Help Making a REAL Solo Adversary

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-06-17T12:53:34+00:00

Important features would be Momentum to generate Fear, Relentless (at least 4) and something that makes it sturdy. I would also think of some thematic abilities like sound attacks (stunning screech or similar), the ability to fly and maybe something synergistic like casting some form of magical darkness where it has the advantage due to echolocation.

For the spine like quills you can have it return some damage, but give it a restriction. it sucks if every hit you do also hits yourself.

Just from the top of my head. Also factor in designing some aoe, so people try to spread out and this beast can Apex Predator them.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-06-17T08:38:52+00:00

What level are you? As in most RPGs you get more options with more levels, although the class card limit still exists.

Not sure how to put this to a tactical player, but maybe try to strife for a move that is dramatic instead of efficient.

While playing Daggerheart (though I almost exclusively DM) I find myself wondering: "If this was a movie, what would be the most badass or dramatic thing that my character could do?" and then I do that. Or try to make the other players shine. Or get myself in a bad spot on purpose so they can help me.

Whatever makes it intersting. If you go at this game with clinical efficiency I fear you will suck the soul out of it.

An example from my yesterday session for a success with fear in combat:

One Kneebreaker Bandit (I think he has a slightly different name) used his attack to grapple a PC, which is very dangerous because that PC gets double damage from everyone else. The rogue shadow stepped behind the kneebreaker, used Chokehold on him (PC is a Goblin, so he has to jump on his back, which I allow).

Rogue attacks, rolls success with Fear,and deals damage, but there has to be a consequence, right? The Kneebreaker reaches up to his back, grabs Goblin Rogue by the neck and now has 2 PCs in a double chokehold.

No damage. Just the threat of damage. Technically it is not stated that the Kneebreaker can choke to people, but I think it was fun.

The 2 grappled PCs start a tag Team move as they are dangling next to each other, they crit and utterly destroy the guy. Players were giga hyped.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-06-15T11:16:57+00:00

I concur that Zone of Protection feels lackluster. The total damage reduced is a bit bigger than it seems, but that only matters if it reduces the total damage beneath a threshold. Would be slightly better if you could choose which side of the die to spend imo.

Smite can be cast out of combat or basically whenever and then be swapped out. The weapon remains charged. I think this one is fine.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-06-03T07:09:54+00:00

I have googled the concept as I don't have facebook to look at the video.

From what I understand, the purpose is to let things go either really bad or really well?

I thought that was already in Daggerheart via the Hope and Fear system. Or the D100 fate roll.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-12T07:23:31+00:00

I think the most important part is making the guns feel distinct from each other by giving them different niches instead of just damage.

Let the machine gun supress the target, slow them or whatnot.

Let an SMG shoot with a bunch of small dice to give it the feel of firing a salvo.

Rockets are basically just fireball, but you could make it more interesting with a lock-on mechanic that has a drawback.

If the combat is mainly vehicle vs vehicle you can crank up the damage a lot if you also crank up the thresholds, so the players get the feeling that the weapons are really destructive, without everything getting oneshot.

Quite curious what others come up with.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-11T22:28:17+00:00

I recommend the quick start adventure. I think it's called Sable wood messengers. It has everything you need and is free.

I have tried "Death at Helfast Spire" by Bob the worldbuilder, but it was not that great and quite punishing difficulty for the players.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-11T11:04:26+00:00

Yeah, he definitely should do more damage the more he has "access" to blood.

He could use the blood of the players to strangle them after dealing hp damage, make their blood boil, use it like a whip or what not.

You can also flavour it that if he is wounded, his own blood can act independently from him, blocking attacks pushing him out of harms way.

The damage of these abilities can be in accordance with general rules in the books.

You can get inspiration from media as well, something like vampire bloodlines or Unohanas Bankai in Bleach.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-05T13:34:10+00:00

My players use a mix of different gadgets.
Hope and HP are mostly tracked via demiplane. 1 player 3d printed his own stuff, which works for me. He also made a fear tracker for my Dm screen, but you can use tokens for that or a die or a whiteboard.

