I have a couple of friends who want to play and AP but we will struggle to get a group of 4 together
Given they are academics and one is an archaeologist they were drawn to Mummy’s Mask
Does anyone have any advice on adapting for two players?
What character tips should I provide to cover the necessary roles with just two people?
Part of my plan was to give them at least one NPC to add to their group. The story explanation should be easy given the city is full of treasure hunters
But assuming parts are just two people how should I change encounters? Normally I would think about reducing foes . But book 1 seems to have lots of solo enemies that if powered down would be close to useless . Also I don’t understand how trap CR is supposed to translate to smaller parties
On top of that the climax is against a rival party which will seem a bit lame if there are just two of them
My thoughts on making characters stronger are:
25 point buy
Hero points
Background skills
Campaign trait is a bonus on top of normal two traits
(Maybe adding VMC for free)
But I don’t think the above is enough to keep it at 2 but equally don’t want to lean on NPCs unless it is really best
What do people think ?
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Give them the option to take Leadership for free when they qualify for it.
Put in enough loot in books 1 and 2 that they can hire goons easily enough. There are plenty of adventurer types there for the lottery anyhow, so finding hirelings should be pretty easy.
For the fight against V's party, I would put in a couple social encounters that might let you weed away Kherlu or Idorii. Idorii is a merc, so a better deal is a better deal, and if you somehow convice Kherlu that V's plan is bad, Azaz will likely not want to fight his beloved.
As far as otherwise adapting, action economy is your biggest enemy. Losing half of the CR Assumed actions on behalf of the party really throws CR out the window. Depending on the class makeup of the group, each encounter of more than 2 enemies can probably be reduced by 1 or 2. Single monsters or 2 monster encounters I wouldn't change, infact the reduced party actions might make those fights a bit more meaningful (I'm looking at you Boss of Book 2).
Thanks
Yes one of the things I like about the idea of a smaller party is solo villains are more meaningful .
One of the issues with pathfinder is that a solo villain just gets swamped by actions unless they are TOO strong - this happened when I powered up a dragon to stop it being a non event and killed 3 PCs (fortunately 2 were saved by hero points )
By social encounters do you just mean social skills? Or something from Ultimate Intrigue?
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Social skills. In the evenings at the inn or something. Have the party interacting with the other group a few times. Vs big thing is nosing into everyone's lottery draws looking for a Nethysian goldmine. Play up that nosey, forceful manner and how 5he rest of the group is really along for the ride. Give your guys opportunities to sow dischord or downright steal party members.
I saw a previous a post talking about requirements for a party (I think yours from a few years ago):
trapfinder,
someone to cure curses,
some way to tackle flying enemies,
INT,
healing capacity.
I am not sure how many of these I should be comfortable covering with NPCs.
The healing based one I think I am ok with. NPC clerics are not exactly an uncommon phenomenon. Indeed there is even another group looking for one which could be good for RP
I am uncomfortable with the idea of having a librarian character to tell them everything. Mainly because that area of the game is often overlook and should be obvious in this game when you look at things like Indian Jones
As for thebtrapfinder role - if one of both don’t create something for that then I feel like that should be their own fault. I don’t want to patch that hole (or at least not with someone who is focused built for it)
I am uncomfortable with the idea of having a librarian character to tell them everything. Mainly because that area of the game is often overlook and should be obvious in this game when you look at things like Indiana Jones.
Honestly, a knowledge-monkey NPC works -great-. When a PC makes a knowledge check, what usually happens is the GM info-dumps to the player "Ivan the Intelligent Wizard knows that pile of corpses is actually an omnorax, a type of undead created after a mass suicide. It has a despair inducing aura if you get too close to it, and it's said to be heavily resistant to any blows that don't come from a silvered weapon". The player turns to the other players are says "Ivan tells you all that."
With a NPC distributing the knowledge, you can actually cut out the middle man. Instead, the GM can say "Ivan turns to the party, a quizzical look on his face. 'Hmm', he says. 'Those corpses... step back, quick! It's an omnorax, an undead monster. Don't let it's aura of despair touch you. We need silver!". It's actually much more immersive.
I've run a knowledge-focused Bard NPC, and found it much more satisfying than having a knowledge-focused PC to pass information through.
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The INT in my party recommendations can really extend to don't dump it. If you are wanting to be really accommodating, give them a free skill point at level up that must go in a knowledge. Book 3 will be a slog if you don't have any research capacity, because a quarter of that book is literally propelled by INT checks.
Have you thought about using Gestalt Characters?
