Party without arcane or healing spells...

[PopeStig]

Hi All,

I'm starting up DM'ing a new D&D campaign after not having DM'ed any D&D since 2nd edition and I'm looking for a bit of help as I'm getting to grips with the number of new changes in the rules.

The party so far is going to consist of two fighters, a paladin and a thief with one player (the only experienced one) having volunteered to play whatever else is needed for the group, as he's as keen as me to ensure the "newbies" get most of the spotlight.

He's suggested he playes an intelligent weapon that functions as an arcane spellcaster or a familiar of one of the other players and is willing to accept quite a bit of DM direction in his character choice, and take a role that puts him in a support role.

Two questions for the experienced DMs out there.

1. Any of you got any good advice on playing inanimate objects (As I was writing that I can see a couple of the obvious jokes already .... )

2. When running a party without a healer (or an arcane spellcaster) I'd like to let the party continue dungeon crawling and getting into heavy scraps without needing to wait for natural healing to work it's (lack of) magic and a low level paladin's relatively paltry healing options. One option is obviously to let an NPC priest tag along, another to provide the party with plenty of healing potions or items that replaces that priest and perhaps preaches a bit less when they walk down the path most frequently travelled The question is... any other alternatives I could use to keep the game moving forward at pace without giving the party too much power too soon? Any advice will be appreciated and may be significant in introducing new people to gaming.

Thanks

 

[painandgreed]

We have a party with no spell casters. We make do with lots of potions and the rogues taking Use Magic Device to use wands and such.

 

[Anson Caralya]

Complete Warrior has a few pages on playing a warrior-only campaign. Unfortunately, their advice includes multiclassing into spellcasting classes, which isn't really a solution so much as changing the game back towards a "normal" one. The loss of arcane casting hurts, but I can see a rogue offsetting that to some degree. The loss of healing, well, that's serious. If a priest NPC isn't in the plans, maybe house-rule a healing use for the Heal skill? Although that may make the paladin a bit over-powered. Other than that, cure wands for the paladin and rogue, bought with pooled resources...?

 

[Kelleris]

Use reserve points. Your reserve point pool is equal to your full normal hit point total, and when you aren't in combat, your reserve points are expended to "heal" you at a rate of 1 point per minute. You recover reserve points by healing all the way up and then adding any further healing (magical or not) to the reserve point pool until it tops out.

 

[dvvega]

The reserve points idea can be found in Unearthed Arcana along with many other things that might beef up the "Warrior" party.

Do not forget that the Paladin can lay on hands - so a priority for the party is to get his Charisma as high as possible. Of course it isn't a cleric's power but its something.

In addition a Paladin can use any Divine spell magic items. He can use wands, scrolls, etc. So the party can buy Wands of Cure X Wounds and so forth and be sustained that way.

Someone mentioned the rogue can double up as a wand user already.

If your friend wants to play he should play a Ranger (another Divine spellcasting class). Then he too can use Wands and divine magic items.

This way the party is military in nature, has a lot of healing potential at its disposal, buffing spells exist on the Paladin spell lists, and won't be hugely affected by lack of arcane spell use.

The biggest problem they will have is lack of Raise Dead or Ressurection access. Neither the Paladin or the Ranger get these spells on their lists. However that's what the church is for. Hell even Restoration (Lesser and Normal) are on the Paladin list. This party can easily make it without a fancy "weapon" character.


D

 

[Dave Turner]

You might also check out a new game called "Iron Heroes". It's a game in which all the classes are essentially fighters of one type or another. There's even a thief in there for your player who wants to play a thief. It's balanced so that the party can thrive without magical support of any kind, whether it's spells or magic items. Follow this link:

http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?iron-lore

It's an OGL game, so it's sufficiently like D&D that your group shouldn't balk too much, if at all.

 

[Oryan77]

If your friend wants to play an intelligent weapon, maybe he'll be up for playing an intelligent Cure Wounds wand instead.

 

[Nifft]

How about your friend plays a Cleric instead of an inanimate object?

-- N

 

[Taloras]

If your friend wants to play an intelligent weapon, maybe he'll be up for playing an intelligent Cure Wounds wand instead.

Wands, scrolls, and potions(any item thats a 1 time use or charged) cannot be intelligent. :/

 

[Corsair]

How about your friend plays a Cleric instead of an inanimate object?

-- N

Or a druid