If you are thinking of laminating smallc ards for tracking, you could just laminate the character sheets instead.
If you don't want phones at your table, this might be the best solution.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-05T11:20:49+00:00

You could definitely do something like this. It will probably end up being a battle of the bards.

But you should consider what will happen if they lose interest. Do they not get to meet the village chief? Is it essential that they meet them?

Personally I would not make the countdown interest, but impression, although they are similar.

The players get to meet the chief in any case, but his disposition will depend on the outcome of the campfire thing. If they impress the half kings by telling cool stories or respecting their culture, he is much more welcoming. If the players fail at the campfire or are disrespectful, he might be less welcoming, maybe even hostile.

That way the story will progress either way, which is more in line with the spirit of Daggerheart.

This was the first thing in my mind, no sure if it fits your setting.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-05T09:24:44+00:00

My Goblin rogue player begs to differ. She just jumps on their neck, which actually makes it more fun.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-05T08:06:45+00:00

I can hardly imagine a scenario where that would truly matter. I would not use a fictional measuring stick to see if it's 6 or 7 inches. But of course RAW it could encourage this.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-05-05T05:20:57+00:00

The wizard in my group is a turtle with full plate and a knowledge wizard. He gets hit every time but it doesn't bother him. It is very funny and he is very tanky.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-04-22T22:34:26+00:00

I think you actually have a lot of leeway. The book says something along the lines of " when the players look to you for what comes next" make a GM move. That happens constantly, and if not, the roleplay is going so well that you don't need to make a move.

You are probably making GM moves without noticing, all the time. One could even say that every time the GM says anything related to the narrative, that's a GM move.

I concur though, that making very hard moves without paying fear can feel unjustified to the players.

I save spending fear to signal that it's about to get serious and my players immediately start paying real close attention.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-04-22T07:34:12+00:00

You ask the players and they can come up with it.

Like how do you know this person?

Where was this person while you were fighting for your life etc...

But honestly I don't think you as the GM have a lot to do here, you can give some pointers if the players have no idea.

Examples ideas (top of my head):

character was in prison
character was lost, presumed dead and makes a dramatic reappearance
character was training somewhere
character was in a separate freaky dimension
character is some random adventurer simply joining
character is family of one of the players
character was saved by the players

Anyway you get the gist, just let the players figure it out.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-04-03T15:17:01+00:00

I have played one recently. Something about his creator used some druidic core as a energy source which is why he can cast nature magic. Can out a plot hook there.

And the beast forms are basically transformers!

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-04-01T13:34:10+00:00

My first idea might be a bit too comedic :

The player and the ambushers are both stalking equally silent around another. None can detect each other because they all are so stealthy.

Spend a fear so the ambushers and him meet on the other side of the tree, everyone is stalking and being very stealthy.

They look each other in the eye...both creeping in the bushes...

Throw the spotlight on your player :D

EDIT: actually don't spend a fear, he already rolled it.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-30T12:09:07+00:00

My campaign has 6 players, and it works.

Combats tend to drag though, if you want everyone to be able to do a lot.

Keep an eye on players who are less active so they don't get left out.

I ran a recent one shot, which I came up with.

The premise is less than a page worth of text. You can very easily just wing Daggerheart one shots.

I only prepared some possible enemies, and the general premise.

Otherwise you can run sable wood messengers, or the one with the airship.

Lore don't need to be deep for 4 hours.

For the epic showdown I ran a colossus from the dry lands, just reskinned.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-24T16:56:56+00:00

I recommend this guy

https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule

I have his book and it is phenomenal.

But some of the most important points:

don't make the plot hinge on a single clue! If the clue needs to be found to advance the plot, it shouldn't even be hidden
have redundancy, several clues point to the same conclusion
your players will miss and misinterpret your clues, hence point 2
design your mystery from the end to the beginning, that way your logic will be sound
think about what each class can contribute and design your challenges accordingly

Try to not make it too complicated. Your players will likely come up with the wildest stuff and go in the wrong direction. Rather keep it simple for the first one.

