Hi there, i am about to start DMing ST tommorrow and i have a small problem.
My Party consist of
- Human Swachbuckler/Rogue
- Human Cleric/Warlock
- Darfellan Ranger/Barbariandefinatly missing an Arcane Spellcaster
i was thinking helping them out with a npc, but i don´t want to play a npc Arc. Spellcaster. He is going to steal the show. Any Ideads what to do?
My party consists of:
- Human Swashbuckler/Warlock- Human Rogue/Warblade
- Human Paladin of Freedom (going to bard later on once he takes devoted performer feat)
They're doing fine so far, the warlock makes up for the lack of arcane caster, his limitless blast ability was really useful on parrot island as nobody else could get past damage reduction (Everybody's melee weapons are rapiers, they're doing the whole 3 musketeers thing.)
I wouldn't necessarily worry about adding a NPC as a 4th member. See how they go, if they can handle it then fine, you'll just have to slightly adjust the XP they recieve.
Hope this helps
If you don´t want to have an DMNPC in the party, then plain don´t do it.
Are you using standard multiclassing or are they gestalt characters ? In the latter case, you surely don´t need any support for them. If your PCs multiclass, they will have more problems, but, hey, it is their choice in the end. You will have to watch out for situations where standard arcane casters will have an easy time (e.g., fireballing hordes of minions), and they will have a harder time there, but otherwise, just let it run.
Stefan
If you have a three man party, don't add one NPC who accompanies the PCs all the time, but use different NPCs for different adventures. They can usely provide a good hook that serves the adventure and thus join the PCs for a while. It will give you a lot more flexibility.
If you have a three man party, don't add one NPC who accompanies the PCs all the time, but use different NPCs for different adventures. They can usely provide a good hook that serves the adventure and thus join the PCs for a while. It will give you a lot more flexibility.
Yeah, thats a good idea as well. Try using characters they know from earlier adventures (like those of the other adventuring group in Lavinias employ). Then you have the added bonus that these characters are already introduced, which should make for a more believable world. And you can still try how the PCs hold their own if the act alone if you don´t add a NPC. Let it look like an added bonus and use it as an incentive for good roleplaying - if they play well, they get support, if they play badly, they don´t. Make them earn the support.
I would still start out with the three PCs only, and have this option in mind.
Stefan
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Yeah, thats a good idea as well. Try using characters they know from earlier adventures (like those of the other adventuring group in Lavinias employ). Then you have the added bonus that these characters are already introduced, which should make for a more believable world. And you can still try how the PCs hold their own if the act alone if you don´t add a NPC. Let it look like an added bonus and use it as an incentive for good roleplaying - if they play well, they get support, if they play badly, they don´t. Make them earn the support.
I would still start out with the three PCs only, and have this option in mind.
Stefan
I concur with Stefan - trying to run the baddies and a goodie NPC is a pain and a headache, so avoid it if you can.
The main gap in the set-up is that of a wizard, which translates to certain utility spells and big area of effect damage spells (at higher levels, anyway). Consider the encounters and whether this particular gap is likely to have a detrimental (severely fatal) impact upon the party, and make any necessary adjustments. And tone them down - as a guide, you will need only 3/4 of the xp for the party to level up, so amend the encounters to reduce the EL's so they only provide 3/4 of the published xp (which, handily enough, equates to a reduction by 1, if you want a rule of thumb - i.e. EL 4 gives about 3/4 the xp of EL 5).
To plug the gap, you may wish to encourage the rogue to consider taking Use Magical Device as a skill and maxing it out so he/she can use wands, scrolls and so on. But, overall, the party sounds like it should be OK. A big gap would be healing, which is covered by the cleric, and trap removing, covered by the rogue. The rest is mainly about killing people, and most character classes are good at that in their own ways.
My group for example consists of a total of 5 players. Since only three are present regularly their characters are designed to make a complete group: Barbarian, Rogue and Cleric/Sorcerer. The two others are Beguiler and Ranger. Works good... so far. :)