Zero Prep 5e Solo Play Example
For this solo play example I will be playing 5e, with XP for GP (4:1) as discussed in my Solo Playing 5e with Zero Prep Methodology article. I will be using none of the optional or variant rules, such as feats or slow healing, so that this example can be considered a baseline, rules-as-written 5e example of zero prep solo play. (If I accidentally deviate from this goal, let me know in the comments!) I will look to the 1e DMG for solutions, wherever 5e rules prove insufficient.
For a set of zero prep solo play rules that are closer to my usual preference, check out the Campaign Prep section of my Zero Prep 5e campaign.
I will be including my thought process and noting which tables I’m rolling on, so that my approach may be most fully understood, and I hope it will help you.
Preparing to Play
I will be playing in my usual fashion, using only a document on my phone, a dice roller, and digital copies of the 5e sourcebooks and 1e DMG. For player options I will be limiting myself strictly to the PHB, even though as a DM I will be using XGE and TCE.
I would like my party to be a cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard, all human men. I will be rolling attribute scores (4d6 drop the lowest), of course, and Roman names from XGE. I will roll for Ideals in their backgrounds, so that they can gain inspiration for playing to their alignment. Scores will be listed in SDCIWC order. I’ll use background equipment and recommended class equipment and not shop any further yet.
Human Cleric, Acolyte “Aelius”
Ability score rolls: 8 12 13 10 12 12
Ability scores: 13 13 13 11 14 9
Ideal: Power (Lawful)
Skills: Insight, Religion, History, Medicine
Languages: elvish, dwarvish, sylvan
Equipment: holy symbol, prayer book, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, common clothes, and 15 gp, mace, chainmail, crossbow, 20 bolts, explorer's pack, shield, Amulet of Osiris
Notes: Life domain (Osiris)
Cantrips: Guidance, Resistance, Light
Domain Spells: Bless, Cure Wounds
Prepared Spells: Healing Word, Command, Create or Destroy Water
Below average scores, so he'll probably focus on defensive magic, the sort which won't rely on attack rolls or saving throws. Will put the 14 in wisdom and dump the 9 in charisma. Life domain makes him more useful in that regard, and more sturdy with access to chain mail. In his downtime he studies the teachings of Osiris and serves as a leader of the church.
Human Fighter, Soldier “Claudius”
Ability score rolls: 12 15 10 13 15 14
Ability scores: 16 15 16 11 13 14
Ideal: Greater Good (Good)
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Animal Handling, Perception
Tool Proficiencies: dice, land vehicles
Languages: gobbish
Equipment: insignia of rank, dagger, bone dice, common clothes, 10 gp, chain mail, long bow, 20 arrows, two hand axes, dungeoneer’s pack, longsword, and shield
Notes: Dueling fighting style
Classic fighter, with pretty good rolls. Can't complain! Will be looking to acquire one or more dogs to train, and a horse. Claudius is a sergeant of the town guard, with rank to command up to 10 soldiers in that capacity.
Human Rogue, Outlander “Germanus”
Ability score rolls: 8 13 13 15 10 9
Ability scores: 10 16 14 11 14 9
Ideal: Honor (Lawful)
Skills: Athletics, Survival, Acrobatics, Deception, Perception, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies: flute
Languages: thieves cant, dwarvish, undercommon
Equipment: staff, hunting trap, squirrel skin hat, traveler's clothes, 10 gp, rapier, short bow, 20 arrows, burglar’s pack, leather armor, 2 daggers, thieves tools
Nothing too special here, Germanus is a simple hunter and treasure seeker.
Human Wizard, Sage “Varius”
Ability score rolls: 16 14 17 7 11 15
Ability scores: 8 16 17 18 15 12
Ideal: Power (Evil)
Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Religion
Languages: thieves cant, infernal, elvish
Equipment: ink, quill, small knife, common clothes, 10 gp, dagger, staff, explorer's pack, spell book
Cantrips: Light, Fire Bolt, Minor Illusion
Level 1 spells: Find Familiar, Identify, Mage Armor, Chromatic Orb, Shield
This evil wizard is destined for the schools of evocation or necromancy. Putting high stats in Dex and Con to help with survivability. Going to lean into the sage background to always be pursuing arcane texts and expanding his spell book. His familiar is a bat, whose 60ft blindsight will hopefully prove helpful in dungeons.
