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Look up fafhrd and the gray mouser I think is how it's spelled. Series of stories by Fritz Lieber. It may help.
Having these two characters could prove to be an interesting opportunity to explore the more gritty side of Golarion. Your typical adventuring party with at least a wizard and a cleric really shoots things into high fantasy territory. Healing is always available and when things look grim fireballs start being slung. With a fighter and a rogue, damage and healing becomes much more serious, and you can get a better look at how your 'average joe' sort of people get by in such a fantasy setting.
I'd recommend either an urban set of adventures, or maybe have them be mercenaries, allowing them a chance to visit various locales and travel a great deal.
With just two people, especially without free or cheap healing available (they'll be blowing plenty of gold on visits to temples and the alchemist's shop), you'll want to keep in mind that action economy rules the day. Fights will be much more lethal for them, especially if they're outnumbered.
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GM side.
I suggest some kind of urban campaign. This will give them quick access to temples for healing, and condition removal.
Just have the players find some extra gear early.
Keep the combats low tire as to not over run the players. Due to the lack of healing this will be exceptionally easy to do on the GM side.
Suggest to them that one of them might want to change classes to have access to healing. Their are a multitude of ways to make a character concept work.
Example:
Fighter could go with ranger, paladin, cleric, druid, hunter, oracle, warpriest, or inquisitor. All make good combat characters and give the group access to healing.
Rogue could go with Bard. With just a few choices make a very effective rogue substitute. And still have a skilled classes that now has access to healing.
Player side
Have a talk with them about what kind of game they want to play in, and incorporate that in to the game.
What level are they starting at? If they are level 7 or higher and willing to spend a feat each, Leadership can get them a healbot and a blasterbot, buffbot, or debuffbot (note: this is NOT optimal, but can make do in a pinch).
If they are level 5 and willing to spend a feat each, a lesser version of this is possible with Torchbearer, although your healbot has to be an Alchemist or Bard, ad your debuffbot has to be an Alchemist or Ranger (maybe Rogue, but they have to blow a feat on Torch Handler, so this would be challenging, although the new Eldritch Scoundrel archetype of Rogue, that I can't see yet, might make this easier than I think).
If they are level 3 and willing to spend a feat from the Fighter (the Rogue can't do it unless they somehow get proficiency with all martial weapons), a really low version of this is possible with Squire, although your healbot has to be a Paladin, and your buffbot has to be a Cavalier, and you can't get both unless (as noted above) the Rogue somehow gets proficiency with all martial weapons to qualify for the Squire feat.
I'd go with homebrew... Plenty of cool options there.
Either way, they'll at very least have to carry MANY wands of CLW and Lesser Restoration... Luckily, those are 1st level wands, so there is that...
You may want to bump up the Fighter's Skill Ranks per level to help him a little. Consumable Items such as potions will go a long way for them, and remember that certain enemies will be very difficult to deal with for a base setup (even a small quasit may cause issues due to DR, flight and invisibility).
You may also want to look into the Short Rest rules from 5th Edition to help them heal a little without it feeling like Magic Items or Bust (additionally, Heal checks and such can be used as well).
Does anyone think I should give them a 30 point buy for this campaign? Would that help them or hinder the campaign?
I think it wouldn't help the places the classes would need help and enhance an area (combat) that they're already pretty decent with.
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Go read the old Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short stories, they're pretty much 'Fighter & Rogue go do things' the pulp series, I'd suggest giving the fighter more skill ranks, going fast and loose on handing out consumables and quite possibly allowing them both to gestalt for free into a second class (Non-casting or low casting), or just giving free gestalt levels when they earn them.
Something like leadership - in the form of, say, a patron, ally or organization they come to lead - can be quite helpful. This could allow them to get temporary aid for when they need extra muscle or have a friendly alchemist who can supply them with a couple of potions free of charge every day.
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Keeping most enemies mundane and in small groups should help avoid overwhelming them. Saving caster foes as BBEGs or their lieutenants is probably the way to go. Even then, sticking to 6/9 casters instead of full casters is a good idea.
As it's a small-scale campaign you can craft individual events to let each character shine. Maybe there's a dark warehouse/hideout the Rogue can infiltrate, opening the barred door from inside to admit the Fighter and some helpers. Or perhaps the situation calls for the fighter's immense strength to shift a cart blocking their escape route.
Your Rogue should naturally shine out of combat, and the Fighter in combat. The challenge is to make both of them useful and relevant whatever the scenario.
Make sure the Fighter's player is okay with setting up a flank with the Rogue so they can get sneak attack. The last thing you want is for the Rogue to feel useless in combat because they can't do much damage.
Hmm. Thinking about it, this campaign has a lot of "Urban grittiness" options, as long as you players are happy with fewer combats and more exploration/problem solving.
This is exactly the sort of game where you can throw a Save-or-Suck effect at them, expect them to fail, and then present them with the challenge of escaping from capture. Or losing combats could actually be a plot device - they get knocked out and dragged before "the Boss". He has an offer they can't refuse.
