ive heard a lot of griping that the npcs dont tend to do much the further into the campaign you get, especially aside from ameiko. i havent had much of a chance to look through much of the content yet, but i want to keep ameiko for the plot, Sandru so they have someone around that knows caravaney stuff, and the old woman, mainly because I'm probably going to be running with a small party and extra support magic is always handy. i was wondering just how vital Shalelu is to the overall plot, and if some fiddling on my part would allow things to run smoothly without her? maybe i could give sandru a ranger level so he could take on some of her responsibilities, and maybe impart some of her knowledge to the party druid?
thanks for any insight.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Strictly speaking Shalelu is the easiest to cut, she doesn't have much in the way of a story arc for the players to interact with.
Ameiko does (tavernkeep to Queen).
Sandru does (set up a profitable trade route between Sandpoint and Minkai)
Koya does (see the world before she passes away).
Shalelu is just sort of there, being helpful and supportive but overall adding little to the caravan.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Yeah, well, outside of Ameiko, none of the other three are vital in any shape or form. Personally, if I could run the AP again, I'd cut Sandru and Koya. I like Ameiko and Shalelu too much to cut them out.
Another possibility would be to make Sandru and Koya even more NPC'ish and somewhat antagonistic to the whole journey. With them already being so friendly towards the overall goal, it felt it difficult for me to make those two interesting. If Sandru were just the caravan owner who got hired by Ameiko and gripes throughout the entire journey about the danger he put himself in and is not a combat character, I'd think it would be more interesting than the friendly (yet ineffective) rogue he seems to be portrayed as. Koya as a mysterious wise woman who babbles incoherent prophecies also has more potential than the nice grandmother she starts out with.
Also, as can be read further down in my review thread of the AP (Link), Rogue Eidolon is planning on releasing a third party tie-in which heavily expands on the interactions with the NPC's, so maybe that's something to look after. I don't know when it'll come out, though, so it may not be in time for your campaigns start.
Shalelu isn't important to the plot.
Her main purpose seems to be 'NPC romance option'. So if you think your players would be into that, you might want to keep her around.
Thanks for the advice, all! I don't think the party is going to have a dedicated healer, so cutting Koya might not really hurt the plot, but I feel like it might hurt the party. As a frail old woman its easily justifiable for her to hang around 'base' anyway. And it seems weird to cut the caravan owner
one of my players seemed a little miffed when I mentioned cutting Shalelu, maybe I'll throw out the relationship option before cutting her completely, but I normally don't like getting too much into that sort of stuff.
Making Sandru somewhat antagonistic seems like a good idea on its own, I guess the main possible issue is that anyone more loyal to him than the others via background might take his issues to heart, causing a rift in the party where the half of the party with the proprietary claim to the wagons might start asking "why are we even doing this, anyway?" I think at least I'll make him a bit more reluctant and grousey, thanks for the inspiration!
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
He's basically Han Solo, have him be protective of the Caravan in the same way Han Solo is protective of the Millenium Falcon.
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