One of our players had to drop out of the adventure path about 1/2 way through. I doubt I'll be able to find another player, which leaves me with 3 adventurers (all experienced players). The AP is clearly designed with 4 heroes (currently level 9 if it matters) in mind, and I'm not sure what the best way would be to continue with only the three. Should I just give them all an extra level? Add an NPC (they don't particularly like that idea)? Something else?
The one approach I definitely don't want to take (cause it would be too much work for me) is to rebuild the encounters.
Any help with working this out would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
How much trouble have they had with the encounters so far? Most APs are fairly easy, designed for characters that aren't optimized well at all, so 3 fairly optimized PCs can probably handle things fairly well. If it is a little tough for them, the extra level might be sufficient, but would account for action economy and stuff like that.
Of course this assumes that the 4th PC wasn't filling any critical roles, making up for that can make a bigger difference than just numbers.
One of the big problems with less PCs then expected is whenever they encounter a Save-Or-Lose situation. If you have 4 PCs, a bad save can take out 25% percent of the party, with only 3, it is a third of the party for one bad roll, which can easily turn an encounter into a TPK. You might have to adjust encounters where that is a major factor, taking out that sort of thing and replacing it with something else or come up with some other method, Hero Points to reroll saves can go a long way.
If I was going with the NPC option I'd basically give the party as a whole the equivalent of a free leadership feat, so they get a cohort NPC that is loyal to all of them (on of the players would control during combat.) Having it be a cohort equivalent will prevent it from outshining the PCs and keeping it player controlled will prevent GMPC issues.
What is the class breakdown of the party? How well-optimized? How challenging have they found encounters thus far? What Point-Buy did you use?
Paizo's Adventure Paths are designed for a group of 4 PCs built using a 15 point-buy. It is also assumed they will be mediocre in terms of players. If your players are good at optimizing, or built with a higher point buy, they may be fine continuing with just the three of them. With the right group of classes, they may not even notice a change in the challenge level. If that's the case, they'll be fine. The increase in wealth and XP caused by only having to split it 3 ways instead of 4 will make up for the deficiency overall.
If your players have found the AP challenging to this point, then you might need to take more drastic actions. Giving them an extra level or two so they're better equipped to take on the challenges could help, as could possibly giving them all maximum hit points per level or a +2 to one or two ability scores of their choice. I know you don't want to rebuild encounters, but that shouldn't stop you from removing one or two generic enemies from a given encounter if possible. For instance,
Those are just some ideas that might work for the group.
Craig1234 wrote: One of our players had to drop out of the adventure path about 1/2 way through. I doubt I'll be able to find another player, which leaves me with 3 adventurers (all experienced players). The AP is clearly designed with 4 heroes (currently level 9 if it matters) in mind, and I'm not sure what the best way would be to continue with only the three. Should I just give them all an extra level? Add an NPC (they don't particularly like that idea)? Something else?
The one approach I definitely don't want to take (cause it would be too much work for me) is to rebuild the encounters.
Any help with working this out would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
If their characters are somewhat optimized they might be fine as they are for most encounters. All your ideas are good ones, making them a level higher than intended, adding an NPC. You could also power them up with stat boosts. The next time they encounter a magical pool of something or anything mysterious and magical get them to drink/interact with it and have it increase all their stats by 2. The extra hit/damage/AC/HP will help them handle the fights better. I'm surprised they don't like the idea of having an NPC with them, let them get into a few fights with only 3 of them and see how it works out. One less person means one less target for the bad guys to use their actions on, and less damage the group is doing. I don't think they appreciate how much that will change encounters. You could put in a few extra random encounters at first to get them used to having only 3 in the party. I would NOT change the encounters to make them easier, unless it's one specific boss encounter here or there that you see will be unusually difficult for them.
