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What is the best adventure path for a single player? I'm also looking at these options when considering them
-Gestalt
-NPC help
-Hirelings
-Character focused story
-Starting at a higher level to compensate
-Avoiding AP's that are party focused and require more attention than a single individual can give (Kingmaker, I'm looking at you.)
So what would you suggest as an AP and what changes would you make to compensate?
I was going to suggest Kingmaker.
:)
One of the biggest problems that you are going to find is action economy. The single player can only do so many actions each round, while the encounters are geared towards having 4 PCs doing actions each round.
Kingmaker, due to it's sandbox nature, tends to have a lot more time between encounters, allowing more time to recover, and while I hate to use the term, will allow your single PC to "nova" encounters on a regular basis.
If you are going to be using NPCs and hirelings, then they can fill the positions in the kingdom, while the PC is the "king" - including his chancellor chasing him to sign documents, attend senior citizen widow gala, and what ever else tickles your fancy.
I think Curse of the Crimson Throne would work pretty well. There'd be times they'd need to be able to bring a bunch of allies (the fifth installment being the most obvious place), but I think that offers a good opportunity to have one hero with a rotating cast of sidekicks. Plus there are many sources of NPC allies built in to the AP already.
Shattered Star
In a city for most of first 3 adventures so lots support on hand
All the prestige et al that the society can offer
The PC would get to keep all the shards
Fairly static/ancient dungeons so you can nip and out and things will not have changed much
You could easily be LE or NE and have army undead on hand...forex if the PC can animate the
good luck
So id Go shattered star....race with darkvision/[tongues bones oracle]..have some social skills cos of mystery
You could definitely do Skull n Shackles with only a little modification. It's sandboxy, already has plenty of proxy-combat and it'll solve the problem of who gets to be captain.
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Sorry I haven't replied sooner.
Kingmaker is a hit/miss with me. I see your point, but I feel that campaign is more enjoyable as a team effort game.
I have glanced at CotCT a few times. There is alot of good hype about that one. So that's positive. As a side note, on the old 3.5 adventures (RotRL notwithstanding, I have the AE) would it fit the bill to not waste time converting them to PF considering they present a bit less of a challenge (due to lack of PF abilities).
I actually had bought Shattered Star all the way up to the fifth one (and picked up the pdf of the sixth after I canceled my sub) but I actually didn't like that adventure at all.
Skull and Shackles is something I bought twice (had to sell it once to pay some bills) because it was so good.
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So to elaborate, I'm looking to run an AP for my wife. She's interested in PF but has never played a tabletop RPG in here life. I chose to look into AP's because it frees up some creative time for me in my busy life.
I've picked up the One on One Adventures compendium, and it's interesting, but lacks something the AP's have.
I'm willing to modify adventures as needed, but I'm also willing to modify the rules to suit a single player.
As I stated up in my first post, I considered gestalt but feel that might over complicate things. A few other things I considered were moving potion drinking to a swift action and having potions do the maximum healing (i.e. a potion of cure light wounds heals 9 hp). This would keep action economy on healing down and hp up.
Any other advice on how to make a single player enjoy the game, stay alive, and succeed but feel they earned it is appreciated!
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If you don't mind having NPC allies, or letting her run multiple characters, Council of Thieves might be of interest. Now, I have not read it myself, nor do I own it, but I have listened to Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast's review/dissection of the AP. Well, most of it, since they never did get to reviewing book 6. It seems like it would be suited to what you are wanting because it presents a way that you could bring in several NPC allies to fill out an entire party. It also is a bit more roleplay heavy than most, and only tops out at level 13 so it will wrap up a bit sooner. I would recommend listening to the podcast to hear and judge for yourself if you think it will work. Word of warning though, the podcast is quite long. I think the shortest episode is 2 and a half hours, and the longest is over 6 hours.
I wish I had that kind of time to just sit and listen to a podcast, haha!
Yeah, I'm kinda lucky that I have a job where I can have headphones in and listen to what I want while I work. I've blown through Know Direction's entire archive in about a month. Well, with the exceptions of con coverage from previous years.
I'd say jade regent sounds perfect. You have a ready party of NPCs to help, and if you want to make it more player focused, have the player be the descendent.
I'd say jade regent sounds perfect. You have a ready party of NPCs to help, and if you want to make it more player focused, have the player be the descendent.
Agreed. There will have to be some tweaking (such as when the descendant is kidnapped) but it does seem to be the ideal choice.
I've run the first four volumes of Carrion Crown for one player and it has worked very well to date. There is a lot of investigation, roleplaying and sneaking, all of which are well suited to a small party (if I was running it again I'd add to the investigation using the Gumshoe rules). My player is running two PCs, designed to compliment each other and built with a 25 point buy. I've had to modify the odd battle, but not by much. I am, however, expecting chapter 6 to be a bit more challenging to adapt.
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Is it out of the question for 1 player to run 4 characters? We do this every now and then.
Is it out of the question for 1 player to run 4 characters? We do this every now and then.
