PF - Rise of the Runelords - No healing

[Letric]

Hello!

I'm dming for the first time, Rise of the Runelords. I've been a player for around 10 years already and know quite enough about 3.5 and rules in PF.
In our party we have the ex dm, who's currently playing. Another guy who knows a bit about rules, and/or likes to be min-maxer. A guy who's a total newbie and wants to be a Dragon Disciple. And another guy who's also a newbie.

Party is:

- Psion Elan
- Ratfolk Alchemist
- Tengu Monk Zen Archer
- Human Fighter

So far, I'm almost following things by the book, but I'm quite scared I might kill them all.
They have no healer and so far no one has Use Magic Device to my knowledge. Problem is after 1-2 fights they can't keep going on, and they have no means during an adventure to heal themselves.

Soon they'll be going to Catacombs of Wrath and then Thistleop, and there are a lot of encounters that could be difficult. So far everything has been kinda of easy due to the fact that the Psion has been able to sleep almost every single opponent, but they'll start facing Undead (imnume mindless effect) and other opponents that might be able to resist sleep effect.

Should I let them have a NPC help them on their quest? They just leveled to 2.
The AP is supposed to be for 4 PCs, but I'm afraid the lack of healing could make things tedious for them. I'm not sure if they'll find it funny to have to rest after every combat, or even come back to town since they can't heal.

Maybe I'm being too protective with them, and I should let them experience things as they go. After all no one rolled a Cleric and they were aware of the complications that this could cause, right?

[Hamste]

Alchemists have cure light wounds on their formulae list so they can use spell trigger items like wands of cure light wounds without umd (I think...In the very least they can heal themselves) . What is more the Psion should get vigor which will effectively increase their hp. Worst comes the worst though they just have to rest more.

[Psyren]

The alchemist can use spell-trigger items - this includes wands, so give him a CLW wand and they should be good to go.

If he wants something more "chemistry-ish," have him make potions for everybody. (If you go this route, be warned that potions are highly inefficient compared to wands.)

[Ailowynn]

RotR has quite a few treasure hoards...maybe just add in some potions to a few of those? CLW/CMW should be just about perfect.

[Cambrian]

Adding onto what Psyren said: a combination of the two is probably best. Most healing can be handled by wands, but with that party make up they do not have the redundancy if the alchemist goes down. Wands are cheaper per use simply because there are limitations on who can use them.

One solution in the future (when you don't have an Alchemist to save the day) would be to add healing potions into the loot (at least early on, later let them prepare with the profits of the last adventure). If you do this just be mindful that the enemies can use the potions unless they're are added to stashes not easily accessible in combat.

[Letric]

Seems like a good idea. I believe so far they only have 3, so I might add some wands with less charges so they take responsibility and start buying them themselves.

I just want to be careful and not add TOO much healing! After all they should run out of resources eventually.

[Cambrian]

You shouldn't have too much trouble. In most campaigns, after the first few levels, healing is no longer a limiting factor.

Between the Psion and the Alchemist they'll still need to stop and recharge.

[VexingFool]

The AP does have a decent amount of healing potions in the monster treasure but probably not enough to make up for no healer. As was suggested I would probably drop a 10-15 charge cure light wand into a treasure pile.

I don't think they should have any problems with the Catacombs of Wrath, the most difficult fight is more inability to damage the monster rather than the monsters damage output. You might consider an NPC when they journey to Thistletop, the top-level fights are pretty easy but the lower level ones can be difficult. The AP does provide a suggested NPC to travel with them to Thistletop and she does have a cure wand in her equipment. I would de-level her from level-6 to level-4 or she will destroy any challenge from the top-level fights.

I currently just finished chapter-2 with the group I am dm'ing for. So far we have had 2 character deaths. The magus died in the lowest level of Thistletop and the rogue died in the opening rounds of the final battle of chapter 2. The rest of the group consists of a druid, cleric/monk(zen archer), and an inquisitor(magus player's new character). The cleric did need to cast some in combat healing to keep the party from being wiped out in the last fight.

[Keneth]

Either throw a bunch of healing items at them, or use the Strain and Injury (https://www.google.si/?gws_rd=cr&ei=1cdfUpuLKsuKswbg9YHYCg#q=pathfinder+strain+inju ry) rules to let them catch a breather between strings of encounters. Or both if necessary.

Edit: For the record, I've run the AP without healers several times and it works just fine as long as the players can stock up on wands every once in a while, and don't waste potions/charges unless necessary.

[Letric]

The AP does have a decent amount of healing potions in the monster treasure but probably not enough to make up for no healer. As was suggested I would probably drop a 10-15 charge cure light wand into a treasure pile.

I don't think they should have any problems with the Catacombs of Wrath, the most difficult fight is more inability to damage the monster rather than the monsters damage output. You might consider an NPC when they journey to Thistletop, the top-level fights are pretty easy but the lower level ones can be difficult. The AP does provide a suggested NPC to travel with them to Thistletop and she does have a cure wand in her equipment. I would de-level her from level-6 to level-4 or she will destroy any challenge from the top-level fights.

I currently just finished chapter-2 with the group I am dm'ing for. So far we have had 2 character deaths. The magus died in the lowest level of Thistletop and the rogue died in the opening rounds of the final battle of chapter 2. The rest of the group consists of a druid, cleric/monk(zen archer), and an inquisitor(magus player's new character). The cleric did need to cast some in combat healing to keep the party from being wiped out in the last fight.

