Feast of Ravenmoor on the way to Brinewall....

[Jayson MF Kip]

I am beginning to run the AP. My PCs have cleared out Licktoad Village, and are going to observe shipwrecks and the cave with Tsutamu and the Whispering Shrike.

My idea is to put the module Feast of Ravenmoor on the way to Brinewall, likely with Koya mentioning that there an "interesting celebration of Desna" on the way.

My party is a group of 5, generally new to Pathfinder, Unchained Summonner, Shaman (primarily an archer), Fighter (18 str, Earthbreaker), Cleric, Brawler (only player whose played much PF). They are currently level 2.

My real questions are "should I have my party level to 3 before the module" and "would leveling them to 4 afterward make Brinewall too easy"?

[voodoo chili]

It's been a while since I played these (ran Feast, played in Brinewall) but recall that they are both excellent and a bit tough (esp Feast finale). I'd say, yes. Level up.

[Eltaris]

On my side, we are in the middle of Book 2 and I solved such kind of question by simply not giving XP at all. I just inform the group when they achieve a new level. All rewards related to good RP or ideas are manage in game instead of using XP.

The advantage is that it allowed me to add encounters related to the campaign or to PC's background, without taking care of possible impact on their level.

One last point, as the travel is long and is central to first 3 books, I decided to really play the travel, adding events and describing cities they are visiting. Adding also some events related to religious holidays, after all, we are playing in a polythesit world.