Dungeon Construction: Help needed

[qwertyu63]

I am constructing a dungeon for a solo adventure, and I need to know what kind of things I need to do different. I already know the character in question is going to be a Factotum (with Obtain Familiar), so doing a variety of things is clearly on the menu, but what CR should I be shooting for? Are there any challenges I have to avoid? Any thing I need to keep in mind?

[Segev]

The basic guidelines are that a single character built like a PC is a CR equal to his own ECL for a party of 4 standard PCs.

It would probably therefore be wise to go for ECL-3 of the character as the target CRs for his encounters.

Because most dungeons engage in a bit of ramping challenge, I'd design it so the first couple encounters are no more than half his CR, just to see how well he does. Ramp up the challenge by 1 CR each encounter after that. Have most of your encounters easily ramped up or down so that you can, when you find the PC is spending about 1/4 his resources per fight, you can stop increasing the CR and use the encounters calibrated to the CR you've determined.

[rockdeworld]

Keep in mind that not all creatures of the same CR are made equal, that CR factors in creatures being found in their own environment with plenty of prep time (so an Aboleth would be surrounded by layers upon layers upon layers of illusions, not spotted in the river by the first NPC), that the CR can vary even with the tactics you choose for the monsters (eg. if the Aboleth first exhausts its Enslave ability, then only attacks if it has 1 or more PCs under its control and runs away otherwise, it's much harder than if it jumps out of the water to use its tentacles at the start), and that the factotum can't prepare that many SLAs, so doing a full adventuring day is dependent on the player's skill and character level more than just the character's class.

Edit: Also, I like this dungeon generator, if that's what you're looking for: http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/

[qwertyu63]

The basic guidelines are that a single character built like a PC is a CR equal to his own ECL for a party of 4 standard PCs.

It would probably therefore be wise to go for ECL-3 of the character as the target CRs for his encounters.

Because most dungeons engage in a bit of ramping challenge, I'd design it so the first couple encounters are no more than half his CR, just to see how well he does. Ramp up the challenge by 1 CR each encounter after that. Have most of your encounters easily ramped up or down so that you can, when you find the PC is spending about 1/4 his resources per fight, you can stop increasing the CR and use the encounters calibrated to the CR you've determined.

Alright. This character has a lot of resources at his disposal, but I'm sure I can run them out. The character is level 12, if that is helpful.


Keep in mind that not all creatures of the same CR are made equal, that CR factors in creatures being found in their own environment with plenty of prep time (so an Aboleth would be surrounded by layers upon layers upon layers of illusions, not spotted in the river by the first NPC), that the CR can vary even with the tactics you choose for the monsters (eg. if the Aboleth first exhausts its Enslave ability, then only attacks if it has 1 or more PCs under its control and runs away otherwise, it's much harder than if it jumps out of the water to use its tentacles at the start), and that the factotum can't prepare that many SLAs, so doing a full adventuring day is dependent on the player's skill and character level more than just the character's class.

Edit: Also, I like this dungeon generator, if that's what you're looking for: http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/

The main issue here is that there is only 1 PC. The entire party is the 1 PC and his familiar.

[TheStranger]

Some monsters perform very differently against a single character than they do against a party, so CR is even more of a rough guide than it usually is. A grappler, for instance, can often shut down any single character. In a party, that's not a big deal because the rest of the party can gang up on it while it's distracted with grappling. But in a solo game, even a low-CR grappler can be a problem if it gets a chance to start a grapple. I'd try to avoid save-or-X traps, spells, or abilities for the same reason. In a regular game, you expect that the characters are going to bail each other out of trouble regularly. In a solo game, it's very easy for one or two bad rolls to effectively end the game.

[John Longarrow]

Five things to avoid if possible:
1) Charm. Ends the game pretty quickly if done right.
2) Incapacitating specials. Stinky Trogs can shut down a single character on a bad save.
3) Trip/Grapple. TheStranger touched on this, but anything that a monster can do that stops the character from taking constructive actions makes for a really bad day for a solo character.
4) Free rest. This is the reverse of the previous. If the character can face a single encounter then rest for the day, you loose a lot of the tension of the game. This happens more with solo adventures. If possible have a reason in game for them to keep pushing.
5) Stealth. Your player is probably going to be running around sneaking (if they are smart), but if you start tossing in hidden/invisible monsters you will have a hard time having encounters occur. A PC and a monster playing stealth tag gets pretty boring.

[qwertyu63]

TheStranger, I did notice your post as well, I am just addressing in as part of John's.


Five things to avoid if possible:
1) Charm. Ends the game pretty quickly if done right.
2) Incapacitating specials. Stinky Trogs can shut down a single character on a bad save.
3) Trip/Grapple. TheStranger touched on this, but anything that a monster can do that stops the character from taking constructive actions makes for a really bad day for a solo character.
4) Free rest. This is the reverse of the previous. If the character can face a single encounter then rest for the day, you loose a lot of the tension of the game. This happens more with solo adventures. If possible have a reason in game for them to keep pushing.
5) Stealth. Your player is probably going to be running around sneaking (if they are smart), but if you start tossing in hidden/invisible monsters you will have a hard time having encounters occur. A PC and a monster playing stealth tag gets pretty boring.

1: Alright, I'll avoid charm effects.
2: So, avoid save-or-lose. Can do.
3: Avoid Trippers/Grapplers? Good, I'd likely have never thought to include them anyway.
4: I already had a time pressure in mind. I was going to divide the dungeon into sections, and you could only rest between sections.
5: If stealth becomes an issue, I'll just do a roll-off and be done with it.

[rockdeworld]

The main issue here is that there is only 1 PC. The entire party is the 1 PC and his familiar.
I thought that might be the case, but wasn't sure didn't completely read the OP. Then the Aboleth encounter goes from "very difficult" to "nigh-impossible, barring protection from mind-affecting."

I highly recommend this guide to duet roleplaying (http://www.bluemoonaurora.com/duetroleplaying.htm). It helped me a lot when I was designing a campaign for 1 player.

[AzureKnight]

As a dm whom had a solo adventurer traveling, the player will be severely at a disadvantage. His limited skills and abilities will hinder him from time to time. I would suggest thw things.

1. Allow the player to have a gestalt to better cover needed skills or abilities, and largely to help survivability.

2. Create an NPC that you as the DM control. Have your player state what he or she would like to have the npc do, be it fight, heal, pick a lock or whatever. The Npc would have a minor role, acting as a bot if you will for player support.

An alternative would be combine the two and make the player and NPC both gestalts, two person parties with higher survivability.