D&D 5E Re-balancing for a single player campaign

[Halivar]

I have been trying to think of how to balance 5e for a single-player campaign. My primary thought is that missing party elements are supplied by me, as the DM, as NPC's. However, in a single-player game, I naturally want the PC to shine (but not necessarily a "Mary Sue"). But a wizard cohort, for instance, can outshine a melee PC at many critical junctures. I have been thinking through ways to empower the PC and rein-in the NPC cohorts, but I don't have a good method yet. In 3E I would have the PC be gestalt, but that system doesn't really mesh well with 5E. Is level difference enough? How would you do it?

 

[Gansk]

Use these rules in place of the gestalt rules:

Scarlet Heroes relies mainly on reinterpreting standard old-school stats to produce a different play dynamic at the table. The most fundamental changes are in the way it treats damage differently for PCs and NPCs and the way in which it reads damage dice.

In Scarlet Heroes, damage dice are rolled exactly as you would expect for an old-school game. Swords do 1d8, fireballs do Wizard-d6, dragon claws do 2d6, and so forth. Unlike in standard OSR games, however, the dice are read differently. A die that rolls a 1 does no damage, 2-5 inflicts one point, 6-9 inflicts two points, and 10 or more inflicts four points of damage. Thus, a 1d4 dagger might inflict 0 or 1 points, while a 1d10 polearm could inflict as many as 4 points.

These points are subtracted from the hit points of PCs- and from the hit dice of NPCs. A mighty-thewed fighter who swings well with that polearm could do up to 4 hit dice of damage to his target, hewing down an ogre in a single stroke. Against a mob of enemies with comparable ACs, that same blow might lay out four common bandits, or a fistful of wretched kobolds.

This damage differential turns even a 1st level PC into a fearsome engine of destruction. A 1st level fighter in Scarlet Heroes with 8 hit points can now endure eight blows from most weapons and every time he strikes he’s laying low at least one or two petty foes. Heroes can now handle the kind of combat situations that would normally require a party of several adventurers to survive, simply because they’re taking much less punishment and dishing out far more pain.

Allow the PC an extra attack per round which automatically hits if the enemy's CR is less than the PC's level.
The damage (using the rules above) is fixed based on class:
Fighter-types - 1d8
Wizard-types - 1d4 but ignores enemy's CR and has range of 60 feet.
Other classes - 1d6

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have been trying to think of how to balance 5e for a single-player campaign. My primary thought is that missing party elements are supplied by me, as the DM, as NPC's. However, in a single-player game, I naturally want the PC to shine (but not necessarily a "Mary Sue"). But a wizard cohort, for instance, can outshine a melee PC at many critical junctures. I have been thinking through ways to empower the PC and rein-in the NPC cohorts, but I don't have a good method yet. In 3E I would have the PC be gestalt, but that system doesn't really mesh well with 5E. Is level difference enough? How would you do it?

The player could simply choose a more broadly-effective or versatile class or MC combo. You won't need or be overshined(shone?) by a wizard cohort if you're the wizard - instead you could have a bland Champion bodyguard, for instance. You could even claim some reflected glory by buffing him in situations where melee's all you need.

Or, you could create NPCs something like the 4e 'Companion Characters,' using essentially monster stat blocks instead of full PC classes. Just give an NPC helper or few the basic, critical things the PC can't supply, and mostly leave them in the background.

Or, you could give the PC a few items that make up for whatever his class is lacking.

 

[Rhenny]

I've always found that espionage, stealth, political intrigue...other very combat light, story driven adventures/campaigns work better when running 1 or 2 PCs. For a single player, escape, evasion, guerrilla tactics will be paramount.

Rogues, Wizard/Rogues, Bards, Fighters with urchin or spy backgrounds, Trickster Clerics all seem to be well suited for these types of adventures.

I generally don't like running 1 PC games, but I do like running 2 or 3 PCs games. If you are good at creating NPCs that the player can interact with, some of whom may join them for small missions, it helps when running 1 PC/2PC campaigns.

I ran a mini-campaign in 4e for 2 players. They decided to go with a wizard/rogue and a ranger. It was a nice combination because they could stealth well and they had area of effect attacks and ranged attacks that they could use in conjunction with their stealth to do some "Rambo" type infiltration.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I had a player run a solo rogue (alongside a hobgoblin NPC she recruited) for several adventures (whenever the other players couldn't make it). The hobgoblin was unclassed, but I allowed it to gain XP. Leveling for the NPC was simply hit dice, proficiency and ASIs every 4 levels.

It worked effectively, although I learned that deadly encounters should be used very sparingly, as there's less leeway for poor tactics and bad luck when soloing.

The hobgoblin eventually couldn't pull his weight anymore, so I revised the system to grant unclassed NPCs 1.5 hit dice per level (+1 on odd levels, +2 on even levels) and 8 ASIs over 20 levels. For monsters that can't use equipment I also grant +1 AC every 5 levels and "magical" natural attacks at level 6. That seems to be functional even at the high levels (they just hit 19th level last session). The NPCs are tough enough that they don't typically need babysitting, and their offense (while decent) doesn't overshadow the PC.

 

[Rhenny]

To answer the last part of the op, I think that level difference should help to balance the PC and NPC, but I'd also make sure that I save any "wow" spells for the most dire of circumstances, and I'd have the spellcaster load up on interesting non-combat options and buff spells so that the player will still feel like he/she is "using" the NPC not the other way around where it could feel like the NPC is "using" the PC.