D&D 4E Designing 4e adventures for a single character?

[SlyFlourish]

I haven't seen many threads about this but I thought it might be fun to design a 4e adventure based around a single character. Anyone have any thoughts about how to best tune this? I could see doing something like giving the player an action point every combat instead of every other. Multi-classing would also be a nice option. Any thoughts?

 

[useridunavailable]

1. Potions. Even if the character is a leader, he or she will probably have trouble keeping up with damage (unless the encounters are extremely easy). I'd insert plenty of potions as loot and hope that the player was savvy enough to take Quick Draw (action economy will be huge).

2. In the same vein, a Dwarf would probably be a good PC choice because of the minor action surge. Again, action economy will be huge.

3. You might consider allowing the character to be gestalt. It would be pretty easy in 4e - just give him or her the better between any 2 classes of hit points and any matching bonuses (i.e., +X Will Defense). Next, give the character all powers for both classes, and - voila - you're done.

That's pretty much it. You should be able to follow the guidelines in the DMG for creating encounters - 1 monster per character, for a total of... 1 monster, or a few of slightly lower levels, or one monster and a few minions... I wouldn't go too crazy until I'd tested the water a bit. Note that with the gestalt option, you should be able to use more monsters, an elite, or something a little more interesting. Again, I'd start off slow and ratchet it up a bit at a time.

 

[FrozenChrono]

The character advice from useridunavailable would be perfect for a one person campeign. I hadn't thought of gestalting in the one I'm setting up. I'll have to do that.

Another thing to remember is keeping combat balanced is going to be difficult. Some tips to keep things from becoming a TPK

Stagger fights when possible. Big fights can still be done but it's much more survivable taking on enemies one after another than all at once. You could do this during a chase scene (one enemy catches up, then as that one drops the next arrives), through some sort of societal reason like honor, bragging rights, or arrogence, or by creating choke points to fight at where only one or two enemies can get through (a rotating door, time delayed force wall spells (think phantom menace), or obstruction like falling rocks blocking off multiple enemies as they charge forward).

If your not sure of the balance of a fight lean towards the easy side. It's easy to have reinforcments arrive mid battle, it's hard to fudge multiple rounds of combat to keep people alive.

Allies. Even if no NPC's travel and fight with the main character (which is worth considering) regularly it's a good idea for him/her to have a way out if something goes horribly wrong. An ally can heal you after finding you washed up on shore, or give you a distraction at an opportune moment.

I've run a few one character one shots and they can go down pretty easy, especially at low levels (an eladrin wizard went down to two level on monsters semi staggered)

Hope that helps!

 

[Tehnai]

If you remember the 3.5 book "Heroes of Battle", it does have a couple of pointers.

My favorite would be to create fights inside bigger fights. Instead of statting a whole battalion of bad guys, have the player fight against 1-2 dudes while large scale battles are happening in the background.

Gives you an epic feel and keeps you from killing your player.

Don't be too shy on fudging, either.

Forget solo monsters ever existed.

 

[CountPopeula]

Encounter design should handle this. The target number for xp per encounter is 1/10 of the experience needed to get from one level to the next times the number of characters in the party.

So for a level 1 character going solo, an encounter should be around 100xp worth of monsters. A single kobold or 4-5 kobold minions would be a good sized encounter. You may want to consider increasing the power level of the PC, but you shouldn't really have to do it that much. The simplest fix is to double their healing surges and let them use two per combat, or to double the potency of each healing surge.

Also, a good number of traps and skill challenges as opposed to straight combat would be useful, too.

 

[hong]

In addition to cutting monster numbers, boost the PC level and/or dial the monster level way down. With just one PC, they won't beable to take advantage of things like flanking or buffs from other party members, so they'll have a tough time wearing down the monsters (who have good defenses and lots of hp).

 

[Gort]

To be honest, I don't think D&D is the right system to handle single character parties. The whole thing is based around characters having one main role (though multiclassing dilutes this a little) so they don't hog the spotlight.

I think perhaps a different system, one which doesn't focus so much on parties and character roles (probably classless) would be better.

 

[Pyrrhus of Epirus]

I am very glad this thread came up. I have been dealing with the same problem. My approach is going to be to make my PC an elite. She is starting as a base Dragonborn Pally, then we are going to add the Wizard template from the DMG pg 182,183,174 and all relevant elite effects (like extra HPs, etc).

I am also considering giving her 1 Action Point per encounter.

I am also considering letting her use an at-will as a minor action so that I can balance the economy of actions and throw about 200xp (at level 1) at her.

Thoughts?

 

[Xorn]

A lot of good advice here--I think the biggest factor is if you're creating an adventure/campaign that caters to the class they choose. If they want to play a rogue, then design adventures involving a lot of stealth and subterfuge. They want to be a fighter? Mercenary work or quests with other able-bodied meat shields (err NPCs) to absorb some of the dangers. Maybe they want to be a wandering wizard; they need something for a front line--some human rabble should do nicely.

Of course it's primarily the combat encounters that you have to worry about in a solo game--but I enjoy being able to tailor a story specifically to the character, instead of trying to involve the whole group. Ever notice Drizzt's back story stomps the poodoo out of Wulfgar's? It's because he had all those solo adventures.

I'm a big fan of the "camera" zooming in on a smaller fight amidst larger battles, too. Once I had an army of orcs assaulting a city, and the players were involved with holding a gate when the front line crumbled for awhile. Then they moved on to a breach in the wall. Then they dealt with a "boss" that was rampaging through the city. Really it was just 3 encounters, but instead of walls there were fighting combatants.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Stagger fights when possible.

Big fights can still be done but it's much more survivable taking on enemies one after another than all at once. You could do this during a chase scene (one enemy catches up, then as that one drops the next arrives), through some sort of societal reason like honor, bragging rights, or arrogence, or by creating choke points to fight at where only one or two enemies can get through (a rotating door, time delayed force wall spells (think phantom menace), or obstruction like falling rocks blocking off multiple enemies as they charge forward).

Well, staggering fights is good advice in general.

I usually make it 1 to 4 rounds before group 2 ossame encounter is assumed to arrive.
I usually use it for Boss battles unless I feel like using a Solo.

For a level Beholder Cult (1st to 2nd level party built for three to four party members): The beholders they fight aren't real beholders: just statues that come to life imitating them.
If Vashun is able to complete the ritual a Demonic one Valdun will return to the the Materal Realm.

1st encounter (539): 2 Freezing Beholder Minion (132), 2 Human Guard (100), 3 Thug Minion (25)
If 5 party members: add human archer.

2nd encounter (375): Second (after 4 rounds of 1st): 2 Human thug Minions (25), 1 Human Mage aka Vashun (175), 1 Berserker (150).