It's a high-powered campaign variant, characters essentially take two classes at every level, choosing the best aspects of each. The process is similar to multi classing, except that characters gain the full benefits of each class at each level. if the two classes you choose have aspects that overlap (such as Hit Dice, attack progression, saves, and class features common to more than one class), you choose the better aspect. The gestalt character retains all aspects that don’t overlap.
The gestalt character variant is particularly effective if you have three or fewer players in your group, or if your players enjoy multiclassing and want characters with truly prodigious powers. This variant works only if every PC in the campaign uses it, and it results in complicated characters who may overwhelm newer players with an abundance of options.
More info D20srd.org
I have even found ways to use Herolabs to setup Gestalt. Worked like a charm to make my DM life super easy. Players never felt without, and saved me trying to make a NPC who didnt always get the finishing blow.
The INT in my party recommendations can really extend to don't dump it. If you are wanting to be really accommodating, give them a free skill point at level up that must go in a knowledge. Book 3 will be a slog if you don't have any research capacity, because a quarter of that book is literally propelled by INT checks.
I am using the background skill system which opens up some options
Have you thought about using Gestalt Characters?
It's a high-powered campaign variant, characters essentially take two classes at every level, choosing the best aspects of each. The process is similar to multi classing, except that characters gain the full benefits of each class at each level. if the two classes you choose have aspects that overlap (such as Hit Dice, attack progression, saves, and class features common to more than one class), you choose the better aspect. The gestalt character retains all aspects that don’t overlap.
The gestalt character variant is particularly effective if you have three or fewer players in your group, or if your players enjoy multiclassing and want characters with truly prodigious powers. This variant works only if every PC in the campaign uses it, and it results in complicated characters who may overwhelm newer players with an abundance of options.
More info D20srd.org
I have even found ways to use Herolabs to setup Gestalt. Worked like a charm to make my DM life super easy. Players never felt without, and saved me trying to make a NPC who didnt always get the finishing blow.
Gestalt always seemed crazy OP even for two players given the wealth of pathfinder options
Also you have alluded to herolab - my concern was it not working for this option easily
I am uncomfortable with the idea of having a librarian character to tell them everything. Mainly because that area of the game is often overlook and should be obvious in this game when you look at things like Indiana Jones.Honestly, a knowledge-monkey NPC works -great-. When a PC makes a knowledge check, what usually happens is the GM info-dumps to the player "Ivan the Intelligent Wizard knows that pile of corpses is actually an omnorax, a type of undead created after a mass suicide. It has a despair inducing aura if you get too close to it, and it's said to be heavily resistant to any blows that don't come from a silvered weapon". The player turns to the other players are says "Ivan tells you all that."
With a NPC distributing the knowledge, you can actually cut out the middle man. Instead, the GM can say "Ivan turns to the party, a quizzical look on his face. 'Hmm', he says. 'Those corpses... step back, quick! It's an omnorax, an undead monster. Don't let it's aura of despair touch you. We need silver!". It's actually much more immersive.
I've run a knowledge-focused Bard NPC, and found it much more satisfying than having a knowledge-focused PC to pass information through.
Thanks for this
I was already considering this but was waiveringI wanted a really gawky bookish character who wasn’t a wizard
I was struggling to reconcile how an archivist bard would have high charisma and a perform skill though - an investigator or occultist is also an option as well. Maybe even a perfect scholar monk
Are there other librarian classes that I have missed ?
I wanted a really gawky bookish character who wasn’t a wizard. I was struggling to reconcile how an archivist bard would have high charisma and a perform skill though.
We used a Bard with 16 INT and 12 CHA. His Perform was Oratory, which came in the form of lecturing people and reciting ancient stories he'd read.
Bard actually has an archaeologist archetype that could be useful. Clerics in general could also help out(There's a NPC from book 2 you could move up to meet the players earlier. Two actually).
So it sounds like my players are planning the following :
- fire sorcerer
- bard/swashbuckler (with the trap finding campaign trait)
I would have been naive to expect anyone to play a cleric as no one I play with ever does.
The 1E version gets almost everything at the start and a relatively unexciting spell list to the casual reader so which makes it seem very boring. That is a separate issue
Basically I don’t mind coming up with an NPC here as there is even an NPC group that wants a cleric
My fear is that all the DR and hardness in book one is going to give these guys a tough time unless I put a two handed weapon wielder with them. But I am wary of overshadowing them and know from experience that at low levels a power attack two handed weapon fighter with average rolls tends to stomp through things
Does anyone have any thought on how I could instead adjust for their choices ? I don’t really want to remove too many of the resistances ....