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I'm preparing to GM Haunting of Harrowstone for a party of three:
-A Changeling Witch
-A human fighter (focusing on crits and trip)
-A rogue knife master
EDIT: I should mention I did 25-point buy to try to make up for the small party a little.
Notice anything missing? Yes, no cleric, or anybody who can channel positive energy. I'm a little worried.
What's some advice for making the adventure a little easier for them to manage? I'd rather not just stick in a GMPC cleric to help them out; I'm afraid it would be very hard to avoid turning that into a "GM vs. GM while the PCs watch" experience.
So should I twink them out with a little extra gear? Maybe a handy Wand of CLW from Father Grimburrow? Or something else?
I'm a fairly inexperienced GM, so any advice will be appreciated! Thanks!
I did 25-point buy to try to make up for the small party a little.
Notice anything missing? Yes, no cleric, or anybody who can channel positive energy. I'm a little worried.
So should I twink them out with a little extra gear? Maybe a handy Wand of CLW from Father Grimburrow? Or something else?
I'm new to GM-ing myself, so I feel your pain. ;) My opinion is that, since you've already gone in or the 25-point buy, you may as well follow up with a wand or two. With only three players, if you were designing encounters yourself you're "supposed to" subtract 1 from the CL.
I'm not sure how much the 25-point buy increases ECL, but adding enough extra gear to start with to increase the APL back to "normal four-PC equivalency" would probably be easiest for you since you won't have to re-write any encounters.
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I'd be more worried about the lack of a 4th party member than lack of a cleric. The witch could pick up some of the healing slack. Maybe the fighter or rogue could switch to a ranger or the witch could switch to druid to supply an animal companion later on.
Otherwise, I'd definitly lower the EL of the encounters.
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I'd be more worried about the lack of a 4th party member than lack of a cleric. The witch could pick up some of the healing slack. Maybe the fighter or rogue could switch to a ranger or the witch could switch to druid to supply an animal companion later on.
Otherwise, I'd definitly lower the EL of the encounters.
Yeah, I agree that having only three PCs is a bigger problem than not having a cleric. I considered encouraging the rogue player (my wife) to go with a paladin, but I was afraid that it would devolve into The Paladin Show Starring the Paladin (weeknights a 8, on The Paladin Channel).
I saw another thread about 3 PC parties in HoH down the list a ways, so I'm not quite as worried as I was...definitely going to make sure they're at least lvl 2 before they go to the prison, though...
I recommend telling your players to make replacement characters. They will struggle without the Cleric, especially in this AP.
It depends on your players.
I'm running with a PC Inquisitor and a GMPC Summoner. They survived Harrowstone by being smart, making leaps of logic, and judiciously using the time-honored tactic of Then Don't Stand There(TM). And I point out the GMPC only followed directions instead of acting as Voice of DM.
If your players are good enough at immersion and/or smart enough to make more connections than the writers expect then they'll be fine. If not then all the clerics in the world will not make up for too few PCs.
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Well, so far they're doing okay. After two sessions, they've hit level 2 before they've even ventured into the prison, thanks going through most of the Ravengro events and some excellent researching. (They did actually go into the grounds, and encountered the rat swarm in the tower. 6 points of Dex damage to the fighter later, they decided to retreat.)
So far I've just given them loot as written, and haven't really soft-pedaled the encounters. The witch is feeling fairly feeble, though, as her Evil Eye has been pretty much useless so far. And the fighter rolled a 1 on his level 2 hit die, and took Con 10 as his dump stat, so they're not out of the woods yet...
We're really having a blast. Thanks for the advice, everybody!
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...and my worries are back. They just barely survived an encounter with the skeletons from the pool behind the prison. No bludgeoning weapons, no safe squares for the rogue to flank (they were on the edge of the water), and no way for the witch to hurt them at all -- she had prepped all mind-affecting or strength-damaging spells, none of which affect the undead.
After the fighter hit the dirt in round 3, I decided to give them one extra round before the skeletons caught on fire. They started smoking heavily to convey the danger, and I reminded the players that they *did* have holy water.
They took the hint, soaked the skeletons, and ran the fighter back to town for healing. Going back through town looking half-killed cost them a little trust, though.
And tonight is the town hall meeting...
...and my worries are back. They just barely survived an encounter with the skeletons from the pool behind the prison. No bludgeoning weapons, no safe squares for the rogue to flank (they were on the edge of the water), and no way for the witch to hurt them at all -- she had prepped all mind-affecting or strength-damaging spells, none of which affect the undead.
After the fighter hit the dirt in round 3, I decided to give them one extra round before the skeletons caught on fire. They started smoking heavily to convey the danger, and I reminded the players that they *did* have holy water.
They took the hint, soaked the skeletons, and ran the fighter back to town for healing. Going back through town looking half-killed cost them a little trust, though.
And tonight is the town hall meeting...
I wouldn't worry. Yours was an issue of players not preparing correctly. A similarly poor-prepared cleric would not have made that fight much easier. Think of that encounter as a learning experience. If they learned they'll remember their own equipment, your witch will prepare better spells, and they'll all learn the merits of a big stick (free club).
And tactics. Your players need to learn battlefield tactics. Like "how to let the enemy come at you so your rogue has room to maneuver around for the flank".
Tell your party's witch to take a look at the Threnodic Spell metamagic feat if she likes to prep mind-affecting spells. She won't be able to get it until at least level 7 (since the prerequisites are Spell Focus (Necromancy) and 6 ranks in Knowledge (Religion)), but once she does, she'll be able to prep mind-affecting spells that will affect undead.
There's also Thanatopic Spell, which is another very useful metamagic feat for witch undead hunters. It has the same prerequisites, but I suggest having your witch wait until level 11 to take it, at which point she'll be able to prep Thanatopic Enervation spells that will allow her to give undead negative levels.
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Tell your party's witch to take a look at the Threnodic Spell metamagic feat if she likes to prep mind-affecting spells. She won't be able to get it until at least level 7 (since the prerequisites are Spell Focus (Necromancy) and 6 ranks in Knowledge (Religion)), but once she does, she'll be able to prep mind-affecting spells that will affect undead.
There's also Thanatopic Spell, which is another very useful metamagic feat for witch undead hunters. It has the same prerequisites, but I suggest having your witch wait until level 11 to take it, at which point she'll be able to prep Thanatopic Enervation spells that will allow her to give undead negative levels.
Thanks, I'll suggest those! Of course that will be way too late to help them out with Harrowstone...
No, for Harrowstone I recommend prepping lots of cure spells.
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Slightly old thread, but I wanted to put my two copper in anyway.
We ran through with an average of 5 (had two players who were there off and on, so 6 at max), and barely made it out. We weren't exactly optimized ourselves; we had no dedicated rogue for the last half of the module (he moved away), and the only healy was a Witch.
We survived, but every step of the way cursing ourselves for not bringing a cleric.
Either GM needs to seriously dish out some CLW potions/wands and extra haunt syphons, or a GMPC needs to come in.
Carrion Crown in general eats PCs for breakfast, and HoH doesn't shy from that concept much.
A few extra points in Point Buy was a good start, but they need more.
Unless they're freakishly lucky, anyway.