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I don't know if I'm any good at designing monsters

noodle fish mice

First Post
These are the rough drafts of a phased "boss fight" I'll be running for a party of level sevens. Experiences with my custom monsters in the past have ranged from impossibly hard to laughably easy, and I have no idea where this will fall on the difficulty spectrum. I don't necessarily intend for this creature to be the only threat present, but I certainly want it to be the focus.

Criticism? Advice? Any ideas on what else should be in the room? Should I just go gank a real monster from the compendium and give up?
 

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fba827

Adventurer
Overall
neat idea!
monsters that change during the course of combat always add a twist (often it happens as a two-stage monster... monster-prebloodied and monster-postbloodied, but you've basically made a three-stage monster... phase 1, phase 2-prebloodied, and phase 2-postbloodied)

Math
I'm not looking at the math for attack bonus, defenses, etc. I'm presuming that you're using some of the given formulas with possible tweaks for flavor.

Phase 2, Dark Reposite
As written, you'll 99% likely never get to use this.
Creatures almost always provoke OAs on their own turn. But you can't use immediate actions on your own turn, thus you can't respond to an OA by using an immediate action in most cases.
You can have the exact same effect by changing it to: "Free action, at will, max 1/round"
You can make it slightly better by making it: "Free action, at will"
You can simplify it by removing that altogether and instead changing Shadow Laser to add the line: "Using Shadow Laser does not provoke OAs."
Alternative way to simplify it: "When taking OAs from movement, the attacker takes X (5?) damage due to body spikes.
and so on ...

Add a burst
huge creatures don't get many benefits (the main ones being they are harder to push over a cliff and also that even burst 1s are huge), but a big disadvantage in the ease at which they are flanked.
I'd give it a burst 2 ability like a standard action encounter ability - such as a
Flail Sweep - Close burst 2. The slayer makes a flail attack against each creature in burst. On a hit (in addition to damage) the target is also knocked prone. On a miss: half damage and not prone.
This will help it when it does get flanked (which, as huge creature, will just happen easily). Or to kick it up a notch, change it from standard action; encounter to "immediate interrupt when a third enemy moves adjacent to the slayer; encounter"


add a rider effect/condition or two
even though it is a skirmisher, it is effectively taking the place of a solo creature. As such, i'd consider giving him some extra rider effects on the attacks. you do it some with the 'knocked prone' during phase 2 shadow laser. but maybe double attack also makes the target dazed (save ends) but if you do that, i'd change double attack from "shift before each attack" (i.e. shift attack shift attack) to "shift between each attack" (ie attack shift attack).

charger
this is a pure personal preference, but anytime i see a huge warforged, i just think it needs to steamroll over pcs. so i'd be inclined to give it some sort of encounter charge-based attack and that it can move through enemy spaces during the charge, but must end in an unoccupied space, making a flail attack against each enemy whose square it passes through (and some bonus damage to the last target). ;) - it would still provoke OAs during this movement so be sure to have your OA deterrent (either damage to the OA attacker, or else the slayer simply doesn't provoke)

party composition?
curious: what type of PCs are there (not just talking classes, but what are they focused on). i.e. do you have lots of melee PCs? if not, then the close burst attack suggestion won't really do anything and isn't worth it. Do you have a lot of heavy hitters? then the HP on the slayer will dwindle down fast; do you have strong controllers (they block movement or daze/stun a lot)? if so, the problem with single creature fights is that they are bound to get locked down and not have much chance to act.




anyway, i speak with no real authority though, just random thoughts.... :)
 

Mesh Hong

First Post
I've had a look at it and it alright.

I really like the two stage approach, and using standard creature transforming into elite creature is a really nice concept.

Phase 1 is fair enough, everything seems to work.

Phase 2 maybe has a few issues.

Dark Riposte as written is actually illegal, I can see what you are trying for but a creature cannpt make an immediate reaction in its own turn, which is when it would be hit by an opportunity attack.

No big deal, just change it to a free action from an immediate reaction? Well its maybe not as easy as that because as written this will encourage the creature to run round provoking as many opportunity attacks as possible to maximise its attacks. Again no big deal, add the rider 1/round and its bulletproof.

Shadow Laser I think should change in the transition from phase 1 to phase 2. I would like to see it become a close blast 5 attack rather than a range 10 attack. This would also stop it taking unnecessary attacks of opportunity. However I think using the limited damage expression for a minor attack at level 7 is a bit harsh, I would like to see it at 2d6+5 or 2d8+5 damage.

General
One of the biggest problems I have with this creature is its huge size, I just don't get a sense of that from its powers or abilities. It doesn't seem huge. To me it just seems large, but I suppose that is just my problem really, if you say it is huge then who am I to disagree?

Sorry I havn't had time to give you a fuller response, but I hope these quick comments help.
 

noodle fish mice

First Post
Oops. I totally didn't think about not being able to take immediate actions on your own turn. I'll change it to a free action...and consider making it at-will.

Adding an encounter burst attack is a great idea. I'll ponder that. Maybe one for each phase, even. Adding riders to the attacks is a good idea too, but I'm trying to ease off dazed for a session or two because the defender keeps winding up dazed for half the fight and he's starting to get sick of it. I'll ponder that as well.

I also like the idea of bulldozing the PCs, so I'll play with that too.

Thanks a lot!

EDIT - In response to Mesh Hong: Making shadow laser a close blast is awesome. Yes. Also I felt weird about it being huge too, so maybe I'll just shrink it down a bit.
 

fba827

Adventurer
Adding riders to the attacks is a good idea too, but I'm trying to ease off dazed for a session or two because the defender keeps winding up dazed for half the fight and he's starting to get sick of it. I'll ponder that as well.

Yeah, if they just recently experienced daze then it would be frustrating more than new.

How about then that the melee attack rider effect is knocking prone (since that fits thematically with being hit by a big flail) and the necrotic laser's effect is weakened (weakened fits thematically with necrotic damage). Or if you don't like weakened, make up your own quasi-condition that is a side effect from the necrotic damage "target takes -2 attack and damage rolls and surge value (save ends)" :D
 

noodle fish mice

First Post
Here are my tweaks (I'm cutting it awfully close, as my session starts in like 4 hours haha)

I like phase 2 a LOT better now. Thanks guys!

Do you suppose phase 1 should have a close burst attack as well?
 

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fba827

Adventurer
Here are my tweaks (I'm cutting it awfully close, as my session starts in like 4 hours haha)

How did it go? :-D

Some of it also depends on luck of dice, environment features, etc. But in general, was the fight enjoyable for the players and you?

Or did it wipe too quickly?
 

noodle fish mice

First Post
Unfortunately, it went pretty badly - the PCs managed to trap it in a narrow hallway almost instantly, so none of its cool movement abilities were doing it any favors. I should have just had it knock a wall down by DM fiat or something, but it was late and it never occurred to me.

Oh well. I like the monster enough to try it again - perhaps with somewhat different fluff, and certainly with a lot more room.

Thanks again for your help, fellows!
 

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