|
Welcome to the game, I hope you enjoy it.
I actually made a little guide to help people building characters.
Hopefully you and your players can use this.
A thing to keep in mind is that most adventure paths are balanced for a party of 4. A lot of GMs send a NPC along to help heal the party.
|
If you decide to use a tagalong NPC I would more than likely go with a Cleric with some combat capabilities but mainly healer type. Even then you may want to dumb down some of the encounters with having only 2 players and a NPC tagalong. Never let the NPC outshine the players but make sure he/she is useful and not a drag on the party. Since you have a barbarian PC he should be taking the brunt of the punishment but even then he will wear down fast without more choices of targets for the monsters to go between. As a GM you may even have to fudge on some rolls to ensure they don't get pawned so easily otherwise it would probably do you well to try and find another player to throw in the mix if possible (though I understand it is hard to find players sometimes depending on your location and the people you hang around). Just remember the GM has final say and your brothers are at your mercy really.
If your brothers are new to the game as well and they don't seem to be enjoying the game due to getting beat up all the time feel free to drop the AC of the foes, the HP if they seem to tough, the stats if they are scarily greater, or even the amount of given encounters, levels of the enemies, or the amount of listed opponents. Remember the game is about having fun for both the players and the DM. Don't overwhelm them with hopelessness from the get-go or they will more than likely not want to continue in the long run. Do something cool to keep their interest or reward them for doing well (don't go overboard on rewards as overgearing a character can lead to them taking the stuff they have for granted). Make them work for what they get but enjoy the path they have to travel to get there! Don't dumb it down to the point of no challenge whatsoever. If you do then they will never get a true sense of accomplishment. There must always be SOME challenge.
When I first started DM'ing 20 years ago it was a gradual progression to get to the point I am at now. It took lots of trial and error when adjusting encounters for my small playgroups (my little brother included). If someone does not seem to be having fun ask them what the problem is and try to correct it. That being said...RPG's are not everyone's cup of tea and some folk will never enjoy them BUT they are more likely to enjoy them and keep on playing if they feel like they are being HEROES (or villains if that is their preferred thing).
Oh yes and TEAMWORK GOES A LONG WAY! Make sure you drill that into them. Tactical positioning is a great thing. Hopefully your brothers are different than me and my little brother who always wanted to do our own thing. We eventually learned after many deaths lol. If they don't have a firm grasp on the rules of combat, strategic positioning, actions that do and don't provoke attacks of opportunity, and the many other mechanics of the game they will have problems. Reading the core rulebook is boring yes but definitely a good idea.
P.S.: I never let new players play evil alignments! (But that's just me)
:D
Good Luck, Have Fun, and may the dice forever be in favor of your players!
Welcome to the hobby, and I hope you have fun! =]
1.) Read ahead so you know what's coming next, and don't be afraid to make changes. The book is a guidebook with suggestions, not laws. You can make as many changes as you want, and so long as everyone enjoys it, everyone wins. For example, in a pre-built campaign that I was GMing, my party decided to intimidate one of the bad guys to enlist their aid against a bigger bad guy. As-written, they were supposed to kill the little bad guy, but the experience was much more fun for everyone because the players came up with an idea on the spot, tried it, and it's working out. There's some tension about whether or not their temporary allies will betray them, but for now, everything's easier because of the extra hands.
2.) Memorizing isn't really all that important. Just try to know where the information is found. Knowing where to find the maps and spell-lists is especially helpful.
3.) If you can't find the answer to a question, just make something up that makes sense to you on the spot. After the session is over, you can come up with an explanation for it, and it may lead to interesting story possibilities.
4.) If your party gets into a fight with an npc that you didn't anticipate (this will happen), you don't need to worry about having appropriate statistics for all the other characters involved. Just use a pre-built npc from this list. Feel free to change their gender, race, equipment and whatever else you want on the fly without fussing over the statistics. Your brothers won't know that the stats would be slightly different, and it will make the game go faster. Just make sure that the CR for the npc you choose isn't more than 3 higher than your players' level. You can also change the name and function of any of these stat blocks. For instance, you could use a Bandit's statistics for a guard or a drunk at the bar; it doesn't really matter.
Yes, welcome to the game. I am also pretty new to this to, as I have only been playing about a few months (in game).
My advice to you from some of my experience as a GM is to prepare before hand (prep is very important for a GM) and try to add flair to the adventure path (Roleplay each character to an extant and try to be very descriptive about what the characters are seeing).
You might be thinking "duh" its a Roleplaying game, but just remember that you are essentially the pc's eyes and ears. Your description of events is, for the most part, the only thing the players have to go on. Add your own description or improve upon the description the adventure path gives you and engage the players in the npcs by trying to play them convincingly.
As you are just starting don't worry if you feel that you aren't engaging them enough. Practice makes perfect, especially with the same players as you will figure out what they react to and act accordingly.
I hope I gave you something to think about. Good luck and welcome to the world of Pathfinder.
Yeah, definitely accentuate teamwork!!! :-)
Which will be super easy with a barbarian and rogue. Both can fight in melee, and they have a lot of features in common.
Sounds like a fun group!
Like they said above, a healer would be useful, or just give out potions of cure light wounds as treasure.