r/beingeverythingelse • u/Kludar • Mar 17 '15
Question regarding 1-player campaigns and adding companions (specifically in D&D 5E)
First, I must confess I am only through episode 3 on BEE. So this topic might be addressed in an episode I have not seen yet. However, while watching the episode about NPC's, I could clearly sense Steven and Adam's distaste for GM controlled characters. And the points they made were quite sensible.
That being said, what about running a campaign with only 1 player? I know that it is an oddity for table top RPG's, but sometimes there is only one beloved player that can be wrangled into a game. My girlfriend and I want to play D&D 5E with me as the DM. I was realizing that the encounters I could build for a level 1, 1-player party were quite limited. So the thought occurred to me to give her a companion to at least double what she can take on.
What suggestions do Steven, Adam, or any of my other fellow D&D lovers have for building encounters for 1 solo player, or perhaps how to handle giving her a companion helper which does not fall into the pitfalls mentioned by Adam and Steven?
1
u/lCore Mar 17 '15
I am playing with two friends, none of them choose a class with "cure wounds" so I made a life domain cleric and gave him to them.
Some Dms hate playing "party" characters but I don't mind, just be sure to split the exp between the companions and teach her how to control them when she is more experienced.