Hi,
I'm making a campaign to play with my husband. It's my first one (though I have gone through the beginner's box adventure and some other beginner ones to practice), and I'm stuck. The thing is, it is just the two of us and I have a campaign in mind where the first adventure would just use his character.
I want him to fight a relatively powerful wizard (illusion school). He will be starting off at level one, and by the time he fights the wizard he should be level two. From my calculations, for the combat to go well, my wizard can only be 3rd level. That's not powerful enough (for story reasons), even though the encounter will be difficult for the PC.
So I was wondering if there is some way to have the wizard actually be, say, 10th level (maybe that's too high, I don't know - we've only played a few games so far :) ) but effectively level 3? Is there some established way of doing this? I'm thinking some sort of magical penalty?
Thanks for any help :)
Wizard already expended most of his high level spell slots.
Wounds can explain a low health pool.
Debuffs from another caster can help, if you have a story reason for the wizard to have them.
Thank you for the ideas. Another thing I forgot to mention is, if I do this, how can I work out the actual challenge rating and XP for the encounter, as it couldn't be based on level anymore?
LucyG92 wrote: He will be starting off at level one, and by the time he fights the wizard he should be level two. how can I work out the actual challenge rating and XP for the encounter My brother will be GMing a campaign at my fiance and I's house soon and how he has it set up we just gain a level every time we complete a part of the campaign. We will be starting at level 3 and ending around level 13.
So right before the fight with the wizard award a level up.
Some things you may consider.
1. 1 PC alone is difficult and due to action economy will limit the types of enemies you'd feel comfortable putting him against. IE: something that paralyzes. So adding "members" to his team may be beneficial.
a. You might consider either giving him an animal companion (even if he's not a druid/ranger). Just treat his class level as "druid level" for his companion and advance it as he advances. Remember - at home, its your game, adjust as you need. Companions can add a bit of role-playing from time to time as well, but don't have to be significantly involved in the game other than for flavor and combat assistance.
b. He could hire an NPC to fill a different set of skills that he doesn't have. This wouldn't be a GM "PC", but someone you can RP with him as a party member when they're alone, but doesn't have to contribute greatly during a meeting with a key NPC.
2. Culminating fights are all relative. It sounds like what you're saying is you want this initial story arc to end with a fight against a wizard. If your goal is for it to go down with the PC at level 2, then you can build up to that over several game sessions, as the PC learns about the wizard, what his grand plan is (lots of reasons, but necromancers are often prime antagonists), fights some of his minion/creations, and eventually tracks him down. I wouldn't try to water down a "powerful" wizard, its going to feel cheap, and it creates a lot of "why didn't they have/use this" questions. have the boss battle for this arc be appropriate CR and your husband will be more satisfied that he overcame something that was his challenge level.
....that being said.....
If you want him to eventually square off with an actual higher level caster, then you could build this initial story arc into an entire campaign. This early lower-level wizard can be somehow connected with/working for a high level one, and over several months of game play, and several levels, the PC uncovers more and more of the high-level NPCs plan and eventually they have that show-down.
3. Regarding XP. There are different schools of thought, but I have somewhat stopped using it in a pure sense. I still 'award' XP because I have a couple players who like adding up that total. however, I level them up based on completion of story arcs. That helps me design the campaign in a backwards planning mode as well. I'm just planning the next story arc, and I want them to gain 4 levels by the completion, so I'm looking through the bestiary for "end monsters", and figuring out the links between that guy and where the PCs are now, with basically 3 key "points" along the way which each culminate a portion of the bigger story arc. I know I want 3-4 intermediate combat type scenarios (not just 1 room battles, but also complex clearings, multi-day encounters, etc) between each of those key points. I also know we'll do plenty (about 50%) of role-playing time at the table between these. We play this campaign every other week, usually a short 2hr session on Friday night, and then a 3-5hr session on Sat or Sun. But I figure this next arc is at least a 6 month real time to play out.
