Khaim
First Post
So I'm designing a 4e one-shot, and I decided to make it epic level (22, to be precise). I leveled up a bunch of monsters and created a few of my own, and that was fine. But now that I've started to stat the PCs, there's a bit of a problem: their defenses are far too wimpy.
The HP-damage comparison seems to be roughly correct. A normal level 22 monster has about 200 HP (250 if brute, 150 if artillery/lurker). The fighter is doing 2[W]+Str minimum, 3[W]+Str or more on his better powers. With Strength 22 and a +4 weapon with d10 base damage, that's 21-26 per hit. The striker is doing a fair bit more, of course. Meanwhile, the same fighter has about 160 HP, and level 22 monsters are averaging 20 damage a hit. Combat may take more rounds, but we knew that already.
Note that having 22 in their primary score is a reasonable assumption at this level: base 14, +2 for race (probably), and six ability increases. I'm assuming that ability increases are like SW: two abilities each get +1.
Now things start to break.
An examination of the monsters we have, plus the Customizing Monsters article, reveals that a monster's AC and Defenses are 10+level+bonus, and their attacks are at level+bonus. The AC bonus is never lower than the defenses; usually 3-6, compared to defense bonuses of 1-4. Attack bonuses are in the 2-6 range. There are some exceptions to these, of course, and trends among monster class, but that's the overall picture.
So an "average" level 22 monster has AC 36, Defenses 34, and a +26 attack.
A 22nd level fighter with +4 Plate Armor (8) and a +2 Heavy Shield (2) has AC 37. That's not bad- but if he drops the shield, he has AC 33. The wizard next to him, with +5 cloth and Int 24, also has AC 33. This isn't terribly low, but the other characters are all around AC 33-34, barring shields. So the monsters are hitting them on a 8, on average.
But what about Fort/Ref/Will? Well, the fighter with Str 22, Int 12, Wis 14, and a +4 amulet has Fort 33, Ref 26, Will 27. If he picks up his +2 Heavy Shield, his gets Ref 30.
Any half-way decent monster will auto-hit his Will and nearly always hit his Ref, with the shield. The wizard next to him, with Con 14, has Fort 27; he's going to be auto-hit as well. Note that this is with a 14 in a tertiary stat; while you can finesse a 16 or 18 in all three categories, you're still going to be hit on a 3 or so.
So, what's going wrong? Am I missing some really big bonus? When a defense that has a class bonus and is backed by the primary stat is only mediocre, I'm worried.
The HP-damage comparison seems to be roughly correct. A normal level 22 monster has about 200 HP (250 if brute, 150 if artillery/lurker). The fighter is doing 2[W]+Str minimum, 3[W]+Str or more on his better powers. With Strength 22 and a +4 weapon with d10 base damage, that's 21-26 per hit. The striker is doing a fair bit more, of course. Meanwhile, the same fighter has about 160 HP, and level 22 monsters are averaging 20 damage a hit. Combat may take more rounds, but we knew that already.
Note that having 22 in their primary score is a reasonable assumption at this level: base 14, +2 for race (probably), and six ability increases. I'm assuming that ability increases are like SW: two abilities each get +1.
Now things start to break.
An examination of the monsters we have, plus the Customizing Monsters article, reveals that a monster's AC and Defenses are 10+level+bonus, and their attacks are at level+bonus. The AC bonus is never lower than the defenses; usually 3-6, compared to defense bonuses of 1-4. Attack bonuses are in the 2-6 range. There are some exceptions to these, of course, and trends among monster class, but that's the overall picture.
So an "average" level 22 monster has AC 36, Defenses 34, and a +26 attack.
A 22nd level fighter with +4 Plate Armor (8) and a +2 Heavy Shield (2) has AC 37. That's not bad- but if he drops the shield, he has AC 33. The wizard next to him, with +5 cloth and Int 24, also has AC 33. This isn't terribly low, but the other characters are all around AC 33-34, barring shields. So the monsters are hitting them on a 8, on average.
But what about Fort/Ref/Will? Well, the fighter with Str 22, Int 12, Wis 14, and a +4 amulet has Fort 33, Ref 26, Will 27. If he picks up his +2 Heavy Shield, his gets Ref 30.
Any half-way decent monster will auto-hit his Will and nearly always hit his Ref, with the shield. The wizard next to him, with Con 14, has Fort 27; he's going to be auto-hit as well. Note that this is with a 14 in a tertiary stat; while you can finesse a 16 or 18 in all three categories, you're still going to be hit on a 3 or so.
So, what's going wrong? Am I missing some really big bonus? When a defense that has a class bonus and is backed by the primary stat is only mediocre, I'm worried.
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