Sorry, but the entire low-magic urban setting has me a bit excited. I'd quite like to run a similar campaign, closer in tone to Raymond Chandler or Dashiel Hammett than Tolkien.
Another option along the lines of mercenaries, have them be part of an organization that provide them with jobs and supplies. Something where no matter how beat up they get, they have a place to "go home" to and get patched up.
To use an original Star Wars trilogy example, think of Luke & Company and the rebellion. After Cloud City and getting his hand cut off, Luke and everyone didn't have to go find a doctor and figure out how to pay for it, they just went back to the medical cruiser and the robo-doc started patching him up so that he'd be good to go for the next adventure.
Does anyone think I should give them a 30 point buy for this campaign? Would that help them or hinder the campaign?I think it wouldn't help the places the classes would need help and enhance an area (combat) that they're already pretty decent with.
I disagree. They can only raise their Str/Dex/Con so far... They could use the extra points on Int, Wis and Cha, giving the Fighter some extra versatility and the Rogue some... less awful saves. :P
I will third the Fafrhd and Gray Mouser stories.
Mostly urban campaign, with the occasional away mission to recover strange treasures, meet strange and fascinating people, and sleep with them or stab them a lot (and on a really bad day, both).
In line with those stories, I'd recommend giving them some sort of spellcaster "patron" who regularly pays them magic items for jobs, and may be willing fix the occasional unfortunate status effect (and take it out of the "paycheck.")
Probably some wizard or cleric who's reasonably strong (possibly even has Break Enchantment) but hates getting his/her/its hands dirty.
(A good-aligned example would be, say, a cleric of Shelyn who has no stomach for combat but will gladly hire people to recover lost and stolen artworks of all sorts. A neutral-aligned example might some self-important wizard who's too busy being a wizard to go do that adventuring crap.)
I'd also recommend allow background skills from unchained for the extra skill points. (And don't hesitate to be generous with what people could do with certain profession skills, like profession (mercenary) or (soldier).)
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Go read the old Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short stories, they're pretty much 'Fighter & Rogue go do things' the pulp series, I'd suggest giving the fighter more skill ranks, going fast and loose on handing out consumables and quite possibly allowing them both to gestalt for free into a second class (Non-casting or low casting), or just giving free gestalt levels when they earn them.
This.
I read the OP's headline and immediately thought of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
You CAN run a two player game.
Give them connections with a local alchemist, temple or healer who owes them.
That way they have access to potions, and heals.
Have them purchase hirelings.
You can build encounters that are challenging but not deadly pretty easy.
I would run them on a 20 point buy(high fantasy), start them off max HP for first level and run with it.
There's no reason to make them munchkins right out of the box. You don't have to. A two player game with limited healing and access to spells opens up a huge world of NPC interactions that could be a blast.
They're not missing anything by not having a Wizard, Cleric or Bard in the Party. So what they don't have spellcasters at their disposal. Hire one. You run him/her and make them fun.
That one NPC could be the door for a whole campaign. And you can use them to direct the party how you want to see the game go.
You could have this spellcaster, let's say a wizard, hire the pc's to recover a book for him. That book turns out to have maps/rumors/stories about a magic item. Once found, and given to the wizard, he rewards the party and shares his knowledge with them and offers them a secondary job and is willing to fund the expedition to X.
If they accept it, he insists his apprentice join them. And chaos ensues....
Don't feel like your limited. As the DM you can adjust the world to help or hinder your players. You got this, just roll with it.
Look up fafhrd and the gray mouser I think is how it's spelled. Series of stories by Fritz Lieber. It may help.
Somewhere I have have the 1e Module Lankhmar: City of Adventure (or something like that) based on the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories. It's a fun read (never got to play it).
They could probably get some solid mileage out of teamwork feats too, both are melee martials, both should want to flank, the extra attacks of opportunity could help them end combats quickly to cut down on needing healing.
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Sans 7th level Leadership or a comparable GMPC, you could throw in something like a level one commoner kid that looks up to the duo and wants to help (even if they tell him to "go home, it's too dangerous").
You can develop the kid over time - leveling him/her up as an apprentice or a squire. Not a caster (short of maybe gaining rogue minor magic over time) but someone who can lend a hand in a pinch (go get help, toss a weapon to a disarmed fighter - even if it's just a dagger, pull out a bottle of CLW he pickpocketed off a thug earlier in the day) - But at the same time might be someone the PCs feel responsible for and need to protect. It can bring in a real interesting player dynamic into the game.
With just two characters, try to avoid everything which takes out one of them - no Hold Person, no Dominate Person, no Petrification, no grapple etc.. Poisons, diseases, curses etc. are more annoying than usual - use them rarely, and probably turn a cure into an interesting subquest.
