D&D's New Solo Player Guideline Explained

Dungeons & Dragons has a new way to allow for one player and one DM to attempt some adventures within its new Dragon Delves anthology. Out in early access now, Dragon Delves features a new supernatural gift called "Blessing of the Sole Champion" that is meant to aid solo players in playing through some of the adventures in the new anthology.

The blessing comes with the following attributes:

Heroic Inspiration. You gain Heroic Inspiration when you finish a Short or Long Rest and whenever the DM has you roll Initiative.

Temporary Hit Points. You gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to 10 times your level when you gain this blessing and when you gain a level.

Three adventures in Dragon Delves are marked as being appropriate for solo play. They include the Level 3 adventure Baker's Doesn't, the Level 7 adventure The Dragon of Nakjir, and the Level 12 adventure A Copper for a Song. All three adventures feature an emphasis on non-violent problem solving rather than traditional dungeon crawls or repeated combat encounters. However, there is some combat in each adventure.

Support for solo adventures are somewhat rare. The last product to support solo play was the D&D Essentials Kit, which introduced scaled-back companions that the player could control to fill out their party. Companions were further fleshed out in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything but have not been featured since.

 

[MNblockhead]

1 player + DM play can be very fun...if the adventures are designed for that kind of play. I'm not a fan of trying to power up a single PC to play adventures designed for 4-6 players.

 

[Demetrios1453]

These ideas sound pretty uninspired.

Hmm... By definition, can something be "uninspired" when it's giving literal inspiration?

 

[John R Davis]

So I think 1 player and 1 GM shouldn't be so difficult to adjust, without throwing in other characters, sidekicks, etc. Almost stops being duet play if the players has other things to juggle.

Don't introduce too many rule changes by adding in this and that bonus action, rerolls, etc.

Play duet quite a bit and the only tweaks are:
Taking 10 on some skills
Having a safe haven, of whatever form, not to far away.
Get max hp back on a short rest
Get all HD and hp back on long rest.

The key is to tailor/create the adventure for just duet play, without trying to tweak a ' normal' adventure.

• Make DCs not as high
• Ensure couple ways to overcome each challenge.

-Have the PC likely to be captured not killed.
-Ensure items found are very useful
-Have monsters run away more when one of them is killed.
-Accepting the PC may level quite quickly
-Have puzzles, npcs, etc that you know the ' player's will like. That assumes you know the person.

 

[Burnside]

I'm honestly surprised they are hyping this aspect so much. Dragon Delves is a very good book, and these "guidelines" might be the weakest thing in it.

 

[Weiley31]

like a lot of the suggestions here: give non-Fighters Second Wind

Even tho the 2024 DMG may not have variant rules anymore, the 2014 book DOES have the variant Healing Surges that one can up-port.

YMMV if ya think that's a good enough thing to add for a single OC/Duet Play or if just straight up jacking the Fighter's Second Wind feature and using that instead to call it a day.

Then again, I'm one to make the argument, as a DM, that there's nothing wrong with jacking a feature or two from another class and giving it to a class as a unique reward AS LONG AS NOBODY IN THE PARTY is a class your jacking said feature from for another.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm honestly surprised they are hyping this aspect so much. Dragon Delves is a very good book, and these "guidelines" might be the weakest thing in it.

I suspect someone at Wizards HQ has seen all the duet and solo-play products out there and wanted them to do something in that area. We may see something on it in the next Everything book as well.

 

[TiQuinn]

First of all: stop saying "solo play." This is Duet Play.

Second, lots of extra (temporary) hit points is great but your action economy is still that of one PC. You're toast.

Yeah the solo play thing is bugging me a little. Solo play to me means I’m playing the game by myself with some sort of randomizer mechanic to help simulate the GM. I don’t dislike the idea of one on one DM and player but I would like to see the other as well.

 

[John R Davis]

Start Your One-on-One D&D Adventure! - D&D Duet

Can you play D&D with just two people! Of course you can! And our site is dedicated to adventures and advice that help you do just that.

dndduet.com

Seems new.
I have thought of creating a line of adventures myself.
I definitely would make it one GM and one PC, not with a sidekick, companion or DMPC built in

 

[NotAYakk]

1. 1 hour break is a long rest, except you don't regain all HP and you can only regain each HD once in a day and you must spend a HD to regain 1 exhaustion level.

2. Short Rest is an Action, but you can only roll one HD to regain HP. Max of 2 Short Rests between 1 hour "Long Rest"s.

3. HP from HD are maximized, as is healing from HD.

4. All features deal an extra die of damage (weapons deal a full set of dice extra; so a greatsword deals 4d6 not 3d6).

5. Spells are cast at "using higher level" equal to your proficiency bonus.

6. An overnight sleep regains all of your HD and HP and removes 1 exhaustion level.

 

[ProfessorDetective]

Then again, I'm one to make the argument, as a DM, that there's nothing wrong with jacking a feature or two from another class and giving it to a class as a unique reward AS LONG AS NOBODY IN THE PARTY is a class your jacking said feature from for another.

Yeah, I occasionally experiment with this.

Tried to make the most dirt-simple brawler imaginable (because I'm basic). Ended up giving a Champion Fighter a reworked Martial Arts (uses STR, starts at d6, no monk weapons) and Unarmored Defence (CON). Just keep pumping STR/CON and you can pummel everything in your wake. Never got to actually play it, though.