Author Topic: [3.5] Soloing Curse of the Crimson Throne - From Start Until the World Opens Up  (Read 2074 times)

Offline Endarire

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Greetings, all!

I've been playing a solo campaign that finished yesterday.  It's Pathfinder's Curse of the Crimson Throne - Edge of Anarchy.  I went in blind, playing with 3.5 rules (with minor exceptions).

I was a 32 point buy LN Gray Elf Generalist Domain Wizard1 to start, and ended as a Wizard5/Mindbender1/Incantatrix2.

I was considering going Conjurer1/Spell to Power EruditeX/ThrallherdX.  I'm glad I didn't.  Why?  Flavor-wise, the character I envisioned was a pure Wizard.  It's just his nature.  More specifically...

Charm person is one of the best level 1 Wizard spells around.  Say what you want about Enchantment being not so useful later, but in a solo situation, and especially in this module, it was my favorite and most-cast offensive spell.

Starting off, I had the feat Mercantile Background with regional prereqs ignored.  I also sold off chunks of unneccessary spellbook.  This netted me about 5,000 gold total.  With it I bought partially charged wands for a variety of situations - scorching ray, magic missile, nerveskitter, silent image, burning hands, and, yes, charm person.  I also started with two Elven Hounds (Cooshees) and two Magebred Warbeast Mules; they were cheap enough.  A potion of invisibility was also bloody handy for early levels.  I also got an item to cast prestidigitation at will, another to cast lesser vigor at will, and another to cast mage armor at will.  These proved quite useful, especially the mage armor amulet for my party.

My goals were to survive as long as possible and to squeeze as much EXP (and treasure) out of every situation as I could within the scenario.  My character, Seymour, fancied himself somewhat of a noble and a diplomat.  Considering he was soloing this, violence was not his first resort.  Overcoming encounters got me the same amount of EXP violently as nonviolently, but I only got the EXP for each situation once.  For situations where nonviolent solutions were impossible - see sharks - violence was the way to get me EXP.  Oh yes, and no farming EXP from random encounters on purpose.

Rules-wise, all 3.5 material was open.  I didn't use Pathfinder material at all, except the module and the skills system.  I didn't and won't use loops.  No wish/gate/etc loops.  Repeatedly using the same tactic is fine, but if it feels too much like a looping exploit, it's out.  Rulings leaned toward the letter of the rules, but were chosen for what made the game most fun.  As a solo game (with me also as GM), things went smoothly.  A quick way to resolve d20 rolls was thus:  If one side has at least a 60% chance of success (accuracy rolls, grappling, combat techniques, saves), it succeeds.  Skills still work as normal.  Some dice were still rolled; some in my favor, some against me.

Another notable house rule: Leveling is only done once someone has enough EXP and that person finishes resting.  It's an incentive to rest instead of just continually going.  I allow people to accumulate any amount of EXP; they don't stop 1 EXP short of their next next level.  Also, PCs get max HP per HD.

(click to show/hide)

At the end of this, I felt like the world opened up.  Now, I felt like I was in control.  In the span of maybe 2 game months, I'd gone from a level 1 master Wizard in training to a level 8 badass.  I also was so close to getting teleport and planar binding and having the world and the planes open to me.  Still, it felt... odd... to have this feeling of loyalty to Korvosa, even though I didn't do very much (or so it seemed) and I disagreed heavily with current politics.

Overall, Edge of Anarchy is a wonderful module and a delightful change of pace.  I recommend it to low-level parties, and for the soloer interested in a challenge.  Having nonviolent solutions built into the module was a refreshing change.  The Part 6 "minigame" was also interesting.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2014, 05:31:07 AM by Endarire »