I am running Shattered Star with 2 players (3witch, 1rog/2sor).
- They are 1 level ahead of where they should be.
- I am going to give more aid from their boss/patron, Sheila Heidmarch.
- They can seek assistance/hirelings if they want.
Do you think that is enough to make up for only 2 players?
Any suggestions?
Things I don't want to do;
- Gestalt
- DMPC
- Leadership
In my experience, running an adventure for 2 players isn't as much of giving your players bonus items and more of altering the encounters to suit your group. With only 2 players a lot of bases will not be covered so you will have to find out what those are and how you can change them so they are still fun but also beatable.
Beware of save or suck spells like hold person or even dominate, in such a small party they make a huge difference, because 1 failed save halves the power of the party.
Also, how does the rogue intend to get flanking?
What is your problem with leadership? If you play it like any sane GM should and build the cohort yourself, it's just a permanent hireling that does not have to be paid with actual party funds...
2 person party?
Hmm.
Neutral Animal Domain Crusader Cleric + Spell Sage Wizard. Both can summon an army of the undead, one has a pet and the other casts better spells while also being able to cast Cleric spells a number of times a day.
Basically the idea there is that one plays a character that can defend the wizard, while the wizard specializes in murdering everything.
It can work.
What you really need to do is reduce all encounters by 2 cr. Alternatively you can have the PCs be 2 levels ahead of where they should be.
I have allowed Leadership in the past, but I want to try something different. I also don't want to take the effort to think about extra permanent characters.
The rogue/sor is pretty competent, so I expect he will figure something out.
We have in the past used Summoners and other Army-in-one types. They are effective. But I think they want to try something different as well.
Personally, I find the idea of running a duo of heroes pretty interesting. But it seems like any game I find has an over-abundance of players.
If they're fairly experienced players, they can play 2 PCs at once. It shouldn't be too complicated, and it even allows you, as a GM, to a bit aggressive and kill off or knock out PCs without leaving a player just sitting there, twiddling his thumbs.
Alternatively, you can allow each PC to control an NPC hireling. We did this in one campaign with just 3 PCs, and it gave that campaign a fun and gritty 1st Ed. feel. The NPCs were all warriors, usually 1 level below us, and had relatively simple stats and feat choices. This made them easy to run and also it prevented them from outshining the PC starts of the campaign.
The one I ran was a (cowardly) heavy crossbow specialist. Only 1 attack every other round, so simple. He was a survivor, actually. :-)
1 is very experienced and could easily handle 2 characters. That's basically what I allowed when we used Leadership, he would play his cohort as a 2nd character. The other player, not so much. He has been playing for decades, but has trouble keeping track of 1 character. He's a nice guy, but math is not his friend. If they want to put some effort into recruiting npcs that's fine, but otherwise I don't really want to add more characters.
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Might not be directly relevant, but the Rogue is seemingly going to have a bit of trouble flanking. I was looking at this type of thing earlier, and I'm pretty sure Canny Tumble might help:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/canny-tumble-combat
As the opponent is denied its Dex to AC, a sneak attack can be done. This doesn't work quite as well for a two-weapon fighting rogue, as they require their full attack a lot more than other rogues do, but is certainly possible. Might be useful for the rogue character, I don't know - figured I'd put it here just in case.
Same 2 players, but we have moved on from Shattered Star. Now they are choosing a module from the collection I own, making characters and I am running it. They will be making new characters for each new module. But again, there are only 2 players. To make up for there lack of party size I will be letting each of them choose once from the following list.
The basic characters are built as;
normal class
2 pcs
normal starting gold for their level
normal starting level for the module
Stats rolled on 4d6 drop low, in order, swap 2
They may choose (x2 = may be chosen twice)
Gestalt classes
1 DMnpc (made by them, loyal, run by DM usually, run by them in combat usually)
(x2) +2 levels worth of starting gold
(x2) +1 starting level
stats are roll 2 sets of stats and pick which one you want
Do you think that is enough to make up for only 2 players?
Any suggestions?
They may choose (x2 = may be chosen twice)
Gestalt classes
1 DMnpc (made by them, loyal, run by DM usually, run by them in combat usually)
(x2) +2 levels worth of starting gold
(x2) +1 starting level
stats are roll 2 sets of stats and pick which one you wantDo you think that is enough to make up for only 2 players?
Any suggestions?
If they are wise, they should be able to find some decent 2 person synergies.
Gestalt would help, but it does not alleviate the issue of one good save or suck and the party is still cut in half. As well they would lack the true HP pool of a 4 man party, early level games will be very tough for them.Increased WBL seems pretty reasonable, +2 levels seems like a lot for early levels and can give them a heck of an edge damage wise.
