CR/Encounters for a single PC

[Drake M]

I'm running a campaign for a friend who wants to do the classic "a lone hero sets out to save _____ from _____" concept.

And that's all well and good. So far I've managed to find things for her to do, but it raises a whole slew of issues:


CR, treasure, and EXP are all tied together and based off a FOUR PERSON party.
A CR 5 creature is VERY hard for a lv5 character, whereas 5 level ones are usually cannon fodder.

Are there rules on what to do here? If so in what books?
Also, any suggestions from experience?
"Throw npcs in there" and "don't do it" are not suggestions.

 

[pawsplay]

I'm running a campaign for a friend who wants to do the classic "a lone hero sets out to save _____ from _____" concept.

And that's all well and good. So far I've managed to find things for her to do, but it raises a whole slew of issues:


CR, treasure, and EXP are all tied together and based off a FOUR PERSON party.
A CR 5 creature is VERY hard for a lv5 character, whereas 5 level ones are usually cannon fodder.

A CR 5 creature has about the same relationship to this character as a CR 9 one does to a party of four level 5 characters.

Are there rules on what to do here? If so in what books?
Also, any suggestions from experience?
"Throw npcs in there" and "don't do it" are not suggestions.

The character's effective APL is 1. A CR 5 monster is very challenging, and carries a lot of danger, including a significant chance of death. CR 1 encounters are going to be fairly routine, but things are going to get dicier as the CR goes up and the number of creatures goes up. A lone character is in much greater danger of blowing a save.

I would tend to shoot for encounters with one or two opponents. More are okay, but not in high ECL situations. Four CR 1 monsters could be surprisingly deadly.

 

[Drake M]

I would tend to shoot for encounters with one or two opponents. More are okay, but not in high ECL situations. Four CR 1 monsters could be surprisingly deadly.

How should i calculate exp for all that? I don't want to just scrap exp altogether and award levels by storyline, though i have in other campaigns.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

For a "moderate" encounter for one PC, you should probably be shooting for EL 3 or 4 less than the character's level. A "very difficult" encounter will be against an EL equal to the PC level-- and carries a good chance he'll die.

Also, avoid multiple opponents, because that's a huge disadvantage for the PC. If you need to use more than one or two, maybe add +1 to the EL you calculate for every two foes. Frex, one orc Bbn1 is an EL1, but two is an EL3 -- and could be a pretty tough fight even against a level 5 PC.

At higher levels (beyond 9-ish maybe?) it gets even harder to balance, because there are so many save-or-die/suck abilities out there, as well as qualities like immunity or incorporeality which can make all of a PC's attacks useless. You just have to be aware a baddy's abilities before throwing it at a PC who has no friends to bail him out if things turn bad.

Either the GM can really tailor the encounters, or make certain the PC has the opportunity to research the situation so he can be prepared with items, hire a henchman, or whatnot.

IIRC, the XP calculation doesn't need to change much. XP for one level X character against an EL X-4 encounter comes out the same as the XP for four level X PCs against an EL X encounter. (I don't have my books though, so I can't confirm that.)

 

[Dandu]

One character is less versatile than an entire party. This could be a problem because the CR system assumes you have the traditional four party roles filled.

 

[pawsplay]

How should i calculate exp for all that? I don't want to just scrap exp altogether and award levels by storyline, though i have in other campaigns.

If you just give the character all the XP, without dividing it, it basically takes care of itself.

As Dandu pointed out, the system assumes a versatile party. Any time a monster screams out for a particular approach (a golem's magic resistance, an undead's life draining attack, etc.) you might want to consider the encounter 1 ECL higher, in terms of danger, even though you may not necessariyl change the XP awarded, and you should allow the opportunity to escape from situations as much as possible.

 

[Drake M]

That answers a lot of my questions, i like the concept of the encounters 3 levels lower than the character's level, and the idea of giving the character all the exp rather than splitting it.

Thanks again for the help

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Also consider Gestalt rules so the PC has a little more versatility (and is more generally badass), and stay away from generally any monsters with save or die effects (like a medusa) or save or lose (like the mind blast of a mind flayer). A regular party can survive someone failing their save against those types of effects, for a single PC party, one natural 1 and the game's over, not fun at all.

I agree with above posters that said not to use more than 1 to 2 enemies, unless you're using a group of weak cannon fodder, I guess. Single player games let you run duels and such, while in a normal game that trope's somewhat off limits because you have other players to keep entertained, so use them!

 

[coyote6]

You might be able to use multiple foes if your PC can kill one of them in one hit, but they'll take a bunch of hits to kill the PC. In other words, if she can kill one per round, and it'll take them 5-6 rounds to kill her, then she should be able to handle 2-3 of 'em easily enough.

But luck is going to be more significant with one PC -- a streak of bad rolls by her or really great rolls by you might be fatal.

I'd definitely second the gestalt rules suggestion. Also, you might give her Leadership (or just a cohort as if she had Leadership) for free at 6th level -- let her have a sidekick. That one extra action every round might be crucial.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

But luck is going to be more significant with one PC -- a streak of bad rolls by her or really great rolls by you might be fatal.

That reminds me of another UA variant you should probably use for the PC -- action points (among other things, the basic use is to expend a point to add 1d6 to a d20 roll). Makes strings of low save rolls and such less likely to happen.