Why does the wizard need to be higher? If he needs some spells for storyline havoc, have him find some moderately powerful illusion item. He can throw around some high level spells without being unstoppable to a level 2 character.
Also note: a contest against an illusionist tends to involve seeing through the illusions. What abilities does the PC have to do this? (Maybe he has to figure out how to find/track/fight an invisible wizard who summons stuff and otherwise avoids combat?)
A 5th level illusion wizard could cast major image and have summons spells that presented problems for a PC 2-3 levels lower. But it really sounds like the sort of contest you need isn't so much a raw combat one as a duel of wits.
If, for some reason, the wizard is constrained from directly killing the PC (maybe the PC's guardian angel showed up and said YOU MAY NOT KILL THIS PERSON ELSE I SHALL SMITE THEE MIGHTILY!, or maybe the wizard fears retribution from someone else, or maybe the wizard is just out to torment/test/annoy the PC and doesn't want to kill him even though he easily could -- in all these cases you could have justification for a wizard of considerably higher level without fear of PC death.
To me, the first question is whether or not this wizard is intended to be a recurring villain in the game. Remember, your intentions and how things actually play out may be two wildly different things.
If the PC is generally intended to kill the wizard, then make him level 3 or 4, but give him some extra single-use magic items (scrolls, perhaps wands with 1-5 charges left in them) to help him pull off the effects that you're wanting him to. Just remember that whatever is left over at the time of wizard's death will end up in your husband's character's hands.
If it's a recurring villain that you're really looking for, then as others have mentioned, you absolutely can have him be closer to 10th level and have him toy with the PC. Illusionists are particularly good at being able to use spells that don't risk character death while still flummoxing the PCs, and even making the PCs feel like they have a realistic shot at winning. That's, really, the entire point of illusion. A 9-10th wizard can also escape from lower-level PCs (particularly a 2nd level character) at will, so there's basically no chance of him "accidentally" killing your recurring villain (usually this is always a risk).
As far as "what CR is this?" goes...the rule for a standard race (human/elf/dwarf/etc) with only class levels (ie a 10th human wizard, as opposed to a 10th centaur ranger, which has extra hit die from being a centaur) is their class level - 1. So a 10th human wizard is CR 9. If you use the idea that they've been wounded, have already used their top end spells, several expendable magic items used, etc, then you can reduce the CR. Depending on how far you go with that, you can probably get him down to CR 7, maybe less if you're really punishing the wizard. By the same token, you can increase their CR by giving them extra wealth - more magic items. Take that 3rd level wizard with extra items, and the CR is generally pushed up 1...to CR 3. However, the value of the items really has to be taken into consideration. The more you give, the higher the CR would go.
It's really your call, and these are general rules and guidelines that you can completely throw out the window if you want. It's your game.
My personal recommendation is a 4th level illusionist with a handful of extra items - make him CR 4. If he's still causing too many issues for your husband, then you have a minor villain who can escape and come back, but he shouldn't be so hard that there's no chance for your husband to defeat him, and it's probably better than a higher-level option that doesn't have better things to do than torment a 2nd level character.
Thank you for all the advice and suggestions! :)
Here's a rough idea of the plot:
There's an evil necromancer who has several apprentices. One of these apprentices fought him and was killed, but is now a (rather vengeful) ghost.
The ghost will have some sort of network of spies he continues to maintain after his death, who either find out about the PC for him or actually arrange to find 'someone' - the PC will end up helping him to kill the evil necromancer.
So the PC has to 'prove himself' to the ghost to be deemed suitable. That's where this wizard comes in - she is the daughter of one of the surviving apprentices (also rich/nobility and lives in a manor out of the way). She's supposed to be a relatively powerful illusion based wizard with a little bit of necromancy magic. She's not really a villian, though, more of an unfortunate neutral character who has suddenly gained an enemy she doesn't know about, who is paying the PC to kill her. Which is where the story starts. She does need to die. That's also why she can't be a rubbish wizard - the PC needs to impress the ghost.
