D&D's New Solo Player Guideline Explained

A new supernatural gift is intended to aid players.
copper dragon.jpg


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.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


log in or register to remove this ad


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.
 


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.
 


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.
 


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.
 

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.
 

Pets & Sidekicks

Remove ads

Pets & Sidekicks

Remove ads

Top