PFRPG Conversion Test Group and Methods

[Leopold]

THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF SPOILERS.


As part of the process of converting WOTBS to Pathfinder I needed a test group to run through sections of the modules. Not the whole adventure, portions that need playtesting such as :traps, combat, some RP encounters.


My gaming group which I have been a player and a DM for the last 20 years has agreed to assist me in this . They are by and large a good blend of MinMax Power Gamers and Roleplayers. Plot is important but so is power and conquest.


In order to balance the conversion I have to accept a few Known Unknowns about gaming groups in general:

1. Not every group is going to have access to the internet and every Paizo book.
2. Not every group is going to have MinMax types
3. This may be their first module they have ever played in.
4. Not every group is comprised of Good aligned PCs

As such I have established rules for the Playtest as follows:

1. Rulebooks allowed: APG and PF Core
2. Point Buy System: 25 (epic/high fantasy)
3. Alignment: Must be Good Aligned
4. Races: No Half-Orcs
5. Level: 2 1st level characters each

By limiting the gaming books allowed to Core Rulebook and APG for PC creation this simplifies the amount of crazy material I have to prepare for.

Point buy skews attributes into the PCs favor giving them an easier time at first few levels and providing a more heroic playthrough. WOTBS is not easy by any stretch of the means so let the Players be Hero's.

Alignement focuses the group on "Doing the Right thing" which is what this module is about. I originally thought I could do this as an evil campaign but my players would immediately kill everyone and keep the torch for themselves and more than likely unite with Leska at the end.

Race limitation is to prevent conflicts with other groups that they will end up meeting. The fact that I make each of my players play 2 characters gives me enough wiggle room to have them swap PC's in and out as the need arises and if one of their PC's dies (which happens quite a bit) they have no downtime. This does limit treasure distribution a bit, but that is outside the scope of this test.

3/6 PC's created:

Half-Elf Invulernable Rager Barbarian
Human Paladain Warrior of the Holy Light
Human Arcane Duelist

 

[RangerWickett]

I would like to think that "kill all potential allies" evil parties would be easy pickings for Leska. If I had my druthers, I'd add in one or two scenes where the Seaquen mages report they discovered Assassins X or Secret Ambush Y, but managed to disrupt it.

Good luck.

 

[Leopold]

Leska is clever, I'll give her that. Killing all potential allies if and only if they present a problem to her. She has enough Inquisitor Cleric's to decimate an army and she can get at them at any time. IF they are present problems for Gate's pass and minorly meddling in her affairs I think she would ignore them as she has other pressing matters.

IF the PC's did the heroic thing even though they are evil, the adventure path play out like normal.

 

[Leopold]

The first round of playtesting went rather smoothly. Much beer was consumed and many dice and laughs were had.


Takeaways:

1. For the sake of Brevity and to keep things running smoothly I changed the name of the Ragesian to Russians and the Shaalenesti to Germans. This actually worked out very well in explaining many things that went on in the game and to get these PC's on the path to doing 'good'.

2. Combat was fairly light and the PC's being power gamers overwhelmed the initial boss fight easily enough. I do not believe I shall have to change the quantity or quality of the intro fight.

3. I skipped right through any of the side adventures that allow PC's to explore the town while it is being bombed. These were handled via skill checks (Diplomacy is huge here) and handwaving them through the dialogue optioned allowed for more testing.

4. Spell dueling needs to have the rules clarified as I could not find any. The PC's had an easy enough time ambushing the heck out of the Elven chick while under the 'rules' of spell dueling which was 1 on 1 until they said "To hell with this" at round 3 and charged into combat.

5. Jump check for the guy to jump off the roof? Missing=death. Have that all in place before hand. I spent 10min looking through acrobatics to see what the rules were.

6. Tables to different paths and organizing a bit more for Escape flow on the "Which way do we go?" approach. I know this is an intro module and much hand holding is normal for the first time hero's.

7. Change the option to have the elven archers in the shop use the doors as partial cover. That was murderous when ambushing the players coming up the stairs.

I have an audio file of the session I shall upload later. The players had fun and wanted to play more and explore the setting even after I told them Teleport is effectively neutered.

 

[Leopold]

We finished off book 1 and found the 2 fights near the end were fairly brutal but not too much of a challenge.

1. The Battle in the canyon is broken into 4 stages, this could be made shorter with the NPC's charging from the south engaging the PC's and 4 rounds later the group from the East comes along the bend to pincer attack them. Having 3 different battles taking place along the same path is a bit odd. Once the thunderstones go off, if they go off, the battle flows smoother with the group from the East engaging.

2. Give Krador some talking points: He's got nothing, gets captured, and says "I'm a bad guy, but was an officer." 2/3 of my PC's wanted to kill him, the 1/3 good side won out and they tossed him the cell with the dead prisoner, tied up, and said "Good luck getting out."

3. CR was off clean that up for the encounter

4. Meeting Grouchy Haddin: Could use some clarified talking points here, a table to roll Knowledge (Local) with steps along the way of what he has/has not done. Doesn't help much that Torrent has K(L) and can easily fill in the blanks for the PC's

5. Battle of the Barn: My PC's decided that a door up front and to the rear was not enough, they sundered the wood wall and went out that way since there was no windows (map doesn't show any). The goblins sniping from the roof were savage especially with Sneak Attack. The skeletons were fodder easily dealt with. Soliders were charmed and Smarg was slain after bursting through the door Kool-Aid man style. Even though the PC's are 2nd level Haddin, Torrent, and 4 smart PC's took them down without anyone falling. Don't forget that they didn't get a full nights rest and that makes 4 big encounters in one day.

 

[RangerWickett]

Low-level PCs seem a bit more survivable in PF than 3.5. An enlarged orc warrior with counterspell back-up seemed like a dangerous threat in 3.5.

 

[Leopold]

Low-level PCs seem a bit more survivable in PF than 3.5. An enlarged orc warrior with counterspell back-up seemed like a dangerous threat in 3.5.

PF has given the PC's way more Hit points and survivability. Coupled that with Haddin's Dominate ability, Torrents AoE heal which can wreck havoc on undead, and several other options make the fight 'easier'

I plan on revamping the CR's downward into a more reasonable level as even though Haddin is weakened he's a Level 9 arcane caster. Good lord that's savage. How savage? He managed to dominate the soliders outside, told them to protect him from the giant raging orc, they ended up stabbing the orc and the PC Barbarian mowed him down to pieces.

Also theres a metric truck ton of Cure X wound potions in this module. Every low level NPC has 2 and some have 4 or even Cure Moderate Wounds. Why? The PC's don't need Torrent they just pop Cure potions till they are better.

 

[Graphil]

Something to note when you get to it in tears of the burning sky. Griiat is given the antimagic shell spell but he won't be able to cast it since as he is incorporeal he will disappear making it useless. Might want to change the spell.