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<blockquote data-quote="James Jacobs" data-source="post: 5260499" data-attributes="member: 23937">All of our APs assume 4 party members, but they should work relatively well with 5. Once you dip below four PCs, though, things can start getting grisly. And while Pathfinder RPG characters are a bit more powerful than 3.5... I don't think that they're THAT much more powerful.If you're running an AP with 3 PCs, adding a GM-controlled NPC helper, or giving a player a free cohort, is a good way to shore things up. Alternatively, reducing the number of monsters the PCs encounter in a fight can help.In specific regard to the first few goblin encounters in &quot;Burnt Offerings,&quot; that's something of an unusually designed encounter. I wanted to start the campaign with a small army of goblins attacking a town, and then have the PCs step in to save the town. But if you throw a big number of foes at 1st level players, things can go bad fast. Which is why the goblins are specifically called out for being crazy; they don't always fight to the best of their ability, and indeed every round some of the goblins should &quot;waste&quot; their actions doing things like getting caught in rain barrels, stealing food, laughing at another goblin's misfortune, or attempting really poor tactical choices like attempting to bull rush a heavilly armored fighter at the back of the party when the goblin doesn't have Improved Bull Rush. Running goblins like that not only helps to establish their madcap madness, but it makes a fight against a LOT of foes at low level something that's more fun and less fatal.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Jacobs, post: 5260499, member: 23937"] All of our APs assume 4 party members, but they should work relatively well with 5. Once you dip below four PCs, though, things can start getting grisly. And while Pathfinder RPG characters are a bit more powerful than 3.5... I don't think that they're THAT much more powerful. If you're running an AP with 3 PCs, adding a GM-controlled NPC helper, or giving a player a free cohort, is a good way to shore things up. Alternatively, reducing the number of monsters the PCs encounter in a fight can help. In specific regard to the first few goblin encounters in "Burnt Offerings," that's something of an unusually designed encounter. I wanted to start the campaign with a small army of goblins attacking a town, and then have the PCs step in to save the town. But if you throw a big number of foes at 1st level players, things can go bad fast. Which is why the goblins are specifically called out for being crazy; they don't always fight to the best of their ability, and indeed every round some of the goblins should "waste" their actions doing things like getting caught in rain barrels, stealing food, laughing at another goblin's misfortune, or attempting really poor tactical choices like attempting to bull rush a heavilly armored fighter at the back of the party when the goblin doesn't have Improved Bull Rush. Running goblins like that not only helps to establish their madcap madness, but it makes a fight against a LOT of foes at low level something that's more fun and less fatal. [/QUOTE]

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