Solo Help

[An Enemy Spy]

Alright, so I DMed my first adventure with my friend a couple days ago and ran into a serious roadblock. He was by himself. He was seriosly injured a little zombie and I had to resort to a Deus Ex Machina to save him from a Quasit. How do I effectively run a solo campaign?

[Ascension]

If you really want to go completely solo, the Factotum class from Dungeonscape is about the only way to do it. With a high enough INT score, a factotum really can do anything. Also, keep in mind that most CRs and pre-made adventures are at least theoretically tailored to going against a 3-5 man party, and you'll need to adjust your encounters accordingly if you're DMing a solo campaign.

It's not easy, but it can be done. Just keep trying until the difficulty level seems about right.

[Vortling]

What class is your friend playing? What level is he? Is this 3.5, 4e, something else? We need a few more details before we can give you ideas on what to do.

[An Enemy Spy]

He is a 3.5 Human Fighter. He is NG even though so far I have pretty much forced him to do evil things for a high level sorcerer

[Vortling]

Unless he wants to switch classes I suggest you have some NPCs tag along to cover some essentials that the CR system assumes you have. A cleric who heals and buffs him is important. You should give the cleric a wand of cure light wounds and that will keep him up. Don't have the npc cleric do any fighting and it won't overshadow him.

You could also have him run more than one character if he feels up to it.

Here's what you can do for challenges. Look at his attack bonus and only put him up against things with ac that he can hit at least 60-70% of the time, have low hp, and low damage. Put him up against several of these at a time. He shouldn't die nearly as fast.

[AgentPaper]

Gestalt would work as well. Fighter/Cleric, Rouge/Wizard, etc.

Otherwise, just send him against weak creatures, like orcs and goblins and kobolds and critters.

[ColonelFuster]

Erm, Gesalt would be the way to go. The solo campaign I DM, I am playing the PC's husband. The best DMPCs are clerics, duskblades, paladins, and, best of all, rogues (with maxed-out Use Magic Device).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I agree that Gestalt would be good. Using self-sufficient class(es), especially those which gain/create minions, would definitely make combat more survivable. It would also help if he'd made a character even capable of anything besides direct combat. Barring minions, having mediocre NPCs help him out would be extremely beneficial just because of the actions/round increase of each additional helper. Multiple characters is another option, though the protagonist should be at least 1-2 levels higher than the others.

What level is he? Maybe he can change his character a bit, or even retire it and make a new one, so that he can progress more efficiently. Spellcasting classes are good, especially Cleric and Druid, since they're decent combatants, they can heal themselves, and they get utility spells/abilities to get out of those problems which swords can't solve. Druid especially since they get that animal companion, which can be as good a combatant as a Fighter of equal level anyway. Another class to consider is Dread Necromancer from Heroes of Horror. The ability to create and control a powerful undead entourage makes it perfect for even a non-gestalt a solo campaign.

One thing about solo campaigns is that the PC can be severely overpowered and it won't exactly matter, as long as you put him against challenges that he can handle. Give him a few exceptionally high (in the upper 20s) ability scores, maybe a powerful magical item or two, and he should be good to go. One solo campaign I ran took a gestalt character from level 4 to 19, he started out with a wooden spoon which had an at-will command word activated Cure Light Wounds. He wasn't going to spend a round in combat to gain 1d8+1 hp, but he was able to heal to 100% at no cost between every encounter and it made things run smoothly. Maybe give this character a teddy bear which bestows a Cure Minor Wounds (1 hp) every time someone hugs it for at least a standard action.

[quiet1mi]

wait... this is not a thread to ask Solo for help... I feel saddened and angered by this trickery...

[An Enemy Spy]

What is a gestalt? I just started this game.

[Chronicled]

What is a gestalt? I just started this game.

A variant way of character building. See here.

[Tengu_temp]

wait... this is not a thread to ask Solo for help... I feel saddened and angered by this trickery...

He couldn't answer anyway, being banned. Which is a pity, he was among the most amusing forumers.

[Chronicled]

He couldn't answer anyway, being banned. Which is a pity, he was among the most amusing forumers.

While I agree, let's not forget that discussing him could eventually lead to joining him in being banned. The Playground doesn't need to lose you too.