I’m about to run my friends through Dan Coleman’s Insidious Experiments, an adventure for 4-5 fourth level characters.
SPOILER Alert!
Monsters include ogres, undead, a bone naga, some homonlulous, a flesh golem, and a crazy wizard boss. The party consists of a halfling Rogue/bard, a dwarf paladin, an elven archer and a monk. The boss can’t be accessed until the three homonculous are dispatched. I’m a little concerned that there are no magic types in the party. At first I was thinking of sending along an NPC’s to cover casting duties but then I thought maybe I could give the party some items that would help.
Im wondering how other DMs handle parties with few, if any, magic abilities?
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"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." – William Gibson, Neuromancer
Well, if your party made it this far, they may well be fine. You basically have 3 semi-magic-users, not nil. That said, you don’t need an npc necessarily. You can beef up magic with loot - spell scrolls, wands that carry spells, etc.
Casters are great at AOE damage and crowd control. Your party has a bard so that'll help (even a 1 level dip). Having items such as wands or a necklace of fireballs (if you're feeling very generous) can help supplement a low magic group. Your party also lacks healing, but chances for short rests can give your players a chance to breathe.
I'm not familiar with the campaign you're going to run, but I'd say just adjust as you go. My group has a lot of players and magic users so I often throw in more minions since they wipe out small groups with a fireball or two. For you? Maybe just a few tough enemies will be enough. You won't know for sure until you play.
Casters have the tendency to create huge trouble for DM's at higher levels. They'll clear lots of packs on their own. Got access to all sorts of spells that require a lot of effort dealing with.
Damage wise your party should be good enough to clear everything. Just keep in mind to create some magic items for your players that also has some amount of AoE output. Items like Wand of Fireball, or Ring of Spell Storing can help as well. The Ring could hold some spells the players can get from local spellcasters/enchanters in a town if need be. Give some spell scrolls with AoE clearing ability. Make it so it takes an Arcana check of 8+scroll level that the player has to pass. Meaning any character can use the scroll instead of only the wizard being able to use wizard spell scrolls.
The bard could be of use with some (healing) spells. Other then that I find healing spells not that important in 5e. Although a big group heal outside of combat is nice, but either a short rest or a spell scroll can solve that problem. If a player goes down just use a basic paladin spell to get someone from unconscious to active. or the bard with a lvl 2 healing spell as bonus action besides their main attack. Its not like a big heal spell will keep that person that much longer alive in comparison.
I think I would give them the opportunity to acquire three items: a bardic instrument with a few built in spells, a quiver of arrows that have a tiny vile of explosive (cf: nitroglycerin) on each arrowhead (10'radius 2d6 damage), and a a scroll with a single random spell that can be reused each day. I have put these into play with three different groups that had no casters at all. And In 2e the Bard didn't have the versatility he has now. They did eventually all three warm up to an NPC caster or two and almost everyone in all three groups played a caster within a death or two. The scroll allowed me to put a spell in that would have been useful "yesterday" or "in that last dungeon" or "when we fought those guys...." I will say that these groups were very "Share the Magic" whereas most I have played with are not.
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I do not like the word... prisoner. It implies a helpless state, and I assure you, I am never helpless.
--Artemis Entreri
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I’m about to run my friends through Dan Coleman’s Insidious Experiments, an adventure for 4-5 fourth level characters.
SPOILER Alert!
Monsters include ogres, undead, a bone naga, some homonlulous, a flesh golem, and a crazy wizard boss. The party consists of a halfling Rogue/bard, a dwarf paladin, an elven archer and a monk. The boss can’t be accessed until the three homonculous are dispatched. I’m a little concerned that there are no magic types in the party. At first I was thinking of sending along an NPC’s to cover casting duties but then I thought maybe I could give the party some items that would help.
Im wondering how other DMs handle parties with few, if any, magic abilities?
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." – William Gibson, Neuromancer
Well, if your party made it this far, they may well be fine. You basically have 3 semi-magic-users, not nil. That said, you don’t need an npc necessarily. You can beef up magic with loot - spell scrolls, wands that carry spells, etc.
Casters are great at AOE damage and crowd control. Your party has a bard so that'll help (even a 1 level dip). Having items such as wands or a necklace of fireballs (if you're feeling very generous) can help supplement a low magic group. Your party also lacks healing, but chances for short rests can give your players a chance to breathe.
I'm not familiar with the campaign you're going to run, but I'd say just adjust as you go. My group has a lot of players and magic users so I often throw in more minions since they wipe out small groups with a fireball or two. For you? Maybe just a few tough enemies will be enough. You won't know for sure until you play.
Casters have the tendency to create huge trouble for DM's at higher levels. They'll clear lots of packs on their own. Got access to all sorts of spells that require a lot of effort dealing with.
Damage wise your party should be good enough to clear everything. Just keep in mind to create some magic items for your players that also has some amount of AoE output. Items like Wand of Fireball, or Ring of Spell Storing can help as well. The Ring could hold some spells the players can get from local spellcasters/enchanters in a town if need be. Give some spell scrolls with AoE clearing ability. Make it so it takes an Arcana check of 8+scroll level that the player has to pass. Meaning any character can use the scroll instead of only the wizard being able to use wizard spell scrolls.
The bard could be of use with some (healing) spells. Other then that I find healing spells not that important in 5e. Although a big group heal outside of combat is nice, but either a short rest or a spell scroll can solve that problem. If a player goes down just use a basic paladin spell to get someone from unconscious to active. or the bard with a lvl 2 healing spell as bonus action besides their main attack. Its not like a big heal spell will keep that person that much longer alive in comparison.
I think I would give them the opportunity to acquire three items: a bardic instrument with a few built in spells, a quiver of arrows that have a tiny vile of explosive (cf: nitroglycerin) on each arrowhead (10'radius 2d6 damage), and a a scroll with a single random spell that can be reused each day. I have put these into play with three different groups that had no casters at all. And In 2e the Bard didn't have the versatility he has now. They did eventually all three warm up to an NPC caster or two and almost everyone in all three groups played a caster within a death or two. The scroll allowed me to put a spell in that would have been useful "yesterday" or "in that last dungeon" or "when we fought those guys...." I will say that these groups were very "Share the Magic" whereas most I have played with are not.
I do not like the word... prisoner. It implies a helpless state, and I assure you, I am never helpless.
--Artemis Entreri