Interested in Pathfinder but...

[The Wargamer]

Hello everyone. I'm interested in playing a RPG again. I used to play DnD back in the early 3.5ed days. Due to owning around 10 DnD 3.5ed books (among them some "Complete" books, "Races of" books, and Deities & Demigods [one of my favorites]) Pathfinder looks appealing. But I have a problem, I used to play with 2 neighbors and my brother, and our neighbors moved far away. I only have my brother to play RPGs with (therefore, 1 player and the DM).

I recall DnD was a good experience in a group, as separate people roleplayed and took individual actions (you could fight / screw up a fellow party member) and with a single Player that may be reduced / lost. So I ask, is there a good way for doing a one player Campaign / Adventure in Pathfinder?

Lastly, a couple of general Pathfinder questions:
- Is there an equivalent to the Half-dragon & Half-deity/demon (i.e. DnD's Thieflings) races in Pathfinder? If so, on what book?
- How easy is to implement other Pantheons (i.e. using Deities & Demigods)?

If other questions pop-up, I'll post them. :)

[W E Ray]

Welcome to the Paizo Boards!

It is certainly not fun to not be able to game as often as you'd like, because of schedules or too few Players or whatever.

For your buddy and you, though, you may want to take a look at the Pathfinder compatable book by a 3rd party publisher that is full on one-on-one adventures.

You can search the Paizo webstore but I'm sure one of the other Paizonians will post a link for you to follow.

Anyway, it's got more than a dozen adventures designed for one DM and one PC. They're not amazing but they are, at least, designed for one-on-one games.

.............

Also, there was a book back in 3E called the Unearthed Arcana that had a bunch of alternate rules, one of which you may want to consider since there will only be one PC.

It's called a "gesthalt" character. Basically, your PC chooses two classes at a time and gains levels in them simultaneously.

So, a first level gesthalt PC would have all the perks of a 1st level Fighter and a 1st level Wizard.

For HP, you get whichever is higher (so you'd get d10 for the Ftr and not d6 for Wiz). For Fort Save you'd get whatever is higher (+2 for Ftr instead of +0 for Wiz). For Ref Save you'd get whatever is better (they both are the same, +0). And for Will Save you get whatever is higher (+2 for Wiz instead of +0 for Ftr). All the other features of the class "stack" -- you get both. All the class skills for Ftr's & Wiz's, All the weapon and armor proficiencies for both class, all the special features (spells, scribe scroll feat, bonus Ftr feat).

.................

In general, be careful in one on one games from the following: Defense is more important than offense. With a poor defense or the willingness to run away (and means to do it), if something goes bad, you're dead. Game over.

For DMs, when making plots and puzzles remember, in a typical group a handful of Players can think a puzzle through and give each other ideas. With only one Player, if he doesn't put two and two together to get four, he'll never figure it out, and the game will stall. Be careful in designing adventures for this.

Remember, CR 6 means four 6th level PCs can handle the monster, not one.

[Beckett]

Pathfinder solo play is extremely hard to pull off, even moreso than 3.5 was, or 4E is. Going Gestalt would really help, or allowing the player to make multiple characters. It will be particularly difficult for single players, and the only viable option I think (depends on game style) would be Paladin or Fighter. Rogue is possible, but I would stay away from casters completely.

Half-Dragons, Celestials, and Fiends are still there in the PF Bestiary (their version of the Monster Manual), and both Aasimars and Tieflings are balanced (mostly) for first level starting characters.

In PF, there are no Level Adjustments, (though it basically works the same way). Instead, look at a creature's CR and that is the approximate level that such a creature should be ok to start off with.

Another change the you might be interested in is how magic items have changed. There are now, for example Items that increase 2 or 3 stats at a time, so you might find a single belt that gives +4 to Str, Dex, and Con. Many other items have small changes as well, and some huge ones, such as Animated Shields only lasting a few rounds per activation, and Mithral Armor does not count for proficiency.

Here is an old thread about a lot of the minor changes I have seen that should help.

[The Wargamer]

Beckett wrote:

Pathfinder solo play is extremely hard to pull off, even moreso than 3.5 was, or 4E is. Going Gestalt would really help, or allowing the player to make multiple characters. It will be particularly difficult for single players, and the only viable option I think (depends on game style) would be Paladin or Fighter. Rogue is possible, but I would stay away from casters completely.

