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Lylandra's War of the Burning Sky continued
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7065081" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>Some mechanical musings</strong></p><p></p><p>As I stated in my original post, we're playing WotBS with the Pathfinder system. We chose PF mainly because it uses the 3.x d20 system as a basis (one of my players sadly loathes 4e) and because PF is far more balanced and offers more options than classic D&D 3.5. I knew that I had to change some things a bit mechanic-wise, but didn't expect to have too much of work with my encounter preparation. We also use Gestalt characters because I wanted to make sure the party has all the necessary tools despite having only 2 players. </p><p></p><p>And yes, up to adventure #3, I didn't have to re-write the existing encounters too drastically. The major differences were that NPC had slightly more HP and that I had to add at least one class level to NPC in order to keep the target CR appropriate. </p><p></p><p>However, due to my lack of players, they started levelling at a much higher speed than anticipated. I also tend to hand out exp for roleplay encounters and personal development (and cut down the number of encounters a bit), so this increased their level up frequency. So by adventure #4-5 their experience level was already +2 in relation to the adventure's level target. This lead to a kind of arms race because I wanted to keep the challenges, well, mechanically challenging, so I added even more class levels to combat-able NPC and started to advance the monsters. When this would not suffice, I added additional equipment to NPC (which could then be "looted" by the party and increased their power level even more). </p><p></p><p>All of this, plus the increased complexity which comes naturally once you reach higher levels, lead to a major increase in prep time, as I now had to completely re-write almost any NPC in order to keep them challenging. As my players are both not only good roleplayers, but also good character builders, they would have obliterated the weaker-built NPC (especially some of the inquisitors) in a matter of 1-2 rounds. I then realized that playing PF PLUS Gestalt did require a lot of work to be "balanced". </p><p></p><p>Right now (in adventure #7), I re-build every NPC and monster to reach the appropriate CR for their group. So, if they are 2 levels above the expected level, I add +1 level for PF and +2 levels for their own level. I then increase the abilities (PF races all have a +2 modifier instead of +0) and add some points here and there as my players both rolled above average stats. Then I almost maximise their HP (which is a common way to balance the increased power level of Gestalt chars without Gestalting every single NPC) and give them level-appropriate equipment whenever the original NPC was a bit lacking. My aim is that "martial" NPC have a viable chance to hit my PCs and that they have at least a chance to fail their saves against "magical" NPC. The max HP make sure that a serious adversary survives a bit longer than one round of spelldance/sneak attack. </p><p></p><p>For monsters, I am more than happy that a lot of online DBs offer tools which let you add templates and bonus HDs on the fly. I toy around with the "advanced" template and bonus HD, so that I have a challenging opponent without inflating the CR to the sky. As this process is much quicker resolved than building an NPC from scratch, I am always relieved when a certain adventure section features more monstrous adversaries (and yes, "the other fellowship" did cost me a lot of time <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> ) </p><p></p><p>So in the end, I've learned from my "arms race" mistake and am feeling like being in a good spot right now. Most encounters are still swift businesses, but I at least have the ability to use up my party's resources by hitting them back (Tinu tends to be a PsP cannon, Cuin plays more conservatively and both end up needing Torrent's healing) and push them a bit.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7065081, member: 6816692"] [b]Some mechanical musings[/b] As I stated in my original post, we're playing WotBS with the Pathfinder system. We chose PF mainly because it uses the 3.x d20 system as a basis (one of my players sadly loathes 4e) and because PF is far more balanced and offers more options than classic D&D 3.5. I knew that I had to change some things a bit mechanic-wise, but didn't expect to have too much of work with my encounter preparation. We also use Gestalt characters because I wanted to make sure the party has all the necessary tools despite having only 2 players. And yes, up to adventure #3, I didn't have to re-write the existing encounters too drastically. The major differences were that NPC had slightly more HP and that I had to add at least one class level to NPC in order to keep the target CR appropriate. However, due to my lack of players, they started levelling at a much higher speed than anticipated. I also tend to hand out exp for roleplay encounters and personal development (and cut down the number of encounters a bit), so this increased their level up frequency. So by adventure #4-5 their experience level was already +2 in relation to the adventure's level target. This lead to a kind of arms race because I wanted to keep the challenges, well, mechanically challenging, so I added even more class levels to combat-able NPC and started to advance the monsters. When this would not suffice, I added additional equipment to NPC (which could then be "looted" by the party and increased their power level even more). All of this, plus the increased complexity which comes naturally once you reach higher levels, lead to a major increase in prep time, as I now had to completely re-write almost any NPC in order to keep them challenging. As my players are both not only good roleplayers, but also good character builders, they would have obliterated the weaker-built NPC (especially some of the inquisitors) in a matter of 1-2 rounds. I then realized that playing PF PLUS Gestalt did require a lot of work to be "balanced". Right now (in adventure #7), I re-build every NPC and monster to reach the appropriate CR for their group. So, if they are 2 levels above the expected level, I add +1 level for PF and +2 levels for their own level. I then increase the abilities (PF races all have a +2 modifier instead of +0) and add some points here and there as my players both rolled above average stats. Then I almost maximise their HP (which is a common way to balance the increased power level of Gestalt chars without Gestalting every single NPC) and give them level-appropriate equipment whenever the original NPC was a bit lacking. My aim is that "martial" NPC have a viable chance to hit my PCs and that they have at least a chance to fail their saves against "magical" NPC. The max HP make sure that a serious adversary survives a bit longer than one round of spelldance/sneak attack. For monsters, I am more than happy that a lot of online DBs offer tools which let you add templates and bonus HDs on the fly. I toy around with the "advanced" template and bonus HD, so that I have a challenging opponent without inflating the CR to the sky. As this process is much quicker resolved than building an NPC from scratch, I am always relieved when a certain adventure section features more monstrous adversaries (and yes, "the other fellowship" did cost me a lot of time ;) ) So in the end, I've learned from my "arms race" mistake and am feeling like being in a good spot right now. Most encounters are still swift businesses, but I at least have the ability to use up my party's resources by hitting them back (Tinu tends to be a PsP cannon, Cuin plays more conservatively and both end up needing Torrent's healing) and push them a bit. [/QUOTE]
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