They are pretty well optimized. They have a shadow dancer who never seems to miss, a paladin, and a wiz. The person who left was, unfortunately, the healer. That said, they've handled most fights well and I've kind of fudged up the difficulty of a bunch of them. That said, 2 of the recent boss fights were very challenging - one of the PCs died in the first one (saved by hero points), and poor Shalelu died against the Kreeg Ogres (I gave them everyone to play for that fight, Shalelu, Jakardros, and even Kibb).
I think upping them a level is probably best, though I do like the stat boost option. The only thing I want to avoid is making some strange imbalance in the game that I'm not aware of. I may just be over thinking it, but I'm also by far the least experienced person involved, yet I'm the GM, lol.
If the players know the game pretty well might be able to handle it with 3 of them.
You can ask if either one want to run a 2nd character.
Why don't they want the NPC?
If nobody wants to run a 2nd character, and they don't want the NPC the XP split should allow them to level faster anyway.
If you don't use XP then just level them up early.
You could use story elements to insert a few NPCs into the party. If they have a good relationship with the Lord Mayor he could assign a few assistants to the group as a 'reward'. Basically a free cohort that reports to the Lord Mayor about what the party does.
After the party finishes dealing with the trouble in Sandpoint when they return a NPC that is friendly to the party could decide to replace their lost member. Amiko comes to mind, since her friend Shalelu died she might decide she won't sit idle while more of her friends die.
If the party is very friendly with Madam M'Vashti either her daughter (cleric of desna) or one of the druids that visits frequently could ask to accompany the party.
If they have contacted the Wayfarers Society a new talent could offer to join them. Either a NPC of your creation, or the same cohort option presented earlier except now reporting to the Wayfarers.
Or just convince one of the party members to actually take Leadership. A cleric 2 levels behind the party generally puts out enough healing to keep them going while not as effective in combat as a party member.
A final alternative would be a long-term type healing item. Cure light wounds wands are ok for HP, but restoration gets to be a big thing as you gain levels. Unfortunately there are no common items that provide restoration, and lesser restoration just isn't nearly good enough when you need it. Giving out a Staff of Life is overkill.
One alternative I could suggest...have a powerful Outsider off to make the wizard a 'deal'. In return for taking along an 'improved familiar' (which is a demon/devil/daemon as appropriate) the being will teach the wizard 3 spells they wish to know. ANY three spells, from any spell list.(Add 1 level if its from a class that doesn't get full progression) Even spells above their current ability to cast. The spells will only work while the 'familiar' is around. The outsiders true goal is trying to snatch Karzog's soul when he dies. Once that fight ends the 'familiar' poofs. Give the familiar regeneration 5/Good on top of its normal stats.
Honestly don't give them an NPC... I've always felt that is kinda lame.
Depends on what point buy they are at. In my RotRL game we played halfway through before we realized it was supposed to be a 15 point buy... we were at 20. My DM was constantly enhancing encounters to keep up. Even when we all agreed to bump down to 15, we were still whuppin ass. That 1 or 2 ability points aren't that important compared to a well build character and a strategically effective and experienced party.
If you want to do something fun, draw up a cinematic scenario as how the Healer met his fate (death or departure). Then allow some of his "spirit" to pass onto his allies in the form of his channel positive energy ability, or access to his cure spells. Let them all divvy up his channels or heal spells among themselves.
The problem with the current party is that they won't be able to heal each other up in the fray of battle so giving them a little boost to help them out in desperation could be cool, but the paladin can always carry a cure wand and use it in downtime.
See how it works out, and adjust accordingly. But If a character dies or leaves, as a GM I always like to have them leave some sort or thematic imprint on the game. It makes for a more compelling story.
A party of 3 members should definitely get more experience individually than a party of 4 members, even if you’re using abstract xp. But if you aren’t using xp, then level them up a bit before the book says to. And each time the book is getting ready to say to level them up, level them up a bit more before the book says so than the previous level.
So for example, maybe next level up is 1 encounter before the book says to, then the next one is 2 encounters before the book says to, and the one after that is 3 encounters before the book says to. Adjust as needed.
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