19th-level Monster Conversions

Mesh Hong · Jun 12, 2009

the Jester said:
I'm glad you guys like it.

Matt, I've always been under the impression that you make one roll for the creature on its turn, and all powers recharge based off of that single roll. That's the assumption that I used when statting up the teratomorph. (Have I been doing this wrong? I'm honestly not sure, I'll have to look.)

I have always rolled each recharge power separately, otherwise if you rolled a 6 a creature might be getting 3 powers back all at once.

Mesh Hong · Jun 12, 2009

This is what the MM says:-

Some powers can be used only once in a given encounter.
Others recharge during the encounter, allowing the monster

to use them again.

Recharge : The power has a random chance

of recharging during each round of combat. At the start of
the monster’s turn, roll 1d6. If the roll is one of the die results
shown, the power is recharged and the monster can use it

It's actually a little ambiguous (surprise surprise

), and can be taken both ways.

I am inclined to still read it as each power getting its own recharge roll.

the Jester · Jun 12, 2009

Mesh Hong said:
I have always rolled each recharge power separately, otherwise if you rolled a 6 a creature might be getting 3 powers back all at once.

To me, the issue has always been simplicity. Since one of 4e's explicit goals is to speed up play at the table, I think rolling once is probably the intent- but who knows? You make a good point here!

the Jester · Jun 13, 2009

PLESIOSAUR (Longneck Sea Behemoth)--- Level 19 Skirmisher
Huge natural beast (reptile)--- XP 2400
---
Initiative +17; Senses Perception +14
HP 178; Bloodied 89
AC 33; Fortitude 33; Reflex 31; Will 27
Speed 3, swim 8
---
[Melee basic] Bite (standard; at will): Reach 3; +24 vs. AC; 3d6+8 damage.

[Melee] Neck Lunge (standard; at will): The plesiosaur shifts 2 towards an enemy (and must shift at least 1), then makes a bite attack against that enemy. If the bite hits and the enemy is bloodied after taking damage, the enemy is knocked prone.

[Melee] Darting Smash (standard; recharges when bloodied): The plesiosaur shifts 2 and attacks: reach 3; +24 vs. AC; 4d10+7 damage and the target slides 3 and is knocked prone. Effect: the plesiosaur shifts 3.

To the Water (move; when out of water; at will): The plesiosaur moves 6 towards a body of water big enough for it to swim in. It gains resist 5 to damage from opportunity attacks triggered by this movement, and if an effect stops its movement, the plesiosaur makes a bite attack as a free action against the creature stopping its movement.

Stupid Toughness: At the start of its turn, if the plesiosaur is affected by any conditions that a save will end, it may make a saving throw against one of them.
---
Alignment unaligned; Languages -
Str 25; Dex 23; Wis 20
Con 18; Int 2; Cha 6

the Jester · Jun 14, 2009

RAGGAMOFFYN
Raggamoffyns are mysterious creatures of animate scraps and bits of debris and garbage. Different types of raggamoffyns are constructed of different materials, but all are bits of society’s detritus.

SHRAPNYL--- Level 19 Controller
Medium natural animate --- XP 2400
---
Initiative +13; Senses Perception +17
Cloud of Steel aura 2; each creatures that starts its turn in the aura suffers 15 points of damage.
HP 182; Bloodied 91
AC 34; Fortitude 31; Reflex 29; Will 35
Speed 6, fly 6
---
[Melee basic] Jagged Blow (standard; at will): +24 vs. AC; 1d10+8 damage plus ongoing 10 (save ends)

[Melee] Engulf (standard; recharge 5 6) Charm: The shrapnyl moves into an adjacent enemy’s space (triggering opportunity attacks) and makes an attack: +23 vs. Will; Hit: the shrapnyl attaches itself to the target (save ends). While the shrapnyl is attached, the target is dominated, and the shrapnyl shares its space. Attacks on the shrapnyl or host do half damage to each of them. When the effect ends, the shrapnyl shifts to an adjacent unoccupied square.

[Close] Shrapnel Spray (standard; encounter): Close blast 3; +22 vs. AC; Hit: 4d12+7 damage; Miss: half damage.

Goad into Action (free; while attached to a victim; encounter): The shrapnyl’s host takes 10 points of damage and takes a standard action as a free action.
---
Alignment unaligned; Languages -
Str 21; Dex 19; Wis 26
Con 22; Int 10; Cha 17

Nifft · Jun 14, 2009

the Jester said:
Best use of the recharge mechanic EVAR (as far as I have created, anyway).

TERATOMORPH--- Level 19 Elite Brute
Gargantuan elemental beast (blind, ooze)--- XP 4,800

Some very cool stuff here, but some questions:

1/ It has no at-will basic attack. All its attacks are Recharge, so it's possible for it to run out.

2/ Its aura is boring.

3/ It has no Engulf!

4/ Stun (save ends) is teh suxorz. My players hate it.

So let's see how I'd do this one...

TERATOMORPH --- Level 19 Elite Brute
Gargantuan elemental beast (blind, ooze) --- XP 4,800
---
Initiative +12; Senses Perception +15; blindsense 10, tremorsense 10
Warp Reality aura 10; the area is treated as difficult terrain, and at the beginning of the teratomorph’s turn, each creature in the aura is attacked (see below)
HP 436; Bloodied 218
AC 33; Fortitude 35; Reflex 28; Will 33
Resist all 5
Saving Throws +2
Speed 3, climb 3 (spider climb), swim 3 (plus see Dimensional Shift)
Action Points 1
---
[Melee basic] Mutating Strike (standard; at-will): Reach 2; +21 vs. AC; 2d8+7 damage and ongoing 5 damage (save ends). If the victim dies from the damage, its body is horribly twisted and warped by the effects, making raising it from the dead problematic at best.

