Solo Gaming

[Andrew D. Gable]

What modifications would I need to make to balance the game for a single player? I'm thinking of likely running a mini-game (single dungeon) for my fiancee, getting her through 1st and 2nd levels, and then meeting up with the other PCs to launch into the main campaign. I've already figured I should have her be a more martial class like fighter or paladin, but is even that as vital as it would have been in 3e? Even a wizard seems ok to survive anyway...

 

[Iron Sky]

My best advice from a brief solo game I ran:

1) Minions are your friend, especially at really low levels. Otherwise, you'll be doing nothing but 1v1 fights which get old after a while. Makes the player feel heroic without overwhelming them.

2) Giving them minion allies gives you more xp to play with to make fights interesting while still keeping things pretty simple for you, and they still get to shine since they're way more powerful than their allies. Killing off minion allies can also ratchet up the tension abit without directly threatening the player, and can make fights seem close even when the player's character kicks butt:
Player: "Whew, that thing killed four city guards before I could put it down!"

3) Since combats can be really risky solo (if you're rolling bad, there's no friend who can hit a lucky streak and save the group), I ran a couple modified skill challenges using Stalker0's awesome Obsidian system. He doesn't have an entry on the success table for 1 player, so I used 0-1 successes as failure, 2 partial success, 3 success - with challenges geared somewhat towards the player's strengths. This allows you to give xp to help her get caught up without the risk of killing her off due to unlucky rolling. Can also be used to restock minion supplies (see #2).

4) Stealth is your friend. When solo, stealth is probably the most useful skill a character can have(though perception is right up there). Some character concepts just don't work with the sneaky, but if she has it, it'll help her start fights with optimal positioning to help skew the odds in her favor.

5) Avoid enemies that impose status effects and/or save-ends effects unless the she has some way to give herself extra saves(IE, paladins, clerics with lance of faith, the heal skill). Even then, a couple bad saves mixed with a daze, immobalization for melee types, etc can lock down a solo character pretty easily.

6) Defenders and Leaders will work best due to toughness/self heal abilities repectively. If she's not a leader, you might have her MC warlord or cleric, even if she retrains it later, just to have that extra heal if things are going badly.

All that said, 4th edition characters are pretty robust and it'll take most enemies at least a few rounds to put them down. As you said, even a wizard can survive if the player plays smart.

My 2 cents.

 

[Gort]

Sorry to be "that guy", but I'd seriously consider a different system. D&D is explicitly balanced around a party of players, and unless you're willing to do a lot of houseruling you're always going to feel that when playing solo.

 

[erf_beto]

Sorry to be "that guy", but I'd seriously consider a different system. D&D is explicitly balanced around a party of players, and unless you're willing to do a lot of houseruling you're always going to feel that when playing solo.

True, but he might be trying to ease his fiancee into the game without forcing her to be with his geeky friends rolling dice and shouting battlecries in the basement. Not until she understands what the hell is going on, anyway...

Teaching the game is hard stuff, I always do that, and even though I've had plenty success, there's been lots of failures and lost of time and effort. In the end, she might decide that the game is not for her after all, and he won't have to add and retire a character from the plot.

As for suggestions, I'd probably endorse what Iron Sky said, and if you're indeed teaching the game, add another possible aproach: NPC allies. Stat some npcs with very simple stats, skills and powers: rogue with thievery and sneak attack, fighter with combat challenge and lots of hp, cleric with healing word and turn undead, wizard with magic missile, an area spell and some other spell, an utility perhaps... nothing else (or reflavor monsters to look like PCs). You might want to roleplay and roll for them through battle, or let her roll or help decide their actions once in a while. The goal here is to show that D&D is a game about teamwork.

 

[Irda Ranger]

What modifications would I need to make to balance the game for a single player? I'm thinking of likely running a mini-game (single dungeon) for my fiancee, getting her through 1st and 2nd levels, and then meeting up with the other PCs to launch into the main campaign. I've already figured I should have her be a more martial class like fighter or paladin, but is even that as vital as it would have been in 3e? Even a wizard seems ok to survive anyway...

