1 PC Adventure Paths

[Nightfall]

*sighs* Sorry little over-exhuberant.


Tome of Artifacts details a great list of artifacts that can be used at ANY level of play.

One specific one that works well for say a one person PC type game is the Bastard of Exalted Heroism.

This bastard sword allows a PC to have the class benefits and abilities of a Paladin equal to that character's level. It also grants paladin abilities such as constant detect evil, along with a few other abilities. (Bonus feats, sword acts as holy avenger, etc) Now it ALSO has few will save and thus compells the wielder to fight hard against even the SLIGHTEST amount of evil it detects (which cannot be foiled by any means that isn't of a divinely cast nature, IE spells cast by a deity.) It also compells the wielder on to quests to further good and law along with tithing every year.

It's a great little buzz saw thing that makes the PC feel like "Gee this is terribly bad thinking" on my part, kind of thing. It also doesn't allow the PC to lie.

 

[roguerouge]

How is War of the Burning Sky for being adapted to a single PC?

David

 

[roguerouge]

Best class for 1 PC in Freeport Trilogy?

Oh, also, how well would the following single PC classes work in the Freeport Trilogy:

Bard, Beguiler, Rogue
Fighter, Ranger
Paladin, Cleric
Wizard, Sorceror

These are the classes that my player's expressed an interest in... I think she's waiting for some hints on what would maximize survivability.

 

[Birmy]

Which is why TSR published the (Class)'s Challange solo adventures back in 2e, each designed for one PC of one class. I have three of them, and they're some of the best-developed adventures I've ever read.

I'll second this recommendation. Running the "Wizard's Challenge" back when it was, you know, current is one of my better gaming memories from back then. If the others in the "_______ Challenge" series are as good it's worth looking into.

 

[Glyfair]

I have not heard of an adventure path for a solo character.

I think Wyvern's Claw Design was sort of working in this direction. Their "Thievery 101" series was up to 2 1/2 adventures.

Unfortunately, they disappeared 4 years ago and haven't produced anything since. That's a shame because their products were pretty good, and somewhat innovative. They even promised a cleric series and a bard series.

You can still buy their two products on RPGNow. I'm not sure if the "web enhancement" is still out there*.

* Edit: Aha, it's tied to the "Periapt of Famidon" download.

 

[The Lost Muse]

Assuming you adjusted encounters to account for a single PC instead of a standard party of four, how well classes would survive in the Freeport Trilogy:

Bard - Fairly well, the modules do not overly emphasize combat, and social interaction is at least as important to the ongoing plot.

Rogue - An excellent choice.

Fighter - Fighters will have trouble engaging some of the stranger aspects of the plot, suffering from poor will saves. They will be better able to kill things and take their stuff though.

Ranger - Another good choice, although the urban ranger variant might be worth taking a look at.

Paladin - Paladins may have trouble getting along well in Freeport, being that its a tropical pirate haven. That said, they are another good choice, mechanically speaking.

Cleric - "Aren't prestige classes for munchkins and clerics?" If the cleric worships the god of knowledge, you've got a built-in hook for every adventure in the original trilogy, and may not require the presence of Brother Egil at all. Clerics should do relatively well in Freeport.

Wizard/Sorceror - Not a good choice without hirelings/bodyguards

If I were going to solo the trilogy I'd pick rogue and max out bluff, gather info, sleight of hand, search, and use magic device; putting the rest of my ranks into skills that improved mobility in combat. Any class with a cure spell on the spell list is a good choice also. The only above classes I would not recommend is straight fighter, or sorceror/wizard. The fighter is too focussed on combat, and the sorceror/wizard is really going to lack the durability to survive any strenuous encounters (like the climax of the first module).

 

[Nightfall]

Tim is right about paladins might having a rough time but on the other hand, speaking purely from a mechanics standpoint they are good at surviving tough challenges, especially at mid levels.

*three*

 

[robberbaron]

Are you guys all assuming 1 PC on his own?

Why not assume 1 PC and 3 or 4 NPC's - cohorts, hirelings, etc? Or 1 player running 2 or more PCs?

Makes it much less difficult to find suitable APs.

 

[RangerWickett]

How is War of the Burning Sky for being adapted to a single PC?

David

Playing War of the Burning Sky with a single PC would require a hero who can do a little bit of everything, with a nice emphasis of kicking butt, like Kratos from God of War, though hopefully a bit more noble and heroic. Still, it's a war, so Kratos or someone with a similar conqueror mentality would be in their element.

Or perhaps he could be the leader of a group. A few of the adventures do assume some level of magical ability among the heroes.

If you just have a single character, he would definitely need to be leveled up, since the campaign saga assumes a party of four. There is an NPC in each adventure who can act as a guide or ally if the party is short, though those are designed for the assumed party level.

I think it would actually be cool to have a PC start off at, say, 5th level in the first adventure (which is intended for a 1st level party), and then to just have him progress as normal. He'd be getting more experience per encounter, and would probably stay at about 4 levels above that assumed for the adventure, which would let him pretty nicely maintain an air of epic heroism as he single-handedly turns the tide of the war.

However, he would need to be well-motivated. Like, if his goal was to bring down one of the nations in the war, or to become ruler himself, or to end the war to save his family/wife/children, that could work.

I think it would be an awesome idea. If you haven't yet looked at the first adventure of War of the Burning Sky, roguerouge, send me an email at ryanznock@gmail.com, and I'll send you a copy of it. If you like it, subscribe to the rest. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.