Am I going to TPK

I've made up a couple of monsters for a 4E Demo I'm running Sunday. It's the big final battle and it's supposed to be tough. I don't have time to test it. Can everyone give me their opinion on if you think that the six pregens could possibly have a chance?

The encounter is 750XP (assuming I did everything right)

Your comments are much appreciated!

Here they are:

Human Necromancer Level 5 Elite Artillery (Leader)
Medium Natural Humanoid XP 400
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +5
HP 120 Bloodied 60
AC 16 Fort 14 Ref 14 Will 15
Speed 6 Saving Throws +1 Action Point 1
m Staff (Standard, At-Will) Weapon
+5 vs AC; 1D8 +1 damage (1D8 + 9 Crit)
r Magic Missile (Standard, At-Will) Force, Range 20
+7 vs Reflex, 2D4 + 4
R Ray of Pain (Standard, Recharge 5, 6) Necrotic, Range 10
+6 vs Reflex, 1D6 + 4 Necrotic damage AND target Weakened until
end of Human Necromancer’s next turn
Shadow Step (Move, Recharge 6)
Teleport 5 squares and gain concealment until beginning of Human Necromancer’s next turn
Skills Arcana +11 Stealth +9
Str 11 (+2) Con 12 (+3) Dex 14 (+4) Int 18 (+6) Wis 17 (+5) Cha 14 (+4)
Equipment: +1 Staff of Pain, Robes, Wand




Skeletal Colossus Level 4 Elite Brute
Huge Natural Animate (Undead) XP 350
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +3, Darkvision
HP 140 Bloodied 70
AC 18 Fort 20 Ref 16 Will 15
Speed 8 Immune Poison Disease
Resist 10 Necrotic Vulnerable 5 Radiant
m Huge Sword (Standard, At-Will) Weapon
Reach 3, +10 vs AC; 2D6 +6 damage
m Huge Knife (Standard, At-Will) Weapon
Reach 3, +10 vs AC; 1D10 +6 damage
M Double Attack (Standard, Recharge 4,5,6)
Make a Huge Sword and a Huge Knife attack
Stomp (Minor, while making a move action)
+10 vs Reflex, 1D10 + 6 damage AND target knocked prone AND immobilized until end
of Skeletal Colossus’ next turn
Big Step (Special)
Skeletal Colosus may shift up to 2 squares
Special: Skeletal Colossus can move through, and end his movement in enemies’ squares
Too Big to Move
Immune to forced movement effects
Str 22 (+8) Con 20 (+7) Dex 14 (+4) Int 3 (-2) Wis 12 (+3) Cha 3 (-2)

This is based on the Reaper Giant Skeleton Figure

Thanks!
Fitz

From just casual observation, it seems like +50% of the party XP is when you approach TPKs. I'll bet they don't wipe to the 750--but one or two will drop. Throw in a terrain advantage or something to push it to a TPK.

Granted it also depends on Action Points and Daily powers.

The Colossal Skeleton is actually kind of a nice striker due to his mobility powers and capacity to knock people about. I would say that if you gave him Striker level hit points instead of Brute I imagine you could avoid a TPK (If that's what you're aimin' for).

The Necromancer himself looks pretty weak. I'd say the colossus should be the big problem, but you may also include that without direction from the Necromancer the colossus then gains the Confused condition permanently.

Hope that helps!

I agree that the Necro looks a little weak. Ray of Pain is neat, why not make it at-will and replace the magic missile with it, and then give the Necro an area attack or two? One for raw damage and another for status effects?

On the other hand, the Colossus looks nasty, especially with Stomp. The fighter and paladin pregens have Reflex 13 and 14, so the Colossus can knock them down almost without fail and follow up with a Double Attack at +2, because of combat advantage. And then use an action point to for another Huge Sword attack. If they all hit (and the chance of this happening isn't tiny) that's an average of 49 points of damage in one round. If you're a really nasty DM, you have the Colossus attack the Cleric first and quite possibly cripple the party in a single round.

I'd tone down Stomp a bit. Some combination of: reduce the attack bonus, change to just "knocks prone", and/or eliminate the "until end of Colossus' next turn". Or just make sure you give the defender PCs AC/defense boosting items.

Hmm... thanks guys. Maybe I'll make the Colossus a striker and give him a Kick instead of the Stomp that pushes and knocks prone instead of him standing on them and immobilizing.

I agree that the Necromancer seems weak. I toned him down as I typed him in. Maybe I should just lower his level and leave his abilities as is, and throw in a couple of skeletal minions into the mix.

I'm not really trying to TPK... just make a really tough end-of-demo fight.

Fitz

Howabout this then. I realize that the Colossus can still kick the fighter over and then hack her with its weapons, but at least she can get up and move on her turn. And they both have less HP, and the Necromancer is nastier.

