I have a buddy who wants to play as a rogue in a pathfinder campaign filled with intrigue, sneaking about, talking his way out of disasters, disguising himself to sneak into places, and generally being a sneaky bastard with a little bit of combat thrown in. I'm too busy in my life to write up a campaign specifically targeting his desires, so I wanted to grab an AP and tweak it to suit my needs. Can anyone here suggest an appropriate AP for this? Also, I plan on giving him access to NPCs and perhaps gestalt rules just to help out.
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Most of the APs can be adapted to a stealth play style, but I'd probably recommend the mostly urban campaigns first; Curse of the Crimson Throne, Council of Thieves, and the just begun Hell's Rebels. Giantslayer had several bits where stealth was pretty much the only option (e.g. take out the giant leader without alerting the overwhelming army of giants). The only ones I'd really stay away from would be the travel and exploration APs; Kingmaker, Serpent's Skull, and Jade Regent. All great scenarios, but would need major reworking to play as a stealthy soloist.
Ok so I happen to have Curse of the Crimson Throne and I noticed there were some nice conversion options there - but it's the only AP I've ever read and I wanted to make sure there weren't better or more obvious options out there. As far as giving the rogue help, I can imagine a good flanking buddy would be helpful, but what else?
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As far as giving the rogue help, I can imagine a good flanking buddy would be helpful, but what else?
A good way to add some combat strength without getting into the trouble of having to roleplay the character out of combat is an animal companion. E.g. give your rogue a dog that can level with him, so he has his flanking body, someone who can take a few hits and deal some damage. You could also go the figurine of wondrous power direction with this and give the rogue his own Guenhwyvar-like animal companion.
On top of that I find that adding an NPC to your party is a very good way to add the necessary staying power to the 'party' (I DM'ed some two-men parties in the past). This NPC does not have to be the same character all the time. You can alternate characters between different quests from time to time. This keeps the focus on the PC and sends the NPCs to the background in the overall story, while on a micro level you can pick NPCs with a personal interest in that part of the adventure, which adds depth to the quest at hand.
What I usually did in such cases, is roleplay the character outside of combat (in a very low-key fashion) and let the player control the NPC in combat.
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As far as giving the rogue help, I can imagine a good flanking buddy would be helpful, but what else?
For a solo rogue I'd recommend going full in on sniping; Greater Sniping Goggles, Expert Sniper feat, Master Sniper feat, Stealthy Sniper talent (and/or Swift as Shadows if a halfling), Greater Sniping weapon enchantment, high bluff to create a distraction to hide, dimension door to get away if spotted, et cetera.
Why sniping? Because a good sniper rogue can wipe out entire groups without ever being spotted. Doesn't really work when you are part of a group because the rest of the party might get wiped out while you are sneaking around taking pot shots, but for a solo character it's the strongest play.
As far as giving the rogue help, I can imagine a good flanking buddy would be helpful, but what else?For a solo rogue I'd recommend going full in on sniping; Greater Sniping Goggles, Expert Sniper feat, Master Sniper feat, Stealthy Sniper talent (and/or Swift as Shadows if a halfling), Greater Sniping weapon enchantment, high bluff to create a distraction to hide, dimension door to get away if spotted, et cetera.
Why sniping? Because a good sniper rogue can wipe out entire groups without ever being spotted. Doesn't really work when you are part of a group because the rest of the party might get wiped out while you are sneaking around taking pot shots, but for a solo character it's the strongest play.
I like this idea - i'm sure there's some broken ranger-rogue combinations out there for stealthing while shooting people with a bow.
Swift as Shadows Halfling Rogue with a Camouflage Blanket for every non-planar terrain type (120 gp total) has easy concealment no matter where they are and can snipe without any penalty to stealth. Get a Sniping enchantment on your bow for a Competence bonus. Get a permanent Reduce Person for more to-hit and more Stealth. Increase your sneak attack distance however you can and stay as far from your targets as possible to apply large penalties to their Perception checks. Get Darkvision somehow and do so at night for even better chances of success. If you think someone might find you, you can fall prone to get a +2 Circumstance bonus from the Camouflage Blanket.
Works better as a Slayer because of their Full BAB and free archery feats, but Rogue can still make it happen. Happy hunting.
For a solo campaign, I'd suggest stringing together adventures from the One on One Adventures Compendium. There are 5 rogue adventures in there, all designed for just one player:
1. Gambler's Quest (levels 2-4) - tried this as a player, where you go to a gambling tournament while snooping around. Still fairly new as a player and very timid, so I took it too slow and didn't get very far once my HP dropped. Interesting NPCs and concept, though.
2. The Star of Olindor (levels 6-8) - another infiltration quest that kicks off a string of them, connected by artifacts of an ancient elven city. I GMed this one. There's a lot of 'X person is here Y times of day' that I ended up charting to a map and timeline b/c it was so hard to keep track of, though I didn't need it in the end much due to player choices (ain't that the way).
3. The Shroud of Olindor (levels 7-9) - GMed this as a continuance of the previous. It's a murder mystery set in a small town with a few extra twists. Very sandboxy with only a few fights. I had to put in a better link from the previous adventure, since Mr. Chaotic Neutral wouldn't act without benefit to himself. I also had to give the (tons of) NPCs a lot more dialogue and motivation. If you do take this route, message me and I can tell you more.
4. Vengeance of Olindor (levels 8-10) - Prison Break! Will do this one next.
5. The Sixth Cavalier (levels 9-11) - sandboxy, more focused on social skills than fighting, don't know much more about it.
I'm running CotCT for one player. It is working fabulously.
My player has two characters - both created using Gestalt rules. He tends to play them as working for common goals, even if they are often separated. Neither of the main characters are really front line fighters, and they have mainly got by through stealth, guile and charisma, much as a rogue would. The campaign gives you the basics to create a great cast of supporting characters, including some who can help out the PCs in a fight.
The AP does take a little work in adjust to Pathfinder, and in making those adjustments I tailored it a bit to a smaller party, but the changes have been minimal to books 1 -3. The later books will probably require some more work (particularly book 5) but I anticipate it will be very worth it.