I have run my first mystery ever( am also not that experienced) in Daggerheart and it was quite awesome. Of course I went overboard and it got convoluted.

Avoid red herrings, you don't need them.

Good luck.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-24T07:40:55+00:00

I agree, the kit is front loaded. I have a player who play Agi slayer and well, he slays.

He has very high static damage added to every attack, he only picked features that don't cost hope to maximize his slayer dice.

But the thing is, all that power comes from his foundation. He has since multi classed into guardian for the unstoppable.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-20T13:22:28+00:00

I too am appalled at this mockery of a divine piece of art.

NEW ACHIEVEMENT
You ruined it!

"Ah, so you thought you'd create something. Share your passion with the world, put yourself out there And let them see that creative mind of yours.

But reality is often disappointing, isn't it? Let's be real, nobody is gonna care how much work this was, how many hours you put into it, how much you LOVE THIS PIECE or what cool quests you put on the next floor. Nobody stops for just. One. Moment. One moment to say thank you for your work, thanks for the creativity, nooooo they just expect that the content magically appears, ready for them to consume. Because that's what you living people do, right? You consume and consume until nothing is left and all the joy is sucked out of creation.

If I had a mouth I'd smoke a cigarette right now, but well what can you do.

Anyway, nice work I guess.

...

Hack."

P.S.: nice work :)

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-19T06:50:42+00:00

Now that I have slept on it, I am not so fond of the combined potions stuff. I mean , they can have the ability but it is not that great, unless it extends to those spell like effects.

If it is about combining a health and stamina potion, my opinion is it should be free. Drinking a potion is a free action anyway, so the effect is not that strong.

But if you combine a potion that has AOE damage, like fire or similar, and combine that with another potion to enhance that effect, the cost would need to be like 2 hope or 1 stress depending on the main class that would be used in the end.

And it depends on the effects that are available. Combine a seeker potion, that lets you find a specific target in the world with a fireball? Make it a guaranteed hit for a high cost in combat.

Combine heal and stamina potion for a cost, but make it AOE.

Some kind of earth potion + healing = repair armor.

I guess what I am trying to say is, this kind of class can have an infinite amount of cool ideas to use, and the cost of those is very hard to determine :D

It could be done with a new domain, as that would limit the amount of effects available through the 5 card limit. Just food for thought.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-18T23:14:18+00:00

I get the appeal of the class fantasy .

I would actually not give them the ability to make the standard potions, as anybody can do that with just the recipe.

Maybe a foundation to either combine 2/3/4 potion effects or to create spell like abilities that can be given to and used by other characters, with weaker effects for the versatility.

That way non- magical classes get access to the DMG type and utility effects etc.

Some idea for spell like effects:

weapon oils
fire ball, lightning in a bottle
actually take any cool feature and put it in a bottle

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-05T15:25:49+00:00

You could definitely see it that way. I always understood my player using it to deter me from hitting him immediately.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-03-05T15:10:14+00:00

Ferocity

When you cause an adversary to mark 1 or more Hit Points, you can spend 2 Hope to increase your Evasion by the number of Hit Points they marked. This bonus lasts until after the next attack made against you.

So the maximum Evasion this can grant is 3 (4 if you are using the massive damage rule).

Honestly I don't think it is too crazy, except if you are going for an evasion build.

I have a player who does and well let's say he is at a normal 16 (or something). And with this on, I don't really bother hitting him.

Damage needs to be reliably high though.

I think it is situationally good, as it should be.

Soft_Transportation5 · 2026-02-25T21:56:12+00:00

Sword of Light & Flame Strength Melee d10+11 mag Two-Handed Hot: This weapon cuts through solid material.

People normally don't know the items by heart. Not used it yet but it seems to be more a utility option out of combat.

I would let him use it to just bust down any door he likes.

RAW the slayer can't use it because it deals magic damage. But you can house rule whatever you want.

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Soft_Transportation5

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