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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
4e companion characters to round out party in a single player game
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<blockquote data-quote="jbear" data-source="post: 6062185" data-attributes="member: 75065"><p>My son is 7. We've run one lvl 1 adventure from the Chaos Scar series together with him as the only player. We are going to run another one start from today as school holidays have just begun. We play a pseudo 4e game with pseudo 4e characters. He runs a team of 4 heroes that go like this: </p><p></p><p>Main Guy: Lokon, lvl 1 Half Orc Berserker</p><p>Str 18 CON 14 DEX 18 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 8</p><p>AC 19 F/R/W 16/15/11</p><p>HPs 29 Surge value 7 10 surges per day</p><p>(Pretty standard 4e so far right except for 3 extra points in his ability scores)</p><p>Features: </p><p>Defender Aura: Vengeance if shift or attack ally: sword Attack +1d8 dmg; +2 AC while active</p><p>Dark Night Sword: +8 vs AC; 1d12+7 dmg</p><p>Stalk and Strike: Shift 2 squares and make sword attack; FURY: +1d6 dmg</p><p>Push and Strike: Sword Attack; Hit: Push 1 and shift into place; FURY +1d8 dmg</p><p>Encounter Powers: </p><p>Savage Cut: Sword atk +1d12 +1d8 dmg -> ENTER FURY!</p><p>Furious Assault: +1d12 dmg</p><p>Tiger Armour: Atk enemy when they hit you</p><p>Harper's Luck: Add +1d6 to atk roll</p><p>Second Wind: Heal a surge (I let all of his characters do this as a minor though we don't really talk about minor actions yet, they are just things characters can do as well as attacking)</p><p>Daily Powers:</p><p>Life Ending Strike: Sword Atk +3d12 dmg Miss: 1/2 dmg Special: can use on a charge -> ENTER FURY</p><p>Darkness: Surround yourself in darkness</p><p>Skills: Athletics +8, Endurance +13, Intimidate +8</p><p>Equipment:</p><p>1 healing potion</p><p>Dark Night Sword +1</p><p>Tiger Armour +1</p><p>Shield</p><p>Bag of Wasps</p><p></p><p>That is basically what is written on his character sheet. So you can see he runs pretty much a straight up Berserker. He's 7 and he runs it fine. I do my own magic items which are far 'looser'. Actually everything is looser. The berserker is a quasi essentials PC, and it's pretty easy to essentialise powers by making them just alterations of the MBA.</p><p></p><p>Then he has his 3 companion characters:</p><p></p><p>Flameman lvl 1 gnome rogue</p><p>STR 16 CON 12 DEX 18 INT 10 WIS 8</p><p>AC 16 F/R/W 13/16/13 </p><p>HP 24 surge value 6 8 surges per day</p><p>Features.</p><p>Ruby Dagger: +9 vs AC; 1d4+2d6 dmg</p><p>Encounter Powers:</p><p>Hide</p><p>Invisible</p><p>Heal (2x per encounter). Heal surge +1d6 hps</p><p>Ruby Fire Sword (2x per encounter): Dagger attack +3d4 dmg and ongoing 5 fire dmg (save ends)</p><p>Second Wind</p><p>Skills:</p><p>Stealth +11</p><p>Thievery +9</p><p>Acrobatics +9</p><p></p><p>You can see how I'm really simplifying now. The rogue doesn't need to get CAdv to deal sneak damage, it just always deals it. He also doubles as the healer. No mention of minor actions, its just something the character can do as well as his other actions. No definition of what 'Hide' or 'Invisibility' does. We just play it as it best fits our story and always to his advantage. His Magic dagger just gave him an extra use of his encounter power (which is far stronger than normal etc etc)</p><p></p><p>Pain lvl 1 Wolf</p><p>STR 16 CON 14 DEX 20 INT 8 WIS 12 CHA 10</p><p>AC 18 F/R/W 15/15/11 HP 26 surge 6 (8 per day)</p><p>Lightning Bite: +8 vs AC; 2d8+6 dmg</p><p>Encounter powers:</p><p>Super Lightning Bite: Bite + 3d8 dmg and ongoing 5 lighting dmg</p><p>Howl: +7 vs Will; Hit: Run Away!