Scaling and Abandoning DA

[Yakman]

So... I really wanted to like this campaign, but after finishing Book 1, I've told the guys that I'm probably going to end the AP.

There's some of the generic issues [starship combat, not great NPCs] but also, when running the final combats just... the guys whomped 'em really bad.

Looking ahead at Books 2 and 3, there's lots of combats which are really weak. Like... gimmes. My guys at the present level [15] will just ROFL stomp them. And I don't have the bandwidth to update every encounter - which usually is best done through mooks, and that's just padding [adding time to sessions].

I dunno. I ran an experiment at the end of Attack! where the players were told to make level 18 versions of their PCs and they fought the Broodsoul from the back of the book as the "final form" of the BBEG. They struggled 'a little' as I had a bunch of other monsters there, but ultimately when they got to the CR 20 monster, he was a paper tiger. And looking ahead at the boss of DA when the PCs get to him... he's also a CR 20 monster... and they'll be Level 20s! Where's the challenge?

Anyone else run/played this AP and have thoughts on the issue?

[Cellion]

I haven't had a particular issue with Devastation Ark being too easy.

My players are currently in Book 3, and I can say they struggled with a number of combats in the first two books. In book 1 the spiciest were the exsiccate encounter (they didn't have the right ranged weapons to stop their regeneration and they ate a lot of AoOs) and the bryvath encounter (impossible aura + confusion/spectrend were back-breaking). Both of those encounters were close calls for my group. However having played a lot of Starfinder I'm well aware that optimized parties are really really efficient at downing foes and the higher level you get the more that becomes true. You can scale things up for your group - or not - there's nothing inherently bad about them stomping every encounter unless they're getting bored.

I'm surprised about your "not great NPCs" comment as I found them pretty fun when I ran book 1. Lots of variety.

[Dargoth876]

I've found that book 1 one was pretty well balanced.

Book 2 was fun because of the team's past (they went through "Against the Aeon Throne" and half of "Threefold Conspiracy"), so they knew the Pact Board of Directors. A lot of "combat" in book 2 should be bypassed with skills and negociations. The only adaptations i've made in book 2 are a change in one director to fit with tTC ending, i've added

mixed AP spoilers:

an uplifted Irestomae Ulivestra from AtAT with the Azlanti spies

, and the space combat went full narative because the PCs took every steps to ensure the maximum of fleets for it. The high-level roleplay IS worthwhile in this book!

Book 3, well, chapter 1 is the definition of a railroad, so I did have to rewrite it depending on the player performance. For the final chapter, well, they used their capacities to deal with the thing differently, and that is okay. It was a pretty epic ending and the players were satisfied.

[Yakman]

The guys were actually level 14.

I'd forgotten to tell them to level up.