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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.

Navigator
2009-08-05, 06:08 AM
There are tons of variants for switching out class abilities for Rangers and Sorcerors (familiars). Take a look in PHB2, Complete Mage, Complete Scoundrel (I think), and Complete Adventurer (which has Rangers with no casting variant I believe).

Make the Ranger//Favored Soul keep turn undead. There is a metric ton of awesome divine feats he can take, namely Divine Might from Complete Warrior, and others from Complete Divine and later books. Also, if you give him too many domains, he'll start overshadowing the Ranger//Sorceror. Not every domain has to be super awesome. Though, I'm saying this having no idea what the home brewed Favored Soul looks like, but as a general guideline I would give him about the same number of spells known as a Sorceror of equal level.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't suggest it, but if you wanted to pick up the Pathfinder Beta pdf (it's free), they have some interesting abilities for themed Sorcerors that might go well with your campaign. You seem to be pretty loose with the rules and more focused on fun, which is why I suggest it.

As far as the kinds of challenges, they have all their bases covered as Ranger//Sorceror and Ranger//Favored Soul, so you can throw mostly anything at them, just keep an eye on the monsters' damage reduction. Using the gestalt guidelines and the fact that there's only two of them, consider them to be a party of one level lower than they are. For example, if they are both level 6, consider them to be a level 5 party, where a CR 5 encounter is "appropriate" and CR 9 is "ZOMG".

Kinkan
2009-08-05, 10:00 AM
Good point about turn undead, it's perfect from a theme point of view. It gets to stay as the Sun Domain's power then, one use per day. I think I might go the same way Person_man did with his FS, having "Faith Points" which can be spent on using a power one extra time (Smite, Turn Undead, activating a divine feat).

About the domain issue, I agree they don't have to be awesome. However, the class basically gets (by level 6) three domains, so three spells known per level. One spell less per level than a sorceror (so by level 6 he would have 5, 4, 2, no level 0 spells) and the fact that his spell list is restricted feels like a good tradeoff for domain powers and the ability to activate them several times per day. As I said I'm thinking about giving him a free spell known every other level to help balance out the fact that his ranger is weaker than normal. I don't think there will be much of a problem with him overshadowing the other player who will actually have most of his ranger abilities combined with a full caster progression (even though he wants to be an Evokertype och Sorceror, I know what some people here think of those :smallwink:).

I'm also considering giving the FS some minor, flavourful ability or bonus considering the ranger only helps him cover up his weaknesses (good fort/ref save, full BAB and one step higher hit die) and doesn't add much in utility or new abilities, but since I don't have anything in mind I'll leave that be for the moment.

The Fire Domain power will need a change, as not even clerics will automatically have turn undead if someone rolls one later. Maybe just let the Fire Domain give Fire Resistance 5 as it's domain power, or have an activated ability which increases his caster level with fire spells for a short while? All I know is he doesn't need more blasting from the domain as he already have smite and some fire spells to sling around.

I feel I can comfortably be a bit loose on the rules as none of my players are really into building powerhouse characters. That combined with the fact that I've been jaded by coming to this forum for several years (and not posting anything until now? What can I say, your discussions are fun to read. Even though I haven't played DnD. I even read the homebrews.) gives me the illusion that I would be able to handle things before they would get out of hand.

I've actually downloaded the Pathfinder beta earlier but haven't thought about it. Some fun concepts, didn't really like the rules most of the time, but I'll take a look at the classes again to see if I get any ideas. Also, will be getting my hands on those books tomorrow, will see then what I have to work with.

Thanks for the input! You've been really helpful.

EDIT: Spelling

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-08-05, 04:32 PM
Would treating the pistols as crossbows while deciding which feats apply be reasonable?

Yeah. It's not a game breaker though it might break you suspension of disbelief. Look at the d20 Modern SRD (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd) and borrow some idead from there.



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?

First, demons and devils are often under CR. So keep that in mind. DR/invisbility/flight are problems unless the low-level PCs have weapons/abilities to counteract. That being said, almost anything is fair game, for ex demons, devils, fey, lycanthropes, undead, aberrations, goblins. It's not the monster bu the presentation. And you can often find lower level versions of the same. So for ex, assuming your 2 gestalt PCs are level 1 to start, a regular vampire might be too tough but a variant vampire (http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/monsters/fleshboundvampire.html) is not.



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?

"Grittier" with only 2 PCs makes it more likely that things can turn quickly on the PCs. First the "grittiness" factor is very closely linked to PC surviveability. PCs face dicey situations time and time again, it's only a matter of time before something goes squish. The more "grit", the more bad things can affect PCs. Second, with only two PCs, there is only that one backup. If one player goes down in a party of four, it's not that bad. So, unless you plan on nerfing encounters more (since you already kind of have to do) or having some NPCs or giving more healing or ways of removing the negative conditions, I would stay away from "grit".