I would suggest preferred stats regardless, as normally the party can fill in for poor roles or skill shortages, they do not have that option to begin with.
My 2cp:
-Maybe +1,+1 (or single +2) to stats of choice after rolls completed.
-Add a free trained combat animal each (with a loyalty bonus to Handle that particular animal +3).
-If the campaign is story heavy, give them their choice of a guild to ally with (Wizards for discount scrolls, Church for heals, thief for stolen information, adventurer for cheap/exotic supplies, mercenary for 1 time warrior mook hires, merchant for travel/access/profit, alchemist for consumables).
-Free teamwork feat each (representing lifetime of working together).
-1 Get out of death free card, instant cancel of the first death (reduced to stable dead+1).
-Free Diehard feat (extra chance to self heal since the other will no doubt be occupied).
Just my thoughts, I usually have the opposite problem of far too many at my table! I am kind of envious.
Wow, thanks for the 2cp. I'm rich...
The animals, free feats (teamwork and diehard) are an interesting idea. I'm going to try and work those in.
I know its too late now, but the character classes chosen could have used more thought. I would guess that they are a pretty squishy duo. I might have gone with two 3/4 BAB spell casters, or something like that.
If the witch is in charge of healing, use "deliver touch spells" to give the familiar a cure light wounds spell before combat starts. It can use the spell if one of the party members is in trouble.
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I've got a lot of experience playing and GMing with 2 player groups.
Our go-to for this set up is to have each player run 2 characters.
I'm currently playing in a Rise of the Runelords campaign where I am playing a fighter and a cleric. My friend is playing another fighter and a wizard.
In the previous campaign I was the GM and one of the players ran a barbarian and a cleric, while the other player had a fighter and a wizard.
It works well for a couple of reasons that come to mind immediately. It does not require the GM to modify expectations for the AP. Everyone still has a character to run in the event of one of their PCs getting killed or incapacitated.
I gather from conversations that I've had with other people that not everyone either feels confident running two characters at once, or is inclined to split their attention between two characters, but it's a set up that has worked for us for years.
Well, they aren't playing the witch and the 1rog/2sor. Those were the Shattered Star pcs. This is a new game and I am looking for thoughts about if my ideas on how to bring a 2 pc party up to a level somewhat equivalent to a 4 pc party are going to work.
I know 2 characters each would do it, but I don't want them to play 2 characters each. 1 player is not capable of it (he has a hard enough time running 1 character) and I don't want the other to because then he tends to "hog the spotlight". Not intentionally, but with 2 characters he gets to do twice as much, thus he "Hogs the spotlight".
The basic characters are built as;
normal class
2 pcs
normal starting gold for their level
normal starting level for the module
Stats rolled on 4d6 drop low, in order, swap 2,
roll 2 sets each pick 1 you rolled
Then they choose 2 of the following to "upgrade" their characters;
(x2 means this choice may be chosen twice)
a Gestalt classes
b (x2) 1st time - each gets a free animal companion as a druid of their level
2nd time - 1 DMnpc (made by them, loyal, run by DM usually, run by them in combat usually)
c (x2) +2 levels worth of starting gold
d (x2) +1 starting level
e (x2) 1st time - +2 to 2 stats (may not be where your +2 racial bonus is) and 1 free teamwork feat
2nd time - +2 to 2 more stats (so 4 total) and a free diehard feat
Do you think that is enough to make up for only 2 players?
Any suggestions?
The thing about a 2 person party is the same issue as when people try to use a solitary BBEG as a climactic fight, no minions or anything. Number of actions per round. Your party has half the actions of a normal party, numbers games will work very well against them, especially being outnumbered by what ive always viewed as "mid range" enemies. The kinds of things, maybe 2 CR lower than average party level that are meant to be kind of 'meaty' and eat up some resources but not seriously threatening a TPK. That sort of encounter can bounce badly for 2 man parties pretty easily, so be careful.
Make sure your Duo is Dynamic....
Next time, Magus and some combo of cleric and rogue. A Bard/Rogue is a good build I have used many times.
Charm is great in that you can pick up brutes and cannon fodder. Most monsters come pre stated. Summoned creatures are usually only good in combat or to trigger the most simple traps.
An actual summoner with a brute 'friend' could work for half a party.
When I GM I usually create a detailed NPC party member that fills in the gap. Having a character in the party helps invest me in the players side of the story.
I would say that the rules you are allowing them to pick from more than make up for a lack of numbers when running a pre-written campaign/module. These products aren't often meant to be played with optimized characters to begin with.
I think a free animal companion would do most of the work by itself. Adding gestalt to the mix and options get very interesting.
If they each pick the DMnpc then you are back to a full party. It doesn't sound like this is something you really want to allow though as it would be letting the players play two full blown characters.