It's not very fleshed-out yet. I think it's going to be a quite a large story, so I've been focusing on this fight with the wizard first, and the details for the 'main quest' can be figured out later. This initial mini-adventure was supposed to be simple... :)
One thing I had already decided was that she would have a very low constitution, to help him out a bit - I was thinking she could be kind of 'sickly' - so low that she needs an enchanted item at all times that increases her constitution to some reasonable, but still low, level. With the item (a belt) constitution is 7 from 5, and she has 9 HP.
Though I also just realised items don't have permanant effects like that - presumably she needs to pay someone to recharge it every 24 hours?
If the above is right, I'm thinking I could always give the PC the opportunity to capture that person before the encounter to further reduce her HP (and gain XP). Though 9 already seems very low. What do you think?
I wanted the PC to find some interesting items around her manor, like an invisible 'hand of the mage' - but I don't believe, at level 3, she would be able to make an item permanantly invisible? I suppose that's not to say it can't have been made by someone else... :/
(Sorry this turned out to be such a long post)
Well, a quick update:
I added in a few small encounters before the main story. He did fine with the one, but with the other (a cutpurse attacked him in town) nearly died.
He's in the manor now and has nearly died several times, and has 2 points of non-lethal damage. We had to re-do a fight with a manor guard as he lost quite quickly, and pointed out that apparently a manor guard shouldn't have scale mail armour - so we re-did that scene using studded leather armour. It feels a bit cheaty :/ I also re-rolled for a rat after forgetting about some lighting penalties - he would have been diseased and low on HP if not for that.
I've pre-emptively leveled him up. He needed a bit more XP first, and there was an encounter with a ghoul planned later on for that, but I'm not sure he would survive that without an extra level.
On the next floor he's going to find some treasure which will hopefully help him out a bit too. This isn't going very well :/ Though he says he's enjoying it.
LucyG92 wrote: This isn't going very well :/ Though he says he's enjoying it. And if your player is enjoying it you are doing it right.
The rest is just details. You will get better. It is a skill like any other.
You have started out in hardmode though, GMing for just one person has some unique challenges that simply don't exist with a full party.
Good luck and I hope you keep it up and spread your wings. It sounds to me like you are doing fine.
LucyG92 wrote: Well, a quick update:
I added in a few small encounters before the main story. He did fine with the one, but with the other (a cutpurse attacked him in town) nearly died.
He's in the manor now and has nearly died several times, and has 2 points of non-lethal damage. We had to re-do a fight with a manor guard as he lost quite quickly, and pointed out that apparently a manor guard shouldn't have scale mail armour - so we re-did that scene using studded leather armour. It feels a bit cheaty :/ I also re-rolled for a rat after forgetting about some lighting penalties - he would have been diseased and low on HP if not for that.
I've pre-emptively leveled him up. He needed a bit more XP first, and there was an encounter with a ghoul planned later on for that, but I'm not sure he would survive that without an extra level.
On the next floor he's going to find some treasure which will hopefully help him out a bit too. This isn't going very well :/ Though he says he's enjoying it.
Level 1 is tough even on a normal group. very little room for error during battle, but more forgiving between since you likely have someone who can heal or use devices.
You're also seeing the difficulty of 1 player's worth of "action" vs enemy. There is no room for error on your encounter design, and something as simple as a dropped weapon, or entangled in a web can be the end of you.
I'll just re-mention - idea of giving him an animal companion such as a wolf using the Druid's tables (allowing him to count his character level as his druid level or even level +2 for this companion). It'll give him some help during combat, can be some role-playing flavor as a "pet". It would help him significantly with the amount of actions he can take per combat round. If you don't want a pet, allow him to hire an NPC cleric from a local temple that you'd run as an NPC. Not a GM PC, literally an NPC that basically tags along to support him, as their employee, they don't get XP and they don't get an equal share of the loot, they're getting paid by the week in gold.
