Advice on solo playing

[Thrandr]

Greetings and salutations!

A week or so ago I mentioned to my wife that we should start a pathfinder campaign just the two of us, with me being the GM and her the player. Asking her what she wanted to play she promptly said "A pirate!" - so lo and behold, Skull & Shackles it is. She even bought herself some pirate dice.

Now, I've quite often GM'ed lengthy campaigns and from time to time also run solo games. From my experience solo game'ing can lead to exceptionally enjoyable roleplaying, character development and excitement, with the challenge being encounters and the limited skill set of one single PC (which can be offset somewhat with cohorts, GM PCs - or playing a bard or rogue).

I was wondering - has anyone played Skull & Shackles as a solo campaign and if so, what were the pitfalls and challenges? I've been trying to search the forum but can't quite seem to find any discussion on it :-)

[Cloak and dagger2]

While I can't ofcer gou advice on skulls and shackles I would use solo play to try a characted that wouldn't work with a group. Like a stealthy rogue/illusionist because no one wants to wait while that character is sneaking through the entire dungeon or otherwise finding unusual solutions. But for solo play it would be great!

[Thrandr]

Hehe, aye, I'd either go for that one or someone who talks his way out of EVERYTHING if I were playing solo as well. Try out the things which are awesome but everyone would hate in a group :-)

[QuidEst]

Versatile classes like Bard or Medium are much stronger solo, as are pet classes (particularly respawning pet classes like Summoner or Spiritualist). Generally, having a ranged and melee option on hand is a good idea. The entry to ranged combat is much lower when not taking -4 for firing into melee, so no feats needed to not suck.

As a GM, you'll probably want to remove one at least one copy from any group, throw a negative level on any solo creatures, and give the PC some extra skill points.

[Chuckbab]

Skull & Shackles could be, in fact, the best AP for a solo-play. The basics of the plot are really well suited for a lone main character, and I think being alone would enhance some of the parts, in particular in Wormwood Mutiny.

Being press-ganged and left alone, with no gear, to survive and make friends on a pirate ship, then slowly gaining the reputation and power to become a full-fledged pirate captain, all of that sounds awesome as a solo campaing. It is also more believable than, say, found a kingdom as a solo adventurer or single-handedly vanquish the demons of the Worlwound...

Of course, there will be some adjustment to make as far as CR is concerned, but all the ship battles are normally a fight against the captain and his officers VS the PC, so you can just make it, a fight between each of the ships' captains.

Good luck!

[Shaun]

I would think that if you had a solo player, maybe let her choose three NPCs from the original crew that she takes to and allow her to level them up and control them in combat.

Otherwise during fights you're either going to have to change the encounters significantly to adjust for this or if you control them, she'll be watching you roll dice against yourself quite a bit, which most players find boring.

[Thrandr]

Awesome, thanks folks - I shall pass on the advice regarding which class to chose to her :-)

I've been thinking along the lines of giving her some rather strong animal companion early on and then adding a cohort as the game progresses. If GM PCs enter the fray, I do indeed think it would be quite boring if there are more than the one, and that one should be something along the lines of a cleric or buffing bard, depending on which class she chooses to play.

[CBDunkerson]

Other options include;

Start the PC at a higher level - 2nd or possibly even 3rd would allow the player to solo the first adventure more easily without adjusting the encounters. After that they'd always be a bit ahead of the expected level.

Gestalt - A single player with two (or even three) gestalt classes isn't actually much more 'powerful', but can approach the versatility of a party.

Mythic - Maybe the PC is Besmara's daughter. If you keep their mythic tier low (3 max) it doesn't get out of hand and just provides a boost to help a solo character survive.

Combination - A 2nd level character with two gestalt classes and mythic tier one who brings along crew/ally NPCs for backup against encounters adjusted to match their power level. Or some other configuration.

Also, keep in mind that a solo character will have their pick of the best loot and roughly four times the wealth of a normal character for their level... that can also help to offset the lack of other players.

As to 'GM PCs'... you could always make them NPCs mostly under the player's control since they will probably be members of her crew... not really different from your animal companion/cohort idea. Of course, the more characters the more dice to roll and such... which can get burdensome for just two actual humans. However, you'll want to have at least one character backing her up... otherwise any sort of paralysis, domination, knockout, or other incapacitation of the sole PC becomes a TPK. Even just a low level rogue who hides in the background with a teleportation scroll to UMD and pull the PC out if things go sideways.

[Anarchy_Kanya]

I'm going to run a solo S'n'S campaign and I'm considering giving the PC 4 CR worth of temmplates and gestalt.