Age of Worms - Deadly

[Nightfall]

My party has action points, 32 point buy and 7 members. No true deaths yet but several close calls.

The most difficult encounter so far has been the Ebon Aspect in 3FoE. The only reason it was so difficult is because they encountered it before resting after the Vecna/Shadow area.

IIRC, Erik Mona's playtest group consisted of EIGHT party members...

Explains how Erik can get away with introducing the adversary at the end of Part 4/HoHR.

Even so, that's some pretty nasty stuff. The Ebon Aspect alone scares me, rested or not. That's a near deity for the love of Orcus!

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I've got parts 1, 2 and 3 now. 3 doesn't seem quite so bad; the majority of baddies haven't a hope in hell against a 5th level party being vaguely tactical. I'm looking forward to buying four - my PC's may never get to those levels, but I do like the dungeons and things.


Had my players not grown up on dungeons, I would of assumed more deaths than what there were. Nonetheless, I'd never throw Age of Worms against newbies without a safety net.

I wonder if this is a problem or not. Is Age of Worms designed for veteran players?

 

[Nightfall]

I'd say it's more likely designed for those that LIKED Shackled City but want some more.

So yes it can be for vets but it's not like newbies won't have a hope in hell, ESPECIALLY if you get a large group of them. (Heck someone said they were using 8 players in this campaign!)

Part 4 will blow your mind. Believe while I had read the Overload offered/given by Pazio, I was completely floored at how nasty it truly was.

*wonders why your PCs might not get to those levels...* I mean part 2 is killer granted but not THAT killer...uhm sometimes.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

When I run dungeons flat out I also roll openly. When I have no personal stake in the plot (I.e. I didn't create it) I let the cards fall as they will. It's a rare chance to be simulationist.

I'm one of those guys that can't roll dice without fails or criticals.

My players have four years of RP mind control put onto them. It's hard to break that for a game-related simulation.

This combines to mean Dead, if well played, PC's.

 

[Nightfall]

Well another idea is this:

Take the XP the dead PCs earned, add half of that to their new characters. That way, they still get good XP with their new characters. Think of it as a karamic reward.

Another option, (this only works if you have four players mind you) each controls two PCs. This way you get 8 anyway.

 

[Abraxas]

I have a group that is going to start this series. There are nine of them, they are higher level than the recommended level and the party is made up of a
Half-elf Druid/Warmage (L3/1)
Half-elf Warmage (L4)
Half-orc Paladin (L4)
Changling Cleric (L3)
Human Artificer (L3)
Human Ranger (L3)
Shifter Druid/Fighter (L2/1)
Warforged Fighter (L3)
Dwarven Fighter (L2)

Any recommendations for adjusting the first couple parts to account for the number and levels of this group?

 

[Nightfall]

Probably follow the advice they use for "Raising each level" but mostly for part two, increase the HD on the Ebon Aspect by +2. Other than that, not sure there's much else needed.

 

[MacMathan]

It strikes me as odd that Dungeon would play balance the adventures based on 8 PC's given that the average group seems to have about 4. I have not started AoW yet but what I am reading here kind of worries me.

 

[Nightfall]

It's only worriesome IF you're a DM that doesn't like to kill of PCs. Part of what I feel has caused what some DMs feel is a power scaling problem in 3.x is primarily because they no longer feel they can sufficently offer creditable threats to their PCs. If you put the fear of Orcus into a PC early, it helps to keep that fear through out the game.

Fear isn't the path to the Dark side, it's the path to having more fun.

 

[Jarrod]

So, you're saying that the fact that my PCs only took sunrods in with them is going to bite them in the rear?

Oh, yeeeeah....

My party did that. "So, who's got the light?" Fighter: "I've got a sunrod, I'll crack it." Me: "Anyone else have any light source? Torches, maybe?" Them: "Naw, the fighter has a sunrod. That's good." Me: "Ooooookay...."

Also, no alchemist's fire... the beetles were tough.