Multiple player characters could be an option (which kinda turns the Pen & Paper RPG to a video game RPG where you control a whole party) but kinda destroys Role-playing (even the most creative can't role-play a lot of separate people).

One option could be that the player Role-plays the Main / Leader character and the DM role-plays the secondary ones. In combat, etc. the player controls everyone. BUT this may put an extra / unnecessary strain on the DM....

[W E Ray]

You could always make one PC the primary PC: give him the Leadership Feat for free; make him gesthalt, give him more Ability Points to use and go really detailed on the character background.

Make the secondary PC the Cohort, make him a little weaker and don't worry about personality or background. He's subordinate to the primary PC so he has no voice in roleplaying situations. He's just a tank. Or just a healer/bumber (someone who "bumps" up the other PCs' abilities), something like that.

That way in fights you have two and in roleply you have, essentially one.

A few years ago part of my group had time to make another gaming session. My buddy DMed and I and another gamer made the PC party. We decided to make 2 PCs each. I made a Paladin w/ lots of diplomacy. The other was a halfling druid who wasn't so interested in society or making friends. I made him choose not to speak as if he were mute. He could talk; it was just part of his personality to not speak. He felt he had nothing to say. Which, by the way, made for some great moments when I decided he did have something to say.

If you do make a DMPC, make sure he doesn't make decisions or give advice.

[Beckett]

It is true, but that is one of the issues with "Lone Wolfing". If you allow some NPC cohorts, you have one of two problems, either the player plays them all, or the player gets outshined by NPC's/you fudge too many rolls and that gets really annoying fast.

I would really suggest going the Gestalt route, (you litereally take 2 classes at each given level, and take the better of the two options presented. Otherwise, you still follow all the rules for the class as normal, so a Wizard/Fighter can't cast in Armor, and a Monk/Rogue needs to be Lawful), and it works out fairly well. They still have weaknesses, but not nearly as many, and can still compete close to the level of an intended party.

Another good idea would be to run a lot of encounters with a single enemy rather than many lesser ones. Many weaker enemies will have a much easier time wearing down a single player, who can not effectively fight them of fast enough, leading to a lot of wasted resources on the players part.

[The Wargamer]

The Gestalt things sounds interesting, but buying a whole book for a single rule/mechanic sounds bothersome.

The Leader / Cohort is another nice idea, but in your situation, you had 2 players with 2 PCs each which sounds easy but with one Player I'm not sure.

P.S. Anyone care to address momentarily the Panteon and Race questions? :)

[Kthulhu]

The Wargamer wrote:

The Gestalt things sounds interesting, but buying a whole book for a single rule/mechanic sounds bothersome.

Luckily, that portion of the book is open content.

[The Wargamer]

Kthulhu wrote:

The Wargamer wrote:

The Gestalt things sounds interesting, but buying a whole book for a single rule/mechanic sounds bothersome.

Luckily, that portion of the book is open content.

Thanks for the link. Cool stuff. Gestalt sounds mighty powerful if you used the Warmage (from the D&D Miniatures Handbook, I own it) as one of the classes along with a strong spellcasting class.

How strong would be 2 Gestalt (Primary and subordinate) be? Would it equate to 4 people? Or would it be better to have a primary Gestalt Character with one or two regular subordinates?

[Caedwyr]

The Gestalt Rules are OGL material and can be found here

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltcharacters.htm

Gestalt Characters wrote:

In this high-powered campaign variant, characters essentially take two classes at every level, choosing the best aspects of each. The process is similar to multiclassing, except that characters gain the full benefits of each class at each level. if the two classes you choose have aspects that overlap (such as Hit Dice, attack progression, saves, and class features common to more than one class), you choose the better aspect. The gestalt character retains all aspects that don’t overlap.

The gestalt character variant is particularly effective if you have three or fewer players in your group, or if your players enjoy multiclassing and want characters with truly prodigious powers. This variant works only if every PC in the campaign uses it, and it results in complicated characters who may overwhelm newer players with an abundance of options.

Building A Gestalt Character

To make a 1st-level gestalt character, choose two standard classes. (You can also choose any of the variant classes, though you can’t combine two versions of the same class.) Build your character according to the following guidelines.