Finding Adventure
Already I am imagining that these four will not stick together as a party in the long run, though they will do fine for an initial adventure.
I want to begin by utilizing Varius’s background and Investigation skill to search for dungeons which may contain wizard scrolls, this is the sort of research he does in his downtime. For spell scrolls in those dungeon hoards he finds, a DC 15 investigation check will see if his investigation was successful, and that they are wizard scrolls.
Heeding the advice from 1e, the first adventure will be in a dungeon that's a half day's walk from town.
We're starting at the dungeon, so we'll know a few things about it now.
Dungeon Location roll: catacombs or sewers beneath a city
Cleric (21) and Wizard (11) both make DC 15 History checks, for a chance to roll on the Dungeon History table, cleric passes: site of a great miracle! I'll roll on the Cults or Religious Groups, and then on a mid tier magic item table (G), for the seeds of what may have gone down here: worshipers of a neutral deity, and Belt of Dwarvenkind. Here, I think a neutral-aligned ally of the dwarves beseeched aid from the Allhammer, to vanquish the evil of the dungeon. Now I'll roll a high level Urban Encounter to find out what sort of thing was vanquished: “1 spellcaster vampire or 1 warrior vampire”. I gave each one a 50/50 chance, and ended up with “1 spellcaster vampire”. So, the hero received help from the Allhammer to vanquish a spellcaster vampire that had presumably become quite a large threat. Given that the Allhammer was involved, it's possible that this dungeon was a shrine or structure made by or for Dwarvenkind.
That's a fair amount of information for us to learn at this point. It also makes sense now why Varius would anticipate finding wizard scrolls in this dungeon.
Heading to the Dungeon
Normally dungeons are just outside of town, so I'd roll one encounter check for the walk there. Since this is below the city, I'll say the party is probably having to navigate unscrupulous parts of the city to find a known entrance to this ancient dungeon. 1 on a d6 will be an encounter: 6, no encounter. Party finds the arched, open stairway down into the dungeon, partly but not entirely overgrown.
Roll Call and Marching Order
I forgot to go shopping before heading out, so our starting equipment is what we've got. Varius casts Mage Armor on himself before entering the dungeon, leaving him with 1 spell slot (all of his spells are prepared, at least). Varius keeps his bat familiar tucked away unless needed.
Aelius, Cleric of Osiris, AC 16+2, HP 9/9
Claudius, Sergeant, AC 16+2, HP 13/13
Germanus, Hunter, AC 14, HP 10/10
Varius, Sage, AC 13 (16), HP 9/9
Marching Order: Aelius, Claudius, Germanus, Varius
Marching Order, 10’: Aelius and Claudius in front, Germanus and Varius in back.
Keeping Light cast on both Claudius and Aelius’s armor.
Into the Dungeon
At this point I need to roll the Dungeon Purpose (Mine), and decide on the most appropriate XGE encounter table to use (Swamp, levels 1-4), and using the build-as-you-play encounter table as described previously. This a classic “dungeon below the city”, so the encounter table will start thusly:
The Undermine, floor 1
Rats
(replace with Swamp encounter)
(replace with Swamp encounter)
(replace with Swamp encounter)
Roll a Swamp encounter
Roll a Swamp encounter
Being in such a populated area, the dungeon must be at least moderately active. Encounter checks every 20 minutes.
Roll Starting Area: passage, 10’ wide, 4 way intersection.
So passages lead left, right, and straight ahead; behind lies the stairs to exit the dungeon.
Seeing the dungeon starts with open passages, the party will draw back, and Varius will scout ahead through the eyes of his bat, seeing up to 160’ ahead in each direction.
