Paladin, Druid, Draconic sorceror. They're decent characters but there are only three of them. The first bandit encounter almost finished them off -- it was a close-run thing.1) Any suggestions for running with three?
Not too bad of a make up for three characters. Experiences players or new players? Assuming the druid brings an animal companion to the table that can help a bit.
What made the bandit encounter at Oleg's difficult for them?
2) More generally, any suggestions for the first module? Stolen Lands looks like fun, but I can see some possible problems already. (Don't love the wandering monster table, for instance -- and it's a key engine of the game.)
Wandering monsters shouldn't be too bad. If you roll up something way too powerful you can give them a chance to avoid it. Maybe they just saw troll tracks and not actual trolls. Or maybe they hear the trolls moving through the forest some distance away leaving them an option to avoid the encounter or sneak closer and then realize they might want to avoid it.
As suggested by Volaran, the NPC's will be key if you are having a balance issue. Long term NPC exposure, perhaps a player could take on the role of controlling the NPC as an additional character. More action in the initiative roster for that person. Would free up the GM to invest more into encounters and not get confounded with the two roles. I have been running 3 character parties for a year now. Its hard right at the beginning in terms of exhausting supplies. Without the NPC involvement, it should lessen in intensity on the survival aspect during the next couple of levels.
As Volaran and Xenomorph 27 suggest, use the NPCs. Some of the folks who give out the quests could accompany the PCs
Vekkel could hop along on the hunt to find Tuskgutter.
Jhod could accompany the PCs as they search for his temple (in my game he had lost his spell casting ability as part of geas driving him to restore the temple)
Kesten may assign one of his men to the PCs as a punishment/reward
Having said that, the encounters, fixed and random, are a bit of a mixed bag. Some will be walkovers even with only three PCs.
Thinking ahead, filling rulerships roles could be more of a headache for you, which is where a bunch of well established and friendly NPCs will be a godsend.
I began this AP with only two PCs and a GMPC healbot. A third player began playing last night and I half retired the healbot.
It's really a self correcting AP. The reason being, it is ran at the PCs pace, not the story's. Just figure that your PCs will be about one and sometimes even two levels ahead of the recommended level.
Paladin, Druid, Draconic sorceror. They're decent characters but there are only three of them. The first bandit encounter almost finished them off -- it was a close-run thing.1) Any suggestions for running with three?
2) More generally, any suggestions for the first module? Stolen Lands looks like fun, but I can see some possible problems already. (Don't love the wandering monster table, for instance -- and it's a key engine of the game.)
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Doug M.
Lot's of good ideas so far.
Good ideas that have been mentioned;
- "let" them be a level ahead.
- npcs and/or allow leadership at later levels
I will add, Gestalt. It allows each pc to fill multiple roles without a HUGE increase in power.
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Another vote for strong NPC. Or even NPCs that can sometimes rotate in as PC. Stat up Jhod the cleric and let a player take him out for a spin once in a while. If you've got an encounter where you need more divine magic, take him a long. Or another fighter, take your general.
I'm running 6, and even with the 6-player mods here on the boards, a lot of encounters are fairly easy for a tactical party. 3 sounds like a lot of fun to me. The 1-maybe-2 encounter per day nature of Kingmaker should help your people. Just watch out for large groups of enemies (like the bandit attack) and a few dungeon crawls that will eat up a lot of resources. Again, I'd echo letting NPCs help out in these situations.
Wow, practically my group. A Paladin of Iomade, Draconic Sorcerer, and Cleric of Erastil with the Animal Domain. As close to druid as you get with out being a druid. Now the game has added a Rogue and Ranger to the group rounding it out nicely. That happened at 5th level.
My group didn't have problem really. A few close calls and lots of running from random encounters.
I think my group fairs a bit better due to Channel Energy, that's saved my group a lot. If they had druid instead of the cleric I think they'd have suffered a lot more.
So as other have suggested, add Jhod to the group for a bit till his quest is done.