I Will be starting Curse of Strad (CoS) campaign with 2 players and would appreciate any advice on party balance ie NPC class to round out the party for CoS, the players have chosen
Paladin - Oath of Redemption
Wizard - Order of Scribes
I would be leveling them to lv 3 before they reach CoS in a little peradventure
Thank you for your thoughts replies
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Those are perfectly workable classes, it's just that the module is tuned for 4-5 so 2 characters will have a lot of trouble.
Yeah thats my worry and why I was thinking give the PC's head start with pre adventure to level 3 and give access to a NPC to join the group I don't mind running a DM NPC PC group member thingy I can differentiate and not steal the limelight from the actual players... I know its somewhat frowned upon a DM running a party member
secretly I rather thought it might add something to the horror of CoS if the NPC I'd be running gets squished and they have to look for a new one
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
You can cheat on the "Strahd's Enemy" card and use them as disposable allies.
true... though I wouldn't see them quite as "disposable" as any custom NPC I add to fill out the party and was concerned that a "Strahd's Enemy" is calculated in the 4-5 player balance already along with their presence upping the anti with Strahd I thought (I haven't run CoS yet am going on first read through memory at present)
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
You can cheat on the "Strahd's Enemy" card and use them as disposable allies.
true... though I wouldn't see them quite as "disposable" as any custom NPC I add to fill out the party and was concerned that a "Strahd's Enemy" is calculated in the 4-5 player balance already along with their presence upping the anti with Strahd I thought (I haven't run CoS yet am going on first read through memory at present)
Several enemies have no fighting power (the cards are potentially grossly unbalanced). You might use Ismark as a convenient NPC ally to start with, a veteran is a decent meat shield that won't otherwise overshadow the PCs. Don't worry about killing them off, there aren't really any plot-critical NPCs (there are a bunch of side plots related to Ireena but they can keep functioning even if she's dead).
You can cheat on the "Strahd's Enemy" card and use them as disposable allies.
true... though I wouldn't see them quite as "disposable" as any custom NPC I add to fill out the party and was concerned that a "Strahd's Enemy" is calculated in the 4-5 player balance already along with their presence upping the anti with Strahd I thought (I haven't run CoS yet am going on first read through memory at present)
Several enemies have no fighting power (the cards are potentially grossly unbalanced). You might use Ismark as a convenient NPC ally to start with, a veteran is a decent meat shield that won't otherwise overshadow the PCs. Don't worry about killing them off, there aren't really any plot-critical NPCs (there are a bunch of side plots related to Ireena but they can keep functioning even if she's dead).
thanks you've definitely given me something to consider there
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I second using Ismark. I'd also keep the number of NPCs trailing around with them down to 1, or 2 at the absolute most. Combat where the DM is rolling NPC attacks against monsters is really tiresome for everyone.
What I'd actually recommend is that if you are running a small party of 2, just start the characters off much higher level. You could start them at level 5 or so, and level them up with Milestones so that they stay ahead of the curve. There's no reason that they can't end up as two level 13 PCs by the end of the campaign.
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I Will be starting Curse of Strad (CoS) campaign with 2 players and would appreciate any advice on party balance ie NPC class to round out the party for CoS, the players have chosen
Paladin - Oath of Redemption
Wizard - Order of Scribes
I would be leveling them to lv 3 before they reach CoS in a little peradventure
Thank you for your thoughts replies
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Those are perfectly workable classes, it's just that the module is tuned for 4-5 so 2 characters will have a lot of trouble.
Yeah thats my worry and why I was thinking give the PC's head start with pre adventure to level 3 and give access to a NPC to join the group
I don't mind running a DM NPC PC group member thingy I can differentiate and not steal the limelight from the actual players... I know its somewhat frowned upon a DM running a party member
secretly I rather thought it might add something to the horror of CoS if the NPC I'd be running gets squished and they have to look for a new one
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
You can cheat on the "Strahd's Enemy" card and use them as disposable allies.
true... though I wouldn't see them quite as "disposable" as any custom NPC I add to fill out the party and was concerned that a "Strahd's Enemy" is calculated in the 4-5 player balance already along with their presence upping the anti with Strahd I thought (I haven't run CoS yet am going on first read through memory at present)
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Several enemies have no fighting power (the cards are potentially grossly unbalanced). You might use Ismark as a convenient NPC ally to start with, a veteran is a decent meat shield that won't otherwise overshadow the PCs. Don't worry about killing them off, there aren't really any plot-critical NPCs (there are a bunch of side plots related to Ireena but they can keep functioning even if she's dead).
thanks you've definitely given me something to consider there
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I second using Ismark. I'd also keep the number of NPCs trailing around with them down to 1, or 2 at the absolute most. Combat where the DM is rolling NPC attacks against monsters is really tiresome for everyone.
What I'd actually recommend is that if you are running a small party of 2, just start the characters off much higher level. You could start them at level 5 or so, and level them up with Milestones so that they stay ahead of the curve. There's no reason that they can't end up as two level 13 PCs by the end of the campaign.