From the 4 way intersection, looking in every direction (rolling Passage as far as I can see):
Left: 20’, turns right, 10’, (#1)
Ahead: 20’, door (#2)
Right: 30’, 20’, side passage right to (#3), 10’, (#4)
(I will be repeatedly rolling on the Passage table, separating the results with commas, so note how the “30’, 20’, …, 10’” form a 60’ straight passage, with the side passage along the way; I will keep a map so you do not need to follow along roll for roll)
(Map of what I’ve seen so far, numbering the unknowns to make them easier to reference here)
Bat explores down the left path first, starting from (#1).
Path: 20’, side passage right* to (#5), 10’, 20’, side passage left to (#6), 10’, chamber #1
*I think a side passage to the right makes no sense here, so this will be a side passage to the left instead. Discretion must prevail!
Chamber #1, (Chamber) 50’ diameter circle
Bat’s range limit is here, so flying back to check (#6):
Path: 20’, side passage left to (#7), 10’, 20’, side passage right to (#8), 10’, 20’, side passage right to (#9), 10’, (#10) (range limit)
There's a whole lot of side passages on this side of the dungeon. Varius is going to fly his bat back to the entry intersection and check out the passage to the right instead, starting with (#3).
Path: 20’, turn left, 10’, 20’, dead end, 10% chance of secret door
Varius backs up to check the side passage (#4).
Path: 20’, side passage left to (#11), 10’, 20’, door to the right (#12), 10’, 20’, turns right, 10’, (#12) (range limit)
Varius calls his bat back to the entrance, and the party (and myself) review the map to consider a course of action. With so many open passages, it will be easy to get caught by surprise and cornered by monsters. The party decides to begin by checking the door (#2) straight ahead from the entryway.
By this time, 10 minutes has passed.
Observing the door (rolling Door Type) to be iron, barred or locked (locked, because I think that makes the most sense here). Germanus will try to pick the lock (DC 15, the standard for locks in the PHB, with Guidance from Aelius), costing another 10 minutes, and getting a roll of 24 to open the lock.
Wandering encounter check (18+ on a d20): no encounter
The party returns to formation, and opens the door. Rolling Beyond a Door: more passage. Varius flies his bat to peek around up ahead.
Path from door: 10’, T intersection
Left: 10’, 20, turn right, 10’, (#14)
This doesn’t quite fit, so I’m going to have it follow the wall of the existing passage for 30ft. Seems like a prime spot for secret doors, and the passage might curve again and continue further (#14).
Right: 10’, 20’, door to left (#15), 10’, 20’, turn left, 10’, (#16)
Disappointed thus far, the party heads right and checks out the door (#15): iron, locked. 10 minutes to lockpick with Guidance: 15, barely succeeded.
Dungeon clock: 30 minutes total
Beyond the door: passage. 20’, 20’, side passage to the left (#17), 10’, 20’, side passage to the right (#18), 10’, 20’, turns left, 10’, *20’, wooden door to the right (#19), 10’, 20’, side passage to the right (#20), 10’, (#21)
*this doesn’t fit, so I curve the passage to the right again and continue
Opening the wooden door (#19)… reveals a chamber!
Large Chamber 40’x50’, with 3 Chamber Exits
Dungeon Chamber Contents: Empty room
Exploring the dungeon room takes 10 minutes
Dungeon clock: 40 minutes total
Random encounter check: no encounter
Chamber Purpose (Dungeon: Mine): Barracks for miners
Exit Locations: 2 on the right, 1 on the same wall as the entrance, all doors (Exit Type), wooden, secret, and locked wooden (Door Type)
Here, the locked wooden door on the same side as the entrance makes no sense. I’m going to change it to a secret door instead; and both secret doors locations will be unknown to me. In the future if scouring the room for secret doors, I’ll re-roll their locations at that time.
Will not be using any time to investigate for the secret doors. Will go through the unlocked wooden door. Beyond the door: Chamber!