I'm running a one-on-one PF module where the lone player controls 4 PCs too. I created two of them to share the burden of creation and we tend to share roleplaying "duty" on these two also. The player is fully in control during tactical combat. I have also recently started using them for subtle (and less subtle :p) hints when the player gets stuck. It's a good thing one character is "let's kick their butts!" while the other is more about making plans... gives two different views on each problem ;)
As for the question proper, I was thinking Serpent's Skull also offers a bunch of ready-made NPCs that could fill out the team. I haven't read enough of it to know if it would work out for a single PC for its whole length though.
Serpent's Skull would do well for one player. It is loaded with NPC help throughout.
The player can really embrace an Indiana Jones type of adventurer, being the "star" with a healthy cast of NPC help. I DM'd it and could very easily see one player going through it.
There is a bunch of support either written into the AP or simply inferred if you are willing to stretch a few things.
This particular AP is well-suited for any group that is lite in players.
My best question would be this: What class benefits most from being a single character party?
I'd say Ranger, for the fighting style feats, the favored enemy and hunter's bond, the ability to cast some situational spells, and a decent flock of archetypes.
For a caster, it's the player's style I'd say. Sorcerer makes sense, limited spells but bloodline powers are nice if you're solo. Oracles or witches are versatile; Alchemists are another good choice.
Fighters are another solid choice.
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Thank you all for the responses! Especially yours, B.A.! Seeing as you've ran Serpent's Skull, what suggestions would you make to the campaign as a whole, as well as what would you change to accommodate a single player? I've skimmed the campaign before, so I know factions are involved. Would it benefit the character to be involved with one of these factions?
My best question would be this: What class benefits most from being a single character party?
Summoner. Especially the master summoner archetype. The player essentially winds up playing his character plus a boatload of monsters.
Single class, I'd say druid. Can heal yourself, have a beefy animal companion, plenty of spells to help you out, can turn into an animal yourself to do some damage.
Go for it for 1 PC and just give him a few re-rolls chips/bennies etc
as was mentioned early on, the issue will be action economy- no matter how good the PC is there are only so many things it can do in a round. for survivability, using an epic point buy (instead of the normal high fantasy) and the gestalt rules will help immensely. pair a tough class (with, presumably, some combat ability) with a class that gets a pet just to help with the action economy. a barbarian/druid would have good toughness and the ability to heal itself, plus an animal companion... the best combo would really be paladin/summoner with the eldritch heritage[arcane] feat- good toughness, fair combat, some casting, plus you get an Eidolon and a familiar (eventually an improved one) to break action economy as much as possible (quadruped eidolon can pounce, make familiar a UMD monkey have it use a wand or scroll each round, PC heals self as swift action and still gets full round). plus a pally/summoner is already using Cha, so you should have solid social skills which may allow you to bypass some encounters and/or recruit help for others.
edit: if you're really worried about survival you could even give the player a couple extra race points to play with... or make up a 'gestalt-race' like a human/aasimar (for example) that got all the aasimar bonuses plus a bonus feat and one extra skill point/level... (or just give the pc a couple bonus feats like dodge,toughness,etc)
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So I have decided to run Serpent's Skull. I read the adventure (I've read it before, but it's been a while) and realized I had glazed over important parts (such as how valuable factions can be for a single player!). The only modifications I plan on so far are these
-Max HP every level
-NPC's will help fill out the party, allowing her to get the hang of each character type. These NPC's will cycle out as the campaign demands, allowing for new, interesting NPC's to cycle in (including using specific monster-type NPC's that aid the party by giving them a bigger role).
-The faction she chooses will play a larger role, giving a more realistic feel to it instead of a distant patron.
-I intend to include a Morale/Tactics for each NPC so they can still be played to their strengths. NPC's will be governed by me outside of combat so she can focus on her own character in RP actions.
-Any personal backstory will definitely be incorporated more thoroughly.
-I'm looking into Hero Points. I've never used them but from the brief reading I've done, they look well suited to a single player campaign.
-definitely a high point buy.
-All healing spells/potions that heal will heal maximum for the first half of the campaign at least. I do this because I don't want action economy to feel wasting when trying to heal.
-I may use Plot Twist cards. I've never used them, but they look like fun.
I'm intend to be relatively rules light so I don't overwhelm her. I think it will be fun to help her learn the rules for special attacks (like grapple) in situations with serpent companions. But I won't be barraging her with it. I don't think it will detract from the campaign, as you can't miss what you don't know.
As it stands, I don't know what she's going to play. I know I won't be using gestalt, as I feel that would overwhelm her. Maybe next time. I did get her a copy of the player's guide, and she has read some of it, but isn't done. I'll recommend classes as well as I can. Ranger (for favored enemy), Rogue (for social skills), and Sorcerer (for spells known being locked in) will probably be high on my list of suggestions. I'll probably stick with core rulebook only, as I own a hardback of that she can use for reference.
I think the biggest advantage is if we need to stop to look up a rule, no one else can get mad and I can take time to teach. It also means I won't feel rushed in getting through a book.
Within those guidelines, do you offer any suggestions I haven't thought of?
Sounds like you've got everything covered. All I can say is: have fun :D