[Melee basic] Bonding Strike: Reach 2; +21 vs. AC; 2d8+7 damage and target is grabbed.

Dimensional Shift (move; teleportation; recharge 3): The teratomorph teleports 10 squares.

[Melee] Transporting Strike (standard; recharge 4): Reach 2; +19 vs. Fortitude; 3d8+7 damage and target slides 8 squares.

[Melee] Draining Strike (standard; recharge 5): Reach 2; +19 vs. Reflex; 3d8+7 damage and target is weakened (save ends).

[Melee] Disorienting Strike (standard; recharge 6): Reach 2; +19 vs. Fort; 3d8+7 damage and target is dazed (save ends).

[Melee] Double Strike (standard; at-will): The teratomorph makes two melee attacks against two different targets.

Recharging Aura: The teratomorph only rolls once per round to recharge its powers. This roll also determines the nastiness of its aura.

+19 vs. Reflex; hit 10 acid, fire, and thunder damage.
+19 vs. Fortitude; hit 10 acid, cold and lightning damage.
Enemies of the teratomorph cannot use teleporation powers within its aura.
+19 vs. Will; hit 10 damage and teleport 2.
+19 vs. Will; hit 10 damage and slowed until the end of the teratomorph's next turn.
+19 vs. Fort; hit ongoing 10 acid damage.

---
Alignment unaligned; Languages -
Str 26; Dex 17; Wis 22
Con 18; Int 1; Cha 5

... regarding Engulf: I dunno.

Cheers, -- N

the Jester · Jun 14, 2009

Nifft said:
Some very cool stuff here, but some questions:

1/ It has no at-will basic attack. All its attacks are Recharge, so it's possible for it to run out.

Look again. It recharges 2 powers with every recharge roll and gets at least one extra recharge check every round, so it shouldn't run out of powers. Now, if it had a bunch of warlord allies giving it extra attacks or something on top of its double attack, I guess...

Nifft said:
2/ Its aura is boring.

! You really think so? I thought the "random target attacked by random damage type" made it an interesting choice whether or not to stay within the aura.

Nifft said:
3/ It has no Engulf!

True enough. Looking at a bunch of other oozy monsters, I kinda felt like there were enough engulfers out there, but that may just be a matter of taste. Also, you could reflavor the aura as kind of a big area that's partially teratomorph pretty easily.

Nifft said:
4/ Stun (save ends) is teh suxorz. My players hate it.

Admittedly, my party has tons of ways to get extra saves for each other, having a cleric and a warlord both in the party... so it's possible that, were my party different, I might be more leery of stun (save ends)... but ime the stun usually lasts less than 2 rounds, and often less than 1.

Lately I have been wondering how much a leader-heavy party influences my view of the effectiveness of the challenges my pcs are facing, though. I definitely appreciate the feedback.

Nifft · Jun 14, 2009

the Jester said:
Look again. It recharges 2 powers with every recharge roll and gets at least one extra recharge check every round, so it shouldn't run out of powers. Now, if it had a bunch of warlord allies giving it extra attacks or something on top of its double attack, I guess...

Ah, now I see that you've interpreted the recharge roll in a kinda non-standard way, and that he gets a free recharge roll every OA... that's recent?

Since he recharges twice as often as he attacks (e.g. 4/round, +2/OA), what's keeping you from just giving him six at-will powers?

the Jester said:
! You really think so? I thought the "random target attacked by random damage type" made it an interesting choice whether or not to stay within the aura.

It's not an attack with a random energy type, it's an attack with EVERY energy type! Might as well make it just-plain-damage.

the Jester said:
Also, you could reflavor the aura as kind of a big area that's partially teratomorph pretty easily.

Yeah, true. You could favor acid damage a bit in the Aura and that would be the "engulf". That would be far easier to track than a condition!

the Jester said:
Lately I have been wondering how much a leader-heavy party influences my view of the effectiveness of the challenges my pcs are facing, though. I definitely appreciate the feedback.

IMHO leaders make a huge difference. Warlords seem to thwart Skirmishers who rely on movement & positioning to get their extra damage, while Clerics seem to thwart critters who deal extra damage based on conditions.

Cheers, -- N

the Jester · Jun 14, 2009

Nifft said:
Since he recharges twice as often as he attacks (e.g. 4/round, +2/OA), what's keeping you from just giving him six at-will powers?

Hmmm... nothing except for my love of random chaotic effects, which seems to blend well with the teratomorph. So I guess there is no real reason why you couldn't do that...

Nifft said:
It's not an attack with a random energy type, it's an attack with EVERY energy type! Might as well make it just-plain-damage.

Oops, you're right! IIRC I had intended it to be a random damage type... I'll go edit.

Nifft · Jun 14, 2009

the Jester said:
Hmmm... nothing except for my love of random chaotic effects, which seems to blend well with the teratomorph. So I guess there is no real reason why you couldn't do that...

Thing is, with all those re-rolls, it's got a better-than-even chance of always being able to use the same attack!

IMHO you'd be better served just making the attack choice random and not using the Recharge mechanism at all.

Cheers, -- N