Solo Gaming

[Nebulous]

I'm running a solo tonight with a 3rd level Ranger. This is out second shot at solo (although last time there were actually two of them, ranger and rogue)

Anyways, one thing we noticed is that healing during a fight is just about impossible, and things can go downhill very quickly.

So...tonight i'm going to introduce a house rule and see how it works:

1st Second Wind: costs 1 healing surge
2nd Second Wind: costs 2 healing surges
3rd Second Wind: costs 3 healing surges

This will give the player the ability to stay on his feet longer without resorting to magic, and keeping the illusion that he can fend for himself. If it works well i might even extend something similar to our normal campaign, but in general, those guys don't have any trouble healing.

 

[Skyscraper]

So I want to do a bit of learning curve stuff for myself as I've not gotten to run 4e yet, mostly with a novice player who won't notice my screw ups.

Ahh, love. Isn't it beautiful?

Sky

 

[invokethehojo]

I'm running a solo tonight with a 3rd level Ranger. This is out second shot at solo (although last time there were actually two of them, ranger and rogue)

Anyways, one thing we noticed is that healing during a fight is just about impossible, and things can go downhill very quickly.

So...tonight i'm going to introduce a house rule and see how it works:

1st Second Wind: costs 1 healing surge
2nd Second Wind: costs 2 healing surges
3rd Second Wind: costs 3 healing surges

This will give the player the ability to stay on his feet longer without resorting to magic, and keeping the illusion that he can fend for himself. If it works well i might even extend something similar to our normal campaign, but in general, those guys don't have any trouble healing.

I don't understand why this would be impossible, aren't inspiring word and healing word minor actions? I know potions are

 

[Larrin]

Also i would say that you should let the character qualify as their ally. Many powers aid an ally (but no themselves) in some way, let them use it to help/buff/shift themselves, this will help out leaders a bit, but all classes will benefit. This will increase their overall power, but that just means you can give them more challenges.

this has some really weird effects on warlords powers (commanders strike sort of becomes an int based sly flourish, hammer and anvil gives you basically two attacks (!?)) but its not like you have to worry about it being balanced against anyone else, so i say embrace it.

RE: second wind/healing surges...you might want to consider changing it to a minor action for all characters (free action for a dwarf?) nothing worse than doing nothing your turn while being the only target...Multiple second winds at an increasing cost also seems like the sort of heroism a solo hero could show, but i think it could lead to too many 'surge novas' and extended rests, so its not my first choice.