u/HelpfulFail4609

I'm running an AP for my group and we're about to come to the end of the first chapter. There is a fight at the end with 4x Weak Animated Armors, which are Level 1 but still have 9 Hardness because Hardness doesn't change with the Weak/Elite templates.

The players will level up after this fight but they will still be level 1 when fighting these constructs, and I'm a little worried that 9 Hardness is going to be too much (either TPK or just a total boring slog of a fight).

Should I reduce the Hardness down to 7 or something? Or am I just worried too much?

EDIT:

Based on the advice and feedback I've received so far, here are the adjustments I plan on making:

1. Reduce Hardness from 9 to 6.
2. Have the 4th Construct begin the encounter with its armor already broken, so players can observe the difference.
3. Be very generous with explaining how Construct Armor works on a successful Recall Knowledge (the Investigator has Known Weaknesses so this is bound to happen).
4. Possibly(?) Increase HP from 10 to 12 or 15 just so they don't get one-shot on a successful crit with the reduced Hardness. Not entirely sure on this part yet.

Some Kineticist Impulses directly reference spells without actually casting them via Cast a Spell:

Furnace Form (12):

> Opening your kinetic gate, you allow flames to consume your form and leave you a living flame. You gain the benefits of the fiery body spell (except the ability to cast ignition) until the end of your next turn. You can Sustain the impulse up to 1 minute, and when you do, you can Fly up to half your fly Speed. Your fire Elemental Blasts deal an additional die of damage.

> Level (16th) This duration is 1 minute, you can't Sustain the impulse, and you can Dismiss the impulse.

Architect of Flame:

> Flames rise and shape to your will, forming a wall or dome of your design. You create a wall of fire within 120 feet. In addition to the normal choices, you can make the wall up to 10 feet long and 60 feet high. The wall lasts until the end of your next turn, but you can Sustain it up to 1 minute.

> Level (+3) The damage increases by 1d6.

Now I know that Impulses automatically heighten by level, but do the spells they reference also heighten by rank?

At level 17, would you get the 9th Rank benefits of Fiery Body? Or would it remain at 7th Rank forever?

Wall of Fire gains 1d6 damage for each +1 rank. Would I get that in addition to the 1d6 for every +3 levels from the impulse? For example, at level 15 would it do 4d6 (base) + 4d6 (heightened +4) + 1d6 (heightened 3 levels)?