trap set up behind the door is revealed, or the gelatinous cube waiting for them on the other side is no longer a real threat because they know he's there as soon as they open the door.
But why would you want to stop these things? Ambushing the ambush, circumventing the trap and being prepared for the g-cube are all brilliant things that players get to do.
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As an experienced GM. I can say with confidence. Do the following.
1: Be willing to tell your players no.
If it dose not fit your story don't let the players bring it to your table.
2: Pick all the races that fit the area your game will be in. Don't allow any exceptionaly powerful races.
This will solve a lot of your problems challenging your players at low level.
3: If your not familiar with any Class. Out right ban it, or read the class before you let any one play it.
This will solve problems late game when you find out all the sudden they have been running the character wrong for 6 levels. I have encountered this more then I wish to admit in PFSP. A lot of GM just don't know what different classes can and can't do.
4: You will never be able to memorize all the rules. Ask the two experienced GM to help you when you need it.
5: As long as every one is haven fun. Your doing it right.