Kinkan
2009-08-05, 05:48 AM
After a long time of not having a dedicated DM so we can get a game running for more than one session I've finally decided to take up the mantle. Here's the deal then; after asking my two players (more will be joining later, but they're all out of town) what kind of game they would like to run, it looks like there will be some kind of Supernatural/Buffy kind of theme. Also, since no one in our group is a big fan of the standard DnD assumption that characters eventually will be so pimped out with bling they will light up the night sky walking past, we have decided to play a low magic campaign with the E6 variant, though using Gestalt for a number of reasons (mainly because there are only two players at the moment, but also to introduce the new player who've never been part of our first level mishaps to the magic system while still being a fighter type to fall back on).
Their characters will most likely be a Ranger/Sorceror (The new guy, he wanted to play a Van Hellsing type of character who dabbles a bit in magic, specifically blasting magic). He doesn't want either the familiar or the animal companion, and he will probably not want the limited ranger casting gained by level 6, though I forgot to ask him about that. What would be a resonable compensation for losing those two or three class features in terms of feats or special abilities? Also, he will most likely want to use guns (there will be more primitive guns in the world, flintlock pistols and the like) so the Ranger's combat style would have to be adjusted. Would treating the pistols as crossbows while deciding which feats apply be reasonable?
The other character will be a Ranger/Favoured Soul (quick hombrew, inspired by Person_man's Domain Favoured Soul). He will be a FS of a god who makes his followers mercilessly hunt everything he deems unnatural and evil (we will most likely axe the alignment system for this campaign) without a thought about innocents safety. He will use a Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana which gives the ranger the ability to wild shape (although only to an eagle as that's his gods "totem animal", and also at level 6 he will be able to do it unlimited times per day to reinforce his Avatar status) in exchange for the combat mastery line of feats. Because he probably won't use this ability very often in combat, it's more of an RP thing, he will gain something else to compensate, any suggestions what could be fitting in a campaign like this? Also, his animal companion will be an eagle as well, don't know how useful they are in combat but my gut feeling is "not very" when they start hunting vampires and such. I've been thinking about whether it could be a reasonable idea to give the Favoured Soul a bit more power to compensate for the Ranger side instead of balancing out the ranger.
The Favoured Soul thingy will end up being able to cast the domain spells of the Sun, Fire and Destruction domains at level 6. I will change the domain abilities and spell lists a bit to fit the concept better (Inflict Light Wounds and Contagion isn't very fitting for a hunter of the undead and evil for example)
Sun Domain runs into a problem with it's domain power as I don't think turn undead would be a very good fit for the campaign. Destruction Domains Smite ability is fine. Fire Domain would need a new ability, preferably something activated. I'm stumped. Also, would it be too much to give him a free choice of a spell at every spell level (so he knows his three domain spells and one extra, also can pick up one more if he spends a feat on it) or should I leave it at only the domain spells? Would probably be good if he could pick up some healing spell.
I've been thinking about giving him a second domain ability for every domain at level 6, or perhaps one at level 4, one at 5 and the third domain at 6. I think something passive would be fitting, something along the lines of Fire Resistance 5 for fire domain. Maybe you would have to activate a specific domain to gain it's advantage for a number of rounds equal to your charisma modifier. I really haven't thought this through, just throwing it out there if someone has any good suggestions.
That being said, what kinds of adventures could be fitting to run for two gestalt characters during the lower levels. Facing evil, demon worshiping cults is a given, but what kind of supernatural creatures could you reasonably face in a two man party? Also we're looking for house rules to make the campaign a bit grittier, something along the lines of recieving penalties when you go below a certain percent of your max hit points. Anyone have any good ones they would like to share?
EDIT: Forgot to mention it, I will be borrowing LOTS of books from my uncle, so I'm not really sure which of them I will have access to, but it's probably more likely that he has them than not.
Their characters will most likely be a Ranger/Sorceror (The new guy, he wanted to play a Van Hellsing type of character who dabbles a bit in magic, specifically blasting magic). He doesn't want either the familiar or the animal companion, and he will probably not want the limited ranger casting gained by level 6, though I forgot to ask him about that. What would be a resonable compensation for losing those two or three class features in terms of feats or special abilities? Also, he will most likely want to use guns (there will be more primitive guns in the world, flintlock pistols and the like) so the Ranger's combat style would have to be adjusted. Would treating the pistols as crossbows while deciding which feats apply be reasonable?
The other character will be a Ranger/Favoured Soul (quick hombrew, inspired by Person_man's Domain Favoured Soul). He will be a FS of a god who makes his followers mercilessly hunt everything he deems unnatural and evil (we will most likely axe the alignment system for this campaign) without a thought about innocents safety. He will use a Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana which gives the ranger the ability to wild shape (although only to an eagle as that's his gods "totem animal", and also at level 6 he will be able to do it unlimited times per day to reinforce his Avatar status) in exchange for the combat mastery line of feats. Because he probably won't use this ability very often in combat, it's more of an RP thing, he will gain something else to compensate, any suggestions what could be fitting in a campaign like this? Also, his animal companion will be an eagle as well, don't know how useful they are in combat but my gut feeling is "not very" when they start hunting vampires and such. I've been thinking about whether it could be a reasonable idea to give the Favoured Soul a bit more power to compensate for the Ranger side instead of balancing out the ranger.
The Favoured Soul thingy will end up being able to cast the domain spells of the Sun, Fire and Destruction domains at level 6. I will change the domain abilities and spell lists a bit to fit the concept better (Inflict Light Wounds and Contagion isn't very fitting for a hunter of the undead and evil for example)
Sun Domain runs into a problem with it's domain power as I don't think turn undead would be a very good fit for the campaign. Destruction Domains Smite ability is fine. Fire Domain would need a new ability, preferably something activated. I'm stumped. Also, would it be too much to give him a free choice of a spell at every spell level (so he knows his three domain spells and one extra, also can pick up one more if he spends a feat on it) or should I leave it at only the domain spells? Would probably be good if he could pick up some healing spell.
I've been thinking about giving him a second domain ability for every domain at level 6, or perhaps one at level 4, one at 5 and the third domain at 6. I think something passive would be fitting, something along the lines of Fire Resistance 5 for fire domain. Maybe you would have to activate a specific domain to gain it's advantage for a number of rounds equal to your charisma modifier. I really haven't thought this through, just throwing it out there if someone has any good suggestions.
That being said, what kinds of adventures could be fitting to run for two gestalt characters during the lower levels. Facing evil, demon worshiping cults is a given, but what kind of supernatural creatures could you reasonably face in a two man party? Also we're looking for house rules to make the campaign a bit grittier, something along the lines of recieving penalties when you go below a certain percent of your max hit points. Anyone have any good ones they would like to share?
EDIT: Forgot to mention it, I will be borrowing LOTS of books from my uncle, so I'm not really sure which of them I will have access to, but it's probably more likely that he has them than not.