I am starting to run this Adventure with 5 PCs, a goblin sorcerer, a tengu bard, a half-orc rogue, an elf cleric and a human ranger. Will this be a super challenge without a tank role? I have a player that's willing to play a barbarian, but didn't want a 6th PC to make the party more powerful and have them just walk through the levels unchallenged.
They might need to develop tactics to keep the squishier members safe, but overall they will do just fine.
Thank you, I'll give them a heads up!
The “trickiest” part of this AP with a large party is actually fitting in the rooms at early levels/floors. Protecting squishies has been pretty easy for my party, as there are plenty of encounters that happen in a small room connected to a 5ft hall way.
The bigger issue is having too many precision damage players (my party of 6 includes a rogue and a swashbuckler)