JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Clerics seem to be the one weak spot in most of the games I run.
So I started using reserve points.
So I started using reserve points.
Purposely NOT filling the four roles
- Thread starter EricNoah
- Start date
Our parties always seem to be lacking one role.
Missing a thief isn't so bad, if the DM is willing to adjust things a little.
Lacking an arcane caster makes for some different challenges.
TYpically, if noone wants to play a cleric, a NPC cleric shows up. Missing this role is hard to cover up!
If I don't play a tank, there is decent odds that there won't be one. I think a party missing a true tank is at the biggest disadvantage. The caster types will have to take more defensive spells, and will be more skittish without a heavily armored guy between him and the baddies.
Our current group started out with me declaring that I was going to be an archivist/wizard/mystic theurge (starting level 7th).
The other players came in with
a paladin
a druid
an archer
a thief/ninja
We had the skill monkey roll filled in. We could probably fake a cleric between the archivist/paladin and druid. No wizard, and no tank (hint: if you don't have "Cleave", you aren't a tank!).
I switched over to a true wizard. The paladin died early and his player brought in a cleric as a backup. I think we are way more balanced. The lack of a good tank is still hurting us though.
Missing a thief isn't so bad, if the DM is willing to adjust things a little.
Lacking an arcane caster makes for some different challenges.
TYpically, if noone wants to play a cleric, a NPC cleric shows up. Missing this role is hard to cover up!
If I don't play a tank, there is decent odds that there won't be one. I think a party missing a true tank is at the biggest disadvantage. The caster types will have to take more defensive spells, and will be more skittish without a heavily armored guy between him and the baddies.
Our current group started out with me declaring that I was going to be an archivist/wizard/mystic theurge (starting level 7th).
The other players came in with
a paladin
a druid
an archer
a thief/ninja
We had the skill monkey roll filled in. We could probably fake a cleric between the archivist/paladin and druid. No wizard, and no tank (hint: if you don't have "Cleave", you aren't a tank!).
I switched over to a true wizard. The paladin died early and his player brought in a cleric as a backup. I think we are way more balanced. The lack of a good tank is still hurting us though.
der_kluge said:
Actually, I was in a group with a makeup pretty close to this once. We had a Barbarian, too - Celtic-themed setting, was a lot of fun. In terms of the four iconic roles, it seems to me the Rogue is the hardest to replace, because none of the other (PHB) base classes have Disable Device and Open Lock as class skills. The other core abilities you can fake or replace, but going through an adventure path type series without a rogue is rough.
Calico_Jack73
First Post
Yeah,
I ran a Midnight game with no Channeller so basically no healer. I didn't care for it too much as a GM because I was caught in a tight spot. If I didn't pull my punches the party could end up getting killed over the course of a few encounters simply because they didn't have a couple of days to heal up naturally. However, if I didn't pull my punches and "Let the dice fall as they may" then all the planning and prep work I did for my game would be for not as the party wouldn't survive past the 1st or 2nd night. I don't like to perform the work and not see it amount to nothing.
I ran a Midnight game with no Channeller so basically no healer. I didn't care for it too much as a GM because I was caught in a tight spot. If I didn't pull my punches the party could end up getting killed over the course of a few encounters simply because they didn't have a couple of days to heal up naturally. However, if I didn't pull my punches and "Let the dice fall as they may" then all the planning and prep work I did for my game would be for not as the party wouldn't survive past the 1st or 2nd night. I don't like to perform the work and not see it amount to nothing.