Small Chamber 40’x40’, 1 exit
Dungeon Chamber Contents: Monster (pet or allied creature).
Time to roll on our little encounter table (d6): 3. So, I'll roll on the swamp table, and add it to our local encounter table as well: 2d6+3 bullywugs
8 bullywugs! (taking the moment to read about Bullywugs in the MM)
Now to roll for surprise (2 in 6 chance they surprise us, 2 in 6 we surprise them): 6 and 3, no surprise.
Now rolling 2d6 for demeanor: 3, quite hostile towards us.
I imagine this area being quite soggy and damp at this point, in these tunnels below the city. The bullywugs feeling right at home here.
I imagine the Bullywug room will connect to #18 somehow, perhaps by a door or secret passage.
Anyway, the bullywugs are hostile and, as they outnumber us, they immediately move to attack. Roll initiative!
Party Initiative: 3, 10, 18, 6
Bullywugs Initiative: 17
Retreat is sounding like a great idea at this point. I'll handle this as a chase instead of a combat, and position the bullywugs so that there are 2 within 10’, 2 within 20’, 2 within 30’, and 2 within 40’. Bullywugs will be dashing at 40’, and can do that 4 times before making constitution checks. Our cleric can dash 4 times, rogue 5 times, and the fighter and wizard 6 times. The humans can easily outrun the bullywugs, but they’ll need to survive the first round of combat first, as the bullywugs will certainly close in.
Following initiative order:
The rogue will dash 60’ away, making it all the way back through the Miner Barracks as well.
The bullywugs can all reach the party in one turn, so they run up to engage the front line. The 10’ doorway can fit 3 abreast, so 3 bullywugs (A, B, and C) engage with our cleric and fighter. The middle bullywug (B) has a 50/50 chance of engaging either one, so I roll… cleric. Bullywugs A and B make 2 spear and 2 bite attacks to hit the cleric, 3 hit (one bite missed). Both attacks from Bullywug C on the fighter missed. Cleric takes 2d8+d4+3 damage (13) and falls to the ground.
The fighter and wizard both see this. The Good-aligned fighter, with “Greater Good” ideals, does not want to abandon his friend.
Time to figure out if carrying the cleric is going to work, weight-wise! Claudius has 16 strength, and so can lift 240 pounds. The bulk of the weight each of them are carrying is their chain mail, 20 pounds each, leaving 200 pounds to work with if they both drop everything else. Chapter 7 allows us to roll up a height and weight for Aelius: 6’1” tall, 195 pounds!
Dropping everything, Claudius picks up his friend and moves 30 feet away this turn, and provokes two attacks of opportunity from those spears: one hits, gouging him for 8 damage, and leaving him with 4/13 HP.
Varius follow’s Germanus’s lead and dashes away, not stopping to help the others.
Combat Round 2
Germanus, Lawfully aligned and with the ideal of Honor, gives up his certain escape, and instead prepares to pull the outer barracks door closed once his allies are through.
The bullywugs hop into the barracks and start throwing their spears, as their last chance to try and catch the fighter. The first spear hurled is a critical hit, and the 7 damage drops the fighter to 0 HP.
Varius will continue to dash, certain to escape at this point.
Combat Round 3
Germanus escapes.
This round will be the second round of death saves for Aelius, and the first round for Claudius. I roll those now (as I don’t prefer to roll them until other characters are able to check on them, for suspense!). All three of those death saves are successes.
Bullywugs are inclined to take captives and lord over those unfortunate souls in a situation like this. They’ll attempt to stabilize both of their prisoners right away, succeeding to stabilize Aelius on this turn, but not Claudius.
Combat Round 4
Bullywugs start toting away Aelius, a bullywug again fails to stabilize Claudius, and Claudius fails a death save.
Combat Round 5
Claudius is stabilized this round, and will be toted away as well.
In d4 (3) hours, they will wake again, prisoners of the Bullywugs.
Germanus and Varius leave the dungeon, unaware their comrades are still alive.
