What is the lowest level of character that you can solo an adventure?

[Vogonjeltz]

So, as a thought experiment, what's the lowest level character that you think you can solo the following adventures as?
Name of Campaign, level range of the adventure for a party of 4.

Lost Mines of Phandelver (lvls 1-4)

Curse of Strahd (1-10)
Storm King's Thunder (1-11)
Tomb of Annihilation (1-11)

Tyrranny of the Dragons: (1-15)
Hoard of the Dragon Queen (1-7)
The Rise of Tiamat (8-15)

Princes of the Apocalypse (1-15)
Out of the Abyss (1-15)

Tales from the Yawning Portal:
The Sunless Citadel (1-3)
The Forge of Fury (3-5)
The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (5-7)
White Plume Mountain (8)
Dead in Thay (9-11)
Against the Giants (11-14)
Tomb of Horrors (?)



So, what are the opening bids on the lowest level solo for Lost Mines?

[JellyPooga]

Clarification required; do you mean what level you'd start at to be able to solo that adventure? Or what level you'd finish at, or an average? Assuming you're running through without encounter adjustment for solo play, your XP gain will be much higher than normal. A 1st level character running LMoP, for example, will likely end at a much higher level than the recomended 4th level finish.

To answer more directly; Rogue is going to be a good contender in many cases, due to his non-reliance on any kind of rest and high skill modifiers (Expertise) allowing him to either stealth or social his way through many encounters, while still being remarkably tough in a fight; both offensively and defensively. He's also not as reliant on his team-mates as, perhaps, a Bard or Wizard might be; the Rogue is a solid solo, whichever way you look at it.

[Puh Laden]

Clarification required; do you mean what level you'd start at to be able to solo that adventure? Or what level you'd finish at, or an average? Assuming you're running through without encounter adjustment for solo play, your XP gain will be much higher than normal. A 1st level character running LMoP, for example, will likely end at a much higher level than the recomended 4th level finish.

To answer more directly; Rogue is going to be a good contender in many cases, due to his non-reliance on any kind of rest and high skill modifiers (Expertise) allowing him to either stealth or social his way through many encounters, while still being remarkably tough in a fight; both offensively and defensively. He's also not as reliant on his team-mates as, perhaps, a Bard or Wizard might be; the Rogue is a solid solo, whichever way you look at it.

You'll need to be vuman for find familiar so you can get sneak attacks consistently without teammates.

[FaceofBo]

I'd say a level 3 Paladin. Go Oath of the Ancients, grab a longbow for those pesky Mages, you've got plenty of health, resistances, and even your own healing, as well as smites.

[JellyPooga]

You'll need to be vuman for find familiar so you can get sneak attacks consistently without teammates.

Disagree. Much, if not all, of the lower level adventures/encounters (i.e. those pre-level 3) can be navigated without getting into a scrap at all and Rogue does that more than admirably. Especially if he's alone. At level 3, an AT can have FF and at level 4 a Feat is available regardless of race or subclass. That aside, having a friend isn't necessary for Sneak Attack; any source of Advantage will do the trick and a creative and/or cunning player can generate that with basic equipment and tactics from level 1. Not that FF isn't a bad idea, of course...

[8wGremlin]

Got very far in the Lost Mines of Phandelver with a winged tiefling arcana cleric.

[RazorChain]

A level 1 barbarian with a ring of flying and a trove of healing potions, wand of nukes would make it easier as I would just blow up the mines though.

[Findulidas]

You'll need to be vuman for find familiar so you can get sneak attacks consistently without teammates.

Swashbuckler doesnt need other people to sneak attack. If your dm allows usage of potions using quick hands (takes an action by raw) then thief is pretty good solo as well.

[Rhedyn]

Be a level one noble and send in waves of peasant armies.

[Armored Walrus]

Be a level one noble and send in waves of peasant armies.

This is what I was thinking. You never need to "solo" anything, unless your DM is dedicated to the idea of making the entire world hostile to you. LMOP, for example, is riddled with potential allies. You won't survive the opening scene, but per the module itself, that just means you'll wake up and head to town. When you go find the Redbrands, you have the option to pose as one of them also written right into the module. You can get pretty far in that module without ever killing anything yourself if you're creative and aren't playing with a DM that will shut down any creative solution you try.

[Theodoxus]

So, what are the opening bids on the lowest level solo for Lost Mines?

Having run and played this particular module the most, by far, than anything else, I'd hazard that a rogue/bard multiclass, with the Zhentarim faction and played hyper smart (so, probably someone who's run the module playing against a DM new to it) - who, as Armored Walrus suggests, infiltrates various factions and avoids killing as much as possible...

So, I'd start as a goblin, rogue 1, ride the caravan to the ambush, try to convince the caravan guards to go with me to investigate - if not, refuse to go and let the caravan master figure out what he wants to do - bypassing the cavern (poor Sildar) in the process. If the guards do help, and hopefully not die in the ambush, I'd sneak up the goblin trail, using my expertise in stealth and perception to not be noticed, yet find and avoid the traps set in the road. Once I get to the cavern, I'll try to persuade the guards that I'm from a lost patrol and let me in. If that works, I'll weasel my way into good graces with Klarg and convince him that the human isn't worth anything, that he's too expensive to keep and too much trouble to kill, and to let him go. I'll offer to walk him back down the hill... Provided that all works out right, I'll be free to set off to Phandalin to work on joining the Redbrands and attempt the same subterfuge with Glasstaff...

If it doesn't work out, well, why am I playing a communal game solo?

[Vogonjeltz]

Clarification required; do you mean what level you'd start at to be able to solo that adventure? Or what level you'd finish at, or an average? Assuming you're running through without encounter adjustment for solo play, your XP gain will be much higher than normal. A 1st level character running LMoP, for example, will likely end at a much higher level than the recomended 4th level finish.

To answer more directly; Rogue is going to be a good contender in many cases, due to his non-reliance on any kind of rest and high skill modifiers (Expertise) allowing him to either stealth or social his way through many encounters, while still being remarkably tough in a fight; both offensively and defensively. He's also not as reliant on his team-mates as, perhaps, a Bard or Wizard might be; the Rogue is a solid solo, whichever way you look at it.

The lowest starting level that a character might reliably solo their way through the adventure.

So, I'd expect it to generally be quite a bit higher than 1st (even if the XP for succeeding against such odds might quickly bump the character up multiple levels).


Be a level one noble and send in waves of peasant armies.

If that were a character class?


If it doesn't work out, well, why am I playing a communal game solo?

You're not, the DM is part and parcel of it. It's purely a thought experiment to see how high a level the characters need to be if you scale back the party size from 4 to 1 without adjusting the adventure.

I'm also positing that we're playing the adventures as honest brokers in this thought experiment. It's not a challenge to see who can find the most gullible DM, because then the question remains the same: What is the minimum level needed to actually defeat the challenges as given.


This is what I was thinking. You never need to "solo" anything, unless your DM is dedicated to the idea of making the entire world hostile to you. LMOP, for example, is riddled with potential allies. You won't survive the opening scene, but per the module itself, that just means you'll wake up and head to town. When you go find the Redbrands, you have the option to pose as one of them also written right into the module. You can get pretty far in that module without ever killing anything yourself if you're creative and aren't playing with a DM that will shut down any creative solution you try.

Yes, a level 1 character probably won't survive that initial encounter. Which is why the question I was posing is what level would they need to be?