Scurvy_Platypus
Explorer
I guess I'm going to kinda go against the grain here...
I'd first recommend some sort of relatively easy healing. Either low level healing potions that are relatively cheap/plentiful, an NPC healer that they can hire and/or take along with them, or something like that. I personally like the following:
Hit Points are gained back at the rate of 1/level every hour. 3rd level means you get back 3 HP every hour.
Once your Hit Points run out, damage is applied directly to Strength or Constitution. I like Strength, but Constitution is what most people would pick. Unlike Hit Points, damage done in this fashion is only healed back at the rate of 1 point for every 24 hours of rest.
A system like this means folks can get beat up, but can still be back in fighting shape relatively quickly. Zeroing out your Hit Points is dangerous though, and harder to recover from. It also means you don't have to resort to having an animated healbot following the party, nor will they have to carry 50 lbs worth of healing potions either.
Secondly, I wouldn't go with the whole multiple characters thing. Sure, it's a popular suggestion, but the whole point to having more than 1 character is either A) to fill in a niche that's unfilled and/or B) Another set of Hit Points to be chewed up in a fight.
If you're doing Gestalt characters you can take care of the niche thing relatively easily. Having another set of Hit Points to get chewed up is nice I guess, but if you scale back the enounters a bit, it's not really necessary. I think Gestalt is a good way to go. Especially if someone wants to do something like the Dragon Shaman, which is a great support character class, and will go a long way towards covering a bunch of different things. It's found in the Player's Handbook II if you've got it.
Third, you're going to have to focus your game a bit more. Sure, you can run modules if you want. Just realize that you've got a very limited number of people at the table, and they're going to have a lot more fun if the adventure is tuned towards what their characters are capable of. Just because they're a Gestalt character doesn't mean you can just run a module straight up. Instead of having the players make characters that are going to fit a hack and slash game you want to run, tone things down a bit and scale it, depending on what the actual classes are.
A more focused game means that the 2 characters are going to be able to both have much more "spotlight" time than they would ordinarily. Include more opportunities for the characters to really grow beyond a set of combat statistics and abilities.
If you're going to have them be Gestalts, play up the fact that they're special. They learn faster than ordinary people, or they have an instinct for one of the Gestalt classes... something. PCs tend to be regarded as "special" people in many games, for whatever reason. Let these PCs be just that little bit more special/atypical.
Fourth, you're probably going to have to rethink combats in general, at least a little. Combat is a pretty typical "filler" thing to have in a game, and folks like to toss some dice and smack things down. The thing is, with only a couple of people at the table, you can't rely on it to fill out the game session like you ordinarily would. 4 people (or more) take a while to figure things out, need more stuff to kill, crack jokes and amuse each other, and so forth. Lots of little things that nibble at the time.
Just a couple of people at the table tends to mean that they're more focused on what's happening, and the GM is "on" more. "On" meaning the GM just has to be better prepared, or able to handle more roleplaying interactions, and so forth. I've been running a rules-lighter game for my wife (1 on 1 play) and it's _hard_. I've got to be willing to ad lib, make ad-hoc rulings, and fly by the seat of my pants a lot more. You can have a few more combats to help "fill out" the time more, but believe me when I say that they'll get old pretty quick.
I'd first recommend some sort of relatively easy healing. Either low level healing potions that are relatively cheap/plentiful, an NPC healer that they can hire and/or take along with them, or something like that. I personally like the following:
Hit Points are gained back at the rate of 1/level every hour. 3rd level means you get back 3 HP every hour.
Once your Hit Points run out, damage is applied directly to Strength or Constitution. I like Strength, but Constitution is what most people would pick. Unlike Hit Points, damage done in this fashion is only healed back at the rate of 1 point for every 24 hours of rest.
A system like this means folks can get beat up, but can still be back in fighting shape relatively quickly. Zeroing out your Hit Points is dangerous though, and harder to recover from. It also means you don't have to resort to having an animated healbot following the party, nor will they have to carry 50 lbs worth of healing potions either.
Secondly, I wouldn't go with the whole multiple characters thing. Sure, it's a popular suggestion, but the whole point to having more than 1 character is either A) to fill in a niche that's unfilled and/or B) Another set of Hit Points to be chewed up in a fight.
If you're doing Gestalt characters you can take care of the niche thing relatively easily. Having another set of Hit Points to get chewed up is nice I guess, but if you scale back the enounters a bit, it's not really necessary. I think Gestalt is a good way to go. Especially if someone wants to do something like the Dragon Shaman, which is a great support character class, and will go a long way towards covering a bunch of different things. It's found in the Player's Handbook II if you've got it.
Third, you're going to have to focus your game a bit more. Sure, you can run modules if you want. Just realize that you've got a very limited number of people at the table, and they're going to have a lot more fun if the adventure is tuned towards what their characters are capable of. Just because they're a Gestalt character doesn't mean you can just run a module straight up. Instead of having the players make characters that are going to fit a hack and slash game you want to run, tone things down a bit and scale it, depending on what the actual classes are.
A more focused game means that the 2 characters are going to be able to both have much more "spotlight" time than they would ordinarily. Include more opportunities for the characters to really grow beyond a set of combat statistics and abilities.
If you're going to have them be Gestalts, play up the fact that they're special. They learn faster than ordinary people, or they have an instinct for one of the Gestalt classes... something. PCs tend to be regarded as "special" people in many games, for whatever reason. Let these PCs be just that little bit more special/atypical.
Fourth, you're probably going to have to rethink combats in general, at least a little. Combat is a pretty typical "filler" thing to have in a game, and folks like to toss some dice and smack things down. The thing is, with only a couple of people at the table, you can't rely on it to fill out the game session like you ordinarily would. 4 people (or more) take a while to figure things out, need more stuff to kill, crack jokes and amuse each other, and so forth. Lots of little things that nibble at the time.
Just a couple of people at the table tends to mean that they're more focused on what's happening, and the GM is "on" more. "On" meaning the GM just has to be better prepared, or able to handle more roleplaying interactions, and so forth. I've been running a rules-lighter game for my wife (1 on 1 play) and it's _hard_. I've got to be willing to ad lib, make ad-hoc rulings, and fly by the seat of my pants a lot more. You can have a few more combats to help "fill out" the time more, but believe me when I say that they'll get old pretty quick.
