Monster Elites, Solos & Status Effects

[Tequila Sunrise]

Someone recently commented that they don't like elites and solos because while they have the HP of several monsters, they multiply the value of status effects. Of course, elites and solos get those bonuses on saves but that doesn't help them with until-the-end (or beginning)-of-turn effects.

So, just as a thought exercise, I thought of a solution: Any effect has a 50% chance of simply not effecting an elite. Any effect has an 80% chance of simply not affecting a solo. Success would be determined as the effect is applied.

Of course, this turns the elite/solo save bonuses into overkill so anyone using the above house rule would want to drop the bonuses. Thoughts?

[Flipguarder]

I've been thinking about giving elites and solos a save against one or two effects at the beginning of their turn. At the end of the day, what this really means is that solos shouldn't be alone in combat.

[jstomel]

I feel that the XP award for solos is a bit exaggerated. I would either multiply their XP by 0.8 or their HP by 1.2. In addition, All solos should have a reaction power that lets them make an instant save against a status effect that allows a save(recharge 3 4 5 6).

[77IM]

Status effects annoy PCs, too, for similar reasons -- the game is fun when stuff is happening, and so an effect that shuts down a PC or which shuts down 100% of the monsters is boring.

I was thinking about a house rule where you burn a healing surge to get an instant free save against any effect that (save ends) or that lasts until the start or end of someone's turn. (Effects with unusual termination conditions, like "until escape," can't be saved against this way.) In conjunction, increase the number of surges monsters have: elites get +1 surge and solos get +4. The healing surge cost means that it won't happen constantly, only when it's really important, and the players won't feel as ripped-off when the monster shakes their condition because at least they are draining his healing surges.

-- 77IM

[Elric]

Originally Posted by Tequila Sunrise

Someone recently commented that they don't like elites and solos because while they have the HP of several monsters, they multiply the value of status effects. Of course, elites and solos get those bonuses on saves but that doesn't help them with until-the-end (or beginning)-of-turn effects.

So, just as a thought exercise, I thought of a solution: Any effect has a 50% chance of simply not effecting an elite. Any effect has an 80% chance of simply not affecting a solo. Success would be determined as the effect is applied.

Of course, this turns the elite/solo save bonuses into overkill so anyone using the above house rule would want to drop the bonuses. Thoughts?

See my thread Solos, Status Effects, and a House Rule for a really extended discussion of this issue. I don't find status effects on elites that problematic, so the thread focused on bringing status effects on solos close to the level of status effects used on elites.

A recent proposal from that thread:

Originally Posted by Elric

Implacable Foe: Whenever an attack or effect imposes a condition (defined on page 277 of the PH), besides marked, [this creature] can make a saving throw (without its usual +5 saving throw bonus) to be unaffected by that condition, even against an effect that doesn’t normally allow a save.

The reason I ended up going with this was simplicity. It’s hard to describe exactly what you mean if you say “status effect” or “anything with an until end of next turn effect” and this is a criticism that applies to the ideas I started with. Defining things in terms of conditions on page 277 of the PH is easy, though not as comprehensive in terms of what solos should be more resistant to (and it allows certain “terminology arbitrage” when a power that’s effectively a stun power doesn’t actually stun the target; e.g., Confusion, Wizard encounter 27).