[3.5] Single PC Campaign

[Gaiwecoor]

It looks like I'll be running a single-player campaign for my wife before too long, and that leads me to a couple questions... well, one, really.

(Brief) Character background: She'll be playing an Urban Ranger, going for Bloodhound. I've decided to give her a cohort before too long; she chose Beguiler for her companion.

My real issue comes with building encounters. A level 3 character and a level 1 cohort supposedly combine to be an effective level 1 party (standard 4 character troupe). But ... we need to remember that actions are a valuable thing in this game. A party of two (even if one of them is of higher level) has significantly fewer actions than a party of four. So what type of encounters should I be throwing at them? A single large foe (also having fewer actions, but more difficult to kill) or a group of creatures (easier to kill individual members, collectively having many more actions)?

Any help with this (or other observations) would be appreciated. Thanks!

[holywhippet]

I'd say fewer, larger foes as a rule. The main danger she faces is lucky dice rolls or criticals. If she runs into a dozen kobolds for example, then each round (while they all still live) there is a about a 60% chance of one of them rolling a 20 ensuring a hit. This certain hit might lead to a critical which could take a low level character out of the fight very quickly.

That's not to mention the problems of being flanked, attacks of opportunity and being unable to run.

[Hawriel]

Single player with an urban ranger/bloodhound. This sounds like it could be a detective, bounty hunter, shareff, city guard, merc, spy. The possibilites are endless. Dont worry to much about encounters. Just use the rules for CR as they intend. I see this set up with alot of RP. Not alot of combat. Even when there is combat who sais the ranger has to win, you can always run away. You dont need to do massive combat. afew enemies 1-4 is a good encounter. You can have one npc with the same HD as the ranger, with a week sidekick. If your wife has a fallower all the better. If that is not enough you can always have other NPCs tag along. Lt. Thorn of the city watch helps her with a kidnaping plot. In another story Lt. Thorn brings 4 city guards for raiding warehouse full of slavers. Another contact/friend could be a freelance thief who helps her with plots invalving the thieves guild.

Your not going to have your wife go up against a beholder by herself. A critter like that takes a team of NPCs. Or wait till she high level. You can have mobs that have half or one quarter HP, they dont need max. The random encounter shtick is really geared toward a full party of players. Seeing as its a one on one thing most encounters that are combat should fit with the plot. There are also traps, pussles, RP encounters with city folk.

[Chronicled]

I'd say fewer, larger foes as a rule. The main danger she faces is lucky dice rolls or criticals. If she runs into a dozen kobolds for example, then each round (while they all still live) there is a about a 60% chance of one of them rolling a 20 ensuring a hit. This certain hit might lead to a critical which could take a low level character out of the fight very quickly.

That's not to mention the problems of being flanked, attacks of opportunity and being unable to run.

Yes, this is good advice. Don't let the action advantage be overwhelmingly in the enemies' favor. If you want large group fights, staggering the arrival of enemies (whether by reinforcements, a BBEG running from group to group of minions, etc) will be a good idea. If you're controlling the Beguiler, use illusions to give the enemy fake targets, and have the enemies believe the illusions are the primary threat (or just make sure your wife knows that illusions will be taken seriously, unlike in a lot of campaigns).

[Gaiwecoor]

Single player with an urban ranger/bloodhound. This sounds like it could be a detective, bounty hunter, shareff, city guard, merc, spy.

That's pretty much the plan. She said she'd like to go for the bounty hunter role; there are plenty of things we can do with that.

Seeing as its a one on one thing most encounters that are combat should fit with the plot. There are also traps, pussles, RP encounters with city folk.

Exactly. Where there are fewer PCs, many of the encounters can (and should) be more RP oriented than "bash the baddins."

If you're controlling the Beguiler, use illusions to give the enemy fake targets, and have the enemies believe the illusions are the primary threat (or just make sure your wife knows that illusions will be taken seriously, unlike in a lot of campaigns).

That's ... that's just beautiful. I had definitely considered using things like invisibility and charm or sleep, but I had totally looked past the "additional allies" thought.

Ok - so it looks like we should have fewer combatants when we do need to have them get in a fight. Thanks!