The D&D Essentials Kit is a brand-new boxed set for new D&D players—sort of like a premium starter set. In addition to an adventure that spans levels 1–6 titled Dragon of Icespire Peak, it also includes a poster map of the northern Sword Coast, a sturdily bound rules booklet, and a set of cards for magic items, sidekicks, status conditions, and quests found within the adventure. Not to mention a set of dice and a slim DM screen that, while not quite as sturdy as the standalone “Dungeon Master’s Screen Reincarnated,” is still useful for new DMs.
Oh, and it also contains a code that gets you the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure free on D&D Beyond, as well as a coupon for 50% off the Player’s Handbook on D&D Beyond. What can we say, we’re proud to have our name on a box set. The adventure is fantastic—designed by Chris Perkins and Richard Baker, who wrote not just Lost Mines of Phandelver, but many, many other D&D adventures over the years, like The Forge of Fury. It’s “quest board” gives players the ability to acquire sidequests in a somewhat video-gamey but highly player-motivated fashion. It feels fun and self-directed, and it culminates in a tremendously satisfying dragon fight.
Sidekicks and Solo Campaign Play
However, this adventure contains a new ruleset that may be of interest even to veteran D&D players: one-on-one adventuring. People have been clamoring for one-on-one D&D adventures—that is, an adventure played with one Dungeon Master and one player character—for a very long time. It’s a fun way for D&D-loving couples to bond; just ask Todd Kenreck, our beloved video host and creative manager, and his wife Meagan. It’s also great for people who have only one or two D&D-playing friends at their school or job, but still want to play a D&D campaign anyway.
The Essentials Kit accomplishes this style of play by granting the main character a host of NPC sidekicks to round out their party. It ends up making a single-player game of D&D a lot like the D&D computer RPGs of the 90s, like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Planescape: Torment. Given that Baldur’s Gate III was just announced, I’d say that comparison is pretty apt! There are three types of sidekick known as the expert, the spellcaster, and the warrior. The spellcaster can choose between a healer or mage specialization, and the warrior can choose between an attacker or defender specialization. The sidekick rules presented in this adventure give a leveling progression for the sidekicks to advance up to 6th level—the same level that the main character will be at the end of Dragon of Icespire Peak.
Each sidekick type is represented by a single stat block, and leveling instructions are provided for each sidekick. While the sidekicks are based off of classes like cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard, they aren’t quite as skilled as their player character counterparts. For example, warrior sidekicks gain the Extra Attack feature at 6th level, while fighters gain it at 5th level. Because of this, the main character will always shine a little bit brighter than the sidekicks. I like this; it keeps the whole party leveling at an even rate while keeping sidekicks from overshadowing the main cast.
Overall, these sidekick rules are fun. They remind me of the D&D computer RPGs, and of more recent tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. It lets my character be a hero and a tactician simultaneously, directing units with personality around the battlefield to support my own personal strategies. The charming character portraits on the sidekick cards provided in the Essentials Kit boxed set really sell this feeling by making the sidekicks feel more like authentic characters than an assortment of stats—being able to hand them out as cards with those portraits displayed front-and-center helps keep their “realness” in focus at all times.
Even more, these sidekick rules are eminently usable in games that aren’t one-on-one, too! A game with only two or three players could let the characters find a sidekick that rounds out their party. Likewise, an enterprising DM could even use sidekicks in games in which the characters acquire an ally or hire a mercenary that travels and gains levels with the party for some time.
Alternative One-on-One Guidelines
With all that said, you may not feel satisfied with this answer to the question of “how do I play a solo D&D campaign?” You may not want to tactically command a bunch of NPC sidekicks around. You may just want to go on a heroic adventure on your own, like in the tales of Perseus or Theseus from Greek mythology, or like video game heroes like Link (The Legend of Zelda), Kassandra (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey), or the player character of The Elder Scrolls games like Morrowind or Skyrim.
If you’re a DM trying to run a one-on-one game of D&D without involving sidekick NPCs, consider how significantly the game changes when there’s no longer a party of adventurers to help each other. The weaknesses of any particular class become significantly more pronounced; a fighter’s inability to deal area-of-effect damage like a sorcerer or wizard can be a big problem in fights with lots of minions; a rogue’s inability to tank damage like a barbarian becomes a problem in forced combat scenarios; a wizard’s inability to disarm traps or open doors stealthily like a rogue makes it hard to explore ancient ruins—and the list goes on.
Try to compensate by these weaknesses by focusing on challenging your hero’s strengths—while throwing in a few obstacles that gently challenge their weaknesses. In combat, consider using optional rules such as Healing Surges, Climbing onto Bigger Creatures, and Cleaving through Creatures, to give your campaign a more heroic feeling. This will help elevate your sole hero’s actions and, in the case of Healing Surges, give them a better chance of survival in case the dice go awry.
