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I'm a player in a soon to start 1st level game, using Burnt Offerings. The plan was to have my fiancee DM and my roommate and I would each play 2 characters (not an issue, it worked great in our RHoD campaign). However, my roommate has flaked out on the game, so it's down to me and my fiancee.
I'm not opposed to this, but there are a few issues:
- I want to use this to playtest the PRPG Alpha, so I'd like to start out at 1st level, and stay away from gestalts etc.
- She's a new DM, and would be intimidated by the task of modifying the adventure's encounters to make them easier (except maybe by simple things, such as removing a goblin from each encounter)
- I really don't want to have to play 4 PCs.
So the question is, can 2 PRPG Alpha PCs tackle Burnt Offerings without modding the adventure?
The PCs are a dwarven cleric (domains water and weather) and a halfling rogue, both with fairly good stats (total modifiers +7), and both using PRPG's options to have better hitpoints (cleric 19, rogue 14).
And please please PLEASE no spoilers! If you'd like to present an example of a particular scene or encounter that would be difficult and how to make it easier, that's great, but please use a spoiler tag so I can show my DM this page without ruining the adventure for myself.
Thank you.
The adventure path is designed and geared for a 4 player party. From my own personal experience with GM'ing this AP for 4 players,(about 50% through Hook Mountain currently) I can attest that it is quite challenging in some spots. I also have a fairly experienced group of players, and they have even been shocked here and there.
If you are not concerned with strict application of rules then you might be able to make a little headway with ample doses of GM fiat and things miraculously going in favor of the two PC's (ie. A meteor just happened to fall on the big boss' head etc). But I think a 2-character party has the potential to be a real nasty bit of business.
I would also suggest looking up Mary Yamato's posts. I know that she GM'ed for a RotRL group consisting of one player with 4+toons. Her suggetions, critiques and musings might help if you decide to play a whole party on your own.
All that being said...never say never. If you do happen to pull off a 2-man group for RotRL and it's done by letting the dice fall as they may and sticking to the rules like glue then I would be freaking stoked to read about your campaign. So make sure you post about it in the campaign journal boards.
-Herbo
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The adventure path is designed and geared for a 4 player party. From my own personal experience with GM'ing this AP for 4 players,(about 50% through Hook Mountain currently) I can attest that it is quite challenging in some spots. [...] But I think a 2-character party has the potential to be a real nasty bit of business.
Ooooh...I have to admit I was hoping not to get a response like this :-p
However, I will look up the poster you mentioned. Thanks!|
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What about adding a third character? I've seen posted elsewhere that Burnt Offerings with 3 PCs isn't horrible. Maybe a half-orc fighter.
I guess what I really want to avoid is having to play multiple casters, especially since I'm thinking about having the rogue multiclass into wizard at some point.
With a half-orc fighter I can build him as a dumb tank.
I'd play something else for a while, delaying RotRL until you have a suitable group. It's worth waiting for.
We are playing with two gestalt PCs and so far everything has gone well (we are in the end of first part). We have done one extra adventure (TC1) on the way and I'm prepared to run more if there is need to get extra XP and/or treasure. We are also using action points and Critical Hit Deck to favor PCs but I'm still not quite sure if they can do it all the way without cohorts or other NPCs...
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I'd play something else for a while, delaying RotRL until you have a suitable group. It's worth waiting for.
Heh. I think this is as good as it's gonna get. I know another person or two that I could try to pull in, but I'm trying to start them on an Iron Heroes game, and I' much rather have a smaller group and play more often than have a more normal group and only be able to play once a month (as would be the case).
I am DMing for 3 PCs. We have just wrapped up Burnt Offerings and will start Skinsaw next weekend. Some fights were tough, but we didn't get any deaths yet. The players were careful to make sure major party roles were covered (Healer, Tank, with one guy multiclassing roque and wizard).
What about adding a third character? I've seen posted elsewhere that Burnt Offerings with 3 PCs isn't horrible. Maybe a half-orc fighter.
I guess what I really want to avoid is having to play multiple casters, especially since I'm thinking about having the rogue multiclass into wizard at some point.
With a half-orc fighter I can build him as a dumb tank.
You can do it with two characters, but it will be brutal hard early on. If you fight smart it'll work though. But because two characters are going to advance FAST, they'll be way ahead of the curve by, I would guess, the end of Skinsaw. The DM is actually going to have to beef up the later adventures a bit to keep it challenging.
Three characters would be better balanced both early and later, but they'll still be ahead of the curve towards the end. However, this isn't such a bad thing. The later parts are easier to beef up without too much work and the harder areas will be a little more survivable.
I was in a game once with three PCs, none of which was a cleric. I was a deep gnome warlock, another was a tiefling rogue, the third was a human dragon shaman. And yes, we were a good-aligned party. The warlock did the heavy blasting, the rogue did the dirty work and the dragon shaman equiped himself to be primary fighter. The dragon shaman used his vigor aura to heal everyone up to half hps and then the warlock and rogue would use wands (using use magic device) to do the rest of the healing. It worked great. If the party is done right you don't even need a caster, even with two PCs.
-Repairman Jack
I think a major issue comes up when you don't have all of the major rolls filled. Since the Paizo modules count on you having a balanced party of 4 characters, if you are missing a couple of major roles you have to re-write certain sections of the modules in order to get past certain obstacles.
I know you mentioned not wanting to modify the adventures too much. Have the GM run a healer NPC cleric (thats all they do is heal) and you can run the other 2 characters and you can probably make it though and then as other people mentioned be ahead of the curve.