D&D 4E How to Build 4E Solo Adventures?

[Prestidigitalis]

I'm coming here from the One-Player Campaigns thread started by ourchair. Really interesting stuff here and I think this is the right place to put my thoughts.

I think Nytmare has it right -- don't scale the encounters, just create challenges of a lower level than you otherwise would. How many levels? Good question! Sounds like Nytmare used about level minus 3.

I'd love to play such a campaign as a Rogue, but obviously the CA rules are tough because you lose flanking in most cases. What could be done to make gaining CA easier? Here are a couple of house rule ideas:

1. Add facing rules. It's an extra level of complexity, but as you will be running with only a single PC and presumably fewer critters, it shouldn't be too bad. The rules could be simple, and centered around CA issues exclusively, or more complex as desired.

2. Make bluffing for CA easier/cheaper. Move action instead of Standard? More than once per encounter -- possibly with penalties, increasing slowly, for each time it's attempted?

3. Increased chances of blinding and dazing.

4. Alchemical items like smoke bombs -- very Thief-like (the video game)

I have to go but this is really fun to think about. Yay for thinking outside the box! ...or the jail cell for those Rogue-y folks among us.

 

[Nytmare]

I haven't tried it out yet, but I've seen several people suggest a solo backstabby game where monsters are treated as minions up until they are aware that there's someone trying to murder them.

 

[sfedi]

I haven't tried it out yet, but I've seen several people suggest a solo backstabby game where monsters are treated as minions up until they are aware that there's someone trying to murder them.

That's a good one.

Perhaps you could even grant the "this creature counts as a minion" after a succesful check, extended check or skill challenge.

 

[Nytmare]

Perhaps you could even grant the "this creature counts as a minion" after a succesful check, extended check or skill challenge.

That's what all of them have been, as far as I can remember. Checks or challenges to see if you can sneak up on them/kill them quietly/not alert the other guards.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

I haven't tried it out yet, but I've seen several people suggest a solo backstabby game where monsters are treated as minions up until they are aware that there's someone trying to murder them.

For some reason that doesn't appeal to me. Maybe it's because I'm imagining that the backstab would almost always work -- certainly a 4e rogue with dagger + CA + proper feats could get close to the 95% max success rate even at low levels.

 

[Nytmare]

For some reason that doesn't appeal to me. Maybe it's because I'm imagining that the backstab would almost always work -- certainly a 4e rogue with dagger + CA + proper feats could get close to the 95% max success rate even at low levels.

This style of game, as I've understood it, isn't about whether or not the backstab hits. It's about sneaking up on the bad guy, or waiting for him to walk out of sight of his friend, or figuring out the patrol pattern of a bunch of guards so that you can get past them, backstab the Duke without having anyone sound the alarm, and then sneak back out past them.

Just because you manage to sneak up and get one guy who is sitting at a table playing poker with his buddies, you still have all of his buddies to deal with.

 

[Garthanos]

In solo play most adversaries except that special captain of the guard you are intended to duel with ...should be minions anyway. Back stabby bonus damage is only needed to down real rarities and its that precision hitting that takes on new levels of usefulness. Picture Zorro. Solo hero with a rogue flavor. He has lots of minions to wade past.

I guess the suggestion amounts to letting a chance miss decide (which for some of them rogues is pretty low chance) ... yup this npc is not a minion but rather somebody interesting for you to fight.

 

[Nytmare]

I guess the suggestion amounts to letting a chance miss decide (which for some of them rogues is pretty low chance) ... yup this npc is not a minion but rather somebody interesting for you to fight.

Not always a chance miss. For some of them, yes this equates to whether or not you hit them, but more than that it's a question of whether or not they know that you're somewhere nearby. The binary state is maybe better off being thought of as a threat/not threat.

If you sneak past them, they aren't a threat. If you manage to shoot them before they know that you're there, they aren't a threat.

If you are spotted however, they're threats. If someone sounds an alarm, they're threats. If you leave behind evidence that you've broken in, they're threats. If someone finds a body, or if a sentry doesn't show up at the right place at the right time, they're threats.

 

[Trainz]

Just pit the soloist against encounters 4 levels below her. This way the rate of advancement will be roughly the same, the critters will roughly have a -4 to hit, and the player will roughly have a +4 to hit.

The soloist will thus be able to withstand attacks more, and also use potions and second winds without worrying about being overwhelmed. Make a house rule or two: the player is blessed by Bahamut, allowing him to use second wind at will rather than just once per fight.

The player can also use action points to instantly remove effects on himself rather than take an extra action. Dominated, stunned, blinded all of a sudden aren't so frightening. Allow the player to make saving throws at the start of her turn instead of at the end. Some classes shine more than others in such a system, like Warden, Fighter, Ranger, Cleric...

And as for the naysayers saying that no edition of D&D has made soloing an attractive choice... I immensely beg to differ. In all editions (except 4th thus far) I have made solo campaigns that lasted many months. It was fun, manageable, and easy. Especially with 3rd ed, with cohort rules.

 

[Nathal]

I sat down with my wife last night to play my very first session of 4E, with her as my solo player. It was in the wee hours, after the kids were in bed, so we had about an hour to play. I hadn't played 4E since I sat in on a few sessions in a local game shop almost a year ago. So here are my observations from my short session:

Setting up the scenario is no different, so I just went with your typical hook of some plea for help, and just to be funny, I used the ol' rat in the wine cellar routine. Why not, right? It made me remember how funny the Bard's Tale video game for Xbox was I played a few years back (but that's a different subject).

My wife is using a Dragonborn. We used the free DDI Character Builder, and that worked out fine. At first I forgot her character's power drew from sources other than the PHB, and it confused the heck out of my wife as she flipped through the print book. Once I cleared that up, explaining powers and such was easy. It seems A subscription to DDI really makes owning Players Books unnecessary where there's computer and internet access.

So after some old fashioned role-playing with the denizens of town, the dragonborn warrior found herself alone against a dire rat. This encounter resulted in about five rounds of combat, and the rat inflicted a filth disease.
I worried it would devolve into a slug fest, but the variety of powers made each round a little different. I found myself looking things up in the book like a total newbie, trying to learn the particularities of 4E and how they differ from prior editions (I used to have page numbers memorized!). That wasn't a problem however, especially since I didn't have five or six 4E veteran players sitting around grumbling at me. That's another good thing about solo adventures, I'd think; it's great practice when just learning the system!

Anyway, it was helpful to describe the rat as "bloodied" after a few rounds, because it provided some indication that progress was made toward it's dispatchment. I think if I had added a few rodent minions (like 2 or 3) our hero would have still prevailed, even if it exceeded the XP budget, but it would have increased "swing" in the battle quite a bit.

One poster on this thread suggested using encounters 4 levels below (which, obviously would work best when the solo character is at least 5th level), and I can see this as good advice for having her face multiple opponents without being overwhelmed.

As for me, I liked how NPCs and monsters worked. I could run any monster out of the book directly with no real prep work. The new stat blocs are easy to read and manage. And creating Non Player Characters was fast...though I think I'd benefit from a DM's screen to reduce page flipping (true of any edition). I always felt creating NPCs in 3rd Edition encouraged me to build from the ground up, matching the mix of PCs' powers...it took longer, and I could never quite get past that feeling that it was 'extra work', whether right or wrong. So, from limited experience and a few short sessions, my first impressions of 4E are positive even for solo play. We'll see if that changes in the sessions to come!