4th Edition Dungeon Delve Solo RulesUnless otherwise noted, the original 4th Edition ruleset is used. The following modificationsare made:Rounds and Initiative: The entire delve is played in rounds like a boardgame, even if no monsters are onthe map. A round has the following segments or phases:1. Hero Phase2. Monster Phase (happens only if monsters are present)3. Encounter Phase4. Resting and Recovery Phase (happens only if no monsters are present) During the Hero Phase, every player hero takes a turn in initiative order asdescribed in the standard rules. Initiative is not rolled. Instead a static initiative isused by taking 10 on the initiative check to speed up play and to minimizebookkeeping. Also note, that during the Hero Phase only the heroes act (even if amonster has a higher static initiative). Initiative is only used to determine the actingorder during the phase but the Hero Phase always takes place before the MonsterPhase. During the Monster Phase, all revealed hostile creatures and monsters act in theorder of their static initiative and take a normal turn. If no monsters are on the map,the Monster Phase is skipped. During the Encounter Phase you check for random encounters and wanderingmonsters (see Encounters and Wandering Monsters below). During the Resting and Recovery Phase you can choose to take a short rest or anextended rest (see below). This phase happens only if no monsters or hostilecreatures are on the map, otherwise it is skipped.Wandering Monsters and Random Encounters: Once each round, during the Encounter Phase, you make a roll to see if awandering monster appears. There is a 10% chance that a wandering monsterappears (roll of 1 on 1d10 or 1-2 on 1d20). If a wandering monster appears,generate a wandering monster randomly (using a table or stat card deck etc.) andplace it between 6 and 12 squares away from the nearest player hero (dependingon the available map space) appearing from around a corner or in a doorway etc. Whenever you enter a new chamber or room for the first time, you generate arandom encounter during the Encounter Phase (using a random encounter table orthe random encounter rules from the DMG or the 3.5 edition Miniatures Handbook,Chapter on Random Dungeons, see the Tips section below for a random encountergeneration method) and place the encounter within the chamber. Note that yougenerate the encounter not until the encounter phase in the round. So if you areplaying with three heroes and the first hero enters a new chamber you still get toactivate the other two heroes during the Hero Phase and the remaining monsterswhich might still be on the map during the Monster Phase BEFORE the newencounter is generated during the Encounter Phase. This is to keep things in anorganized round structure that makes it easier to keep track of everything whileplaying solo. The difference between a wandering monster and a random encounter is that awandering monster is only one monster while an encounter might be a group ofmonsters depending on the player's party and level. Also, a wandering monster canappear every round and is not restricted to rooms or new areas while a randomencounter is generated only if a new unexplored room is entered. The purpose ofwandering monsters is to create time pressure and to account for things that makenoise and take time, like picking locks and disarming traps etc.Short and Extended Rests: You can only take a Short Rest or an Extended Rest during the Resting andRecovery Phase of the round, which happens ONLY if no monsters are present onthe map. So if you cleared a room and decide to stay and rest you still have to seeif a wandering monster appears during the Encounter Phase before the Resting andRecovery Phase. If you take a short rest, you gain the benefits as described in the standard rules andstart a new round with the Hero Phase. If you take an extended rest, however, you have to roll for a wandering monsteronce every hour. So since an extended rest takes at least 6 hours (unless you area Drow and need only 4 hours of trance) you have to roll six times and check for awandering monster. Only if no wandering monster appears you rest undisturbedand gain the benefit of an extended rest. If a wandering monster appears, place itaccording to the rules above and start a new round with the Hero Phase without thebenefit of an extended rest.Doors and Chests: The following rules apply to doors and chests. For simplicity, only the term "door" isused. Doors can be opened and closed with a minor action. Monsters can open a doorthat leads to a new area only if it has been opened by a hero before. Doors are trapped on a roll of 1-10 on 1d20. Traps can be discovered with a successful perception check or dungeoneeringcheck as a minor action vs. DC 15 + Level of highest level character in party. So ifthe highest level hero in the party is level 6 the DC would be 21 etc. Traps areautomatically discovered if the passive perception of a hero with LOS to the door ishigh enough, no action is needed. Traps can be disarmed with a thievery check vs. DC 15 + highest hero level as astandard action. Doors are locked on a roll of 1-10 on 1d20. Locked doors can be opened with athievery check vs. DC 15 + highest level as a standard action. Traps that are not discovered and disarmed are triggered if a door is opened. Trapsare one-shot traps: They make one attack against one or more characters(depending on the trap), deal damage and are useless and disabled afterwards. In order to disarm a