Scaling Down for Buddy Cops

[NewNameLater]

I am new to 2nd edition and I am running a game for a two people hoping to catch that feeling of classic buddy cop detective stories (lethal weapon, etc). I was hoping someone could give me some tips on how to balance encounters since the first one ended with them getting beat down and thrown out of the Tipsy Tengu.

One of the players recommended leveling themselves up, gestalt characters or npc backup... the other player is new so I am wary of adding new elements.

[Deadmanwalking]

From a balance perspective, they need either additional levels or additional bodies. NPC help works, as might leveling them up.

I'd personally probably give them NPC backup. With an AP focused on skills and investigation to a large degree, you can pretty readily give them a hulking and not particularly bright (but good-hearted) meat shield to help them out without pulling the spotlight off them. Two of those might be pushing it, though. Or maybe not, you could have them be siblings...

Basically, after the incident at the Tipsy Tengu, their superiors give them a brute squad to back them in fights who will likely not be vastly useful in other areas.

[NewNameLater]

Deadmanwalking wrote:

From a balance perspective, they need either additional levels or additional bodies. NPC help works, as might leveling them up.

I'd personally probably give them NPC backup. With an AP focused on skills and investigation to a large degree, you can pretty readily give them a hulking and not particularly bright (but good-hearted) meat shield to help them out without pulling the spotlight off them. Two of those might be pushing it, though. Or maybe not, you could have them be siblings...

Basically, after the incident at the Tipsy Tengu, their superiors give them a brute squad to back them in fights who will likely not be vastly useful in other areas.

Thanks, they are a swashbuckler and a barbarian so I think someone with skills and spells should help them out a lot.

[Zapp]

If you have new players I would recommend against bringing in NPC allies or "gestalt" characters (such as the dual-class variant of the GMG).

I would start by slashing encounters in half. Four goblins becomes two, then another two only after the pair of cops have had time to recuperate. Or you just don't use them. Perhaps best is if the buddy cops get the sense that swagger and confidence wins the day - if they just saunter up to the four goblins, two of them lose their nerve and flee. Not only does this manage the encounter budget given the low number of players, it also plays into the tropes of the buddy cop genre: you survive by reputation just as much as your skills!

I would still start at level 1, but I would level up after just a few encounters.

These measures - keeping the adventurers one level above the content, and halving that content - should keep the difficulty to a manageable level.

PS. Obviously single creature encounters need to have those creatures replaced by a different creature at least two levels lower. But I'm assuming that even if your players are new to the game, you are not. Good luck!

[Deadmanwalking]

NewNameLater wrote:

Thanks, they are a swashbuckler and a barbarian so I think someone with skills and spells should help them out a lot.

That's gonna make it a little tougher since skills in particular are pretty important for this AP and you definitely want the PCs to be the stars of the show, but not impossible.

I'd personally give them a Cleric for backup in that case. Go full healer-focus on the Cleric with decent Cha, Medicine and associated Skill Feats, maybe even the Medic Archetype and they'll get a lot more survivable. For skills, focus on Religion, the aforementioned Medicine, and one other Skill the PCs aren't gonna be investing in, and that should work fine.

Most other spellcasters run some risk of spotlight stealing outside of combat one way or another, so I'd have to think what else to give them. Bard is definitely the final class that will make their life easier and not steal the spotlight in combat, but building a Bard who doesn't steal the spotlight in social encounters can be tricky. Another martial, perhaps a more defensively focused one like a Dex Monk or a Champion, is also a valid possibility if you want to go that route.

[thewastedwalrus]

I think it would probably be more fun for the party and yourself to give the players an extra 2 levels and no NPC help. By the rules in Building Encounters, that seems to work out for mathematically balancing the encounters without needing you to spend most combats fighting against yourself.

It may also make sense to give the players a few more skill ranks and skill feats (like how rogues get one of both at each level), or maybe Gestalt options to try and broaden their options at tracking down culprits and resolving situations. I probably wouldn't try the gestalt rules for a game with a brand new player, but you might have a better idea if that would work for them than I.