Finally, as a DM running a one-on-one game, be sure you keep a close eye on the encounter building math. Encounters that will challenge a party of four will wipe the floor with a single hero, so don’t go too big too fast, especially if you’re used to “eyeballing” encounter difficulty. Pay attention to the math until you’ve developed your instinct for creating appropriate single-player challenges, using either the encounter-building tables in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, or the D&D Beyond Encounter Builder.
Are you running Dragon of Icespire Peak? Are you running it solo? Let us know what you think of it in the comments!
James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, the DM of Worlds Apart, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and Kobold Press. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his partner Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.
This is awesome! I’ve played in many adventures we’re it was just the DM and me. This will make those adventures much more fun! Great article, as always!
I ran Mines for my younger sister solo, using characters I had premade with their own connections to the region she could explore as additional quest options. However, the characters I presented to her often outshone her as the "main" character, which made me feel not so great - it was her first D&D game, and I wanted HER to be the hero!
I'm excited to get my hands on this so I can better flesh out my inevitable 3 person games to an even 4 without stepping on any of the character's toes!
I like the Essentials Kit and I'm glad I picked it up, but I think people should know that the rules for "Running For One Player" is a 146-word paragraph that amounts to letting the player pick one of the 3 sidekick and turning them loose on the world. There is 3 beginner quests the 1st level character and his sidekick will get to choose from. One has a manticore, one has 2 ochre jellies and 2 orcs (based on the party size), and the last has a mimic. Of those options, maybe the mimic wouldn't mop the floor with the player and his sidekick... maybe?
Again, I like the product but every article mentions the one player "rules" and I want potential buyers to be aware of what that entails.
this is fantastic and perfectly timed. I just started my first attempts at dm-ing with a duet (one on one) campaign so I can get a handle on rules and such. so this is perfect!
What I want to know is if I go to Target to buy the kit and get the code. Can I put in the D&dbeyond code and have access to it on here right away or will I have to wait for Sept like everyone else who wants to buy it on the site?
If you buy the boxed set at Target, you can use the code on D&D Beyond right now! No waiting necessary.
I'm about to start DMing a new campaign to introduce my two granddaughters to D&D. This adventure seems like the perfect way to begin. And sidekicks give me an additional tool to teach them the mechanics. I can't wait!
Great thank you for letting me know. This has made it much more likely that I'll buy the kit then.
I'm planning to eventually run a 1-on-1 short campaign for my D&D-loving girlfriend eventually. We've already decided the overall theme, and just need a good time to do it and a good time for me to prep. She is going to be a totem barbarian, with a nature cleric partner. Not using any sidekick rules, but she seems up to running 2 characters, especially since barbarians are pretty simple. The idea is that a sacred relic is stolen from a druid temple, and her and her partner are the only ones available to hunt the thief down.
On another note, I use the Healing Surge rules in my standard campaign and players tend to love it. I find it balanced for the most part, as it takes their action and they can't use more than 1/2 of their max in a single use before needing to rest, when is when they'd likely use the rest anyways.
The The Forge of Fury link error 403s. :(
If this link is sending you to a 403, it's probably because you haven't purchased Tales from the Yawning Portal on D&D Beyond.
I know that there's a 'sidekick' sub option in the extras menu.in the character sheet... but will dndbeyond actually instill the full sidekick rules & leveling capabilities now?
That's correct. I had assumed the intended behavior was for it to link to the page to buy it, like the Lost Mines link does, if you hadn't yet purchased it.
I have a couple of questions that I asked in a forum post that I would like to repost here.
1 I already used the key to unlock Dragon of Icespire Peak. Is there still additional content to unlock with the QR code?
2 I can't seem to find the pre-generated sidekicks that come on the cards in the essentials box. All I've been able to find are the generic ones. Are the pre-generated sidekicks part of DoIP here on D&D Beyond?
I was hoping to see a full version of the sidekick rules included with this release, but that doesn't seem to be the case. There seem to have been some changes made between the Unearthed Arcana rules and what was presented in the box set. I'd like to see the updated rules, even if they're released in another Unearthed Arcana.
1. If you scan the QR code it takes you to a "Coming Soon" page for 3 different adventures for 7th, 9th, and 11th level characters. Here is the link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/essentials/continue-the-adventure
2. I don't have it in front of me, but I believe I found the stats in the rulebook that comes with the box. There should also be a sheet of cards in the physical box (I don't see them on DNDBeyond). The cards do not have stats, just a picture of the character, name, race, sidekick class, and I think a little bit about them. There are 3 options each for expert, spellcaster, and warrior, but they will all use the same stats.
The Marketplace redirect works for the book's table of contents, but not for individual items within the book. If you were to click on the "Tales from the Yawning Portal" link above, for instance, it would take you to the Marketplace.
The Healing Surge, Cleaving, and Climbing Onto Bigger Creatures rules were error 403.
I, for one, would super appreciate an article on how to tie "Lost Mine of Phandelver" and "Dragon of Icespire Peak" together in a way that doesn't seem slipshod or confusing, Mister Haeck.
Will the solo rules and side kick stuff be available on beyond as well?
I think this would make a great article as I would also appreciate it!