Best class/role for solo play

[FireLance]

A defender, especially a paladin, might actually be good for escort or NPC protection type quests. Anybody can stand between an attacker and his target, but only a paladin can make you take 5 + Charisma bonus radiant damage for even trying to hurt him!

Abilities that affect an "ally", would certainly be less useful, especially given the recent clarification that you are normally not considered your own ally. One possibility is to create a feat ("Self-help", perhaps? ) that allows you to consider yourself your own ally.

 

[Klaus]

Defender, mostly. Fighter or Paladin, either is good enough. You want something that can take the inevitable hits that will come.

Another option would be a Striker, but this would have to rely more heavily on staying out of reach. Warlock with Eyebite or Ranger with Stealth.

 

[Voss]

Wizard definitely at the bottom. A bit of area damage just isn't enough to take anyone down before they spit you.

Leaders have an obvious advantage with per encounter healing (which only takes a minor action, rather than a standard action to boot). That dwarven ability on the pre-gen fighter is useful too, for the same reason.

Any of the strikers can work (cranking stealth, init and perception as high as you can is definitely the way to go, however), as can the defenders- they can take the damage that will inevitably come.

 

[Quickleaf]

I've been wondering about solo play lately. A friend of mine and I will likely dabble in it before I run an actual playtest, and he'll likely want to play a fighter.

Looking at the roles, it seems to me that defender and striker would be best suited to solo play; controllers (well, the wizard, anyway) seem too fragile, and a lot of leaders' powers are clearly for team-play.

Those who've actually played with the little bit of info we've had: what do you think?

I think you could run any class, even a wizard, in a solo adventure if you prepared the adventure to suit the characters role. I'd grab some of the skill challenges and monsters from the ENWorld custom 4e content forum, and go for it. If your friend wants to be a fighter, give him a person or place to defend during a couple of the combats to really let his defender role shine.

 

[Ipissimus]

Someone ran a playtest a while back with two solos. The first was the wizard (who had stealth training) the second was the warlock. He noted that stealth was a huge advantage as a solo character.

'Twas I and yes, Stealth is an enormous advantage. With the pregens, my group has found the Wizard pregen superior to the Warlock. Mainly because of Stealth (+9 on that Wizard!), the range of Magic Missile (20 squares) and Scorching Burst means that the Wizard can deal a hefty amount of damage before anyone closes in.

The Fighter has two advantages. One, surviveability. Two, reliable powers. The thing that sucks the most with all the other characters is dropping a daily and rolling a 2 to hit. Or losing that encounter power when you really needed it. This really gets magnified in Solo play since there's nobody around to pull your butt out of the fire.

I think Rogues would suffer a bit with less opportunities to gain combat advantage, though we haven't tried a Rogue yet.

 

[Gavinfoxx]

I would say there is one very very important thing:

Be able to hear yourself more than once per combat.

and one less important thing:

Have high defenses and lots of hit points, and maybe other ways to mitigate damage.

That would about do it for me...

 

[CleverNickName]

Well, the interpretation may vary depending on who you ask, but if you ask me, Han Solo was clearly a ranger. His Knowledge (Nature) skill had obviously been houseruled to include interstellar environs and planets, but the end result was the same: the dude knew his way around in the outdoors. And only someone with the Endurance feat could have survived being encased in carbonite. The light armor and swashbuckler-style moves, along with his reputation for being a smuggler, would all support an argument for him being a rogue, but we must keep in mind that these things are largely just fluff that can be applied to any character.

This assumes that the movies alone are "cannon," and that novels are...

...what? Oh.

 

[MindWanderer]

The Fighter has two advantages. One, surviveability. Two, reliable powers. The thing that sucks the most with all the other characters is dropping a daily and rolling a 2 to hit. Or losing that encounter power when you really needed it.

Or be an elf, and save Elven Accuracy for when it really counts. An elven kensei can potentially reroll one important attack twice!

 

[Shado]

It would seem that the Pally is fairly self reliant from a combat mindset.

High HP, high number of healing surges, Lay on Hands, good defense with Plate armor. Multi-class feat Initiate of the Faith for an extra healing Surge + d6 + WIS once a day for quite an Energizer Bunny feel.

For a more subtle approach, Rogue, Ranger and Warlock are all fine. Superb mobility, Stealth training, heavy damaging attacks for the quick kill. Toughness would be a great feat for increased survivability, pushing your hit points to Defender levels. Fey Warlocks have a definite advantage with Eye Bite, Rangers are freakin' Ninjas and Rogues have the best first round burst damage of the bunch.

Wizard appears to be the worst for solo play, with Warlord a distant second. (Just my opinion... they look to be more group based than the Cleric.) Fighters are solid, but their stickiness doesn't benefit solo play as much, and they don't have the armor or Lay on Hands of a Pally.

 

[Rechan]

I do think Controllers are fine if it's mainly against minions and other controllers. A wizard duel from across the room sounds good (Though it turns into a "get cover and fire" type fight real fast).

You know, one thing I think would really benefit Wizards/Warlocks is the ol' "Powers' Tug of War", where two people are shooting energy at one another, and it's going one way, or the other. Doing something like that could be quite exciting - duelling Arcane rolls perhaps.

Leaders seem to suffer the most, given their abilities are focused on complimenting others (even the cleric's seems to be giving other people bonuses when you hit), along with some of the paladin's abilities (Take a hit for someone, give someone AC, etc).

One suggestion that has been proposed elsewhere is to give a striker or a controller a Pet. Something like an animal companion that can play defender for them. I imagine a Leader could even benefit from that. It would also give the rogue some opportunities for OAs.

I think that giving a Defender someone to Defend (a helpless NPC) or a place is a GREAT idea, too.

But yes - it depends on the style. A wizard-solo game would likely involve mysteries and moving through a wizard's world. Striker or Leader may involve more politics, intrigue, or stealth. And a defender is going to be more the combat stuff.