Published Adventures and Small Parties

[limnion]

Hello everyone, not sure if this is the correct forum, but I'm seeking advice as a GM. I've recently lost a player due to them moving away and I would like to continue using pathfider pre-made adventures for my group (now 3 players). I was wondering if bumping them to one level above the established level is the best quick fix for this due to parties of three being APL-1. I know action economy may be against them.

Does this adjustment work in practice?

Sorry for creating a redundant thread, I tried searching it and I have ^yet to find a meaningful answer.

Regards

[Brad McDowell]

How are stats generated? Maybe allow a re-roll or a change to a 25 point buy.

How's your Wealth by Level? Maybe give them some free stuff.

Maybe give them a free level, or maybe remove a mook from each encounter.

Try anything you can before resorting to playing a GM-NPC. Please.

[limnion]

I'm not a fan of the GM-PC unless he's a "red cloak" and I can kill him for story telling purposes.

I believe they're on par with 20- point buy with their rolls (4d6, take best of 3d6, 6 times). If they don't like their rolls, they have a option of point buy. HP is either average rounded up, or ,if rolled, at minimum average rounded down (to create risk of rolling without severe punishment).

They're one level higher than the published material with treasure appropriate to said level.

Do you think 25 would be more appropriate?

[DM Papa.DRB]

I have four players now, but for several years there were only three players and myself. I always ran a DM-NPC as a fighter who only had 1 skill, and that was hit what was in front of him. My guys loved that. They fulfilled all the other roles.

-- david

[limnion]

David,

I'm trying to avoid stepping on the toes of the two party members that are melee oriented with another fighter. Also, I would rather not create another creature for me to control. I could make a one note fighter with low intelligence that is simple for another player to run, but I also rather my players focus on their characters. But thank you for the advice :)

[Brad McDowell]

Give them the item that boosts their favorite ability by +2. Headband, Belt, etc...

[DM Papa.DRB]

Different strokes, and with two other melee oriented I agree another fighter would be wrong. We were without the fourth player for so long that this worked for us. Different groups, different dynamic.

-- david

[Taku Ooka Nin]

limnion wrote:

Hello everyone, not sure if this is the correct forum, but I'm seeking advice as a GM. I've recently lost a player due to them moving away and I would like to continue using pathfider pre-made adventures for my group (now 3 players). I was wondering if bumping them to one level above the established level is the best quick fix for this due to parties of three being APL-1. I know action economy may be against them.

Does this adjustment work in practice?

Sorry for creating a redundant thread, I tried searching it and I have ^yet to find a meaningful answer.

Regards

The easiest fix is to just rebuild encounters. You can also just treat all enemies as having the Young template (CR-1) which will balance everything.

You can counter this by giving everyone in the party an extra level as well.

Remember, the CR system is build using 4 PCs. 4 monsters is CR+4, 3 monsters is CR+3, and 2 monsters is CR+2, and therefore we can apply the same logic to PCs.
If there are 4 PCs then a standard encounter is CR(APL).
If there are 3 PCs then a standard encounter is CR(APL-1).
IF there are 2 PCs then a standard encounter is CR(APL-2).

So you either give the PCs levels--which will make them happy,--or you rebalance every single encounter in the pre-made dungeon. The easier option is to just give them a level. Call it a "party bonus" to their level, meaning if they get another then they lose the bonus.

If there are 6 PCs then the Party Bonus is negative 1, which at level 1 is a negative level that isn't actually a negative level.

~Taku

[Atarlost]

In theory you need to do two things
1) Split up the lost player's share of the loot.
2) Multiply their XP by 4/3 to account for his share of the XP
In practice you probably also need to bump up point buy a bit.

You should also encourage rebuilding. If your party wasn't high redundancy you no longer have capabilities you used to. If you lost your skill character or main combatant someone needs to rebuild or replace their character. If you lost a caster you might be able to get by dropping some custom free staves on them. Note that adding summon monster 1 to a staff full of spells the players are going to need (like remove X and restoration and possibly raise dead if you lost a cleric) makes it so most classes can recharge it provided they have a high enough level spell slot.