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balancing encounters for solo adventures

Started by tuypo1, December 10, 2014, 10:39:54 PM

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tuypo1

December 10, 2014, 10:39:54 PM
I have been building some solo adventures for 3.5 and encounter balance is proving difficult. The current technique i am using is to have an encounter of a cr suited to a full size party of the solo characters level but having only 1 encounter a day however this is obviously not ideal and will not work overly well when multiple creatures are involved.

How would you suggest i determine challenge ratings for a solo character?
If your having tier problems i feel bad for you son i got 99 problems but caster supremacy aint 1.

Apology\'s if there is no punctuation in the above post its probably my autism making me forget.

AxesnOrcs

#1
December 11, 2014, 12:04:53 AM
One character is one fourth of the assumed average party the game's math is based on. Divide the character's level by 4 and use that as the baseline "balanced" encounter. Just bear in mind that character would likely die anyways.

Snowman0147

#2
December 11, 2014, 12:09:30 AM
This link could help you.

tuypo1

#3
December 11, 2014, 12:20:46 AM
hm i will keep both those things in mind thanks


at least i dont have to adjust skill based things much
If your having tier problems i feel bad for you son i got 99 problems but caster supremacy aint 1.

Apology\'s if there is no punctuation in the above post its probably my autism making me forget.

Bloody Stupid Johnson

#4
December 11, 2014, 06:22:50 AM
Theoretically, double the number of opponents is +2 to CR. The CR is normally for a 4-person party, so an equivalently 'fair' challenge (depletes 25% of resources) should be [level-4].
That's the theory. Its pretty off at lower levels especially. Solo play is also tricky since something that will sleep or grapple that one character = TPK. So you might be better off adding some NPCs to the party.

yabaziou

#5
December 11, 2014, 06:31:50 AM
As the Snowman wrote, do you self a favor by reading Scarlett Heroes. There is even a free PDF quickstater !
My Tumblr blog : http://yabaziou.tumblr.com/

Currently reading : D&D 5, World of Darkness (Old and New) and GI Joe RPG

Currently planning : Courts of the Shadow Fey for D&D 5

Currently playing : Savage Worlds fantasy and Savage World Rifts

AxesnOrcs

#6
December 11, 2014, 01:03:46 PM
I totally spaced on using Scarlet Heroes. Probably because the only reason I play Pathfinder is because that is what my group plays, and if I wanted to run solo stuff I would use something that isn't derived from 3e.

That being said, give it a whirl and let us know how it works, if you do.

jeff37923

#7
December 11, 2014, 04:03:31 PM
1 on 1 Adventures by Expeditious Retreat Press can give
you some really good examples to use.

Also, their PDF of Unbound Adventures (available here) has an entire section on solo adventuring and scaling encounters. Well worth the price.
"Meh."
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