Levelling
My players are currently progressing well through chapter 1 (touched slightly on chapter 2). Everything’s going great narratively and the story’s heading in a very good direction. Quests they have closed down include Sephek, foaming mugs, lake monster, gem mine and white moose, along with a fair few side quests related to backstory quests and other homebrew stuff.
My players aren’t slow as such.. but they are quite thorough, engage in a lot of roleplay and like to see and do everything.
So we are 18 weeks in (18 x 3-4 hour sessions), and I’m in no rush to get through everything, but given the amount they have got through I’ve tried to reward appropriately with levelling up and they are now level 5.
I’m worried that I’ve levelled them up far too quick to still be doing mostly chapter 1 stuff. I was re-reading the Sunblight chapter and noted it says players have the best chance of surviving if they go there from level 4. Though at our current pace we’re probably about 9 months off Sunblight.
So I guess my question is, should I be thinking ahead about how to re-balance the encounters in these further chapters? I want encounters to feel like a struggle and there always be a real risk of someone dying. Or should I hold off levelling up now for a good chunk of time..? Anyone else have this issue?
Have included some photos of our encounters for fun