[Resolved] [Pathfinder] How do I make this party work?

[Vivee]

Okay, so. My party consists of

Two Bards (One that has 17 STR, like what?)
An Inquisitor
and A Thief.

The squishiest team ever, how do I make this work?

INFO
* No multi classing.
* One bard (the not-17STR one) refuses to change their build.
* We start at level 4, each player has at least Level 1 already planned out.

EDIT: Problem solved, I'll just fit the encounter to the party. Hadn't considered that for some reason! Thanks for everyone who replied!

[MrSandman]

You could base the campaign on social and infiltration challenges. It seems like a good composition for that.

[Geddy2112]

If you post in the 3. specific subforum you would probably get better pf specific advice.

System independent: You are the DM, you can tailor build encounters to fit the party. If you don't think your party can handle certain types of encounters, then don't force them into those. Give your party options to play to their strengths, or at least a chance to avoid situations where they would be weak. Likewise, if your players are looking for more social intrigue vs hack and slash, then make sure everyone is on the same page.

System specific-your party can easily talk their way out of encounters, or simply sneak around them. Between magic and skills they might not need to fight. Also, a bard can be strength based and still be viable. Tier-wise, a bunch of squishy casters are going to be stronger than a bunch of magicless martial characters.

[BrainFreeze]

Well its not really your position to make it work, present them with challenges and keep an open mind as to how they can work things out. Your epic war may end up with them convincing one of the sides that they really didn’t need that keep on the border anyway and besides the councilor that wanted it in the first place died of totally not mysterious causes when that piano fell on his head at the princesses wedding to the other Bard.

[Lord Torath]

* We start at level 4, each player has at least Level 1 already planned out.I suspect that jkhero is a member of the party, rather than the DM, which changes things substantially.

[MrSandman]

I suspect that jkhero is a member of the party, rather than the DM, which changes things substantially.

To some extent. But the point holds true that the party is best suited for social interaction and stealth. So if they haven't got a say on the terms of the campaign, they should either try to approach most encounters from that perspective or roll new characters.

[Vivee]

I suspect that jkhero is a member of the party, rather than the DM, which changes things substantially.

I'll never tell. :wink:


Fit the encounters to the party.
Thanks, for some reason I hadn't considered that! I'm still new to DMing.

[Boggartbae]

Dirge Bard (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/paizo-bard-archetypes/dirge-bard) is an archetype that gives bards access to animate dead at level 10, so if the game makes it that late, then they could just animate a front line.