This is how I introduced my wife to D&D. My suggestions are:

• Simplified NPC allies. Especially so they can guard during the night, drag you away from a fight if unconscious, etc.
• Allow for different skills to cover more bases. Stealth and Thievery are key, since they allow you to avoid fights rather than take everything head on.
• Healing potions, friendly Clerics, safe-havens for extended rests. Etc.
• Don't be afraid to have an NPC "mentor" in game. It's always a little cheesy , but RPG games always have a "learning mode" to start you out for a reason.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Some ideas

I'm considering running a solo game for my wife. One advantage is being able to build a game world around one person. My wife loves Arthurian legend stuff so I am going to set it at Cormyr with my wife playing a paladin of the Purple Dragon Knights.

I'm considering having her play an elite version of the PC. She gets about 2x the hitpoints, an action point every combat, +2 to AC and Defenses, and the other stuff the DMG gives to elites.

I'm considering her having a sidekick. This sidekick might change from game to game, doesn't level or gear up like her main character does, and is also an elite.

I'm going to start her at 3rd level so I have a wider range of monsters for her to fight.

This gives her two characters to control that act like four. Thats just about a full party. After that, balance should be easy.

Anyway, that's my plan so far. I don't know how it will work out but it might be worth taking a look.

 

[Gort]

True, but he might be trying to ease his fiancee into the game without forcing her to be with his geeky friends rolling dice and shouting battlecries in the basement. Not until she understands what the hell is going on, anyway...

Well, I dunno. Mine gets on fine

To be honest, if she's okay with playing D&D with him, she's probably geeky enough as it is...

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

True, but he might be trying to ease his fiancee into the game without forcing her to be with his geeky friends rolling dice and shouting battlecries in the basement. Not until she understands what the hell is going on, anyway...

Sorta, sorta no. She already knows about my geeky friends. My idea is this: my entire group doesn't get to get together horribly often, as two of them live fairly far away and schedules rarely synch up, mostly because of me being on night work (that said, I do see the third player fairly often). 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.

The advice in this thread's helped: I'll try to replace some of the monster encounters with other things like traps or skill challenges. I'm kinda stuck in the 3e thing of an encounter being a battle.

 

[Walknot]

Of course, as long as your wife is having fun with the experience, then you will know you are doing something right. A couple of other measures:

TYou may want the solo+minion encounters to be similar "stress" level as in your normal group. ie: If your usual group fights (4) battles before a long rest IG, then you might want the same tempo in your solo adv.

You can encourage the solo+minion tactics to be similar o your normal group, even if simplified. This was the full-sized game will make the most sense later.

You can foster that spark of unique style that the new player will bring to the group. Watch closely for these strengths in the new player, they may not be what you are occustomed to in the group.

 

[invokethehojo]

I recently started a 1 on 1 campaign as the player, but I've been DMing another group for awhile. Here's what I've learned

I'm playing a fey warlock multiclass rogue in the 1 on 1 and doing fine. I had to give him a 14 str so I could hit with melee attacks, which meant I couldn't have an 18 cha, but it's worked out fine. My DM plans encounters around my abilities, but I also have to be a smart player because melee mobs are inevitable. I go up against minions a lot, but never just minions.
- I use my mobility a lot and stealth a lot
- I get concealment as much as possible (and eyebite)
- I use my sneak attack to take out the biggest melee threat and I use Witchfire to give myself a round to breath
- I took jack of all trades
- I asked the DM for gauntlets that give me a +2 to damage on basic melee attacks (can't remember the name) to help fill in my weakness.
- I chose powers wisely (teleports to get me out of trouble, armor of agathys to give me protection)
- I asked the DM to let my play a doppleganger so I could use shapechange to escape if things got hairy

Some of these things won't work in your situation but some will. Work as a team, 1 on 1 is tough so you and the player should discuss how to balance abilities while maintaining fun. If you ask me healing abilities are good for 1 on 1, but you don't have to rely on healing much if you smoke all the bad guys real fast. A leader PC is wasting most of his abilities by himself. If you ask me strikers are where it's at for 1 on 1. Multiclass for a healing or inspiring word and your good to go.
Rangers and rogues seem best equipped for 1 on 1:
Ranger: mixed melee and ranged, can attack two enemies at once, can shift a lot
Rogue: mixed melee and ranged, can hide from enemies, can shift a lot

Warlock requires more work for player and DM, but definately doable
Warlock: can get concealment, can curse multiple targets, high con and temp hp or teleports move around

No matter what class you pick for a 1 on 1 campaign the most important thing to your survival will be power choice: what mix of powers helps you be effective in multiple situations?
Also, check out the Scales of War Character Backgrounds on WotC website, that will help round out the lone PC's skills a bit