Advice - running AV after Troubles in Otari (lvl 5 party)

[narchy]

Hi All,

I have a group that started with the beginnners box, and then the Troubles in Otari quests. I want to finish all of those, as I've tied in some back story stuff.

Now that AV is fully out - it would be really cool for them to stay in Otari and take care of Belcorra. But they'll be level 5, and I'm not really sure how to approach making adjustments to the AV AP do take in to account the big level difference.

Does anyone have any advice? Thanks!

[vagrant-poet]

Have the top levels be empty, and have Otari's ghost kick off the AP in the second book, which is supposed to start at 5th level.

Bring anything really cool from the upper levels into the lower levels somewhere, swapping in for encoutners you find less interesting, and adding a few levels.

[Unicore]

It is also fine to let the PCs just dominate the top levels and send monsters scurrying out of the way. Maybe start with the light house been a scary monster into the Otari grave yard and the PCs can be relative efficient in clearing the first 4 levels. Maybe they pick up a level over where they should by by the start of book 2 but I don’t think that will be a super big deal. Just be careful that they don’t miss out on all the context clues hidden in the first book in their rush to unseal lower levels.

[James Jacobs]

I'd go ahead and run the 5th level party through the first adventure as-is. Give the players a chance to feel tough and high level, and with their greater resources, they'll be able to take out many more encounters before stopping to rest. There's a lot of story to that first adventure that'll resonate better later on, including introducing the PCs to the central threats of the Abomination Vaults.

One suggestion I would make to change things up though:

Spoiler:

When Gauntlight fires and brings up undead and aberrations in the cemetery during the Deadtide, increase the number of monsters the PCs face to make it a tougher encounter for them. This way, the danger feels even more real, and the PCs feel even more like only they could have stopped those monsters in the fight.

For a 5th level party, part one of the Deadtide should be a fight against 4 skeletal champions and 4 plague zombies. ALTERNATELY you could pit the 5th level PCs against 4 zombie shambler troops (see Bestiary 3), which really pulls off the zombie horde fight theme. I'd describe these troops as being a mix of fleshy (zombie) undead and skeletal undead to keep it feeling like the whole cemetery rose up rather than just the fresher bodies, but don't worry about changing the troop's stats.

Part 2 should be a fight against 3 skalathraxes rather than just 1.

And then, once the PCs complete the 1st book and get into the second one, let them go ahead and level up to 6th level. They'll be a little over-leveled at this point, but if you go back to regular XP awards, that'll self correct soon enough.

[narchy]

Thanks for the advice guys!

[larsenex]

Jason,

That is great advice! I was going to salt into the module 1 or 2 Otari troubles side quests as a break from the main vaults and realized that even if 1 level over leveled wont 'break the bank' so to speak.

[James Jacobs]

larsenex wrote:

Jason,

That is great advice! I was going to salt into the module 1 or 2 Otari troubles side quests as a break from the main vaults and realized that even if 1 level over leveled wont 'break the bank' so to speak.

Thanks, but I'm James, not Jason.

Have fun running the adventure! :-)

[A Mite Excessive]

James Jacobs Jason Jingleheimer-Schmitt, that's my name too!

[James Jacobs]

A Mite Excessive wrote:

James Jacobs Jason Jingleheimer-Schmitt, that's my name too!

Also known as "James' least favorite nostalgic song from grade school" where it was popular among my bullies.

[A Mite Excessive]

I know your pain from music class and "O where have you been Billy boy," which nobody particularly liked except the music teacher, so we sang it all the time. I was the only Billy in the grade.

[narchy]

James Jacobs wrote:

I'd go ahead and run the 5th level party through the first adventure as-is. Give the players a chance to feel tough and high level, and with their greater resources, they'll be able to take out many more encounters before stopping to rest. There's a lot of story to that first adventure that'll resonate better later on, including introducing the PCs to the central threats of the Abomination Vaults.

One suggestion I would make to change things up though:

** spoiler omitted **

And then, once the PCs complete the 1st book and get into the second one, let them go ahead and level up to 6th level. They'll be a little over-leveled at this point, but if you go back to regular XP awards, that'll self correct soon enough.

Hi James - thanks again for this. My players weren't certain about continuing with their level 5 characters, but I told them that "Some guy on the forums said it would be okay".

It only dawned on me now WHO had given me this advice!

They're just about to have the final dungeon fight in TiO. So next week, it's on to the Gauntlight!

[Captain Morgan]

I'm running a group through the Beginner's Box now, and might wind up running them through Troubles and/or AV. I am reading Troubles but haven't purchased AV yet, so I am a little fuzzy on how it all connects. I like James's suggestion on just running them through book 1 at level 5. Will players earn XP at a reduce rate through it to put them closer to the expected level for book 2?

Edit: Or maybe not, I dunno. I am looking at the Fishing for Adventure chapter in Troubles and feeling kind of hung up on why the adventurers are gonna fight all these monsters for a home base when they already seem to have homes in the town.

[narchy]

So my level 5 party FINALLY triggered the Deadtide encounter after a very long day in the Gauntlight Keep.

They were making their way back to Otari, with Jaul Mezmin tied up along for the ride.

The Wizard was low on spells, and nasty with Blueblisters.

The Champion stupefied by the posessed furnace, which has temporaily caused him to forget what fire is.

The Investigator has a nasty stage 2 of ghoul fever.

The Swashbuckler... is fine. Dancing along the road.

They see blue light blaze across the sky, and a girl screaming from the direction of the Otari graveyard.

I also included Doriana Menehemes (out for a dusk walk in the graveyard). Oseph Menehemes and Largus Longsaddle arrived just after the zombies were killed. Taking Jaul in to custody, and Doriana back to town.

I'd say 4 x Shambler Troops, and 4 x Scalathrax is perfect for this. Thanks James Jacobs!

Our wizard had the time of his life with an expanded fireball hitting all four hordes!

[Billiam8817]

I've just finished the begginners box too, and my team are heading out to the fish camp next week, or maybe look for the centaur courier. Thanks for the advice in this thread! looking forward to running this at level 5, and kicking off the AP proper with the gauntlight 'event' being a much bigger deal for the town. A few years ago for a haloween one-shot back when we played 5e I ran a 'defend the town from zombie hordes' scenario and it's a personal favourite.

ps narchy, thanks for the maps, you rock!

[Niloc716]

I'm a player w/ a lot of general TTRPG experience and who is playing through his first P2e Path (Age of Ashes). I just ran Dirge for a group and was looking into running Abomination Vaults into Ruby Phoenix but also liked the other Otari adventures, so the advice here is perfect.
I'm looking forward to weaving a fun adventure through both Otari adventures, AV, then Ruby Phoenix.

[Daniel Arango]

I am also considering running my players through the Otari adventures prior to AV but I don’t particularly like the idea of running them through as a much higher level than intended. In fact, I would be ecstatic if we could run this through and end up higher level than the book suggests. Is there some simple way to increase the challenge of books 1-3? This will be my first time GMing PF2 but I’ve done this often with Starfinder where leveling up enemies and hazards is pretty straightforward.