An all magical campaign... [Archive] - Wizards Community

An all magical campaign... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Raginbull00
04-25-05, 07:57 PM Any advice for a DM who's about to embark on an all magical campaign? Both of my PC's want to be arcane spellcasters. I've never ran into this before. I mean, do i need to create a fighter NPC for the party... or let them suffer the effects of traveling alone with no "meat shield" to protect them?
Cutlass
04-25-05, 08:16 PM From the sound of it you only have two players each of whom is running one character. The standard D&D party that the encounter tables are normalized on is a 4 character party. So, right off the bat your party is only running at 50% of "normal" strength.

There are a variety of different solutions to that problem.

1) Recurit more players if at all possible.

2) You might want to consider having each of your players run two (or more) characters.

3) Staying with a party that only has 2 characters, perhaps letting them start at 2nd level (or higher) vice first level. Encourage multiclassing.

4) Yes, adding NPCs to the party under DM control is always an option. I've played in quite a few games where that has been done, though it does make more work for the DM.

My take on the situation is that the party as currently described, two arcane spell casters with no other support, is basically monster chow on the hoof. Even if you try to fudge the various encounters down such that you think they can handle them, one or two bad rolls on their part (or good ones on your part) could result in a TPK.

So, at the very least I would recommend adding two fighter types to the party using any method that you think is reasonable. My personal biased opinion is that while the encounter tables are set up around a 4 character party, a 6 character party makes a lot more sense to me. That way the party can have 1 arcane spell caster, 1 divine spell caster, 1 rogue, and 3 fighter type characters (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian, Monk) with at least 2 of the fighters being serious "meat shield" types.
koxler
04-25-05, 09:03 PM How about this for an idea? If the characters are members of the dragonmarked houses then it wouldn't be that far a stretch to have warforged bodyguards to watch over them. You could run them as NPCs or have the players run them whatever you prefer. I think that would make for a fun little game. Meanwhile you would still need to watch a throwing traps or locked doors and they would also need access to healing. The later could be accomplished if one were a member of House Jorasco. They could have favors with the house that would give them access to potions and healing while near facilities. Personally I would also try and help them by throwing a lot of scrolls their way so they have access to a lot of spells. That will help the group function better.
PoeticJustice
04-25-05, 09:20 PM 1) Don't start at first Level. I'd for either level 5-10 as a starting range. The reason for this being that arcane spellcasters are simply too fragile before reaching the middle levels.

2) Try and get one to be a conjurer. It's a versatile school, allowing for the summoning of monsters. Once you get to the high levels a Conjuerer with decent Charisma could use planar ally or binding to get an archon to heal the party
Raginbull00
04-25-05, 09:40 PM Hey Koxler, one of my PC's is a Kobald, and the other is a Half-Dragon (very rare in Eberron... yes, I know). We'll be starting out in Q'barra. I'm going to be throwing a Doppelganger Soul Reaper/Rogue (a Soul Reaper is a specialist wizard who specializes in the school of necromancy, it's a 20 level class, not a PrC... it's in a Dragon Mag.) and a Medusa Bard at them. I'm trying to make the villains very memorable. I'm planning on having these two always screw with the party... you know... the well prepared villians who always seem to get away type of thing. Just wanted to give a little background. Monsters will play a huge role in this campaign... alot of times when the party runs into humans, the humans will probably be the bad guys in the situation. Also, the Dragons will be watching these two PC's b/c they think that these two might be key in some prophecy that has gone unfullfilled for centuries. As far as all of the idea's that people are throwing around... I like them. Some of them need to be tailored to a monsterous campaign though. Keep the idea's coming. Thanks.
Malicant
04-26-05, 07:12 AM If you have the Unearth Arcana, Gestalt Rules might help to boost your PCs a little.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Raginbull00 04-25-05, 07:57 PM	Any advice for a DM who's about to embark on an all magical campaign? Both of my PC's want to be arcane spellcasters. I've never ran into this before. I mean, do i need to create a fighter NPC for the party... or let them suffer the effects of traveling alone with no "meat shield" to protect them?
Cutlass 04-25-05, 08:16 PM	From the sound of it you only have two players each of whom is running one character. The standard D&D party that the encounter tables are normalized on is a 4 character party. So, right off the bat your party is only running at 50% of "normal" strength. There are a variety of different solutions to that problem. 1) Recurit more players if at all possible. 2) You might want to consider having each of your players run two (or more) characters. 3) Staying with a party that only has 2 characters, perhaps letting them start at 2nd level (or higher) vice first level. Encourage multiclassing. 4) Yes, adding NPCs to the party under DM control is always an option. I've played in quite a few games where that has been done, though it does make more work for the DM. My take on the situation is that the party as currently described, two arcane spell casters with no other support, is basically monster chow on the hoof. Even if you try to fudge the various encounters down such that you think they can handle them, one or two bad rolls on their part (or good ones on your part) could result in a TPK. So, at the very least I would recommend adding two fighter types to the party using any method that you think is reasonable. My personal biased opinion is that while the encounter tables are set up around a 4 character party, a 6 character party makes a lot more sense to me. That way the party can have 1 arcane spell caster, 1 divine spell caster, 1 rogue, and 3 fighter type characters (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian, Monk) with at least 2 of the fighters being serious "meat shield" types.
koxler 04-25-05, 09:03 PM	How about this for an idea? If the characters are members of the dragonmarked houses then it wouldn't be that far a stretch to have warforged bodyguards to watch over them. You could run them as NPCs or have the players run them whatever you prefer. I think that would make for a fun little game. Meanwhile you would still need to watch a throwing traps or locked doors and they would also need access to healing. The later could be accomplished if one were a member of House Jorasco. They could have favors with the house that would give them access to potions and healing while near facilities. Personally I would also try and help them by throwing a lot of scrolls their way so they have access to a lot of spells. That will help the group function better.
PoeticJustice 04-25-05, 09:20 PM	1) Don't start at first Level. I'd for either level 5-10 as a starting range. The reason for this being that arcane spellcasters are simply too fragile before reaching the middle levels. 2) Try and get one to be a conjurer. It's a versatile school, allowing for the summoning of monsters. Once you get to the high levels a Conjuerer with decent Charisma could use planar ally or binding to get an archon to heal the party
Raginbull00 04-25-05, 09:40 PM	Hey Koxler, one of my PC's is a Kobald, and the other is a Half-Dragon (very rare in Eberron... yes, I know). We'll be starting out in Q'barra. I'm going to be throwing a Doppelganger Soul Reaper/Rogue (a Soul Reaper is a specialist wizard who specializes in the school of necromancy, it's a 20 level class, not a PrC... it's in a Dragon Mag.) and a Medusa Bard at them. I'm trying to make the villains very memorable. I'm planning on having these two always screw with the party... you know... the well prepared villians who always seem to get away type of thing. Just wanted to give a little background. Monsters will play a huge role in this campaign... alot of times when the party runs into humans, the humans will probably be the bad guys in the situation. Also, the Dragons will be watching these two PC's b/c they think that these two might be key in some prophecy that has gone unfullfilled for centuries. As far as all of the idea's that people are throwing around... I like them. Some of them need to be tailored to a monsterous campaign though. Keep the idea's coming. Thanks.
Malicant 04-26-05, 07:12 AM	If you have the Unearth Arcana, Gestalt Rules might help to boost your PCs a little.