trap, you first have to discover it. If you fail the perceptioncheck (only one try per character) and open the door you still have to roll to see ifthe door was trapped and resolve the trap. If you succeed at the perception check,you can make the trap roll to see if the door is trapped BEFORE you open the doorand can try to disarm the trap if necessary. Special Chest Rules: A chest is ALWAYS locked and it is trapped on a roll of 1-15on 1d20. If a chest is opened, you can generate one random treasure parcel (usingthe Essentials Dungeon Master's Book or Rules Compendium treasure table) forEVERY hero in the party. So if you have three heroes you generate three treasuresto form the chest treasure hoard. To determine if a new room or chamber contains a chest, roll 1d10 during theEncounter Phase when you generate the encounter for the room. On a roll of 10the room contains a chest.Treasure: Whenever you defeat an encounter generate a random treasure using the DungeonMaster's Book or a custom treasure table. Do not generate a treasure if the room where the encounter was discoveredcontains a treasure chest.Tips and Variations: These rules assume the use of a "classic" dungeon map, like the Twisting Hallsfrom the new 4th Edition red box starter or similar maps. However, they can also beused to play on less dungeonlike or "doorless" maps like the wonderful poster mapsfrom the D&D Minis line or by using the Dungeon Tiles from Castle Ravenloft andWrath of Ashardalon with some minor changes. Poster Maps: Since you don't have clear rooms and defined areas use thefollowing method for determining encounters: Place as many encounter tokens onthe map as you want encounters to happen. If a hero (not monster) is adjacent toan encounter token during the Encounter Phase you trigger an encounter. Removethe token from the map, generate an encounter and place the encounter 12 squaresaway from the nearest player hero. All other rules remain unchanged. Ravenloft and Ashardalon Tiles: Instead of doors and encounter tokens you haveunexplored edges. If a player hero is adjacent to an unexplored edge an encounteris triggered. Generate the encounter and then draw one tile per 2 monsters in theencounter (so three monsters would be two tiles etc.) and place the tiles at theunexplored edges as per standard rules. The first tile at the edge where the hero isstanding, the other tiles at the edges of the newly placed tile. If a wanderingmonster appears, draw a dungeon tile and place it at the nearest unexplored edgefrom a hero and place the wandering monster on the tile. This method works well ifyou play with a different objective than "find tile X which is between tile 9-12 in thestack". If you play with that objective however, only draw the first tile in a randomencounter from the top of the stack and the other tiles from the bottom of the stack.Also, if a wandering monster appears, draw the wandering monster tile from thebottom of the stack. All other rules remain unchanged. You should define an objective for your delve, like defeating a special boss villain orrecovering an artifact etc. to make things interesting. Also, you should stick to adungeon theme when tailoring encounter tables and add wandering monsters forvariation. Finally you can use 1" gridded flipchart paper and markers and use the randomdungeon rules from the DMG to create a random dungeon on the fly while you areexploring. Random Encounters: I use the following method for creating random encounters,which is not too much work and is pretty balanced: I create a table with 10 monsterentries, the monsters are fitting a certain theme. A monster can be of up to twolevels higher than the lowest level PC. If the entry is a minion, always 4 minionsappear. If an encounter appears, I roll on the table once for every PC. So if youhave two heroes you roll two times on the table and end up with 8 minions or 4minions and 1 standard monster or 2 standard monsters which are of comparablelevel to the Heroes. An encounter table for a party consisting of two heroes withdifferent levels (level 2 and level 4) would feature monsters of Level 1-4 (highestmonster level = lowest hero level 2 + 2) and the DC for finding and disabling trapsand picking locks would be 19 (15 + highest hero level 4).Elite and Solo Monsters don't appear in random encounter tables and are reservedfor "scripted" boss battles. A lonely hero of level 1 would only roll once on theencounter table which features monsters or minions of level 1-3 and his DC fortraps and doors would be 16. Lower level monsters should be more common thanhigher level monsters. An encounter table for a party of two heroes of an equallevel of 3 would feature monsters from level 1-5 and might look like this:01: 4 minions level 202: 4 minions level 303: 4 minions level 304: 4 minions level 305: 4 minions level 406: 4 minions level 507: standard monster level 108: standard monster level 209: standard monster level 310: standard monster level 4Remember you roll once per hero, so if you would roll a 9 and a 6 you would havean encounter consisting of a standard level 3 monster and four level 5 minions(which are the same as one level 5 monster XP wise). Since two level 3 monsterswould be a standard encounter and two level 5 monsters would be a hardencounter for two Heroes of level 3, this encounter is a challenging encounterbetween standard and hard. Using this method you don't have to calculate to muchin advance and still get balanced encounters with a decent XP value.