3 PCs in Rescue at Rivenroar

[Parlan]

I'd like some suggestions for a problem I've been wrestling with.

I'm kicking off a new campaign this Sunday. I have 3 players. So far there's a paladin, a wizard, and one undecided (and I'm not sure just how definite the pally and wizzie are).

I'm an inexperienced DM. I've run about 6 sessions of WFRP 2e, and never D&D, although I've played a ton of 3.x and a couple of sessions of 4e.

I'd like to run at least a couple of pre-written adventures both to cut down on the prep required and also to get a good sense of how to build an adventure.

I was thinking of starting off with Rescue at Rivenroar. I think the plot will appeal to my players. However, the more I look at it, the more I worry about the adventure:

There's a lot of combat.
I only have 3 players
My players are not particularly tactically savvy.


My first thought was to create a cleric NPC to accompany them. He'd basically stand back and heal them, and I'd ask one of the players to run him. I think this would make the party much more durable.

However, as a player, I really dislike have extra characters in the party. Cohorts, DMPCs, it doesn't matter, I feel like they take the focus off the actual PCs.

I've thought of toning down the opposition in the adventure, but since it was written for 5 PCs, I'm going the have to scale it down a LOT. This might almost be more work than creating my own adventure.

Any thoughts?

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

I was in the same situation. I decided to run Rescue at Rivenroar with 3 players (Ranger, Fighter, Wizard), all of them newbies (2 had played 1E several years ago; 1 has never played). I gave them a NPC Cleric (Cha/ranged based) that follows them around.

It has gone ok so far. No scaling down, and no deaths so far (although some have fallen), although I might have pulled some punches in some cases. I was lucky enough to get a 4th player to play the cleric as-is.

If you don't want to scale down, I strongly suggest a 4th PC, even if its a DMPC. Also, if you want to give them more of a chance, give them more XP than normal, so they level a little faster.

*** minor rescue at rivenroar spoiler ***

I decided to level the PC just before they went in Castle Rivenroar, to give them a chance. I might level them once more when they reach the 2nd level, so they have a better chance against the tougher, "end-game" encounters.

If you're staying with 3 PCs, then you could start them at 2nd level, level them to 3rd when they reach the castle, and level them to 4th once more than "half" the castle has been cleared. Or make the NPCs they are supposed to rescue into "minor" DMPCs that help a little during combats.

Good luck!

AR

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Took me about 40 min. or so to restat or other wise tweek that for a 3 character party.

In your case, run the initial bar fight as is, they should be able to handle it. The next encounter definitely needs work as some of the monsters are a little overwhealming. Replace with something lower level from the MM or tweak as per DMG. In your case get a lower level soldier or brute type and just reskin it as the original monster, in terms of appearence and so forth but use the lower level monster combat stats.

If necessary have a couple of level equal goblin encounters from the MM ready and use them before they get to the castle. In that way you keep the Castle Rivenroar encoutners until the next session and you have a better feel for your players abilities. They adjust the Rivenroar encounters as you see fit.

For a small party without a cleric, lurkers and controllers are worst so use juddiciously and allow, no, encouage them to get potions of cure light wounds. In fact have their sponser insist they carry them.

 

[Parlan]

Thank you both for your replies. They were very helpful.

I think there's a good likelihood the last player will play a cleric. If so, I'll prolly use ardoughter's approach.

If she surprises me with something else, especially something that can't stand in melee, I might roll up a cleric and see how that goes for a session or two. If I don't like it, I can always kill off the cleric.

 

[frankthedm]

There's a lot of combat.
I only have 3 players
My players are not particularly tactically savvy.

Maybe Break apart normal foes into minions and let them be "clumpy"? Example: Take a normal hobgoblin in the encounter, remove it and replace with minions worth XP to the original hobgoblin. Then during the battle, let the minions wind up near each other so the fighter can cleave them and the wizard can fireblast them more often than not. I think "reskinning" the decrepit skeleton provides an excellent minion. {use the stats of the skeleton minion, but describe it as whatever humanoid you need, just replace the undead resists and vulnerabilities with the base racial features of the new race].

However, as a player, I really dislike have extra characters in the party. Cohorts, DMPCs, it doesn't matter, I feel like they take the focus off the actual PCs.

I've thought of toning down the opposition in the adventure, but since it was written for 5 PCs, I'm going the have to scale it down a LOT. This might almost be more work than creating my own adventure.

If the players have a lot of character ideas, let, maybe insist, each person runs two characters. They are still the player's characters, rather than NPCs. Adding 20% more monsters and loot is FAR easier than subtracting 40% and you don't have to worry that if one character dies, a player is out of the action.

Now if you don't mind video game flavor, here are some counter sheets made from video game sprites.

img510.imageshack.us/img510/773/rivenroarjo8.png
img225.imageshack.us/img225/6691/rivenroar2ns5.png
[sblock=Dungeon 156 Rivenroar Counters]


sprite rippers include; Grim, emonoya, CACM, Mr.P, bogleech, Rose_0f_Yoshiki, VGS.net D & blue99. [/sblock]

 

[Pseudopsyche]

Strictly from a theoretical standpoint, a standard encounter for the default party of five level 1 PCs (500 XP) is about as tough as a standard encounter for three level 3 PCs (450 XP). It might therefore be reasonable to run three level 3 PCs through a standard level 1 adventure. They should even gain levels at about the same pace as the standard level 1 party, perhaps slightly faster. (You might want to scale up the treasure parcels two levels). Honestly, I haven't tried this approach, so I don't know how well it works in practice, but it's what I would do in this situation.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I'd love if someone tried pseudopsyche's idea and how it worked out.