Hit Dice

Choose the larger Hit Die. A monk/sorcerer would use d8 as her Hit Die and have 8 hit points (plus Constitution modifier) at 1st level, for example.

Base Attack Bonus

Choose the better progression from the two classes.

Base Saving Throw Bonuses

For each save bonus, choose the better progression from the two classes. For example, a 1st-level gestalt fighter/wizard would have base saving throw bonuses of Fortitude +2, Reflex +0, Will +2—taking the good Fortitude save from the fighter class and the good Will save from the wizard class.

Class Skills

Take the number of skill points gained per level from whichever class grants more skill points, and consider any skill on either class list as a class skill for the gestalt character. For example, a gestalt barbarian/bard would gain skill points per level equal to 6 + Int modifier (and have four times this amount at 1st level), arid can purchase skills from both the barbarian and bard lists as class skills.

Class Features

A gestalt character gains the class features of both classes. A 1st-level gestalt rogue/cleric, for example, gets sneak attack +1d6, trapfinding, 1st-level cleric spells, and the ability to turn or rebuke undead. Class- and ability-based restrictions (such as arcane spell failure chance and a druid’s prohibition on wearing metal armor) apply normally to a gestalt character, no matter what the other class is.

A gestalt character follows a similar procedure when he attains 2nd and subsequent levels. Each time he gains a new level, he chooses two classes, takes the best aspects of each, and applies them to his characteristics. A few caveats apply, however.

* Class features that two classes share (such as uncanny dodge) accrue at the rate of the faster class.
* Gestalt characters with more than one spellcasting class keep track of their spells per day separately.
* A gestalt character can’t combine two prestige classes at any level, although it’s okay to combine a prestige class and a regular class. Prestige classes that are essentially class combinations-such as the arcane trickster, mystic theurge, and eldritch knight-should be prohibited if you’re using gestalt classes, because they unduly complicate the game balance of what’s already a high-powered variant. Because it’s possible for gestalt characters to qualify for prestige classes earlier than normal, the game master is entirely justified in toughening the prerequisites of a prestige class so it’s available only after 5th level, even for gestalt characters.

Gestalt Combinations

Because the player of a gestalt character chooses two classes at every level, the possibilities for gestalt characters are almost limitless. The following combinations are particularly potent.

Barbarian/Bard

The “bardarian” has two choices in a battle: use a mix of party-aiding spells and attacks, or rage and use inspirational music to urge the rest of the party on as he attacks. Only the bardic music abilities that actually require a Perform check (such as countersong and fascinate) are off limits during a rage. Neither barbarians nor bards wear heavy armor, so gear selection is straightforward.

Barbarian/Wizard

The barbarian brings that d12 Hit Die to the table, and that’s almost all that matters to the fragile wizard. A good Fortitude save is sure to save the gestalt character’s hide a few times, and a high-Intelligence character benefits greatly from the union of two disparate class skill lists. And as a bonus, you’re literate at 1st level. The only downside? You can’t cast spells in a rage. This combination deliberately tweaks the stereotypes of both classes, so you’ll want to spend some time thinking about your character’s backstory.

Cleric/Sorcerer

This gestalt combination is effectively the mystic theurge prestige class on steroids. You can load up on combat spells as a sorcerer, then prepare utility and protective spells as a cleric-which you can always spontaneously cast as healing spells if you like. As a side benefit, your high Charisma helps both your arcane spellcasting and your ability to turn undead.

Druid/Ranger

With the ranger’s base attack bonus, you’ll be a more effective combatant when you wild shape into a predator. The extra skills of a ranger are welcome, and if you choose the archery combat style, you’ll be ready for both ranged combat and an up-close fight in wild shape form.

Fighter/Ranger

If you like feats, this is the class for you. Most fighters must choose whether to split their feats between melee and ranged combat or emphasize one kind of attack at the expense of the other. The fighter/ranger can have it both ways, relying on the fighter bonus feats to improve melee attacks and the ranger’s combat style, improved combat style, and combat style mastery to pick up three good archery feats.
Fighter/Rogue

Every rogue likes to get behind the enemy and dish out sneak attack damage. With this gestalt combination, that trick gets even better because you have the hit points and Armor Class to survive toe-to-toe with the enemy, you’ll hit more often, and you get more attacks, which just means more chances to pick up a fistful of d6s. You can wear heavy armor, but you’ll degrade some of your better skills and you’ll lose access to evasion.

