Changing levels of a premade adventure?

[Morquard]

Hi

I have a premade adventure that I consider GMing, its meant for level 1 or 2 characters, and by the end they'll be around level 8ish.

However I would rather start the game with somewhat higher characters already, around 5 maybe, and guess end it around 10-12.

Is that easy to do? What do I have to watch out for?
Obviously I have to adjust encounters, loot and XP.

Or is the chance to mess it up too great and I should either stick to the recommended levels or use one that starts at higehr level?

[Kylarra]

It would probably be better to use a higher level module. The problem with scaling up is that there are increasingly more ways that fullcasters can mess with the railroad assumptions of the plot.

[Zaranthan]

Generally, you can scale up combat encounters by adding a few hit dice to everything, but as Kylarra said, the real challenge is in scaling the locations. Low level modules often rely on things like chasms too wide to jump across and floors that collapse and drop PCs into watery pit encounters. A 5th level wizard can cast fly.

Also, the skill checks for navigating the module can be hard to convincingly increase. A DC 15 rope ladder with a climb speed creature encounter is a moment for the level 1 monk to shine. At level 5, it's trivial for even the cleric in full plate to swat the climber one-handed. Switching the ladder for an unknotted rope to crank up the climb DC might not make sense. The same goes for search and survival, popular among module designers for highlighting party members.