Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lord_mhoram_02 Oct 19, 2008 11:23:45	Basic question is – what kind of rules changes need to be made to let a two (or maybe 3) character party be roughly equivalent to a 5 character party. Reason for the question in rather odd. The wife is going to GM me solo, but because of work and school time constraints is planning to use published modules, with very minor adjustments. I don't want to run more than 2 characters, three at the outside. Personalities blend, I lose track of stuff during role playing and other such things when playing more than that. So please no comments of "find other players", "Adjust the adventure", or "play online". So to play solo, I need to run smaller groups, and have the roles covered with fewer characters – so increase in power and something like Gestalt Characters is needed. This is what I am thinking: Apply the class template from page 182 of the DMG to the characters. This makes them Dual classed and ups hits and defenses. Combats last longer, but more actions with more powers from fewer characters seems about right. The character can get a “free” multiclass – i.e. No feats spent, and the full heroic and paragon multiclass stuff – but no extra powers, just extra power choices. And then normal paragon and epic stuff for main classes. Also thinking an extra action point, and/or higher beginning ability scores. Maybe one level higher than recommended. Needless to say, experience received is halved. Any advice or ideas on how two characters can run and survive an adventure set for Five characters is greatly appreciated.
#2 anubis_reynard Oct 19, 2008 11:54:58	There was already a thread about Templating PCs to make Gestalt characters, and the general consensus seemed to be that class combinations were balanced (even wizard/wizard, cleric/cleric, ect) but that they had a flatter power, growth, that jumped every tier. They also instituted a few house-rule patches... they list them here: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1093833
#3 lord_mhoram_02 Oct 19, 2008 12:20:28	Thanks for the link -that helps in the multi class thing, but I'm also looking for ways 2 characters can survive/prosper in encounters and adventures designed for 5 characters.
#4 anubis_reynard Oct 19, 2008 13:10:13	You'll note that they get more HP from the templates, as well as other benifits, and one of the house rules is getting an action point every encounter. Though I havn't tried it myself, it looks to be a complete package-deal solution to your problem.
#5 matthewswift Oct 19, 2008 20:16:26	If one of those characters is a combo with cleric you're set. Dual classing you're basically turning two pcs into 4. Party on.
#6 mrparadigm Oct 24, 2008 23:21:35	Quote: "The wife is going to GM me solo, but because of work and school time constraints is planning to use published modules, with very minor adjustments. I don't want to run more than 2 characters, three at the outside. Personalities blend, I lose track of stuff during role playing and other such things when playing more than that. So please no comments of "find other players", "Adjust the adventure", or "play online"." Dude...you're living my life right there. We play exactly the same way @home, with two kids between work and collage. Here's what we do: She plays one PC ally character, and usuall runs one NPC "monster" that is variable depending on the adventure/ our needs. We've delved with a Human Bandit, a Dwarven Hammerer (both from the MM) and her Ftr. Me, I play an MC artificer/starlock (artlock?), so I've got the full healing ability of a leader and some of the mobility/dmg of a striker. Its been working so far. We've been staying away from pre-set adventures mostly, because of the scaling issue. If you really want to run an pub adv, take the flavor and then use the rules in the DMG to re work the encounters to fit two- PCs- or use the NPC idea I suggested to boost to four. Sound like some work to redo all the encounters, but (as the other DM in our house) I find the rules in lthe DMG make it really quite simple. I don't know about you, but we're luck to get more than two encounters in per session, before the two year olds pees on something. That's all you need to stay ahead by, when planning an adventure, just 2-3 enc. So, to summ up, one defender, one MC leader/striker (in that order, for the healing) and a couple encounters ahead modified to retain teh flavor, but be good for 2 is really all you need. We've been running solo games for one another for eight years, and its been awsome. I feel lucky to be able to game without losing time with the wife and blessed above all men that I don't have to clean house to invite fellow gamers over