</p><p>Smell: +8</p><p>Skills: Athletics +10</p><p></p><p>Very loose here again. A dmg machine that is absolutely simple to run, but can change the course of a battle single handedly with its howl! Its smell power also borders on the super natural. So you can see I am making big allowances for my son's age. The scooby doo howl that makes all the bad guys turn tail and flee (of course provoking many OAtks) goes down a treat.</p><p></p><p>Rainy lvl 1 Pixie Sorceress (originally meant to be run by my wife but she flaked out and my son took over happily; more turns for him!)</p><p>STR 8 CON 14 DEX 18 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 18</p><p>AC 16 F/R/W 12/14/16</p><p>HP 26 Surge 6 (8 per day)</p><p>Move: Fly 6 (max height 1) Walk 4</p><p>Resist 5 Thunder and Lightning</p><p>At will power:</p><p>Lightning Strike: Range 10; 1 creature; +5 vs REF; 1d8+9 lightning dmg and another enemy within 10 takes 4 lightning dmg</p><p>Encounter Powers:</p><p>Explosive Pyre: As per normal power (his was going to be my wife's PC so not simplified)</p><p>Storm Soul: Interrupt atk: gain +4 defense; lose resistences</p><p>Pixie Dust: Make 1 Ally fly 6 squares</p><p>Shrink: make an object become your size while on your body</p><p>Staff of the Earth: Earth Quake: +6 vs REF; Enemies fall over</p><p>Skills: Arcana +5; Bluff +9, Stealth +6 Nature +8 Diplomacy +9</p><p>Second Wind</p><p>Daily:</p><p>Dazzling Ray: As per normal power</p><p>Equipment:</p><p>Staff of the Earth+1 (Resist All dmg 1)</p><p>2 Healing Potions</p><p></p><p></p><p>So this Character is nearly a straight storm sorcerer. And my son runs it fine as well. I have to help him with the fiddly bits eg explosive Pyre but other than that its more dice rolling and zapping monsters.</p><p></p><p>So if my 7 year old can handle running this party then I'm sure your 13 yr old will be able to handle running a more done by the book version of 1 pc and 3 companion characters. I'd just recommend keeping things pretty loose as well in so far as bending the rules go. Just use 4e as a solid mechanical base and then make a game that works for you on top of them, disregarding rules that get in the way or are too fiddly, simplifying them/making them cooler etc in your son's favour. I think this is especially true for magic items.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jbear, post: 6062185, member: 75065"] My son is 7. We've run one lvl 1 adventure from the Chaos Scar series together with him as the only player. We are going to run another one start from today as school holidays have just begun. We play a pseudo 4e game with pseudo 4e characters. He runs a team of 4 heroes that go like this: Main Guy: Lokon, lvl 1 Half Orc Berserker Str 18 CON 14 DEX 18 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 8 AC 19 F/R/W 16/15/11 HPs 29 Surge value 7 10 surges per day (Pretty standard 4e so far right except for 3 extra points in his ability scores) Features: Defender Aura: Vengeance if shift or attack ally: sword Attack +1d8 dmg; +2 AC while active Dark Night Sword: +8 vs AC; 1d12+7 dmg Stalk and Strike: Shift 2 squares and make sword attack; FURY: +1d6 dmg Push and Strike: Sword Attack; Hit: Push 1 and shift into place; FURY +1d8 dmg Encounter Powers: Savage Cut: Sword atk +1d12 +1d8 dmg -> ENTER FURY! Furious Assault: +1d12 dmg Tiger Armour: Atk enemy when they hit you Harper's Luck: Add +1d6 to atk roll Second Wind: Heal a surge (I let all of his characters do this as a minor though we don't really talk about minor actions yet, they are just things characters can do as well as attacking) Daily Powers: Life Ending Strike: Sword Atk +3d12 dmg Miss: 1/2 dmg Special: can use on a charge -> ENTER FURY Darkness: Surround yourself in darkness Skills: Athletics +8, Endurance +13, Intimidate +8 Equipment: 1 healing potion