Hello all,
My friend and I have decided to alternate being GM for our group of four - three PCs, one GM every session. Since we will be GMing every other session, my friend and I will be running mostly PFS mods with alternate, house rules.
We have been talking about some ideas on what to allow for Character Generation. We want the group of three to be able to handle an adventure written for 4 characters, but, we don't want to overcompensate and eliminate the challenge of the game.
For sake of argument, let's say we will be starting at level 5.
Here are some house rules for character generation we were considering:
a) 30 point buy
b) Extra Traits as a free feat (4 traits total)
c) 10% additional XP per session
d) 7th level equivalent starting gold (2 levels higher than normal)
Which of the above would make a good combination for a 3rd person party?
Thanks,
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Three PCs isn't too much different from four PCs. I don't know that you'll need any adjustments at all - an adventure written for 4 PCs is supposed to be OK for a party of 3-5. You just need to make sure that you fill necessary party roles. A high point buy (25 or 30 points) is the easiest adjustment and is probably sufficient. It has the added bonus of making it easier for the PCs to play hybrid characters to cover necessary party roles. An extra trait or two would also be reasonable - again, useful for helping PCs to cover multiple roles since you can use traits to add class skills.
If you find that the PCs are struggling you can always adjust during the game. Add in a little extra treasure until the challenge feels about right or nerf encounters by removing combatants from mobs, reducing enemy HP, or giving them -1 or -2 to all rolls.
Fiddling with XP might be a problem if the PCs get high enough level to have magical resources that the module writers didn't anticipate.
a) 30 point buy
b) Extra Traits as a free feat (4 traits total)
c) 10% additional XP per session
d) 7th level equivalent starting gold (2 levels higher than normal)
30 point buy is a bit excessive under any circumstance. If you don't mind excess that will work just fine.
Extra traits will work just fine. Not a huge fan of traits here, but occasionally they fit in really well.
Because XP is being split 3 ways instead of 4 ways, the individual party members are already getting an effective 33% XP increase so a further boost is unnecessary.
Adding extra starting wealth seems to be the best solution here. This should let them carry a little more weight near the start of the campaign, but over time it will be self-correcting.
a) 30 point buy - Lots of folks will complain about this being too high, but I think it's fine.
b) Extra Traits - Some characters benefit greatly from traits, others don't. If you want to give every character a relatively equal boot, just give them a feat.
c) 10% additional XP - This is totally unnecessary.
d) 7th level gold - That's more than double normal, and starting gold is more powerful than found treasure. I suggest normal starting gold plus an extra 2000g to spend on consumables. (wands, potions, etc.)
I think that 30 points, +1 feat, and 2000g for consumables would make a three-person party more than capable. Also, it's enough bonuses to be fun without totally breaking any aspect of the game.