Monk/Cleric

You’ll probably give up your armor, but you can run around the battlefield in a blur, healing your comrades and putting the hurt on the bad guys with such combinations as stunning fist with an inflict serious wounds spell attached. Once you draw up your new character, note how many great cleric spells have a range of touch. The same Wisdom score that drives your spellcasting also improves your Armor Class.

Monk/Sorcerer and Monk/Wizard

With three good saves, more hit points, and the best unarmored Armor Class, the monk covers up many of the weak points of the sorcerer or wizard. The only downside is that the important ability scores for sorcerers and wizards—Charisma and Intelligence—are the two ability scores that the monk cares least about. This can be a tough combination to pull off, especially if you’re using point-based ability score generation.

Paladin/Sorcerer

Charisma does the heavy lifting for this gestalt combination. Why? Two words: divine grace. Like all sorcerers, you’ll send your Charisma score into the stratosphere with the every-four-levels improvement and the best cloak of Charisma you can afford. Every time you get more spells, your saving throws improve as well. The downside? You can’t wear armor like most paladins.

Sorcerer/Wizard

Unlike most gestalt characters, your hit points, Armor Class, base attack bonus, and saving throws aren’t any better than a standard sorcerer or wizard. But oh, the spells you can cast! Unlike a standard arcane spellcaster, you can afford to use your highest-level spells in most of your serious fights. It’s a good idea to use your sorcerer slots on combat spells (such as the ubiquitous fireball) and the occasional defense or utility spell (perhaps mage armor or haste). Then you can use your wizard slots for spells that are great against specific foes (such as dismissal) or life-savers in specific situations (gaseous form). You can gamble a little more with your wizard spell selection because you know you have all those useful sorcerer spells backing you up.

Balancing Gestalt Characters

Obviously, this variant results in characters who are significantly more powerful than is standard. But how much more powerful? The simple answer-that gestalt characters are twice as powerful as standard characters—isn’t accurate. Gestalt characters don’t have an advantage in the most important game currency: available actions. Even a character who can fight like a barbarian and cast spells like a sorcerer can’t do both in the same round. A gestalt character can’t be in two places at once as two separate characters can be. Gestalt characters who try to fulfill two party roles (melee fighter and spellcaster, for example) find they must split their feat choices, ability score improvements, and gear selection between their two functions.

While a gestalt character isn’t as powerful as two characters of equal level, a gestalt character is more powerful than a standard character. Hit points will always be at least equal to those of a standard character, saving throws will almost certainly be better, and gestalt characters have versatility that standard characters can’t achieve without multiclassing. Furthermore, a party of gestalt characters has greater durability and many more spells per day, so they can often take on six or more consecutive encounters without stopping to rest and prepare more spells.

Your players may be excited by the chance to play fighters with powerful sneak attacks or spellcasters who can cast any spell. But as the game master, you know that the only measure of PC power that matters is the comparison with NPC power. By throwing monsters of higher Challenge Ratings at them, you’ll still be giving them significant challenges. Gestalt characters look superior compared to standard characters, but that’s a false comparison. With this variant, such “standard” characters don’t exist.

Here’s how to build a campaign that can handle gestalt characters.

Challenge Ratings

Gestalt characters can obviously handle more opposition than standard characters. The simplest way to compensate for this is to use adventures with tougher monsters. In general, a party of four gestalt characters can handle multiple encounters with a single monster of a Challenge Rating equal to their average level + 1. If the monster poses a challenge because it forces the characters to succeed on life-threatening saving throws (such as with a medusa or a wyvern), it’s even weaker against gestalt characters, who have few or no weak saves. Characters can handle multiple encounters with such monsters at a Challenge Rating equal to their average level + 2. A shambling mound (CR 6) or a medusa (CR 7) would be appropriate average encounters for four 5th-level gestalt characters. If you take this approach, realize that characters gain levels faster than in a typical campaign, because they’re gaining experience points as if those encounters were harder than they actually are. You’re obviously comfortable with a high-powered game, so faster advancement may be an additional benefit, not a problem. if you rely on published adventures, this is the easiest option.

