A third party recently released a set of rules (Avalon Quests) for a solo version of Pathfinder. It looks pretty interesting - it has wilderness crawling, quests, combat, all that fun stuff. I'd like to try it, but I'd appreciate some suggestions on what might be an interesting mix, with an eye towards playability.
The first big deal is that it's aimed at a party of six characters. You start at level 1, but that's still a party of six almost-fully armed and operational Pathfinder characters being managed by a single player.
The second less big deal is that at the start of the module the rules come with you're apparently new adventurers gearing up and setting out in a village which can't sell you anything costing over 10gp - I think you can travel to a town with a 100gp limit later on, but I haven't read much of it because reading the whole module in advance is rude. You get normal starting wealth.
The third big deal is that it's solitaire. This means juggling six characters is going to be a pain, but on the other hand, no-one but the player suffers if a party of six summoners fill the battlefield each turn. It also means there's an emphasis on skill checks over roleplaying, so having a lot of skills covered is a plus.
I'm not going to ask the boards to BUILD ME CHARACTERS, but I'm interested to see what you'd do for this, as party dynamics change a lot in single player games. A couple of straightforward "full attack full attack full attack" bruisers, a healbot, and a skillmonkey that would be boring to play as your only character, combined with one or two more interesting ones? Cleric/Druid/Magus/Oracle/Summoner/Wizard? Just use the beginner box pregens?
I'd go for 3 or 4 gestalt characters, just to minimize the pains of managing 6 PCs at the same time.
As for composition, one thing I really took away from 4E was the way they organized parties: tank, striker (high damage to single target), blaster (area of effect), controller and leader (support)
These are the way I'd fill those rolls in a 6 man party
1 fighter/barbarian/paladin/cavalier/: melee tank, if you use a paladin he can assist in healing as well
1 ranger switch hitter (both melee and ranged): melee tank and striker hybrid, as well as some skills and scouting
1 rogue: striker, skill monkey and scouting. If you use a Vivisectionist alchemist he could assist in buffing and debuffing as well
1 bard: leader and controller as well as skillmonkey
1 wizard/sorcerer: blaster and controller
1 cleric/oracle: leader, controller and healing as well as some melee if necessary
The Quite-big-but-not-BIG Bad wrote: I'd go for 3 or 4 gestalt characters, just to minimize the pains of managing 6 PCs at the same time. I did consider that, but I want to give the designer the benefit of the doubt to begin with.
The Quite-big-but-not-BIG Bad wrote: 1 ranger And that's why I posted here, because for some reason I always forget this class exists. I'm not sure how useful scouting will be, but the rest is a good package.
Looks like you're going to be limited to light armour, very limited ranged support, and potentially no spellbooks (depending whether it rules that you have to pay for it or that you start with one free).
In that situation, I'd be inclined towards something along the lines of Barbarian, Ranger, Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Summoner.
HerosBackpack wrote: Looks like you're going to be limited to light armour, very limited ranged support, and potentially no spellbooks (depending whether it rules that you have to pay for it or that you start with one free).
In that situation, I'd be inclined towards something along the lines of Barbarian, Ranger, Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Summoner.
Pretty sure you get the spellbook free, and based on the fluff I'm ruling that Heirloom Weapon lets you buy a weapon over 10gp, but that doesn't help the armour side of things.
I was originally thinking of something like that, only with a paladin instead of the ranger, and a pair of blaster sorcerers to keep the paperwork down. I think I'll just have to have a look at some of the encounters and see how often range really matters.
Hmm, if you use the piecemeal armor rules, you might be able to get up to medium...
*checks prd*
Yes,
Scale arm armor 10gp +1 armor
Hide leg armor 3gp +1 armor
Kikko leg armor 10gp +1 armor
Scale leg armor 10gp +1 armor
Hide torso armor 10gp +2 armor
Then
Heavy wooden shield 7gp +2 armor
Not brilliant, but better than leather armor.
You'd still have slings as a projectile option, or thrown weapons, but no bows or crossbows
Just wondering if you've started playing and if yes, how it's going? I'm tempted to take the Avalon plunge myself but there is practically zilch in the way of reviews / player experiences out.
Whenever you get to control the advancement and play of more than one character, Teamwork feats are always a good route to take. Generally speaking, they grant bonuses a bit higher than normal feats, which is normally balanced by the need for cooperation with your party, which you won't have a problem with.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
If possible, I'd probably stick with 4 characters.
If you have to have 6 then by all means.
For my first run I'd want to litmus test and see how the adventure works out with the 4 iconics.
Namely:
Fighter (Valeros)
Rogue (Merisiel)
Wizard (Ezren)
Cleric (Kyra)
Though I suppose they technically break the equipment rules. Redo their gear as appropriate with leather armor, clubs, slings and so forth.
Now if I want...more *fun* I'd make a wandering minstrel troupe. All gnome bards :) I suppose you could use the Little-Eyed-Monster* pregen as a template.
*you heard it here first!*
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