How to balance my party/appropriate encounters

[Tychris1]

Hello, I'm about to venture down the beaten road of DMing a 3.5 game for the first time. The players are two close friends of mine who I got into DnD easily. My first game is just going to be a simple one off adventure in which by the end of it I plan on butchering there characters so that they can use there real characters.

That's where the problem comes into play.

My friends liked creating concepts and sticking with them, developing them and working to find ways to fit. My one friend (Let's call him Friend A) wants to be a Field Guard (Homebrewed Scarcecrow class made on Gitp) Necromancer (Fiddlesticks as he put it). I can work with that, the theme of being a Necromancer is easy to work with, especially with such a terrifying form. It's my other friend were it gets a bit worse, see, Friend B wants to be an Evoker... And a Wraith. At first I laughed about it and thought it was cool. Bbut the more I think about it the more hard it's going to be to balance him and Friend A at the same time.

It gets worse considering we're using the Savage Species wraith template, which means Friend A starts out at level 8 and Friend B only gets access to level 1 spells. Please, if you have any Advice on balancing encounters for them and getting this monstrous party to work please tell me. I'd like to work with them and do a campaign, but there monstrous forms means that interaction with society will be strained at best.

Anyone have experience with this situation? I really like what they've gotten going (Especially since they've linked up back stories and created a Mage guild that imprisoned them for there insane rise to power). I've been considering lowering the LA for the wraith template, but the possibility of him getting out of hand scares me a bit. Please help.

[Alaris]

Hello, I'm about to venture down the beaten road of DMing a 3.5 game for the first time. The players are two close friends of mine who I got into DnD easily. My first game is just going to be a simple one off adventure in which by the end of it I plan on butchering there characters so that they can use there real characters.

That's where the problem comes into play.

My friends liked creating concepts and sticking with them, developing them and working to find ways to fit. My one friend (Let's call him Friend A) wants to be a Field Guard (Homebrewed Scarcecrow class made on Gitp) Necromancer (Fiddlesticks as he put it). I can work with that, the theme of being a Necromancer is easy to work with, especially with such a terrifying form. It's my other friend were it gets a bit worse, see, Friend B wants to be an Evoker... And a Wraith. At first I laughed about it and thought it was cool. Bbut the more I think about it the more hard it's going to be to balance him and Friend A at the same time.

It gets worse considering we're using the Savage Species wraith template, which means Friend A starts out at level 8 and Friend B only gets access to level 1 spells. Please, if you have any Advice on balancing encounters for them and getting this monstrous party to work please tell me. I'd like to work with them and do a campaign, but there monstrous forms means that interaction with society will be strained at best.

Anyone have experience with this situation? I really like what they've gotten going (Especially since they've linked up back stories and created a Mage guild that imprisoned them for there insane rise to power). I've been considering lowering the LA for the wraith template, but the possibility of him getting out of hand scares me a bit. Please help.

Well, friend B only gets access to 1st level spells BECAUSE he has other abilities (presumably from being a Wraith) which should balance him out.

Honestly, if you're DMing for the first time.. make them play normal races. PHB races. It will make things 1,000x easier on you. It might sound cool, and even look cool on paper, but it's hard to DM for unless you're completely ready.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Well, friend B only gets access to 1st level spells BECAUSE he has other abilities (presumably from being a Wraith) which should balance him out.

Honestly, if you're DMing for the first time.. make them play normal races. PHB races. It will make things 1,000x easier on you. It might sound cool, and even look cool on paper, but it's hard to DM for unless you're completely ready.

+1 Starting newbs out with the whole of 3.5, nevermind homebrew, is a terrible plan.

DM'ing is already a metric crap-ton of work; albeit fun, rewarding work if you're good at it; and trying to balance characters with wildly varying LA and states of corporeality is just making that much more.

Tell friend B that you made a terri-bad mistake, and that he should pick something corporeal and with minimal level adjustment. If he wants to be an evoker, you could probably let him be a warmage (CAr) with no trouble.

I'd also strongly suggest you start them at a level no higher than 5. At 5 you've reached the point where the different classes are starting to really differentiate themselves from one another, but you haven't reached the point where they have a bewildering array of options that they don't know how to use.

Also, the link in my sig could be helpful for putting together a campaign that's a nice blend of story driven play without excessive rail-roading.

[Tychris1]

Thanks for the advice, I hate to rain on people's parades but I have to agree. Removing the wraith would be for the best. Hmmm, perhaps I can let him build towards it? Like a spellcaster building towards Lichdom, except it's Wraithdom. How sensible is this idea (Or am I just getting really soft here?)

As for no homebrew, eh, the Field guard race isn't too ridiculous, and I rather like the idea anyway and have already worked towards it. Now that I think about it i'll just let Friend A slide.