Hey all I've just started the process of converting this AP for a single player and am curious if there are any specific things/encounters that I should watch out for. My player is running an Aasimar Synth Summoner using a 25 point buy and double starting wealth. My general plan is to throw either a 1/4 of the enemies at him or if quantity can't be reduced that much then either half the enemies at 1/2 health or all the enemies at 1/4 health, or some appropriate combo of the above so that the AP retains the appropriate feel.
Having said that, any suggestions?
Do you GM in such a way that the player might die or will he be allowed to win/succeed?
I should mention that this will be his first game ever. While generally I don't intervene in player death, I imagine I will at least the first few times for him, but even should he actually die I have a contingency plan in place in which he becomes a petitioner and can earn his way back to life in a new and improved form. So while death is possible it isn't going to be permanent as long as he is having fun and wishes to continue.
Maybe you could send along a couple of the other Children of Westcrown with him for the tougher missions (IE: The BoE lair, the Asmodean Knot, Delvehaven, and so on)? Keep them a few levels behind him so that he's still doing most of the work, but it's someone else to draw fire and help out a little.
As above. Several of the CoW can be tweaked to have the needed levels and can sub in where needed.
-Yebng
I've never run for a single player in Pathfinder, but something that you may want to try is using the Fast XP track as opposed to Medium. Also if you are having them build their character using one of the point buy systems, you may want to opt for the 20, or 25 point build as opposed to the AP suggested 15. This should allow them to make up some of the slack of being by themselves by being slightly more powerful than the individuals would be if they were in a group.
Also, not sure what your plan is for 1 player going through The Sixfold Trial. Filling in some of the other roles with the CoW is one way to do it, alternatively, I suppose you could just come up with some NPC actors/actresses for that particular part of the AP.
Good luck to you and your player!
yeah I'm definitely giving him the 25 point buy, I was going to stick with the medium progression and just dumb down the encounters, seeing as he'll only need a 1/4 of the xp to level as the whole party generally would have, he will likely still level faster than the AP is designed and assuming he doesn't get too far ahead I have no problem with this.
I haven't actually read up on sixfold trial, but i'll keep in mind the need for npc actors, thanks.
I figure that I can tweak a few of the CoW to fill specific roles, like skill monkey and healer on the limited occasions where I feel them absolutely necessary, but I'd prefer not to keep a constant NPC party with him if I can help it.
Checking out the list of CoW will give you a good idea about what roles they can fill. Giving the PC some allies from various nobles and officals can help ease the way to areas that would require skills that the character lack.
If the character needs skills in certain areas, try considering a 'Cramming' rule. The character can 'cram' lessons in certain skills temporarily that they don't have. They could have a pool of SP that can be used for the creammed skills only.
hmm...cram session huh, never heard of a homebrew rule like that before but i like it. What do you think would be fair for that?... half their level worth of crammable points, no possible class bonus(even if its a class skill for him), takes an hour to cram, and retention lasts for hours*lvl?
Not sure about the balance for a game with multiple players, but for a solo campaign that seems like a reasonable mechanic that will make the game more fun for your player.
I believe I originally saw it in the GURPS rulebook long ago or perhaps it was the HERO/Champoins set.
Half level+INT bonus sounds good. This lets them sprinkle 1-2 pointers around. They will need to focus on justa few skills otherwise it really doesn't provide any benefit. For example, they could get a quick diplomacy lesson if they hob nob with nobles and some acting/singing lessons when they go on stage.
Hey all I've just started the process of converting this AP for a single player and am curious if there are any specific things/encounters that I should watch out for. My player is running an Aasimar Synth Summoner using a 25 point buy and double starting wealth. My general plan is to throw either a 1/4 of the enemies at him or if quantity can't be reduced that much then either half the enemies at 1/2 health or all the enemies at 1/4 health, or some appropriate combo of the above so that the AP retains the appropriate feel.
Having said that, any suggestions?
I am actually running this campaign as a solo campaign at 20 point buy for a single player. I'm running it in an online capacity(using maptools) and using the chat client for the RP aspects of it.
My answer was to make 3 other 'PC's' to travel along with my player. It also helps giving the player something to interact with on a regular basis. My reasoning was I felt like I could tell a better story with other people around for my player to trust/care about/build friendships.
Also, the idea mentioned to use the children of westcrown as party fillers will work out well if needed. Also, having NPC's around gives you less work when it comes to adjusting encounters and also gives you great chances for roleplay.
I'm currently at the end of book 2, and the difficulty has stepped up a bit(to the point that even a powerful solo character would probably struggle!).
