"Solo" players?

[Jack Colby]

First, whatever happened to "solo" meaning you play your own character vs. rolls from a random dungeon creation table, with no DM? Ah well... most of my early gaming was, in fact, with one DM and one PC, so your new-fangled concept of solo is not totally foreign to me either.

Second, why all the fuss? As I understand it, one PC would be perfectly fine and playable as long as the DM understands and implements the guidelines from the rules. I think it's 100xp worth of monster per PC level for an even match. And, also important.... balance the monster roles you choose so they are all things the PC can conceivably overcome alone, without help from other PC roles.

Do you truly need to give the PC bonus stuff? Won't simply choosing the monsters wisely as DM be the easiest answer? I have been following the rules online but not obsessing over them or studying them, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[FireLance]

First, whatever happened to "solo" meaning you play your own character vs. rolls from a random dungeon creation table, with no DM?

MMORPGs and video games do that so much better these days. You don't want 4e to play like a MMORPG or a video game, do you?

Second, why all the fuss? As I understand it, one PC would be perfectly fine and playable as long as the DM understands and implements the guidelines from the rules. I think it's 100xp worth of monster per PC level for an even match. And, also important.... balance the monster roles you choose so they are all things the PC can conceivably overcome alone, without help from other PC roles.

Do you truly need to give the PC bonus stuff? Won't simply choosing the monsters wisely as DM be the easiest answer? I have been following the rules online but not obsessing over them or studying them, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

It isn't necessary if the DM is willing to come up with the adventure himself, or if he is using a module that was specially designed for a single PC. Otherwise, the DM either has to give the PC a power-up, run a module designed for a lower-level party, or tweak the encounters in the module. Since tweaking the encounters might entail a lot of work on the part of the DM, and lower-level modules are not always suitable, flavor-wise, for higher-level PCs, it's easier to just give the PC a power-up.

 

[keterys]

If you want* a solo character able to handle encounters that a full party could handle (perhaps envisioning a character empowered by an outside source, like Hercules, pseudo-super powered (Batman-ish), etc), it needs to be able to act similar to 5 PCs.

* If you don't, that's fine. The remainder of this post is not intended for you.

Some possible goals/hurdles
Ability to take more actions per round and have more diversity of actions
Toughness that doesn't feel like invulnerability and still has a shifting/swinging fashion
Effects penalizing the PC should have an effect but not last long
There should be more defense against being trapped and opportunity attacked

I actually think such a character should be able to pick to focus on any number (ie, 1-4) of the role concepts (defender, striker, etc) but have varying benefits for being more or less specialized. Powers should be more flexibly chosen, perhaps by power source restriction... but effectively you should make a new 'superclass' rather than simply taking two columns and adding up and hoping it works.

Anyhow, a fairly random example of how that might work. No idea how this would compare to an actual party of five. I can explain my rationale behind any of these examples. I'm picking a sorta fighter / wizard gestalt cause it's a classic example and I think it would be easier for people to grok than more radical options.

Eladrin Bladesinger

Solo Features:
* +2 to attack rolls, all defenses, and saves
* Double the base dice damage dealt by all powers (Ex: 1W->2W, 2d4->4d4). Ability modifiers and all bonuses (enhancement, power, etc) are not changed.
* Active - You take two turns each round. When rolling initiative, place yourself at 5 higher and 5 lower than your actual initiative roll.
* Staggered (Encounter) - Free action, when reduced to 0 hp or less. Drop prone and restore hit points to bloodied threshold.
* Action Surge - Whenever you spend an action point for any reason, either gain an extra healing surge for the day or heal by spending a healing surge as a free action. You may also make a save as a free action, with a +3 bonus.
* Swift Attack (Minor 1/round) - Use one of your level 1 at-will attack powers.
* Guarded - Once each round you may declare an action as guarded (making it not provoke opportunity attacks)

Class Features:
* Hit Points: 3 x Con Score + 37
* Healing Surges: 10 + Con Bonus
* +1 AC, +1 Will
* +1 attack rolls with one handed weapons
* Combat Challenge - May make an immediate attack against any adjacent enemy that shifts.
* Combat Superiority - +2 bonus to attack rolls with opportunity attacks and a hit with an opportunity attack stops an enemy from moving this turn.
* Advanced Opportunity - Once per round, you may make a Nimble Strike or Tide of Iron as your opportunity attack.
* Bladesong - Melee weapon counts as an arcane implement. Melee weapon critical hits allow you to cast a free Magic Missile or Scorching Burst.
* Cantrips
* Ritual Casting

Class Powers:
At-Will
Nimble Strike
Tide of Iron
Scorching Burst
Magic Missile

Encounter
Force Orb
Passing Attack

Daily
Brute Strike
Trick Strike

 

[keterys]

For what it's worth, I think that it would be much easier and worthwhile to create a duo-able party than a solo. They're both interesting exercises, however.

 

[That One Guy]

For what it's worth, I think that it would be much easier and worthwhile to create a duo-able party than a solo. They're both interesting exercises, however.

I liked the bladesinger idea. And, I agree that they're interesting exercises.

Yes, encounter Exp could be set to 100 for 1 PC or 200 for two level 1's... but I like the mental exercise of trying to make a stronger than average PCs to deal with a normal encounter.

 

[Rabbitbait]

I've got two players, so for the purpose of convenience I'll probable run them with two NPC characters until they hit 3rd level, then remove the NPC characters and let the players into a first level adventure by themselves with no adjustments.