Dark Night Sword +1 Tiger Armour +1 Shield Bag of Wasps That is basically what is written on his character sheet. So you can see he runs pretty much a straight up Berserker. He's 7 and he runs it fine. I do my own magic items which are far 'looser'. Actually everything is looser. The berserker is a quasi essentials PC, and it's pretty easy to essentialise powers by making them just alterations of the MBA. Then he has his 3 companion characters: Flameman lvl 1 gnome rogue STR 16 CON 12 DEX 18 INT 10 WIS 8 AC 16 F/R/W 13/16/13 HP 24 surge value 6 8 surges per day Features. Ruby Dagger: +9 vs AC; 1d4+2d6 dmg Encounter Powers: Hide Invisible Heal (2x per encounter). Heal surge +1d6 hps Ruby Fire Sword (2x per encounter): Dagger attack +3d4 dmg and ongoing 5 fire dmg (save ends) Second Wind Skills: Stealth +11 Thievery +9 Acrobatics +9 You can see how I'm really simplifying now. The rogue doesn't need to get CAdv to deal sneak damage, it just always deals it. He also doubles as the healer. No mention of minor actions, its just something the character can do as well as his other actions. No definition of what 'Hide' or 'Invisibility' does. We just play it as it best fits our story and always to his advantage. His Magic dagger just gave him an extra use of his encounter power (which is far stronger than normal etc etc) Pain lvl 1 Wolf STR 16 CON 14 DEX 20 INT 8 WIS 12 CHA 10 AC 18 F/R/W 15/15/11 HP 26 surge 6 (8 per day) Lightning Bite: +8 vs AC; 2d8+6 dmg Encounter powers: Super Lightning Bite: Bite + 3d8 dmg and ongoing 5 lighting dmg Howl: +7 vs Will; Hit: Run Away! Smell: +8 Skills: Athletics +10 Very loose here again. A dmg machine that is absolutely simple to run, but can change the course of a battle single handedly with its howl! Its smell power also borders on the super natural. So you can see I am making big allowances for my son's age. The scooby doo howl that makes all the bad guys turn tail and flee (of course provoking many OAtks) goes down a treat. Rainy lvl 1 Pixie Sorceress (originally meant to be run by my wife but she flaked out and my son took over happily; more turns for him!) STR 8 CON 14 DEX 18 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 18 AC 16 F/R/W 12/14/16 HP 26 Surge 6 (8 per day) Move: Fly 6 (max height 1) Walk 4 Resist 5 Thunder and Lightning At will power: Lightning Strike: Range 10; 1 creature; +5 vs REF; 1d8+9 lightning dmg and another enemy within 10 takes 4 lightning dmg Encounter Powers: Explosive Pyre: As per normal power (his was going to be my wife's PC so not simplified) Storm Soul: Interrupt atk: gain +4 defense; lose resistences Pixie Dust: Make 1 Ally fly 6 squares Shrink: make an object become your size while on your body Staff of the Earth: Earth Quake: +6 vs REF; Enemies fall over Skills: Arcana +5; Bluff +9, Stealth +6 Nature +8 Diplomacy +9 Second Wind Daily: Dazzling Ray: As per normal power Equipment: Staff of the Earth+1 (Resist All dmg 1) 2 Healing Potions So this Character is nearly a straight storm sorcerer. And my son runs it fine as well. I have to help him with the fiddly bits eg explosive Pyre but other than that its more dice rolling and zapping monsters. So if my 7 year old can handle running this party then I'm sure your 13 yr old will be able to handle running a more done by the book version of 1 pc and 3 companion characters. I'd just recommend keeping things pretty loose as well in so far as bending the rules go. Just use 4e as a solid mechanical base and then make a game that works for you on top of them, disregarding rules that get in the way or are too fiddly, simplifying them/making them cooler etc in your son's favour. I think this is especially true for magic items. [/QUOTE]
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