I'm planning to run Shackled City for two characters. We were originally going to be four, but two have dropped out because they are too busy at the moment. One or both will join back in after the first adventure.
I don't want to spend a lot of time scaling the adventure so I've decided to go the route of strengthening the PCs. I was wondering if anyone has run Shackled City with a small group and could give me some advice on what works and what doesn't, and also point out specific sections/foes in the first adventure that are especially dangerous.
Two things I don't want to do are run gestalt characters or force NPC(s) on the party. I don't like the flavor of gestalt and don't have a copy of the sourcebook in any case. I'm going to create opportunities for the PCs to recruit an NPC or two, but don't want to railroad them. I'm planning on having Ruphus Laro and/or one of the half-elves offer to join them temporarily. I have to consider that the PCs may refuse these offers however.
The PCs will be a psion and a cleric. I was thinking of allowing the following initial power-ups:
- start at Level 2
- max hit points
- 32-point buy
- allow level advancement during adventure (one night's rest)
Are these benefits enough to give the party a fighting chance? I would say they are above average in terms of tactics and resourcefulness, but will not always do the most tactical thing if it conflicts with how they see their character. In terms of style, I like a game where the PCs have a good chance of success. It shouldn't be guaranteed, but a PC death should be rare, and a TPK a sign of really bad luck or a really bad decision.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Since you asked, some random ideas on starting out with only 2 players.
I would strongly recommend running a game session or even 2 in town before you even start the adventure, roll play with the shopkeepers and such, foreshadow the town politics and laws and adventures to come. level them to 2 by the time they get to Gelves locks.
Encounters.
The sneak attack of the Dark One Leader can be devastating against low level characters if he gets surprise. The Grell will be bad if it grabs your only ranged attacker. Prickles the howler will be devastating if you don't have someone to take it out, I would suggest replacing Prickles with a big dog or 3 unless your players picks up a bunch of NPCs.
NPCs:
Once they start investigating maybe Sergeant Kerwis can come by and assign them some guardsmen to help out and make them official investigators.
Have Fario and Fellian be really obvious when following them. Your Psion will likely rip their minds open only to find out that they are good guys.
Having Rufus tag along is a good idea and if the going gets tough then he can call in help from the church, maybe a monk.
PC's:
Max hit points at 2nd level should be plenty. The Pathfinder RPG offers a number of ways to beef up your characters at 1st level but if they are 2nd then you should be good.
other than that it sounds like you have a good handle on your group. good luck.
Thanks Acrimonious, that's exactly the type of advice I was looking for. I'll make sure they're at Level 2 before they visit the gnome and I'll create alternate plans for those encounters you mentioned in case the PCs get there unprepared.
Since you asked, some random ideas on starting out with only 2 players.
I would strongly recommend running a game session or even 2 in town before you even start the adventure, roll play with the shopkeepers and such, foreshadow the town politics and laws and adventures to come. level them to 2 by the time they get to Gelves locks.
Encounters.
The sneak attack of the Dark One Leader can be devastating against low level characters if he gets surprise. The Grell will be bad if it grabs your only ranged attacker. Prickles the howler will be devastating if you don't have someone to take it out, I would suggest replacing Prickles with a big dog or 3 unless your players picks up a bunch of NPCs.NPCs:
Once they start investigating maybe Sergeant Kerwis can come by and assign them some guardsmen to help out and make them official investigators.
Have Fario and Fellian be really obvious when following them. Your Psion will likely rip their minds open only to find out that they are good guys.
Having Rufus tag along is a good idea and if the going gets tough then he can call in help from the church, maybe a monk.PC's:
Max hit points at 2nd level should be plenty. The Pathfinder RPG offers a number of ways to beef up your characters at 1st level but if they are 2nd then you should be good.other than that it sounds like you have a good handle on your group. good luck.
|
I’m running SC currently, and my group has varied at different times from as many as 6 PCs down to 2 PCs and a DMNPC.
Most of Life’s Bazaar was played with 3 PCs and a DMNPC – all the characters had reached second level by the time they reached Jzadirune. This group had a few challenging encounters and close calls in Jzadirune and the Malachite Fortress (leaving aside the final encounter with K-whatshisname), but no deaths. Tough encounters as I recall were the Dark Stalker, the choker and the pulveriser automaton in Jzadrirune (they didn’t encounter the Grell), and the ogre in the Malachite Fortress (mainly due to poor party tactics that one).
In the final encounter, the party were facing off against K, Prickles, the fiendish dwarf guy, the hobgoblins described in that room plus an additional two hobgoblins (sorry, we played this a couple of years ago, the details are a bit hazy). It was looking very much like it was going to be a TPK before I had Fario and Fellian come in to help them turn the tide. As it was it was still very close with two PCs and one of the NPCs going into negatives.
My advice would be that two characters are not enough (although I admit I am not very aware of the abilities of a psion). I would advise running at least one DMNPC (perhaps a fighter-type) as backup.
The group for which i DM is currently fighting giants in Chapter 5 of the Hardcover SCAP. We started with 4 players, but maxed-out at 6 before the end of Chapter 1.
If i were to try and run the SCAP for only 2 characters, i would:
1. Make them Gestalt characters (the only way to cover all the essential roles with only two characters).
2. Give them maximum hit points (at every level).
3. Use a spell point system and do away with spell memorization altogether (thus making the casters as flexible as possible).
4. Use action points.
5. Keep my fingers crossed ('cause the SCAP ain't easy!)
I actually DM'ed SCAP with two players. They weren't gestalt, but they were min-maxers and experienced players.
I also added a lot of other Dungeon adventures to the campaign, so that, especially in the first few adventures, the PCs were a bit higher in level (but I adjusted the competition as well).
Sometimes, I had the PCs go at it alone (between the two of them), but mostly they had an NPC accompany them, in a couple of instances even two. The advantage of using NPCs (who are player controlled in combat) is that you can pick them according to the adventure you're playing. In the last stretch of the AP the PCS had Annah Taskerhill on their side as a permanent ally.
This NPC solution works out quite well, especially if you give control to the players in combat, so you don't have to manage yet another character.
I have run SCAP with eight players, which meant generally five or six, but at certain points down to three players. This actually worked just fine, despite the two-level-lag that the three players had due to splitting XP between more characters. What happened was that they were MUCH more cautious at those episodes, which took them in-game longer, but it worked generally fine. This is because every single fight cost them more, but not so much more that they couldn't rest up afterward.
However, even if the standard encounters are fine with two powered-up characters, you seriously need to watch out for some things. First off is the famously difficult battles, i.e. Aushanna, Nabthatoron, and so on. Check the other topics here for help with them. It may also be that some of those fights can be EASIER with fewer, but stronger characters. Second, some fights consist of massive numbers of enemies, such as with Ike Iverson and the battle at villa Rhiavadi. With a great disparity between the number of actions of heroes and villains, these fights can probably be very deadly. My suggestion for those is simply to cut down the number of foes.
I hope that helps you, let us know how it goes.