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I've been using my action ratio inspired design philosophy for just a few weeks now and only run one actual encounter for my party, and two independent playtests I've run for myself, but so far my experience hasn't shown them to be too powerful. I believe MM solos suffer in two ways that makes...

Thanks for the praise. When I wrote both this post and the previous I was talking about designing solos, and how I think the design is the place to address their issues. I recognize that few of the printed solos conform to my recommendations, which is part of why I am so eager to evangelize them...

I think you're trying to paint with too broad a brush here by adding or applying a universal change to the rules. This adds another layer of complexity onto what is generally a very streamlined system, why should saving throws universally work different for solo's than other creatures? It's...

Thank you both for the praise. Always good to hear, it validates that I'm on the right track developing my design philosophy and feels good to contribute something that might help other DMs. Cheers!

It depends on how you wield the longsword. A Swordmage wielding his longsword in two hands gets a +1 bonus to AC from Swordmage Warding, while a swordmage wielding a longsword in one hand gets the full +3 bonus to AC. This of course raises other questions since its not quantified what type of...

It means dead, DED, dead, as in negative bloodied value. That specific clause of the power is unlikely to be significant and I knew that going in, but would still make for an interesting change to the fight if it did happen, so I decided to include it. The fight with this solo ran really well...

Guyanthalas mentioned the solo I wrote for the session I ran for our group on Friday so here she is: Jaxia, The Corpse Bride of Acererak Level 10 Solo Skirmisher Medium Fey Humanoid (Undead) Initiative +12 Senses Perception +10; Darkvision Sound of Settling (psychic) aura 1; Any living...

I haven't looked at the specifics for 4e since reading your comment but I'll take your word for it, my perceptions were obviously colored by my years of 3.5 playing where the standard was 'threatening' which isn't a term at all in 4e. Not sure I like the idea of flanking with implements or...

You will never have flank and prime shot, they're mutually exclusive, one requires a melee weapon, the other only applies to ranged attacks.

I disagree, I've long fealt that he controller and the defender fill the same role in the party, forcing your opponents to use their actions inefficiently. Attacking the defender is an inefficient use of the monster's actions compared to the other potential options. The defender is by the...

I think you're drawing an illusory line between the defender and the controller. If the defender spreads damage in the least harmful way possible, that is forcing the enemies into sub optimal strategies, which was how you defined the controller role. I came to this conclusion all the way back in...

Yeah, but my party has always either identified the monsters AC or narrowed it to a much smaller range by the end of the first round. The know what they're rolling, they know their attack bonuses, and they can do arithmatic. The AC of a monster may be an unknown quantity at first but that goes...

For one wizard working by himself this might be true, however for a well coordinated party working as a unit its not that hard at all. Combat advantage, bonuses from leaders, defense penalties from conditions, orb of Karmic Resonance, Phrenic Crown, and Orb of imposition, you can get this off...

I find exactly the opposite. My players only decide to rest when they've exhausted their supply of healing surges, this often comes before they've exhausted their supply of daily powers, usually 4-8 encounters into the adventuring day. I've been trying to impress upon my players the ideas...

This is true, but so far every defender printed does this by encouraging the enemy to engage the defender... That is one way to be "sticky", the monster has to stay on you, attacking you, essentially stuck to you. As soon as they print a defender who prevents harm to their allies without a...

I usually wear the DM hat at our table, but I've recently gotten the chance to sit on the other side of the screen. The party I was joining needed a Defender, so that's what I played. Let me preface that by saying I have striker instincts. I had a very hard time adjusting to the defender...

Cadfan, my perspective is ultimately shaped by my play experience and the fighter in the party I DM for has taken exclusively multi-target encoutners for exactly this reason, so I'll readily admit that my view may be biased. However you've overlooked, or maybe just not mentioned that the...

I disagree, Fighter's are better Defenders. I'm not saying that fighter is a better class, but if all you're measuring is how good a defender each class is the fighter is the clear winner. Though it may be that we're arguing from different definitions of Defender. For me being 'sticky' is the...

I'm going to look at this in a different way. If the DM is making a campaign in which stealth is essential, he should give out Skill training as a bonus feat at 1st level. People who don't have stealth as a class skill get stealth, people who have stealth as a class skill get a different...

The people who've stated that taking 20 wasn't an automatic success are correct, taking 20 is never explicitly said to be an automatic success. However, I believe it creates an artificial and significant effect on skill checks. If a check required a roll of 18-20 to succeed take 20 increases...