While both classes have their downsides, they also have their fields of expertise. I could imagine them to do well against a single tough melee opponent, with the fighter engaging and the rogue flanking. Or you set up situations like this: The fighter has to fight off a large wave of vampires while the rogue desparately tries to open the door to escape into sunlight. Another version would be: Fighter keeps flying enemies at bay with a bow, while the rogue tries to disarm traps.
I'd encourage both players to make up characters complementing each other. It would be good to cover all relevant skills once. Even a few teamwork feats will be worth it.
Make it a Lore Warden + Eldritch Scion
Use wands of Infernal Healing, at higher level cast Celestial Healing
Make sure both can switch hit. Have the rogue debuff in melee, while the fighter puts more emphasis on archery.
Be very attentive sending them on long time sensitive quests (where they can not pause for a few days to batch their wounds, or end up trying to set up camp in hostile territory), the lack of magical healing will become very obvious there.
But in an urban setting where they can curry the favor of organizations that can rent them resources on the rare occasions they need it, it is a great set up.
The other to things to be attentive to is the Save-or-die spells and action economy. Save-or-die spells are all built on the assumption of the 4-player party, the smaller the party the more wild difficulty swing they introduce (case study one: angry GM when wizard one-spells the bbeg). When you are building an encounter, make sure the encounter won't kill them if they fail a single save-or-die. For example; if they encounter an evil cleric slaver and the fighter fails his hold person save, with a four person party there would still be three people in the fight, with your group there will only be the rogue in the fight. Balance your encounters accordingly.
All that aside, this sounds like a cool set up and it would be awesome to play that campaign. For other inspiration there are a few times when Drizzt or Artemis Entreri have to fight wizards in the R. A. Salvador books. Their frustrations and challenges really communicate the pain and suffering of not having your own wizard.
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I'll just shamelessly leave this here... :P
Cool Fighter!
Cool Rogue!
Cool Weapons! [ooc[(I really love this one! ^^)[/ooc]
I actually have a friend whom we do this with, I have an orc barbarian and he has an elf rogue, archery focused. We're both level six now but have played them since level one. Starting out we had some other players until about third level, after which we ran modules two levels below us. This actually worked out quite well last session, where we played Feast at Ravenmoor or something like that. Even the last scene
My advice would be to give them lots of healing potions (our characters usually have 20-30 CLW potions on each of us at a given time, as well as some CMW potions for desperate in-combat use. You can totally run a campaign with just two characters, just tell them to make sure their characters have anti-mob/swarm capabilities and run the campaign as if it were a couple of levels lower.
Also see this thread (but keep in mind that Scarred Witch Doctor has been Errata'd since this was written).
If you need to make a GMPC, but don't want the GMPC in there all the thime, something like this might be up your alley (as the thread is titled, "Thinking of You: Being the Best Support You Can Be... From a Mile Away").
You may also want to consider running it as a low magic campaign. Spell casters and magic using monsters should be rare. Not nonexistent but rare. They would be the BBEG with more normal minions. The exception should be healing items.
The only limited resources they have are HP. This means they can often go longer than the normal party. Normally when the spell casters run out of spells it’s time to rest. This is not the case with this party so it changes the dynamics. As long as they have HP they can keep going. This means as long as they have some healing (potions and scrolls) you can throw a lot more challenges at them.
You will probably need to tone down the encounters since they don’t have access to magic. But as I said you can throw more challenges at them. I would recommend the fast progression for XP to compensate for the lower threat of the challenges.
I can't agree more with the notion of an urban setting. Save magic for primarily BBEGs, definitely consider the idea of some patron giving them a base of operations (starting out as just a place to sleep, eat, review maps, strategize, and reapply bandages), skip leadership, but at around level 7 have NPCs show an interest in teaming up from behind the scenes. A flavorful combination this way might be an Alchemist (provides potions/infusions), an Occultist (can provide relevant cryptic information by reading objects, highly flavorful) and a Hospitaler Paladin (provides emergency medical attention if the players can get to them in time.) Each of these characters could be willing to help in combat if called upon, but should otherwise stand back a ways.
I'd also recommend building up to lethal encounters, and having them play out one at a time in favor over chugging through the healing potions. Social encounters, including those that could turn deadly, non-challenging combats, and intrigue might be your best allies. Remember that fairly mundane combats can still offer an interesting challenge, especially managing terrain and larger groups of enemies. Sniping,
Of course, I'm looking at this all from through the lens of how awesome it would be to play a campaign that mixed the elements of BBC's Merlin and Arrow.
Encourage both of them to invest a little bit of focus in some ranged options too. The ability to use cover and engage out of melee to thin down opposition will help such a small party stay alive for a lot longer.
If you're looking for more inspiration for this fun and classic trope, off the top of my head in addition to the most excellent Fafhrd & Grey Mouser books by Fritz Lieber, you could check out the Riyria books by Michael J Sullivan, the Poison Elves graphic novels by Drew Hayes, the Locke Lamora books by Scott Lynch, or the Egil & Nix books by Paul S Kemp.
Urban campaign and maybe look up some solo adventures for ideas? I've always found that it's easier to scale up and down.