Shackeled City - what are my chances and when do you give XP?

[Psychic Warrior]

I'm currently playing in SC (we fought and killed the mimic pretty easily) and am getting concerned. Our DM is the type to not give out XP until the adventure is finished. And we are under a time constraint in the adventure as a few creatures have managed to escape us and (we assume) have alerted their companions. We are on the second level of the dungeon now (fighting hobgtoblins) still first level with no spells (not even cantrips) no cure potions and most of us have less than full hit points (my cleric has 3 the two main fighters have 7 and 4). We just finished a fight with 12 hobgoblins and an animated chain. Somehow we survived (our DM rolled like crap - in the open too) but I just can't see us lasting the rest of the dungeon especailly since there has to be some kind of hobgob 'king'. I guess my question is this should we get XP to level up (and gain some much needed spells, hitpoints etc) during the dungeon? Did the designers have this in mind? It seems like a crazy long dungeon to put 1st levels through without a rest period.

 

[tylerthehobo]

"Be cool, my babies!" - Conan O'Brien.

 

[Rystil Arden]

My opinion? You guys are damned lucky to still be alive at this point after the things you must have fought already. Unless something really really weird goes on, though it seems it has possibly been going on up til now, so maybe it will again, you can't possibly win the final fight (although I think our GM may have made it a little harder than usual due to deciding the hobgoblins all got alerted and were waiting en masse with the boss to fight us all at once, which does make sense, but maybe your GM plays them as morons who all wait in the same room, if you're lucky).

On an unrelated note--you killed the nice Mimic? Alcyone kept it as a pet to help guard her two cute semi-broken constructs while she joined the Blue Crater Academy to figure out how to fix them If you killed the mean second mimic, then you already have the treasure, so you could run away with it and see what happens!

 

[wayne62682]

I'm currently playing in SC (we fought and killed the mimic pretty easily) and am getting concerned. Our DM is the type to not give out XP until the adventure is finished.

This right here is a mistake.. all of the Adventure Paths operate under the assumption that you will level up during the adventure, not after; sometimes twice. If your DM doesn't let you level up in between, you won't be the assumed level for the next adventure. For example, if you're only level 2 at the end of the first adventure, the second one will be way too tough for you because it's designed for level 3 (going up to level 4 by the end, because Adventure #3 is probably intended for 5th level).

 

[BlackMoria]

The assumption by the designers of Shackled City is that the party will level up when they get sufficient XPs, not at the end of each adventure.

If memory services, the first adventure takes people from 1st to nearly 3rd if not 3rd. That is a long, hard slog for characters 'trapped' at 1st level. Ugly, but do-able.

Your DM needs to examine his XP award policy. Shackled City is hard enough for the normal XP award crowd - it is absolutely brutal for the 'awards at the end of the adventure' crowd.

 

[Shroomy]

This right here is a mistake.. all of the Adventure Paths operate under the assumption that you will level up during the adventure, not after; sometimes twice. If your DM doesn't let you level up in between, you won't be the assumed level for the next adventure. For example, if you're only level 2 at the end of the first adventure, the second one will be way too tough for you because it's designed for level 3 (going up to level 4 by the end, because Adventure #3 is probably intended for 5th level).

Wayne is right; if you're DM does not allow you to level up during an adventure you may not even survive to the end.

 

[SteveC]

Good question. I am currently running this very portion of the module. I am using the Action Point rules from Unearthed Arcana where one of the things you can spend an AP on is recovering a spell (or spell slot) when you use it. Let's just say the AP were flying in this portion of the dungeon.

I let the group level up in the middle of the dungeon, and told them that this was not, strictly speaking, realistic, but it was necessary given the time constraints put on the group.

So I would really suggest resting if you can because the end of this level is...troublesome.

--Steve

 

[Henrix]

I don't know about the hardcover version of SC, but the Dungeon version explicitly said that you should get xp during the adventures, and level up as soon as you got enough.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

You're boned.

But I consider that a design flaw with the AP. The *poof - Welcome to 2nd level* concept always bugged me. Leveling up should come during down time. An adventure designed for 1-20 should provide ample opportunities to break, even if its only for a day or two.

 

[billd91]

Even with the time constraint, you should get out of the dungeon to resupply. I assume you've amassed some cash by now? Go to Skye's shop. She caters to adventurers and can sell you some gear.

I'm currently running Shackled City and the 6 PCs just hit 3rd level and haven't even gone down to the Malachite Fortress yet (though they have found the way). So there are plenty enough XPs to make it to 3rd level just in Jzadirune and a few tough encounters to get them as well.