Savage Tide without spellcasters - any advice?

[blargney the second]

The group I'm running through Savage Tide doesn't have a single spellcaster. It's been a romping good swashbucklery campaign so far, but now that they're at Here There Be Monsters, I'm starting to see the writing on the wall. I just read the section on Fogmire, and it really assumes the presence of an arcane or divine caster.

FWIW the group consists of a knight, a swordsage, and a fighter. Short of changing the party, what advice do you have? Are there any pitfalls I need to look out for or modify?
-blarg

 

[Gilladian]

I'd suggest running over to the Paizo boards and reposting your question. They still have a fairly active discussion going on for STAP.

I don't have any answers for you, as I'm prepping to run this campaign this summer or fall.

 

[Vascant]

Have each player start rolling up new characters. The initial STAP can be handled probably pretty nicely without spell casters in the ranks but once it gets rocking they become key to the balance of the group.



Oh, have current players pack body bags....and if they would be so kind to label all of their items to make things easier for the monsters.

 

[billd91]

Suggest a couple of them pick up cohorts.

Alternatively, diverge from the path, focusing on the swashbuckling action and dispensing with the stuff that needs the heaviest spell-casting to succeed.

 

[Gregor]

*****Some Spoilers Below*****


Hey Blargney,

I ran a group through STAP to about the 8th module, City of Broken Idols. The group did not have a caster until the 5th module (new character to replace a the one that was torn limb from limb by the Gorilla Scout bad guy in Here There Be Monsters). Personally, I found the group to be rather effective without spells, but there were a few areas that I needed to make some edits to the modules in order to make things a little easier for the group.

For example, during the Crimson Fleet attack in the 5th module, there is a Yuan-Ti sorcerer who hangs out on a ship shooting fireballs at Farshore. Without spells, the party may have some difficulty in combating this enemy as they need to help fight off waves of enemies on the shoreline - either they venture out on the Sea Wyvern to fight the sorcerer, leaving the shore VPs behind, or they stay on the shore and get blasted from hundreds of feet away. Maybe consider removing the sorcerer or repositioning him. Also, this attack had a serious resource drain on my group, so because divine magic was in short supply, I had the group undertake a mission before the attack to gather resources needed for the few priests of farshore to make a supply of healing potions for the Party's use during the attack.

Hope that helps

 

[Storminator]

Have your monsters forget they have Improved Grab a +37 to grapple... over and over and over.

PS

 

[Nifft]

3 characters in the party? Perhaps just have everyone play two characters. Their primary, and a backup dude (one level lower) who just happens to be a Wizard, Cleric or Beguiler.

Cheers, -- N

 

[blargney the second]

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Would things work more smoothly if I gave them dragonmarks that let them access some low-level divination, healing, or transportation effects?

 

[JoeGKushner]

With only three characters, gestalt might not be a bad thing to look at either.

 

[blargney the second]

This thread has been very helpful - thanks! You've all helped me come to the conclusion that the AP is just not going to work for us for much longer, so I'm going to have to amputate after Tides of Dread. (It just looks too cool to pass up!)
-blarg