If you want to keep level advancement at the standard average of thirteen encounters per level, reduce the Challenge Ratings of all the monsters and NPCs in your campaign by 1 (or by 2 if they rely on failed PC saving throws to pose a challenge). The shambling mound and the medusa would both become CR 5 monsters, and the gestalt characters gain levels at the usual rate. Monsters with a Challenge Rating of 1 become CR 1/2, and other monsters with fractional Challenge Ratings have their CRs cut in half (kobolds become CR 1/6, in other words). Many staple low-CR monsters don’t work well against a party of gestalt characters, even 1st-level gestalts.

Adventure Design

Once you adjust the Challenge Ratings, you have one more subtle factor to consider when you design adventures for gestalt characters. You must take into account the greater “adventure stamina” of gestalt characters both when you’re preparing an adventure and when you’re at the gaming table running the adventure. Because gestalt characters have more hit points, better saving throws, and deeper spellcasting lists than standard characters, they can safely tackle more encounters in a row before they run low on hit points and spells.

Gestalt characters can, for example, delve deeply into a dungeon on their first foray, when the dungeon denizens may not be expecting them. The defenders of any site in a site-based adventure can’t rely on wearing out a party of gestalt characters. They have to pose enough of a threat that the gestalt characters retreat because they’re worried about their hides, not just because the wizard is almost out of spells.

In event-based adventures, gestalt characters can wreak havoc with timetables because they have more resources at their disposal. For example, a 10th-level gestalt wizard/sorcerer can easily teleport the entire party four times a day-without resorting to scrolls. That means two round trips to visit the wizened sage who’s an expert in rune translation, each in the blink of an eye.

At the gaming table, you may want to plan longer gaming sessions because rest periods for the characters are natural stopping points for the players, and gestalt characters have fewer rest periods. if you do stop in the middle of the action, encourage your players to take careful notes of which class abilities they expend, which spells they have active, and other relevant information. Gestalt characters are complex enough that relying solely on memory is a recipe for trouble.

NPCs

An important aspect of most campaigns is verisimilitude—which is centered on the notion that everything in the campaign world is obeying the same set of rules. Accordingly, any important NPCs in your game should also be gestalt characters. It’s probably not necessary to have low-level noncombatant NPCs pick two classes, but any NPCs above 1st level should be constructed as gestalt characters. (NPCs with levels only in NPC classes-adept, aristocrat, commoner, expert, and warrior-can remain standard characters.)

Prestige Classes

The high-powered nature of the gestalt character variant gives you more room to create unique prestige classes. First, you can create narrowly specialized prestige classes, and they’ll still be compelling choices for PCs because the characters can simultaneously advance in a regular class while taking levels in the prestige class. Players won’t feel shoehorned into a very specific prestige class if they have another class they’re also advancing in. Second, you can create truly outrageous prestige classes-but add the additional cost that such classes take up both class choices for gestalt characters. For example, a prestige class that offered a d12 Hit Die, +1/level base attack bonus, two good saves, full spellcasting, and a host of class features would be completely unbalanced in a standard game. But if it takes up both “class slots” for a gestalt characters, it’s no more powerful than taking a level in the barbarian/wizard gestalt.

Campaign Pacing

Once it is adjusted as outlined above, a campaign that employs gestalt characters isn’t that different from a standard campaign. Gestalt characters don’t gain access to key campaign-changing abilities faster than their standard counterparts. No gestalt character can use teleport or raise the dead under her own power before 9th level, and no nonmonk gestalt character gets a second melee attack in a round before 6th level. Gestalt characters get to tackle monsters a level or two ahead of time, but they’re still fighting gnolls at low levels, rakshasas at middle levels, and balors at high levels. Perhaps the only noticeable difference in terms of campaign pacing is that gestalt PCs are “something special” from the beginning. They are far more powerful than typical 1st-level commoners even at the beginning of the campaign. Again, this difference only matters for a level or two, because standard 3rd level characters are also far more powerful than 1st-level commoners.

[The Wargamer]

Khuthulu beated you to the punch, but thanks. :)

The link has some cool OGL stuff. I may use some if I buy into Pathfinder.

