Pathfinder players: Help me!

[hazabaza1]

I started playing Pathfinder about a month or so ago, had a couple sessions, and just DMed my first session but there's a couple of things that still elude me about the way the game works.

First off: Damage based on size.
I see a bunch of tables that's like (for example) Longsword 1d6(S) and 1d8(M). Some might have something for larger or smaller but many don't.
What does this really mean? At times I'm thinking it's that it's the damage I'll do against a certain sized enemy (so hitting a small enemy with a longsword will do 1d6 without modifiers) or is it based on the users size (so medium sized people will always do 1d8 damage without modifiers)?

Second:
OP party members. The campaign I'm DMing I've only had the one session but the team seems to be glass cannons. Made of bulletproof glass. The Alchemist and the sorceress have such high modifiers that anything going against them dies before they can get close. The only thing that had a chance to really do damage to them when they were playing smart was a Hippogriff that downed and nearly killed the Alchemist but even then he had to do like, 3 attempted attacks to get him to that state. How do I make encounters that don't outright kill the party whilst still being challenging?

Also just any advice about how I can make interesting settlements, encounters, even just entertaining filler to keep the players occupied but not advancing too fast. Anything would be helpful.

 

[Amakusa]

For the first, I believe that is weapon dmg according to the size of the holder. So for example a halfling holding a shortbow will deal the (s) table dmg while an elf will deal the (m) table dmg.

As for the 2nd i'm not sure, i've only just started playing pathfinder (third session now) and haven't DM. Only advice i can give is to read up on their class and obviously read over their build (get them to email you their builds) and see what weaknesses you can exploit.

 

[Fappy]

1) Weapon damage is based on the size of the user. A medium creature using a medium-sized longsword swings for 1d8 with no penalty while a small creature swinging with a small-size longsword swing for 1d6 without penalty. Trying to wield a weapon of the wrong size-category for your character's size will be impossible for certain weapons or accrue a penalty based on the weapon (those rules rarely ever come into play).

2) You just need more experience DMing is all. The more mastery of the system you get the better you understand how to create challenging encounters. Also, don't be afraid to pad or fudge rolls. As the DM you're allowed to cheat. In the end it's not a competition between you and your players. You're job is to make it fun for them and sometimes manipulating the rolls is the best way to do that.