Ouch, that's quite a lot. That's one of my problems. Not sure if I should kill them now before they get attached too much to their PCs.

I'll try putting some wands on the treasure, maybe the will help. Then, if they don't take care of that, well, it's their problem.

I've seen that there any many short combats and that could play against them due to the possibility of me rolling some 20s. I mean, one they did the Boar Hunt, their Alchemist was tracking the boar, and I had the boar have a surprise charge attack. I rolled a 20, confirmed critical and rolled maximum damage. I did 12 Damage against a 9 HP Pc =). A pot of cure lights had to appear on Foxglove so they won't be wasting too much resources on a random enconter.

I'll try the 20 Charges Cure light that should be enough.

[Letric]

Either throw a bunch of healing items at them, or use the Strain and Injury (https://www.google.si/?gws_rd=cr&ei=1cdfUpuLKsuKswbg9YHYCg#q=pathfinder+strain+inju ry) rules to let them catch a breather between strings of encounters. Or both if necessary.

Edit: For the record, I've run the AP without healers several times and it works just fine as long as the players can stock up on wands every once in a while, and don't waste potions/charges unless necessary.

Has anyone ever used this rule? Seems like practical but doesn't eventually allow Melee classes to continue forever?

Since I don't have much experience with GMing, I'll start with the healing things. I'm just sorta worried that on the future they might be putting too much Wealth on the healing items, making their capacity to fight weaker. Anyway, their choice not having a cleric again.

[Keneth]

Has anyone ever used this rule? Seems like practical but doesn't eventually allow Melee classes to continue forever?

I use it in my campaigns, including the Runelords campaign I'm running right now.

There's nothing inherently wrong with letting mundanes go on "forever". Assuming they have access to wands and potions, they can do so anyway, it just saves you time with post-combat bookkeeping. It's also a bit more realistic and saves some gold, so the party can buy stuff they actually need during gameplay.

I generally reduce the availability of wands though, so that injuries aren't trivialized. And we use modified eternal wands rather than charged ones.

[Letric]

I use it in my campaigns, including the Runelords campaign I'm running right now.

There's nothing inherently wrong with letting mundanes go on "forever". Assuming they have access to wands and potions, they can do so anyway, it just saves you time with post-combat bookkeeping. It's also a bit more realistic and saves some gold, so the party can buy stuff they actually need during gameplay.

I generally reduce the availability of wands though, so that injuries aren't trivialized. And we use modified eternal wands rather than charged ones.

I'm going to read it well and check with my previous DM what he thinks about it. To be honest, when I was a cleric in the last campaign, I had to do the healing IN COMBAT, which you know is completely a waste of a turn. But party is not experienced enough I think.

[Psyren]

With Quick Channel it's not a waste, as you can use your move action to heal everyone and still cast with your standard.

[Letric]

With Quick Channel it's not a waste, as you can use your move action to heal everyone and still cast with your standard.

I'm pretty sure Channel is standard unless you wasted a feat to make it Move Action.

Anyway, need to read that Strain thing and check if it's viable in my campaign. I think it might make things funnier for the party

[Psyren]

I'm pretty sure Channel is standard unless you wasted a feat to make it Move Action.

1) That feat is what I was talking about.
2) How is it a waste? Feats are there to be used, and this is a good use of one.

[Letric]

1) That feat is what I was talking about.
2) How is it a waste? Feats are there to be used, and this is a good use of one.


OFFTOPIC
I think my Cleric had like 12 CHA, and you need 2 Feats, Selective Channel and the one you're speaking about it. For a Cleric is a huge investment I believe. Not an expert on mix maxing though.

[Psyren]

OFFTOPIC
I think my Cleric had like 12 CHA, and you need 2 Feats, Selective Channel and the one you're speaking about it. For a Cleric is a huge investment I believe. Not an expert on mix maxing though.

Action economy is one of the best benefits you can get in a turn-based game. It's well worth spending a single feat with easy requirements to achieve.

You don't need Selective Channeling to get Quick Channel, but you really should have that anyway. The only reason I can see for skipping it is if you never plan to use your channel in combat at all. Which is certainly your prerogative, but it's a little odd to just blow off a class feature like that.

[Keneth]

To be honest, when I was a cleric in the last campaign, I had to do the healing IN COMBAT, which you know is completely a waste of a turn. But party is not experienced enough I think.

If you're getting pommeled in combat, the solution is generally not to go around healing people, but to step up your aggressiveness. The turn spent healing an ally is very rarely worth it, which isn't to say that a well placed heal can't turn the tide of a battle.

I should note though that we also use hero points, and they're an excellent resource to spend in dire situations. An unexperienced group would probably benefit from them a lot more than our group of veterans.

[Beandip]

I am currently DM'ing this adventure and are midway through book 4. So far there have been 2 party deaths. Both have been the same guy, a cleric. Kind of his own fault as he kept healing everyone but himself. One was a crit boulder to the face followed next round by the old aoe fireball he got too close to. Anyway, wands could be good enough and there are enough NPC's to help out, especially in Sandpoint and Magnimar. If no one wants to play a healer, don't make them. Not fun if no one wants to.