Also - keep in mind healing as you've discovered, even between battles is going to be his down-fall. So either have him find plenty of potions of cure-light, or a wand of curelight wounds (he'll need a rank in use magic device, but could keep trying out of combat to get it to work (until he rolls a one and has to wait 24 hours to try again.
Lastly - you mentioned a ghoul. you've probably already noticed that just like healing, condition removal (diseased, strength/constitution damage from poisons) is going to be very life threatening. Paralysis, from a ghoul, would be a death sentence if he is fighting solo. The monster will essentially be able to claw him to death before he recovers. Which is why I'd give the player a companion (totally a house rule, as its not allowed except for a couple classes) or an NPC hireling.
Regarding a companion - that's a good idea, but I don't know how to work that in now he's in the middle of the manor. Um... what do you think about a captive goblin he frees (who can speak common)? Is that a ridiculous idea? Not sure whether it would be the best companion for a stealthy character. Goblins are awesome though :D
I went ahead and added in a level 1 captive goblin wizard for him to free. It worked wonderfully! The fight with the ghoul went well, and they won against the wizard/illusionist quite quickly (perhaps too quickly. My husband had a plan I didn't know about :D). The goblin is being kept on, though I'm concerned that I didn't give him the 'heroic' NPC stats. Not sure whether that should be changed now or not. He did all right without them though.
LucyG92 wrote: I went ahead and added in a level 1 captive goblin wizard for him to free. It worked wonderfully! The fight with the ghoul went well, and they won against the wizard/illusionist quite quickly (perhaps too quickly. My husband had a plan I didn't know about :D). The goblin is being kept on, though I'm concerned that I didn't give him the 'heroic' NPC stats. Not sure whether that should be changed now or not. He did all right without them though. That sounds awesome, and lots of possible role-playing with a goblin "friend".
I once had a PC Cavalier (1st Ed) who ended up with a kobold squire. it provided a lot of role-playing fun.
So keep this in mind, especially during a new campaign. Don't be afraid to tweak things for the first few levels, even on your husband's character. Stat arrangements, original feats taken, even skill allocation. You're both learning, and something might have sounded good on paper, but turns out to be a wasted feat or poor stat-placement. Same with his henchman now, adjust if you need.
Combat design is tough to get perfect even for experienced GMs. Players think things through in ways you never plan for, and d20 allows for enough randomness that 1 or 2 crits or crit-fails can literally flip a whole battle. If you feel the battle is going too easy, one simple thing is just add a few HPs to the monster, maybe enough to last 1 more round - basically instead of them dying, they're left at 1 hp so will likely die the next round. The players won't know how many it had anyway. Don't go overboard, but if you wanted them to feel more pressured its a simple and easy thing to do on the fly. At the same time, when the players come up with a really good plan and they win - that's a good story, since it's a lot more fun than the exact opposite where the whole party dies. :-)
Keep sharing how this campaign is going - would love to hear it play out. I think a lot of people are concerned about doing a 1 player game, you're taking it on - bravo!
If you're still looking for an idea on fighting a weakened version of the wizard, have him fight a simulacrum of the wizard instead. Extremely appropriate for an illusionist. He could have cast it from a scroll or staff, allowing for the resulting half-level copy to only be level 4 or 5.
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I love the goblin helper. Wizard is an odd choice for a goblin, what whatever. The relatively high dex should help keep him stealthy, but then you can play up how loud he is when NOT trying to be stealthy.
With regards to magic items: Stat boosts ARE permanent. They're treated as temporary for the first 24 hours, but after them the bonuses are considered as permanently part of the character. And they don't need to be recharged, ever.
Limited use items, such as wands or scrolls, don't get recharged, either. They're use and forget items that just get remade.
