Dming for Two People

[Merellis]

So starting a campaign for two people and I'm building the first part.

Making a simple run of a investigating a thorp that has some murders happening, and having the two PC's investigate it as well as finding that it's an evil cleric who is looking to create a Ghoul by some ritual of using hearts and somesuch.

Only thing is that I'm starting them at lvl 1 as both are new to the game and to make it easier for them in terms of power I'm looking into Gestalt Rules as well.

Running it as Core with Gestalt ruling and I'm not sure of a way to create a Ghoul as the final boss of this story without DM Fiat.

Any help playgrounders?

[BlueInc]

Why are you having trouble making a ghoul? Is it just because the cleric isn't high enough level yet?

If so, give the cleric an extremely powerful wand of animate dead with very few charges left on it or somesuch. DM fiat with fluff is best; "The cleric found an ancient tome of necromancy," "The cleric's dark god gave him a double blessing for his hard work," "The cleric was trained by a more powerful evil cleric on a ritual to raise the dead."

If you don't like that, say that the ghoul was there to begin with and the evil cleric is just rebuking it. Bonus points if the ghoul is actually rather cuddly (just robbing grave for sustenance) and is being forced to attack living people.\

[Edit]: Reread your post. Maybe he's trying to coax the ghoul into helping him with fresh meat?

[Machinekng]

So starting a campaign for two people and I'm building the first part.

Making a simple run of a investigating a thorp that has some murders happening, and having the two PC's investigate it as well as finding that it's an evil cleric who is looking to create a Ghoul by some ritual of using hearts and somesuch.

Only thing is that I'm starting them at lvl 1 as both are new to the game and to make it easier for them in terms of power I'm looking into Gestalt Rules as well.

Running it as Core with Gestalt ruling and I'm not sure of a way to create a Ghoul as the final boss of this story without DM Fiat.

Any help playgrounders?

To make the Ghoul, you need Create Undead, which is a 6th level spell. Ghouls can also be created naturally by being bitten by another Ghoul, and some cannabals that die rise again as ghouls.

I think DM Fiat may be the way to go. Just figure out what the ingredients are, how long it takes to cast, and other details (like wether the ghoul is under its creator's control).

[Jude_H]

I'd probably avoid gestalt with new players, just because it's twice the classes to learn and twice the pages to reference.


I'm not sure of a way to create a Ghoul as the final boss of this story without DM Fiat.
You say that like it's a bad thing.

If making things up is WrongBadFun, you could have the cleric drop a couple ranks into Use Magic Device, give him a scroll of Create Undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/createUndead.htm), a few followers with UMD ranks to Aid Another, and to present the whole shindig as a sort of secret culty ritual.

EDIT:
If the problem is making a reason for the Ghoul to be the bad guy, that's easy.

The Cleric could be trying to raise a specific dead guy for some reason (he could be an important evil church member or just a buddy). Ghouling him is the most direct way to sentient undead.

But if he makes the ghoul, it's still a ghoul. It could start eating people or something. Or maybe the cleric just wants the Ghoul to team up with. They're smarter than humans, even without a special array, so it might be a good clever villain ally or something.

[Moriato]

Only thing is that I'm starting them at lvl 1 as both are new to the game and to make it easier for them in terms of power I'm looking into Gestalt Rules as well.



You might want to reconsider this. Gestalt rules can be confusing even for experienced players, I don't think it's the best way to introduce someone to the game. Plus you don't want them to be all badass right out of the gate and then get to their next campaign with no gestalt and suddenly feel like wimps.

If you want to go easy on them, just throw some lower CRs their way or creatures that they're particularly good at fighting (Undead against a cleric or paladin, or soft/squishy/warm/breathing things with poor spot and listen checks against a rogue, etc).

[Merellis]

Hmm, yeah, the gestalt ruling might not work too well, but both are fairly new and I want to avoid a DMPC situation, though I could just have a good cleric or something in the town depending on the characters they choose to make.

And I like the idea of having him use an evil tome to make one, and it's not that I'm against DM fiat but was wondering if I could make a low level cleric that could make one. But I like this idea, could even have him turn into the ghoul. Hmmm.

Thanks for the advice.

First time DMing so I hope it goes well. :)

[Ormur]

In my first D&D game (which was also the first one run by the DM) we were only two for most of the game and it worked just fine except the DM had to skip traps because we were playing a cleric and a wizard. Of course it depends on the classes picked, if there is no tier one class they might need more NPC help and you could even consider giving them cohorts with class levels. By the rules that's only possible at level 6 but if they start earlier you're the DM. In a party I run a game for the players got themselves a healbot as a follower (later promoted to PC).

[HunterOfJello]

I used to run a two PC game as DM and had a blast.


I would suggest against starting off in a gestalt game, but maybe give the two of them a follower that's a level or two below them and takes only NPC classes.

[Honest Tiefling]

Gestalt is really hard to explain. If you are worried about them dying, max HP and be generous with stats.

If you are worried about skills, introduce them to Leadership...At level 6. Hopefully by that time, they have more of a handle on the game.

That or offer a set of choices: Full BAB, skills increased to 6 per level and 4 more skills added to the class list, bonus feats, etc. Instead of a class, it is just one extra feature. Heck, could just slap it on at level 2 or after an introductory game.