HotDQ for two... (no spoilers, help needed!)

[Felvion]

Well, my group just got the HotDQ and we were up to a quick playtest. For various reasons, we are left with only 2 player characters and me DMing.

I have to make this happen. I'm too busy atm reading and setting things while, apparently, i'm in time pressure since there are only few hours left. Also, i'm not that used to dming such a small group. That's why i need help with some things and I ask for the playground's advice!

First problem i have is that both of them aren't too experienced and sometimes they may need help to keep things rolling but thats entirely up to me.

Second one is the class selection. One of my guys is going to be moon druid. Solid choice imo, especially in a duo PC group. He's ok to play something else if needed. The other one is really open to suggestions. He actually told me to pick a class for him in order to have all roles most possibly covered, just ruling out the heavy casters of 3.5 (cleric, sorcerer, wizard) cause he's bored of them and the barbarian cause he's already playing one in another campain. So, what should this guy play?

Next one that troubles me is what level should they start... I was thinking lvl3 to make even for the small party. I'd prefer to have them stronger and increase the encounter difficulty if needed rather than have them struggle and die early.

What do you guys think?

Ps:Any advice is welcome feel free to post anything you consider helpfull. I may not reply soon but i'll be reading everything so thanks in adcance!

[RealCheese]

How about a warlock with criminal background? Covers three roles decently as I see it. Face, thieves tools user and arcane caster.

[Yagyujubei]

you need to make sure they have a means to heal themselves, so I would have gone with cleric, bard, or paladin for the other player, but if he doesn't want a heavy caster then that limits options...

if you hand out healing potions to compensate for lack of party heals then warlock would be a good way to go. otherwise I would say an archer bard would probably be the most well rounded.

as for starting level, having them at 3 will probably balance the difficulty decently, since moon druid is incredibly strong at level 3

[Felvion]

Thanks for the answers guys! Eventually, the player is having fun with the lvl3 warlock and the criminal bg.:smallcool:

[RealCheese]

Thanks for the answers guys! Eventually, the player is having fun with the lvl3 warlock and the criminal bg.:smallcool:

Happy to help! I started a criminal warlock for a campaign, but wound up shooting too broadly since we were six players. So I was stepping on the rogues toes with my thieves tools/sneaking and on the cleric and paladins toes with my facing. So ultimately, to help the others have a good time (since they are new players and I want them to be excited about the game) I rerolled a moon druid and now I'm just a beast in combat, letting the newbies have fun with the talking and sneaking.

[MaxWilson]

you need to make sure they have a means to heal themselves, so I would have gone with cleric, bard, or paladin for the other player, but if he doesn't want a heavy caster then that limits options...

Short rest work well for healing in 5E, but if that fails, you can take the Healer feat. Healing kits are cheaper than spell slots in many cases.

[Inevitability]

Look over all the encounters, then remove monsters to make them balanced for a 2 player party. The normal encounters are already too hard (looks like the writers didn't grasp the 'more monsters > one big monster' rule).