Level 1-12 around red hand of doom?

[jollyninja]

I started my group through it at level 4 and they had no problems with the adventure as a whole.

They kind of leave the hammerfast holds area undescribed for the most part, if you want to build higher level stuff underground after the rhod adventure, it's a good spot.

I would add npc's to the area for adventure opportunities before and after the module only and to add a frame of refference to some of the interpersonal conflict between npc's within the adventure. There are a lot of things that have been coming to a head well before the red hand army marches, the nobles in brindol for example. I'm at work and having difficulty remembering npc names, i finished the adventure a few months ago.

I would definitely put one memorable npc in each town between drellins ferry and brindol, My players said they would probably had more attachment to the ruined towns they were passing as they rushed behind the red hand army trying to reach brindol in time to actually do something, if there was a character they could identify as from there. for example, the looters encounter probably has more impact if it's npc X's house then a random building.

 

[jollyninja]

also, to get them to 4th level i used the free mini adventures on the wotc site.

there are some good, some bad

http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b

I liked the ettin's riddle, secret of the windswept wall, and i believe the unwavering path. as i recall they were generic enough to be used in the same area as rhod

 

[brehobit]

I know there's a mix up in the book stating both at different points, and that the designers suggest levels 5 - 10 but as I have been running it, starting with five 5th-level PCs plus two 5th-level NPCs and it was still tough, I've moved toward considering it levels 6 - 12 and even used the online extra encounter to ease them into the adventure. (highlight for spoilers)

Dude. Looking at the ECLs and everything else, I figured even starting at 6th level we'd have a number of TPKs. Maybe I'm missing something but there are a LOT of crazy hard encounters in there. (spoilers follow in text)

Spoiler

The huge dragon-beast in the front of the lich's home is able to do something like 50 points of damage in a grapple per round. Probably closer to 35, but that will take a caster out in 2 rounds no problem. And that's just the front door.

The first encounter is fairly easy, but we are talking about a LOT of folks. All they need to do is get the PCs in a grapple and it's over. If the party is level 5 and you don't have a fireball (say sorc but no wiz) that fight looks killer to me.

I usually run things in the level 2-6 range, so I'm sure I've no idea what will and won't work. But I just took out a pretty powerful 5th level party with a 7th level wizard mounted on a giant wasp. (2 fireballs later, game over: Fireballs have a crazy range). I can't see how I won't get a TPK with the 6th-12th level party. 5-10 seems crazy.

 

[mikebr99]

The party that I am DMing just hit 4th level... and I am now sending them towards Drellin's Ferry. I too LOVE this module!

Party consists of (28 point buy, std. wealth for 4th level)
human ftr1/wiz3... archer type
human sorc4 (phbII) heading to incantatrix
Golaith barb1/ftr2 large poleaxe for battlefield wide destruction
Tiefling rogue 3
Aasimar paladin 3
Aasimar favoured soul 1/pal2
... all of the LA races just paid off the LA...


With 6 players, I am going to start them a little earlier then 5th level... and probably use the WoTC use this book tonight opening encounter a couple hours before they get ambushed by the 1st encounter in the module proper.

Mike

 

[Mark CMG]

The PCs definitely have to be equipped like a party ready for tough battles. If they have a lot of magic items that would be better suited to a political intrigue campaign or a campaign where things are not so pressing, they're going to find those items are soon owned by the horde or related minions. So, too, feats and spells should be geared toward combat.

If the players aren't used to that type of game it might be best for one of them to fall early to get them on their toes and to keep them there. There's a mechanism for them to handle that problem on their own early in the adventure that you can beef up to handle two such events. That'll give you some breathing room. For a battle hardened group of gamers who know that items such as this are sprinkled into games just for laughs, they get the message they can screw up once. Hopefully, if you beef up that mechanism, those who weren't already battle hardened will realize they need to be and know that they already did screw up once and can only do so once more. It's a tough lesson to learn but if you plan to run this adventure fairly close to as written it needs to be realized by the party just how difficult the going is going to get.

Also, Brindol's cleric is just shy of being raise dead-capable and could be boosted a level, though I dislike the idea of doing that. I've been giving the players fairly good access to the NPCs they've become close to, both so they could control them in combat situations (in the fens where the addition of an assault on an outpost was needed) and to drive home the fact that the PCs truly are some of the most powerful characters in the vale at present and likely the last hope of tipping the scales favorably toward victory.

 

[Mark CMG]

... and probably use the WoTC use this book tonight opening encounter a couple hours before they get ambushed by the 1st encounter in the module proper.

I used that as a follow up encounter to the ambush. I didn't want the ambush telegraphed and the follow up drove home the danger surrounding Drellin's Ferry, though it also created some unforeseen problems of it's own. More on that later.