Human Necromancer Level 4 Elite Artillery (Leader)
Medium Natural Humanoid XP 350
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +5
HP 104 Bloodied 52
AC 16 Fort 14 Ref 14 Will 15
Speed 6 Saving Throws +1 Action Point 1
m Staff (Standard, At-Will) Weapon
+5 vs AC; 1D8 +1 damage (1D8 + 9 Crit)
r Ray of Pain (Standard, Recharge 4, 5, 6) Necrotic, Range 10
+6 vs Reflex, 1D6 + 4 Necrotic damage AND target is Weakened until
end of Human Necromancer’s next turn
Wave of Nausea (Standard, Recharge 5, 6) Necrotic, Close Burst 3
+6 vs Fortitude, 1D4 + 4 Necrotic damage AND target is Dazed (save ends), if first save fails, target is Stunned (save ends)
Shadow Step (Move, Recharge 6)
Teleport 5 squares and gain concealment until beginning of Human Necromancer’s next turn
Skills Arcana +11 Stealth +9
Str 11 (+2) Con 12 (+3) Dex 14 (+4) Int 18 (+6) Wis 17 (+5) Cha 14 (+4)
Equipment: +1 Staff of Pain, Robes, Wand


Skeletal Colossus Level 4 Elite Skirmisher
Huge Natural Animate (Undead) XP 350
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +3, Darkvision
HP 120 Bloodied 60
AC 18 Fort 20 Ref 16 Will 15
Speed 8 Immune Poison Disease
Resist 10 Necrotic Vulnerable 5 Radiant
m Huge Sword (Standard, At-Will) Weapon
Reach 3, +10 vs AC; 2D6 +6 damage
m Huge Knife (Standard, At-Will) Weapon
Reach 3, +10 vs AC; 1D10 +6 damage
M Double Attack (Standard, Recharge 4,5,6)
Make a Huge Sword and a Huge Knife attack
Kick (Minor, while making a move action)
+8 vs Reflex, 1D8 + 6 damage AND slide target 3 squares AND target knocked prone
Big Step (Special)
Skeletal Colosus may shift up to 2 squares
Special: Skeletal Colossus can move through, and end his movement in enemies’ squares
Too Big to Move
Immune to forced movement effects
Str 22 (+8) Con 20 (+7) Dex 14 (+4) Int 3 (-2) Wis 12 (+3) Cha 3 (-2)

Any comments?
Fitz

I like the Stomp->Kick change. Does Too Big to Move apply to Turn Undead? What about psychic effects like the Warlock's daily?

I ran a "sample" battle, where I didn't really keep track of positioning, and assumed everybody was fully rested. The pregen party managed to drop the Colossus at the end of three rounds, but not before blowing all their dailies, most of their encounter ablities, both Healing Words, and the Dwarf's Second Wind. Also, the paladin dropped once during the combat. I did have them all focus firing on the Colossus, and both the Necro and Colossus focused on the Fighter and Paladin.

I stopped running the combat once the Colossus dropped - with the full party on their feet I don't think the Necro has a chance even if they only have at-will powers.

I think I managed to keep track of everything, but it's possible I missed a few abilities. But it seems like a fully rested party can handle the encounter, though it does take most of their resources. The Colossus never recharged, though, and that might have made a big difference.

If you want to draw the fight out a bit more, I suppose you could put the Colossus' hp back up to 140 (or more), but take away the Double Attack (or make it a recharge 6). It can already Kick+Huge Sword each turn, and it never missed a Kick.

I'd probably go ahead and just make ray of pain at-will on the second version. I'd hate to have him have to go melee to fight So, I'd worry most about the colossus... it could conceivably get a kick, knife, and sword on the same target in one round. That's a whole lot of damage.

The paladin and the cleric could potentially burn through him decently if they're fairly lucky, but a couple bad rolls (against or for) and there could be several people dropping, but I'd bet it won't be a TPK unless they've already burned through some dailies and are out of APs.

Hmmm I'm not sure wether Too Big To Move should stop Turn Undead. Do you think the move action given by TU counts as forced movement? Unlike most forced movement I believe that it provokes (being a move, not a Push, Pull, or Slide). Either way, I'm not sure you'd want it running away only to return and kick you. Any one have an opinion either way?

I'll make a few more adjustments and let you all know how it goes.

Thank you everyone!

Fitz

FitzTheRuke said:

Hmmm I'm not sure wether Too Big To Move should stop Turn Undead. Do you think the move action given by TU counts as forced movement? Unlike most forced movement I believe that it provokes (being a move, not a Push, Pull, or Slide). Either way, I'm not sure you'd want it running away only to return and kick you. Any one have an opinion either way?

Click to expand...

Based on the wording of Turn Undead, this creature would be immune. A simple fix would be to change "Too Big to Move" to only include Martial Powers, this way it's not immune to divine or arcane movement. Theoretically right now, a wizard couldn't teleport it either.