I think there MIGHT be rules for recharging magic items, but it's not the norm.
However, it might be in your world!
GM 1990 - thanks for the tips about adjusting combat!
Really appreciate all this advice.
Yes, I'm already very fond of the goblin. I realise wizard is an odd choice, but thought as my husband's character had no magical ability at all, it would be helpful. I did notice there were other options such as a goblin witch, which might be more appropriate, but by that point I was seeing him as a wizard. :)
Quote: have him fight a simulacrum of the wizard instead That's a nice idea - the fight is done now, but I did need the actual wizard to die. That said, I could see how this could still maybe have worked for my purposes if there were witnesses, and the wizard went into hiding...
Ectar - Thank you for clearing that up for me :) That will save us a lot of confusion. I might just kind of write that bit about the belt needing recharging out of the story, then.
I've had an idea I'd like to run by you guys? This rogue is going to end up fighting powerful magic users, undead and werewolves/etc - I noticed there is a third party witch hunter class!
My idea is that maybe he could be invited into some sort of organisation of assassins that specialise in dealing with magic users/creatures - so like witch hunters but sneakier. I couldn't find any mention of an organisation like this in-game, or when searching through third party stuff, but could possibly make up my own (unless anyone knows of any that I missed?). He could earn a bit of money doing side quests for this organisation, gain XP/levels and be more ready to fight powerful necromancers! :) How does this sound?
This is the witch hunter class, which I'd like to give him the option to multiclass as at his next level:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/super-genius-games/witch- hunter
My main worry is that, with it being third party, would it conflict with anything? I can't actually see how it would cause any issues, mind.
Did also find this:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/inquisitor/archetypes/inquisit or-archetypes---paizo/witch-hunter
Though I don't yet understand what class archetypes are. I also haven't seen the inquisitor class in the core rule book, though I'm only on the skills section at the moment.
If the rogue has a deity of a similar mind, then inquisitor would be a very solid pick in that direction.
The inquisitor is not in the core rulebook; it's in the advanced player's guide. The inquisitor is sort of like an unfettered paladin. Their "code" is more self-serving; they do what they must to meet the goals of their deity, even if the means isn't goodly, it's okay if the end is justified.
Also, inquisitors don't have to be lawful good. Or even good at all, if the deity isn't.
Probably the strongest inquisitor trope is of them hunting down heretics of their own faith, but really, inquisitors are divinely powered and motivated hunters.
Though multiclassing generally isn't very good in Pathfinder. But, it's early enough that, if he were interested, changing the character wouldn't be a big deal.
Archetypes are options that change the basic abilities of a class.
They trade out some abilities for different ones. Archetypes were first introduced in the advanced player's guide as well.
For example:
A regular bard gets bardic performance, which he can use to grant bonuses to himself and his allies as a standard action, and maintain as a free action.
An archaeologist bard gets an ability to buff only himself as a swift action, and the buff is slightly stronger.
A regular bard gets bonuses to saves v.s. sonic effects.
An archaeologist bard gets uncanny dodge.
It's the thematic difference between Geoffrey Chaucer's character from A Knight's Tale and a magic-using Indiana Jones.
Archetypes are totally optional, but can help more fully define a character's traits or story. Or, they can help a player do something mechanically that they couldn't do before.
Actually - back to the 'powerful' wizard that he can take on at level 2-3; I'd suggest that they just not be high level at all. Since they're the scion of a rich/powerful wizard, they could be level 3-4 and just have a really awesome staff which lets them cast decent level stuff.
Since it sounds like your husband is stealthy (a good decision for a solo campaign - as normally stealth is a bit of a solo adventure anyway) you could have the ghost tell him her 'weakness' so that he sneaks in and takes/break her staff before facing her, limiting her to her own spells.
So, this going well so far, if slowly. :)
I'd like to give him some sort of bonus ability or feat that will aid against magical/necromantic type stuff. Does anyone have suggestions?
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