[DeathQuaker]

Regarding Deities and Demigods and implementing new deities--as far as just saying, "I want to be a Cleric of Athena" rather than "I want to be a Cleric of Insert-Golarion-God-Here" you can easily just do that. The domains largely are unchanged, so just find what the domains of the god you want to use, find the best matching Pathfinder domain, and go from there.

IIRC, there are a few domains in DAD that were not OGL (but most of the DAD domains did become OGL) like "Scalykind." Those few you may have to forgo or homebrew-convert yourself. This largely requires just updating/making newer, slightly more powerful domain abilities and keeping the spell list.

If you want to use the "How to Make a Deity" rules in DAD, then that may be a little more complicated. I reckon overall you will be able to use them just fine--just remember as when converting to all things Pathfinder, you will have to keep track of the new/combined skills and skill points, extra feats, etc. It will probably take some time to convert deity stats, as 40 levels will take awhile. Off the top of my head I can't think of the need to change Salient Divine Abilities from what they are. Deities will also get their new domain powers. It's all doable, it will just take time.

[Navarion]

The Wargamer wrote:

How strong would be 2 Gestalt (Primary and subordinate) be? Would it equate to 4 people? Or would it be better to have a primary Gestalt Character with one or two regular subordinates?

A gestalt is a power increase around 50% (because they still have the same nummber of actions). So two gestalts would equal a party of three. They are definitely better than one gestalt and a normal character, but one gestalt and two normal characters would be even better. However, that's also more management.

[The Wargamer]

@ DeathQuaker: Thanks for the reply about DAD. Both my bro and me are Greek Mythology freaks, and I like Norse and Egyptian Mythology as well. Being able to incorporate our favorite Deities into the campaign (perhaps the Hero(es) are decendants of Zeus, ala God of War / Clash of the Titans and perhaps encounter them) will make this more immersive.

Navarion wrote:

The Wargamer wrote:

How strong would be 2 Gestalt (Primary and subordinate) be? Would it equate to 4 people? Or would it be better to have a primary Gestalt Character with one or two regular subordinates?

A gestalt is a power increase around 50% (because they still have the same nummber of actions). So two gestalts would equal a party of three. They are definitely better than one gestalt and a normal character, but one gestalt and two normal characters would be even better. However, that's also more management.

What is the Standard / Average Party size now days? 3? 4?

[Beckett]

4 - 6. 4 is the standard.

[The Wargamer]

Beckett wrote:

4 - 6. 4 is the standard.

Hmm...So a Gestalt (roughly 1.5 in power) and 2 subordinates is too little?

[Kaisoku]

An alternative to having the player play a Gestalt or a group of characters, is to style the campaign around the perspective of a solo character.

There's a number of adventure styles or perspectives that are far easier to run with a single player.

Stealth
A stealth game would play similar to the Thief video game series. A solo player sneaking through enemy infested places to attain some goal.
This could be infiltration work, theivery, assassination, etc. A ranger playing guerilla warfare against an oncoming army, as he "works better alone".
This is always hard to run with groups because you are either risking metagaming with the other players seeing what happens to each other when separated, or long waits between each player's chance at doing things.
For a one-on-one game, this is perfect.
I've been thinking of running something like this with my brother. Rules thoughts on this, I've been thinking of emphasizing the "non-combat" aspect of the game by making it easier to knock people out, refine the stealth rules and possibly add facing rules, and bring in the idea of complex skill checks for certain skills (disable device on a complicated vault lock as opposed to the bathroom door, etc).

Survival
Think of Lost... only by yourself. The player will have to know what he's getting into, so building a Ranger or at least a character with the survival skill will likely be required.
Emphasize the idea that he's alone, and make normally mundane encounters scary because he's alone.
This works very well with adding in the horror... Silent Hill was fun because of the primarily "I'm alone in this" element.
Heroes of Horror has a number of good rules-based ideas for Dread, Shock, etc, and how to build adventures and campaigns with a Horror theme.
A solo player can't do everything himself (combat, skills or magic). Groups often rely on each other to protect each others weaknesses.
A horror game emphasizes the solo player's weaknesses, making him feel very fragile where he isn't strong.

