Just wondering if everyone followed the levelling guidance in the beginning of each volume?
Book 5 is mostly 14 and 15 with 16th at the end, and book 6 is 16 and 17 with 18th at the end.
I'm tempted to accelerate a little and have 17th at the end of book 5 and allow everyone to get to 20th at the end of book 6.
Any thoughts, experiences, or recommendations?
Go for it!
I let my players level up from experience points. And, because they are an oversize party and very good at combat, I usually increase the difficulty of the encounters. In other adventure paths, my players skipped enough non-essential encounters to level up at the rate the modules intended. In Ironfang Invasion, my players added extra encounters to free enslaved villagers. This has given them extra levels. They began Siege of Stone at 13th level. That module begins at 11th level.
I left many of the encounters in Part 1, The Goddess Below, and Part 2, The Long Walk, at their original difficulty, easy encounters interesting more because of the strange creatures and exotic people involved. The Long Walk had a lot of CR 8, 9, and 10 creatures against an expected 12th-level party, so it was not intended to be tough. Their enemy is Ironfang Legion, not the Darklanders, so I want to save their most brutal battles for the Ironfang Legion.
Due to low-xp encounters, they will be only halfway to 14th level when they begin Part 3, Judgment of the Sky Citadel. Thus, I could arrange for the party to begin Prisoners of the Blight at 14th level as intended.
But I am tempted run maximum-difficulty challenges in the 2nd half of Siege of Stone to let them begin Prisoners of the Blight at 15th level. The players are agreeable to ending the adventure path at 20th level. And since I am converting Ironfang Invasion to Pathfinder 2nd Edition, I have to rewrite a lot of the creatures, anyways.
Go for it!
... And since I am converting Ironfang Invasion to Pathfinder 2nd Edition, I have to rewrite a lot of the creatures, anyways.
I've kept things pretty much on par with the recommendations up to now (Book 5), but I'd guess with you rewriting for 2ed it is a learning experience all round.
Good point on the main enemy being the Ironfang, but I do feel that for my group, having book 5 with the fey, has opened a small door on them considering negotiations rather than just charging into combat, and that is something that I think will become much more important for book 6.There are a lot of encounters (24) between the beginning of book 5 (recommended start 14th) and the descent to the lower palace (which is the recommended spot for everyone to be level 15) which seems overly excessive.
I think post-Naphexi might be a suitable extra bump spot in book 5.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Level 17 for the war council at the beginning of book 6.
Level 18 for the attack on Fort Phaendar.
Now level 19 for the journey to the vault.
and I'll let them get to 20 before the final battle.
Yes it has meant that encounters need beefing up (added hps for some, better AC and to hit), but also allowed me to slip in some extra feats to make life a little trickier - Greater Feint for Scabvistin worked well.
My players finally reached the final module, Vault of the Onyx Citadel. They had a preliminary discussion with Weslen Gavirk, Daq Sontine, and Noelan upon reaching the Marshall's Stead in Tamran, which I assumed was Forest Marshall Gavirk's office. They gained influence with both Gavirk and Noelan, which gave them enough XP to reach 18th level.
They had ended the 4th module, Siege of Stone, at 14th level and 911 xp. Pathfinder 2nd Edition uses 1000 xp per level, and reduces the XP of creatures and hazards each time the party gains a level. So 911 xp is always 91.1% of the way to the next level. Prisoners of the Blight has them talking with Karburtin Lightbrand in Kraggodan on page 8, spends page 9 explaining the darkblight, and suddenly on page 10 the party is 80 miles north of Kraggodan at A. THE RUNESTONE (CR 15). They are supposed to be at 14th level then. My players love side quests that tie up loose ends, so I expected they would earn that last XP to reach 15th level before the Runestone, but they were more ambitious than that. They wanted to roleplay the entire journey from Kraggodan to the Blighted Area.
I invented a new adventure in the Gloaming Wood in the Nesmanian Plains. They fought Ironfang soldiers to free captive humans in a village near the Gloaming Wood. The freed villagers told them that other villagers had run away to hide in the Gloaming Wood. Fungus monsters had driven off the Ironfang soldiers chasing them. That woods had a small outbreak of darkblight and the players had to fight blighted monsters. A few villagers had caught the blight and my players had fun figuring out how to cure them. Alas, another problem with the PF2 conversion in my game is that PF2 offers fewer ways to remove curses. The Remove Curse spell is on the divine (cleric) and occult (bard) spell lists, but the party's only divine or occult spellcaster is the druid Stormdancer who multiclassed to cleric. He could not cast divine spells at Remove Curse's spell level. They had to obtain a Wand of Remove Curse from Longshadow. They also aquired a kineticist temporary PC for the PF2 Kineticist playtest,
By the time the party reached the Runestone, they were at 15th level and 138 xp. I gave Kusana some Jurogumo and Shadow Giant allies to beef up the encounter.
They reached 16th level at F. ARLANTIA’S GLEN (CR 16) by taming the Jubjub Bird. The rogue Binny used her 16th-level class feat to gain an Animal Companion and selected the Jubjub Bird whom we have been calling Jubbie.
They reached 17th level at H. DEEPER REACHES. Back in the Upper Reaches, they were supposed to fight a CR 15 lesser bandersnatch, but instead of porting it to PF2 rules, I substituted a 19th-level Primal Bandersnatch that Paizo had converted themselves for the PF2 version of the Kingmaker adventure path. That was a tough fight despite it being only two levels above them.
I greatly increased the fight against Queen Arlantia, building her in PF2 as a 20th-level witch with the darkblight itself as her familiar. She also had a 15th-level Marrmora, a 16th-level Vilderavn, and a 19th-level Vilderavn Herald at her side. I had ported Taurgreth as a 17th-level ranger but had moved him earlier to the Deeper Reaches beside the Hobgoblin Commandos.
They received lots of story award XP for restoring Dryad's Song and freeing Gendowyn and chose to fight more blighted monsters on their way out of the Blighted Area, so they ended Prisoners of the Blight at 17th level and 853 xp.
Each war council delegate that they get fully on their side will earn them 100 xp, and getting Gavirk and Noelan on their side was quick. Thus, they are at 18th level and 53 xp.
However, the party had raided Fort Phaendar at 12th level between Assault on Longshadw and Siege of Stone to free the captives there, so we will skip that section of Vault of the Onyx Citadel.
The module said that the fey delegate Gossamer is supposed to give a speech at the war council, "We waste precious time sitting around arguing over petty details! While you quarrel over every fraction of silver, the fey of the Fangwood have learned of an onyx tower within our realm! Everyone should be ashamed that while we talk, the Accressiel Court alone takes action to push back against the Legion!”
Nope, Gendowyn and the Accressiel Court were restored to the Fangwood yesterday! They are not yet organized enough for an attack on a Stone Tower. Gossamer herself traveled with the party to the war council, because that morning Cleric Noelan of Phaendar had contacted the party via a Scroll of Sending to invite them to the upcoming war council. He had moved to Tamran after his rescue from captivity in Fort Phaendar and sits on the council as the representative of occupied territory.
Gendowyn had gifted them with a custom staff that allowed the party to teleport anywhere in the Fangwood so that they could reach the council. The sorcerer Honey had been sad to give the Dryad's Song back to Gendowyn, but was happier to receive the Staff of Gendowyn's Return as a consolation prize.
But I believe that once the party learns of a Stone Road opening in the Fangwood, they themselves will teleport over to stop the invasion. And they will win despite any betrayal by the spy in the war council. That battle will substitute for the attack on Fort Phaendar.