How well does Strange Aeons work with a party of 3 PCs?

[GreedyCowPuncher]

Anthor, Gorgan, Shaeyra - if you're reading this get the heck out of here, nerds!

So I am going to be running Strange Aeons once I have finished reading the last books of the AP. I have a solid group of 3 players cherry-picked for this specific adventure. How detrimental would this be (considering the fact that APs are typically balanced around a suboptimized, balanced party of 4 PCs)? Or might this be... a positive? Basically, should I stress hunting down a 4th player?

Also, any other ideas/suggestions/tips for running the AP itself? I am thinking 15 point-buy, 1 campaign trait/2 randomized drawbacks, humans only (for easier horror, fear, immersion, what have you - the players seem to be sold on this), some sort of harrow deck character creation with "pools" of classes to pick from for each player to allow randomness AND party balance. Note: each of the 3 players thus far as really into randomness in character creation.

I am incredibly excited for this AP! Cheers, folks. Thanks for any input!

[GM Rednal]

A fair bit depends on your players' skill at building characters despite the randomness. I'd probably reduce the difficulty of most encounters a little bit, but make few (if any) other changes. Normally, characters would get powerups like gestalt or better point buy, but that's not the right feel for a horror game. XD

Personally, though, I'd at least go to 20 point buy. This is what most of the newer AP's assume, and I wouldn't gimp the party that way when they're already down a member. (Action economy is the most valuable resource in the game. Losing - or gaining - that has a huge impact.)

Alternatively, you could make an NPC for the group. It's a good way to feed plot points in, but rather than making it a GM PC, it might work to add some of that randomness. XD Say, use the Harrow to pick the class, and then one person controls the skills, one does any magic, and one does any feats... all without talking to each other, so much of what the NPC can do to help the party is a surprise (but they know it's not you making it up).

Also: This product, which should be released to the public soon (I backed the Kickstarter and have a PDF copy already) is a great supplement for Strange Aeons. ^^ I'd definitely keep an eye on it.

[PCScipio]

Grapple monsters, paralysis and confusion are particularly deadly for small parties.

I've heard that that In Search of Sanity is pretty brutal, so I imagine you'll get a TPK if you run it as-is. I've played through part of it, and I can definitely see some chances for a party wipe.

[Davor Firetusk]

I would definitely look for a 4th player. I've found the fights are really swingy with my group that is reasonably experienced. I've had 1 death, they struggled to get going during In Search of Sanity and had multiple PCs reduced to being unconscious, 1 other TPK that they prevented by surrendering and a bunch of Dreamlands deaths.

[The Black Bard]

Agreed that boosting their power will only take away from the horror game atmosphere. I have a group of 5 players at 15 point buy, with solid system mastery, and while there have been some close calls (and a few Dreamlands deaths) so far nobody has dirt-napped for real.

Do note that Winter can easily become a NPC cleric along for the ride, as she ultimately is the last of the government and church sanctioned group come looking into the Count's indiscretions. So she has reason to follow along until his fate is fully sealed. While she takes a more passive role during the first adventure, this might work well. In my opinion, the greatest strength of the first adventure is the feeling of being caged in by all the threats, up to and including food supply and the weather itself. Strong parties can burn through the Asylum in a couple of days if smart/lucky, which takes a lot of the feeling of pressure and hopelessness away.

If you have a 3 person party making brief forays into the asylum, returning to Winter for healing, that might actually stretch things out nicely.

Tactically, have horrible creatures be, well, horrible. While a ghoul who paralyzes a foe might be tactically smart to then ignore the paralyzed PC and head for the next, have them just start eating. Not a coup de grace or such, just a normal damage bite attack. This gives the other two time to beat on the ghoul without an instant death or total party paralysis happening. If you still want consequences, you could even throw out a DC 10 will save or be shaken for a round, or a point of charisma damage for the one being eaten.

My group has gotten a laugh and some satisfaction when their solid teamwork just destroys monsters in Strange Aeons (the genuinely overpowered nightmare dragon in part 3 was disappointing, killed a round and a half) But they truly enjoy, remember, and talk about the fights where they had to scramble to survive (the formless spawn was a notable foe that they now take very seriously). I would definitely recommend not treating them with kid gloves, but that's ultimately just how my players prefer it. You know your players best.

Hope my rambling helps in some way!

[Tasfarel]

Some of the fights are really tough, even for a party of four. I agree with the comments by the black bard. Try not to blast out the full potential of your creatures. I you find your players on divine dices, defeating the threats without a husk, you can let go of this leash.

[Anaki J.]

I've currently got three players. We are in Iris Hill at the end of mod 2. They are wrecking stuff. I've had to add extra stuff and beef up others. Though their builds are very solid.