Social Scene
Eberron gave us a great backdrop for pulp/film noir games. Play as an Inquisitive, investigating murders or tracking down mysterious events.
You can downplay the things that normally requires a group (combat, etc), by focusing on the social and investigative aspects of the game.
Make each session a small mystery that can be solved in that session, and next time you come back it'll have been weeks or months later... similar to a tv drama.
You can keep the same setting over and over, just with new events taking place.
You can get your ideas here from Sherlock Holmes, etc. Having an overarching mystery that once in a while touches on the sessions events is a plus (think Red John from Mentalist, or Dexter's nemesis, etc).

.

I'm sure there's other potential ideas; these are what I could come up with off the top of my head.

The point is to either downplay the need of other players (low/non combat), or use that need to drive home the theme of the game (horror).

It takes a bit more work on the DM because you can't rely on the CRs to know what's an "even match", however you are in the unique position of likely knowing EXACTLY what the player is capable of, and less worry over him doing something unexpected that could trivialise the encounter.

[The Wargamer]

Kaisoku wrote:

An alternative to having the player play a Gestalt or a group of characters, is to style the campaign around the perspective of a solo character.

There's a number of adventure styles or perspectives that are far easier to run with a single player.

Stealth
A stealth game would play similar to the Thief video game series. A solo player sneaking through enemy infested places to attain some goal.
This could be infiltration work, theivery, assassination, etc. A ranger playing guerilla warfare against an oncoming army, as he "works better alone".
This is always hard to run with groups because you are either risking metagaming with the other players seeing what happens to each other when separated, or long waits between each player's chance at doing things.
For a one-on-one game, this is perfect.
I've been thinking of running something like this with my brother. Rules thoughts on this, I've been thinking of emphasizing the "non-combat" aspect of the game by making it easier to knock people out, refine the stealth rules and possibly add facing rules, and bring in the idea of complex skill checks for certain skills (disable device on a complicated vault lock as opposed to the bathroom door, etc).

Survival
Think of Lost... only by yourself. The player will have to know what he's getting into, so building a Ranger or at least a character with the survival skill will likely be required.
Emphasize the idea that he's alone, and make normally mundane encounters scary because he's alone.
This works very well with adding in the horror... Silent Hill was fun because of the primarily "I'm alone in this" element.
Heroes of Horror has a number of good rules-based ideas for Dread, Shock, etc, and how to build adventures and campaigns with a Horror theme.
A solo player can't do everything himself (combat, skills or magic). Groups often rely on each other to protect each others weaknesses.
A horror game emphasizes the solo player's weaknesses, making him feel very fragile where he isn't strong....

Hehe, the Stealth based idea reminds me of MGS Games and the Social Scene of an old anime I liked to watch called Cased Closed.

Both are interesting but I dunno how well they fit Pathfinder's General Fantasy...

Not to sound disapproving of Pathfinder but, are there other RPGs out there that are better for Solo / Low PC play? I was thinking that, in theory, a Supers RPG might lend to very powerful PCs. One that it's setting looks interesting is Necessary Evil.

[sixdsixdamage]

you could just have your friend play 2 characters and u dm and play the 3rd. my group plays with 3 people so i play 2 characters and the other player plays one and the dm plays the last to make us four strong.

[Lilith]

In my Rise of the Runelords campaign, I had three players using the gestalt rules - gnome rogue/sorcerer (dragon bloodline), gnome cleric (of Nethys)/sorcerer (fey bloodline) and gnome bard/monk. It worked out very well, and gestalt = 1.5 power of a standard character is pretty apt. I used the slow XP advancement from Pathfinder RPG, and that balances things out pretty well.

[Dorje Sylas]

The Wargamer wrote:

Hehe, the Stealth based idea reminds me of MGS Games and the Social Scene of an old anime I liked to watch called Cased Closed.

Both are interesting but I dunno how well they fit Pathfinder's General Fantasy...
Not to sound disapproving of Pathfinder but, are there other RPGs out there that are better for Solo / Low PC play? I was thinking that, in theory, a Supers RPG might lend to very powerful PCs. One that it's setting looks interesting is Necessary Evil.

Well remember on of the keys to 3.5 OGL (and Pathfinder) is the setting of a challenge and by extension a target number of ability/skill/attack rolls.

