5

Unnecessary backstory: My group has been slowly shrinking over the last year, from 5, to 4, now down to three (starting to wonder if my personal hygiene is sub par or something.)

The two players who are left are good friends, but they don't seem super enthusiastic about continuing on with just the three of us. But, I asked them to at least give it a try because I'm a little reluctant to go find another player as that can be it's own headache. It's not off the table, I just want to try this first.

Lucky for me, when we rolled to see who the DM was going to be, I come up with the high role Fitting, I suppose, since I was pushing for it. So now I'm tasked with figuring out how to make this enjoyable...

Actual question: How do I make two player D&D fun for the three of us?

Are there classes that are at a significant disadvantage where they may not have a complimentary class (eg. Magic users often need a meat shield)? What can be done to mitigate those disadvantages?

Are there kinds of scenarios that just don't work well when you only have two players?

My biggest concern is in creating a campaign that plays to their characters We can't hit the Brawn/Magic/Support trifecta with just the two, so I'm really worried I may accidentally create scenarios they just can't complete.

Details: We're playing D&D 5, one of them is going to be a fighter, the other some sort of magic user. I really enjoy playing the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms, and I have access to the SC book for 5th Edition. I'm still a little new at DMing, but I can run a campaign without completely panicking...

Any thoughts? Resources? Or just a clear cut answer on how to approach this?

Purple Monkey
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Jae Carr
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    What are you concerned about exactly? You present a story, but have two characters as the protagonists instead of four or five -- what's got you worried that won't work out? – doppelgreener Nov 20 '16 at 22:28
  • @doppelgreener I'm worried about creating scenarios that they may not enjoy, owing to the limited mix of the party. I'm used to having all the bases covered (healer/muscle/mage and often a rouge as well.) But I worry about making a storing that their won't like because it doesn't favor their characters at all, that's all. – Jae Carr Nov 20 '16 at 23:01
  • @Trish I know, but I'm not sure how, it's why I'm asking. Perhaps this question is too broad... – Jae Carr Nov 20 '16 at 23:01
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    some of the close-voters [raises hand] are also in [chat] pretty frequently--happy to help you sort what the answerable, core question here might be. – nitsua60 Nov 20 '16 at 23:04
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    Possibly a duplicate of Can D&D with only 2 players (plus DM) even work? – SevenSidedDie Nov 21 '16 at 00:13
  • Also for future reference @JayCarr, we prefer it if questions (and answers) flow smoothly as one whole structured question/answer. Posting "edits" or "updates" as text is unnecessary as we have a permanent revision history and can jumble things up and make the core problem or question very hard to actually find. I've given this an edit to tidy things up a little and remove the more general comments that aren't pertinent to the actual question, but yes, it is still too broad. – Purple Monkey Nov 21 '16 at 00:53
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    @PurpleMonkey Good to know, the other stack I'm usually on has almost the opposite philosophy so...I'll keep that in mind when I'm here. – Jae Carr Nov 21 '16 at 00:54
  • Look into the Gestalt characters from (I think) Unearthed Arcana. They're basically multiclasses that get close to the full benefit of each class, designed in part to be used in small parties like yours (so a single character is as powerful as 2 or 3 normally). – JBC Nov 22 '16 at 19:26
  • I am currently running the LMoP Starter Set with myself as the DM and two others. I have taken on a PC so there are 3 in total. I will not take the lead in anything, I will let the other PC's prompt me in what they want to do if they think I might be good at that role etc. One of the people that I am playing with I know from work, the other I never met. We have a great laugh, lots of fun and enjoy the roleplay. Be descriptive, funny, in character and make it fun. Do voices, have music, buy drinks and snacks :) – Inhandable Nov 28 '16 at 20:43
  • Plus when it comes down to it, I think that you'll find that PC's will work their way around most obstacles and surprise you! If you're worried about something being too difficult, then scale it down a bit, if it's easy then next time you know you were in the right area for their skill level. – Inhandable Nov 28 '16 at 20:44

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