-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
4e for couples, OMG your GF rolled a char ?!
- Thread starter Phasics
- Start date
phil500 said:
Interesting I was considering throwing in a 2nd Char for combat purposes, the RP would be the brother of her Char who is of below average intelligence and social skills, can't speak due to a birth defect. Basically a standup fighter weapon focused for dmg and tanking, basically obeys the older warlord brother and acts as a bodyguard, so could let her command him during the battles.
Pseudopsyche
First Post
Heh, I briefly tried running my fiancee through Rise of the Runelords (3.5). She rolled two characters with the standard method, coming out to something like a 55-point and a 40-point character. Those two characters managed to survive the first day's encounters, which I thought very cool. Evidently, she thought it very harrowing, and we stopped. She also said that it was hard having no other characters in the party with whom to roleplay.
We're going to try again with 4e, and my plan is to again use two PCs, since doubling the XP budget seems too valuable for encounter design. My thought is that she will control both characters in combat, and I will roleplay the sidekick outside of combat. I might create the sidekick as an NPC (DMG p. 186), but I worry that with only one healing surge per day, the sidekick will never the able to keep up. On the other hand, perhaps it will keep the sidekick from possibly overshadowing the hero of the story. The other question is how much additional XP budget to add for including a NPC in the party, presumably not as much as adding a full PC. The downside of adding a second full PC is of course the complexity for the one player.
In your case, perhaps you can maintain the sidekick's PC character sheet but allow your player to use free actions to give the sidekick plenty of orders (since she's good at giving orders!). Things like, "take out the minions first" or "help me flank this one." Of course, the key is to minimize the sidekick's agency, just have him or her by an extension of your player's agency.
(I do think that adding some kind of "cohort" is a good idea, since your player wants to run a warlord, and so many of her powers rely on the existence of an ally.)
Finally, while you certainly should not run Keep on the Shadowfell without modification, the real question is how far can you scale it by reducing the XP budgets of the encounters accordingly. Perhaps you could rewrite the {spoiler}ful of solo monsters into elites and otherwise prune down to about two monsters or one elite per encounter. The real question is how much does the story suffer for decimating the population of the dungeons and whatnot. It could be worth a try.
Good luck!
We're going to try again with 4e, and my plan is to again use two PCs, since doubling the XP budget seems too valuable for encounter design. My thought is that she will control both characters in combat, and I will roleplay the sidekick outside of combat. I might create the sidekick as an NPC (DMG p. 186), but I worry that with only one healing surge per day, the sidekick will never the able to keep up. On the other hand, perhaps it will keep the sidekick from possibly overshadowing the hero of the story. The other question is how much additional XP budget to add for including a NPC in the party, presumably not as much as adding a full PC. The downside of adding a second full PC is of course the complexity for the one player.
In your case, perhaps you can maintain the sidekick's PC character sheet but allow your player to use free actions to give the sidekick plenty of orders (since she's good at giving orders!). Things like, "take out the minions first" or "help me flank this one." Of course, the key is to minimize the sidekick's agency, just have him or her by an extension of your player's agency.
(I do think that adding some kind of "cohort" is a good idea, since your player wants to run a warlord, and so many of her powers rely on the existence of an ally.)
Finally, while you certainly should not run Keep on the Shadowfell without modification, the real question is how far can you scale it by reducing the XP budgets of the encounters accordingly. Perhaps you could rewrite the {spoiler}ful of solo monsters into elites and otherwise prune down to about two monsters or one elite per encounter. The real question is how much does the story suffer for decimating the population of the dungeons and whatnot. It could be worth a try.
Good luck!
Some other ideas
You could try giving her three NPCs based on the NPC generator at the back of the DMG. Write them out on 3x5 index cards so she can refer to them quickly. That way she has one main character and three support characters. You might consider starting them at level 2 for Keep on the Shadowfell. I am only about 2/3 through the adventure in my bi-weekly game (Gods I love having two D&D games going on) but I think it could be done with four characters one level higher.
I really think and hope that some of the third party gaming publishers come up with some single-character adventures. I think there's a big market for this with couples, siblings, or friends who don't have enough players to play.
If Gamemaster Doug and Kronk can play with just the two of them, why can't the rest of us?
You could try giving her three NPCs based on the NPC generator at the back of the DMG. Write them out on 3x5 index cards so she can refer to them quickly. That way she has one main character and three support characters. You might consider starting them at level 2 for Keep on the Shadowfell. I am only about 2/3 through the adventure in my bi-weekly game (Gods I love having two D&D games going on) but I think it could be done with four characters one level higher.
I really think and hope that some of the third party gaming publishers come up with some single-character adventures. I think there's a big market for this with couples, siblings, or friends who don't have enough players to play.
If Gamemaster Doug and Kronk can play with just the two of them, why can't the rest of us?
The Little Raven
First Post
mhensley said:
That's funny, because I could have sworn I generated my Eladrin Wizard by using 4d6, drop the lowest, as presented on page 18 of the PHB.
But hey, don't let facts get in the way of your snark.
Thunderfoot
Hero
I have the greatest suite a gamer can have - a wife and two teenage kids (19 (not much of a kid really) and 14) that play. So for me, it's more than just a package deal, its family time... 
As for solos with the wife I do have some advice, some contradictory to that offered before. Killing her character is fine IF she isn't one to take things personal. If the game is getting personal STOP PLAYING IMMEDIATELY AND COME BACK TO IT ANOTHER NIGHT!!! Remember that, this is supposed to be fun and when emotions run high, fun has taken a vacation. Also, remember not to get too 'friendly' while playing or 'other' role-playing might commence, and while fun, it is a bad habit to get into - keep them separate.
Best of luck and may there be many days of gaming ahead for the both of you (preferably together).
As for solos with the wife I do have some advice, some contradictory to that offered before. Killing her character is fine IF she isn't one to take things personal. If the game is getting personal STOP PLAYING IMMEDIATELY AND COME BACK TO IT ANOTHER NIGHT!!! Remember that, this is supposed to be fun and when emotions run high, fun has taken a vacation. Also, remember not to get too 'friendly' while playing or 'other' role-playing might commence, and while fun, it is a bad habit to get into - keep them separate.
Best of luck and may there be many days of gaming ahead for the both of you (preferably together).
Skywalker
Adventurer
Phasics said:
Storywise, no problems. I can see it being a good one player story starting with the search for the mentor and then being dragged into the greater menace.
In terms of the mechanics, you will need to pair down the encounters. If you run an NPC with the PC I would look at a Leader first to assist and emphasis the main PC's abilities.
Similar Threads
