Advice for DM'ing 3-PC party w/o leader?

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JoshR

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #1

I'm starting a campaign with 3 PC's -- a Swordmage, a Paladin, and a Ranger. (So two defenders and a striker.) I'm running the Loudwater adventures from the FR campaign guide, and then moving on to Scepter Tower of Spellgard.

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice to share about how I might approach modifying the adventures (and later ones) for this party. Aside from a few one-off's, this is the first 4e campaign I've DM'ed.

I know I'll need to reduce the number of monsters to accommodate the smaller party size. If I just subtract monsters to get the 3-PC experience amount, should it work?

I'm also concerned about the lack of healing, though the Paladin is going to focus on healing powers to some extent. I've also given all three PC's a limited version of the ritual caster feat for free (Swordmage with arcane rituals, Paladin divine, and Ranger nature), so they don't need to compensate for missing a full caster out of combat.

Any other thoughts, or pointers on challenges that I'm likely to encounter?

 

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shamsael

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #2

I play in a group with a swordmage, paladin and warlock and we're doing alright at the moment.

I would strongly suggest that the paladin multiclass heavily into cleric for the daily healing word and later access to at-will sacred flame.

 

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Danceofmasks

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #3

Paragon multiclassing cleric is not as efficient as hospitaler for a healing pally ..

 

H

Hawkes

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #4

I'm also in a Cleric-less party, and we seem to be doing okay although there are four of us: Ranger, Warlock, Warlord and Rogue. We're all between 2nd-4th level at this point and our DM has compensated for our lack of a Cleric or Paladin by giving us access to a fair number of potions and other healing items. We had an NPC travel with us briefly, but I'm not sure of his class and even his healing powers were very limited.

If I were DM'ing your group I'd give them the material resources to compensate, and yes, reducing the number of monsters slightly will help. After a few battles you'll be able to more accurately gauge the strengths of the party and match the difficulty of the encounters to levels they can handle. I'm assuming you've DM'd before 4th Edition, but of course you can always fudge die rolls if you need to. The first-ever campaign I DM'd, I made the mistake of rolling damage from a critical hit (Duergar Warhammer x3) on the outside of my DM screen. My little brother's character was killed outright.

 

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Rashak Mani

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #5

Julio ?

If JoshR is not my friend... then I'm impressed. Its the same description of the group we are setting up.

I've been doing some research on the Paladin. The hospitaler has some great healing powers. So much that I wonder if its even practical to have a Cleric at all in such a group.

 

WalterKovacs

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #6

I would see how it goes at first ... and possibly do the following fixes depending on how bad things seem:

(a) Everyone gets 2 second winds/encounter
(b) Second Wind/Heal Checks to give someone a second wind become a move action
(c) Healing potions show up more often
(d) Allow one person multiclassing into a leader class to get the effect 1/encounter instead of 1/day

I may also make it easier to stabilize, since with so few party members, if say ... the Paladin goes down, it may be difficult for the Ranger to get to him and do a succesful heal check. The move action heal would also help in this case, and perhaps lowering the DC for stabilization would be a bit easier.

There are also items they can pick up which would help them up. I know one that, if you are bloodied when you use your second wind, you get to burn 2 surges. Similar items that give you more bang for your buck either by letting you burn additional surges, or get more for each surge, etc.

 

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MrMyth

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #7

One thing to note: Leaders generally add more healing per combat, but generally don't significantly enhance the amount of healing available per day. What that means is that, with a leader-less party, having a greater number of less dangerous encounters is not a bad method to go.

If you do want some more dangerous fights, I'd recommend making sure the party has found a number of healing potions or other resources they can burn when things get especially rough. The paladin's presence also helps with this, since he likely has some limited healing available as well.

With two defenders, the party will be pretty tough, which should also help. If the ranger is melee, they are likely to be the weak spot of the party - but an archer ranger can usually stay safe in the back in most circumstances.

 

chitzk0i

Explorer

• Oct 27, 2008

• #8

I'm not familiar with the adventures you're running, but maybe you could come up with some reasons why the enemies would capture the PCs. In case you overdo it, you can segue into the PCs escaping from captivity. You probably don't want to do this repeatedly, but it could come in handy while you get a feel for what your party can handle.

 

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Mengu

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #9

MrMyth said:

One thing to note: Leaders generally add more healing per combat, but generally don't significantly enhance the amount of healing available per day.

Click to expand...

This is not entirely true. A cleric adds additional d6's to surges and his healer's lore bonus which is +4'ish, and has powers to add temporary hitpoints during an encounter, and a few utility powers that don't require expending healing surges, not to mention daily powers (via class abilities or magic items) which do some outright healing or even enhance the cleric's other healing powers. These add up to a significant amount of healing available per day.

A party without a leader, will run out of healing surges more quickly than a party with, so a DM should compensate for this.

 

J

JoshR

First Post

• Oct 27, 2008

• #10

Mengu said:

A party without a leader, will run out of healing surges more quickly than a party with, so a DM should compensate for this.

Click to expand...

What about giving everyone an extra 2 healing surges per day, and making second wind a minor action?

Would that be overcompensating, or still not enough?