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<blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3402974" data-attributes="member: 8951">Hi all.&nbsp; I'm running the Age of Worms adventure path, and I'm having a somewhat serious problem that I have come to call &quot;level lag&quot;.&nbsp; The problem is that my PCs' levels are not keeping pace with the expected levels of the modules.&nbsp; Right now, we're just finishing up some of the loose ends of the Champion's Belt and the Hall of Harsh Reflections.&nbsp; According to the module, the players are supposed to be 10th level now, but only half of my party just barely reached 9th level at the end of last session.This &quot;level lag&quot; has at least two causes in my campaign.&nbsp; The first is relatively obvious:&nbsp; character death.&nbsp; So far I've had 4 character deaths.&nbsp; One time, it caused the player to retire the character.&nbsp; In the other 3 instances, the players have chosen to have their characters revived by spells.&nbsp; But in all these cases it has caused a drop in the affected character's level.&nbsp; The second cause is what I would call &quot;party fatigue&quot;.&nbsp; By this I mean the party is so drained by preliminary encounters in the module that they are unable to continue and face/defeat the main bad guy at the end of the module.&nbsp; For instance, in the Hall of Harsh Reflections, by the time the party got through the Sodden Hold, the doppelganger barracks, and the labyrinth of mirrors, they were all at single digit hit points.&nbsp; They were unable to continue on to face Telakin, the BBEG of the module.&nbsp; And since he was literally the only one left in the dungeon, I decided to play him intelligently and have him run away while the party healed up.&nbsp; (I know that some people will want to slam me for playing my bad guys with any hint of intelligence, but too bad.)&nbsp; So that meant that the party missed out on the BBEG's XP and his gear.&nbsp; Of course, I am trying to find ways for the party to encounter Telakin again in the near future.&nbsp; But for the time being, the party is at a reduced level of XP and swag than the adventure path expects.So, how would you other DMs deal with this &quot;level lag&quot; problem?&nbsp; One solution would just be to scale back the subsequent adventures in the adventure path according to the &quot;Scaling the Adventure&quot; sidebars.&nbsp; But if I took this route, I'd have to scale back all the remaining adventures for the entire adventure path.&nbsp; That is unappealing to me.&nbsp; My solution has been to insert an unrelated module into the adventure path to help supplement the PCs' XP and bulk up their levels in preparation for &quot;A Gathering of Winds&quot;.&nbsp; Does anyone have any suggestions for a good supplementary module - one that would dovetail nicely with the adventure path?&nbsp; I'm thinking of going with the &quot;Hall of the Rainbow Mage&quot;.&nbsp; My plan was to link the Rainbow Mage to Loris Raknian's acquisition of the Apostolic Scrolls.&nbsp; Other modules that I own that I was also thinking about using are &quot;What Evil Lurks&quot; and &quot;Aerie of the Storm Crow God&quot;.&nbsp; Any other suggestions?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Menexenus, post: 3402974, member: 8951"] Hi all. I'm running the Age of Worms adventure path, and I'm having a somewhat serious problem that I have come to call "level lag". The problem is that my PCs' levels are not keeping pace with the expected levels of the modules. Right now, we're just finishing up some of the loose ends of the Champion's Belt and the Hall of Harsh Reflections. According to the module, the players are supposed to be 10th level now, but only half of my party just barely reached 9th level at the end of last session. This "level lag" has at least two causes in my campaign. The first is relatively obvious: character death. So far I've had 4 character deaths. One time, it caused the player to retire the character. In the other 3 instances, the players have chosen to have their characters revived by spells. But in all these cases it has caused a drop in the affected character's level. The second cause is what I would call "party fatigue". By this I mean the party is so drained by preliminary encounters in the module that they are unable to continue and face/defeat the main bad guy at the end of the module. For instance, in the Hall of Harsh Reflections, by the time the party got through the Sodden Hold, the doppelganger barracks, and the labyrinth of mirrors, they were all at single digit hit points. They were unable to continue on to face Telakin, the BBEG of the module. And since he was literally the only one left in the dungeon, I decided to play him intelligently and have him run away while the party healed up. (I know that some people will want to slam me for playing my bad guys with any hint of intelligence, but too bad.) So that meant that the party missed out on the BBEG's XP and his gear. Of course, I am trying to find ways for the party to encounter Telakin again in the near future. But for the time being, the party is at a reduced level of XP and swag than the adventure path expects. So, how would you other DMs deal with this "level lag" problem? One solution would just be to scale back the subsequent adventures in the adventure path according to the "Scaling the Adventure" sidebars. But if I took this route, I'd have to scale back all the remaining adventures for the entire adventure path. That is unappealing to me. My solution has been to insert an unrelated module into the adventure path to help supplement the PCs' XP and bulk up their levels in preparation for "A Gathering of Winds". Does anyone have any suggestions for a good supplementary module - one that would dovetail nicely with the adventure path? I'm thinking of going with the "Hall of the Rainbow Mage". My plan was to link the Rainbow Mage to Loris Raknian's acquisition of the Apostolic Scrolls. Other modules that I own that I was also thinking about using are "What Evil Lurks" and "Aerie of the Storm Crow God". Any other suggestions? [/QUOTE]

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