Froggy Lords of the Undermine
Following the Unruly Diplomacy segment of the Bullywug entry of the Monster Manual... The bullywugs likely infest these swampy mines, and fancy themselves rulers of it. The bullywugs drag the duo before their lord, forcing them to beg for mercy. The duo yield their crossbow and longbow as gifts, attempting to persuade the bullywug to let them go (DC15). I think this would give them advantage on their persuasion check, but even if they agreed, the bullywugs would demand more, probably a service of some sort. If the persuasion fails, the bullywugs would strip the adventurers and eject them in disgrace, with a 1 in 6 chance of killing them on their way out.
Persuasion check from Claudius (d20+2 with advantage): 18
Thanks to Claudius’s emotive efforts, it looks like the duo will be making it out alive today, minus their longbow and crossbow. Claudius will receive inspiration as well, for risking everything to save his ally.
But what of the bullywug’s demands? Not sharing a language with the humans, the demands will have to be somewhat simple… acted out, or conveyed through pictures. From the DMG Appendix A, the Monster Motivations table gives us “Avoid Danger”. They describe to the duo a threat, which they want the duo to address. I’ll use the Swamp Encounters (1-4) table to roll a threat… rats! The multitude of rats indicated, probably also means there is a giant rat or two that need to be found and slain to appease the bullywugs.
Updating the local random encounter table:
The Undermine, floor 1
Rats
Bullywugs
Giant Rats (remove once defeated)
(replace with Swamp encounter)
Roll a Swamp encounter
Roll a Swamp encounter
The duo are then sent away, and are escorted by a pair of bullywugs to the dungeon entrance, where they return to the inn and rest for the night.
End of Session
This session ends in an interesting place. The party survived, but gained no treasure or XP this round, in fact they lost some of their equipment to the bullywugs. But already threads of intrigue and plots are starting to emerge… if the party helps the bullywugs, they will gain a sort of ally faction within the dungeon, which would be quite helpful.
The party has also made good progress on mapping the dungeon. They will be able to navigate it more efficiently on their next visit, perhaps they'll check out the huge chamber in the top left next time?
It was certainly a lot of adventure for having had nothing prepared in the first place! I also am feeling increasingly comfortable navigating the rulebooks to find the tables and rules I need for this playstyle, which will help in the 5e campaign I’m DMing as well.
Session Retrospective
My first thought was how much longer it takes to roll 5e characters, even compared to 1e; but I will try to keep edition critique light in this retro.
Second, I noticed 5e’s lack of a dedicated “dungeon encounters” table, the way that 0e and 1e have, which means something else must be picked instead which is more environment specific, like Swamp.
As the XGE encounter tables are split by environment, wilderness-as-a-dungeon would work fairly well I think. Every 2 days into the wilderness counting as a dungeon level of difficulty, so that 40 days into the wilderness would be rolling level 20 encounters. Maybe.
The 5e Appendix A is a bit more rough than 1e’s, it was frustrating just how many hallways there were. Then again, I was rolling really poorly and very much against the odds, which would have placed at least ~3 more rooms in this map.
5e’s Appendix A doesn't distinguish between rooms and chambers! All exits are 50/50 a door or passage, which hurts the theming a bit? But I really liked the variety of the Dungeon Purpose table, with a table of room types for each. I would use these to augment 1e’s Appendix A. 1e’s dungeon dressing appendices are included in 5e’s Appendix A as well, as tables (they weren't tables in 1e).
As expected, cantrips made light sources a non issue. The bat’s blindsense was pretty great for scouting as well. All of this with a human party, no darkvision.
Interesting world and goals certainly emerged from the zero prep approach, as expected.
5e’s RAW combat frustrated me compared to the campaign rules I typically use. For those who prefer battle grids, this is really a non issue. For theater of the mind players, I recommend a 10’ grid map (as seen in this post) and my 5e campaign rules which greatly speed up combat.
I was prepared to lose characters in this run, but the bullywugs made things interesting and amusing and, best of all, gave my characters some additional obligations to look forward to playing out.