Aloha everyone!
Since my gilfriend asked me to run her first pathfinder campaign just for her I started to think about how that might work out. I'm an expierienced GM, running monthly PF (and ealier 3.5 games) for about 10 years. Now I have never before made up a campaign for only one player. In addition to that she wanted me to have character as well, another thing I usually do not appreciate while GMing. But now that's my framework.
We already created her PC, a slyph oracle of wind. Now the oracle is definitly no class that starts out super effective unless you pick certain mysteries/revelations or high strength melee builds. She did none of that and I decided to habe too much influence in her major decisions. Also I like the oracle class and I'm pretty sure in the long run its a great pick. But for the first levels things might become a little tricky. Her stats are 13/16/12/12/12/16, so no highly optimized distribution, but her Charisma is finde and her defense too. As her feat she picked toughness, first level spells are Cause Fear (a great pick!) and obscuring mist. So the PC kinda uses a well balanced, but not really combat heavy build. She already read most of the rules and - from what I expect - will have no issues when it comes to fluent application of the mechanics. She still wanted to play a character that is not too complicated in order to keep an overview of all her abilities.
The first set of questions refers to management of this very PC. Do you have experiences when it comes to 1-player-campaigns? Is there something I should keep in mind? Do you have advice what kind of challenges (other than combat encounters) such a PC could find interesting?
And what kind of companion should I provide? I dont want some melee heavy brute who will definitely outshine her at low levels. Also, I dont want a magic heavy NPC because he should be more of a sidekick and keep enemies at hand while she casts spells or fires her crossbow. My first idea was a dex-based monk, maybe maneuver master, in order to set up, but not easily kill enemie combatants. I know the both will tragically lack in damage, but I plan to make up for that by encounter design.
The second set of questions deals with the campaign I want her to live through. Usually I am everything but a fan of too exotic party constellations. "A Tiefling, a Stryx, a Duergar amd an Ifrit enter the tavern" is something I usually try to avoid unless its somwhat plausible. Now this tike its different. As she will be the only player its totally fine for me if she wants to play that one special snowflake and allowed all races found in paizo releases. She picked a sylph and the wind oracle in conjunction, so I will not complain - this is quiet flavorful. My idea now was to adopt some concepts of "the last airbender". There she is born in a temple of the air somewhere of golarion. As monks and priests living their are tied closely to air spirits and the deity Gozreh every now and then a sylph is born. When that occures she is meant to become one of the sages of this very air temple as the bith of sylphs are understood as blessing and gift. She should be trained and taught until she is capable to fulfil this prophecy. The final part of this process is a huge journey to all of the three other air temples on golarion. I want the first episode of the campaign to deal with her trip to magnimar from where she will take the boat to eleder in sargava. I want to start with some travelling encounters and adventures before letting her take the boat just to find herself in the first book of serpent skull. She will strand on that island and try to survive there for several weeks until concluding this part by a small dungeon. I dont want to add the serpent folk stuff as Im not planning to use more than this first part of the AP.
My questions now are:
Where are those air temples? The first one should be somewhere in the northwest of golarion, so that the first part of the campaign can deal with her journey to magnimar. The second one should be somewhere in the south, maybe close to sargava and one more I wanted to place to qadira. Do you have an advice, where exactly those temples could be found? And where might the 4th temple be placed?
And finally: what do you think about those lose drafts of a plot? Do you think Serpent Skull 1 is a good thing to start with (well, at least after some introducing sessions around varisia)?
Do you have other ideas or critique?
Thank you in advance!
Wasum
Is the title somehow deterring or is there really noone with some advice for me? I'd really apreciate some help :)
This probably wound't suit you but here are my two cents:
For a single player character make it Mythic, the ten full ranks, I know it sounds like a lot of power, but a single PC needs to compensate for the lower action economy, fewer resources, and roles uncovered. Mythic gives:
1- extra HP, very important for a single PC.
2- amazing initiative: helps with action economy.
3- recuperation: helps with the fewer resources.
4- surge and force of will: helps with bad rolls, as a single PC a bad roll can be the end.
5- unstoppable and immortal, again as a single PC probably you are not getting a second chance
6- Improved class features: mythic path abilities are just improvements to already existent class features that can be applied almost to any level.
Mythic gives enough power so a single PC can take on an Adventure Path but not so much to become just a walk in the park.
Now the problem is that she is new to the game so throwing Mythic probably is too much management right now, so perhaps an introduction like Beginners Box is a good suggestion. Also another point to consider is that you will be playing a GMPC.
Those are actually pretty good ideas. The GMPC I created is fleshed out at my best, he should become a remarkable companion with consistent character traits. I also planned to add some other 'major' NPCs who will accompany her for some sequences of her journey but wont stay forever as they follow their own goals. Just so she has some possibly returning friends (or antagonists) but without continuously increasing the party size.
@eddiardco: I like the idea about mythic but as you mentioned it might increase the complexity of the game what I honestly plan to avoid. But what do you think about increasing her capabilities without refering to new sets of rules? I thought about giving her some additional spells known for each temple she visits. I considered not having four air temples, but one of each element (fire, water and eath). Whenever she finishes some kind of test there she gains some spells that suit the element and the philosophy of the respective temple (e.g. hydraulic push, lesser restauration, etc for water, flaming sphere, produce flame and haste or something for fire, etc.) which would make her far more flexible without adding more than just additional spells. Maybe I will also create (or just apply, in case I find something) a template that beefs her up somehow as "avatar of gozreh" or something, successively providing passive abilities. What do you think about that? While I don't like something like that in a regular campaign in this case the special snowflake feeling shouldn't cause any issues.
Furthermore I'd be glad to read your responses and to maybe find some more answers to my questions in the opening thread!
Wasum
Having additional spells known is certainly great for a spontaneous caster, but you will still have the problem of having a smaller resource pool (aka spells per day, hit points, and action economy than a full party), but given that this is going to be a tailored made homebrew campaign and not an Adventure Path you should be fine as long as the encounters are of lower CR and few per day than those recommended in the CRB, also having ample opportunities to rest and recover is very important.
You also mentioned others NPCs so perhaps even those consideration above are not necessary, just remember that she is the protagonist.
Kinecists are pretty useful for this kind of campaign.
If it was me, rather than a GMPC i'd be tempted to give her non-human companions. A familiar with the sage archetype and a druid's animal companion (or you could even go with an eidolon) would do a lot to help overcome weaknesses with a one person party while keeping the focus on the one actual character. You could also give those companions some additional special abilities, the familiar gets some healing and condition removal SLA over time for example.
With a single player you can adjust CR down pretty well for most things, but what really gets you is unlikely but catastrophic results. If a single PC is facing bad guys, most saves should be pretty easy (since the cr of the creatures is lower than it would be if the PC was in a group.) That doesn't change that a nat 1 always fails though, and if the ability is a save-or-lose type, and you don't have any backup then that is the end. Additional NPCs can go a long way to cover this.