MGS is quite doable... with some changes in weaponry. You may need to augment the base Pathfinder rules with some specialized ones, such as garrote rules that showed in Song and Silence and a Dragon Magazine if I remember. It wouldn't be hard to add back in as a specialized Combat Maneuver Check. Make a successful Combat Maneuver roll to keep a target from crying out.

Investigation games are just fine as they are mostly role play, with use of Perception (a single skill now) and other social skills. There used to be whole organizations based around stealth, investigation, and intrigue. The Harpers from Forgotten Realms. Master Inquisitive prestige class in Eberron (plus about half-a-dozen NPC spy factions, some from nation states, others from organizations). Even Pathfinder Chronicles (Paizo's base setting) has the Pathfinder Society which fills a similar role.

Use incidental NPC allies to cover weak points of the Player's character, which adds flavor to the game. Think Felix Leiter or Q from James Bond, Inspector Lestrade from Sherlock Holmes, or Sallah from Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade). Characters that happen to be in the scene to make the player's success plausible and colorful. Not all NPCs are required to be enemies, nor do they have to betray the PC, nor do they stay at "home base" all the time.

[ZappoHisbane]

One other point to make is that if your solo character does drop, it's not necessarily the end of the story. The DM can play the classic, genre un-savvy villians who like to capture and taunt the hero instead of finishing them off when they had the chance.

[Mynameisjake]

ZappoHisbane wrote:

One other point to make is that if your solo character does drop, it's not necessarily the end of the story. The DM can play the classic, genre un-savvy villians who like to capture and taunt the hero instead of finishing them off when they had the chance.

Oh Zappo, don't you know that it's the DM's job to coup de grace a downed PC at every opportunity, regardless of the intelligence, motivations, or condition of the monsters? Then the DM should grab his notes and dice and run cackling out of the gaming area shouting "I win! I win!"

[Laurefindel]

The Wargamer wrote:

I recall DnD was a good experience in a group, as separate people roleplayed and took individual actions (you could fight / screw up a fellow party member) and with a single Player that may be reduced / lost. So I ask, is there a good way for doing a one player Campaign / Adventure in Pathfinder?

Playing a published adventure adventure with a party of 1 might indeed be though, and so will be adventures (published or not) where the single PC is expected to perform like a party of 4.

That being said, there a whole new dimension of R-P than can only be possible with a solo or duo of PC. Published adventure are usually not worthless mind you, the essence of the adventure can usually be used for most solo adventures. But it does take some adaptation from the DM.

Games including infiltrating thieves, intriguing nobles and Wolverine/loner type rangers work better with one single PC.

have fun playing

'findel

[yoda8myhead]

You may also look into the 1on1 Adventures series by Expeditious Retreat Press. They're adventures designed to be played with one pregen PC of different levels.

[Kthulhu]

yoda8myhead wrote:

You may also look into the 1on1 Adventures series by Expeditious Retreat Press. They're adventures designed to be played with one pregen PC of different levels.

Yeah. One on One Adventures Compendium collects the first 11 adventures in the series, converted to the Pathfinder system. All further adventures in the series have been for the Pathfinder system. In addition, the 1 on 1 Adventures #11: Unbound Adventures provides rules for runing a game sans DM. I haven't ever tried it, but if there are only two of you, it might be worth a go. I would assume it would basically just be the players sharing the role of GM, and use the honor system so as to seperate GM from player knowledge as much as possible.

[Dragorine]

For a while I had only my brother to play DnD with back in 3.0. I DMed the games but also rolled up 2 characters as did he. We had a lot of fun roleplaying 2 characters each. I personaly prefered doing it that way than Gasthalt.

[Aaron Bitman]

The Wargamer wrote:

Is there an equivalent to the Half-dragon & Half-deity/demon (i.e. DnD's Thieflings) races in Pathfinder? If so, on what book?

You mean as PC races? If so, the Council of Thieves Player's Guide has rules for PC Tieflings. (I personally wasn't quite satisfied with them, but hey, it's free, so why don't you check it out?)

And I agree with Dragorine. I have run several fun, successful, long campaigns with one player, where I (the DM) play two party members, and the player plays the other two (and we eventually decided to throw in a fifth character.)