Is it possible to be successful without leaders?

[ProdigalTim]

The title says it really, we're starting a new 4e campaign in a few weeks at level 2, and we were wondering if it would be feasible to overcome content designed for a balanced party without any sort of healing class. The party would be made up of a controller, elemental shaman, a defender, fighter, and three strikers, dark pact warlock archery ranger and a martial artist.

What items/tactics would make such a make-up run with the least pain?

 

[Thanee]

Really hard to say.

From my experience, it's very tough without the healing. In our games, it is often necessary.

Of course, with three Strikers the damage output will be higher, so it can work, but you sure should stock up on healing potions at the very least.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thasmodious]

The title says it really, we're starting a new 4e campaign in a few weeks at level 2, and we were wondering if it would be feasible to overcome content designed for a balanced party without any sort of healing class. The party would be made up of a controller, elemental shaman, a defender, fighter, and three strikers, dark pact warlock archery ranger and a martial artist.

What items/tactics would make such a make-up run with the least pain?

Short answer - yes. Any class/role combination is workable. Would your group in some trouble if just cracked open a module and ran it as is? Yes. But modules should always be adapted to groups anyway. They're built around a default assumption. In 4e, that is 5 players and all roles covered.

Potions will help. Dropping items/weapons that enable healing (there is a good selection of those, especially if AV is in play) will go a long way too.

One general model I would think could work for a leader-less group would be more encounters, each one slightly easier. Perhaps use an encounter budget for one less player much of the time. Surges would be a between encounter resource, primarily. So long fights against large numbers of non-minions would be their weakness.

 

[vladbat]

Having Dmed my group through Keep without modifying it to much they OFTEN need healing. Even with a cleric they had some problems until they figured out second wind and got some temp hp granting items.
Potions are going to be a must. I would encourage the alchemy feat to help with that. The players may also want to consider multi-classing into a leader role later. They get a skill and a healing power they can use once an encounter.
I'd throw them a belt of sacrifice ASAP so they can swap healing surges around and get a bonus to their second winds.

 

[ProdigalTim]

Too bad there's no 3ed healing belt anymore, eh?

 

[Plane Sailing]

In my campaign the party has floating membership.

The weeks that there isn't a leader there, they get into desperate straights.

Seriously, a leader pulls their butts out of the fire and lets them keep on going (it got to the point that I include an NPC cleric to go along with them if the normal leaders are not available).

You could run an adventure without them, but the impact of missing several healings and associated buffs is pretty big.

Cheers

 

[boolean]

Too bad there's no 3ed healing belt anymore, eh?

There is (sort of), but it's an 11th level item.

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Depends on how you define successful. Can they get through content? Certainly! Will it be anything resembling easy? Probably not. With some creativity and some effort, however, it can certainly be done.

 

[666Sinner666]

O.K. First I would need clarifying on the party make up. Are there two defenders including the fighter or just the fighter as the defender? If there are two defenders, fighter and paladin, then they should be sticky enough to keep the baddies away from the squishy controller and the two distance strikers. On the other hand I have not seen a shaman or martial artist before since they are player created classes as of now and have no idea how they work in game.

All in all I would shy away from extended fights with multiple non minion monsters or at the very least keep them for boss fights. Since healing potions only work if surges are available they will only go so far and eventually the party will need an extended rest so the strikers can get their surges back. The advantage of having a cleric or warlord in the group is that players get a bonus to their surges and hence require less of them to get back to full or at least manageable hp. It will be a careful balance you will have to work on throughout the game.

When increasing the encounter difficulty to match the party take a close look at the non minion monsters in the mob and try your best to use minions whenever possible to up the difficulty in lieu of others.

 

[Victim]

In many ways, the biggest advantage of the PCs seems to be easy access to healing compared to monsters.