The Ubbergeek
First Post
A mutated tiger or lion, maybe.... Like, Pseudonatural templated, or something.
low level solo monsters?
Gort
Explorer
I think this will have to be a staple of solo monsters - the ability to act more than once per round. From what we've heard, the dragons use a lot of "if the players do this you get to do that" - things like a free breath weapon if the players bloody it, or a tail slap if it gets flanked.dangerous jack said:
I guess some good "re-actions" you could give your devil boar might be "if the players stab it, yank the sword from their hand" or "grab sword in teeth and break it"...
I think solo monsters are generally more than just "I am Big and I hit you for a lot", like many of the creatures proposed here.
Take a look at what we know about solo monsters: Dragons, the Beholder, I think the Hydra is too. All these appear to handle range and melee relatively well. In fact I'd say the Beholder is far better at ranged than melee, but yes.
So, a solo monster ought to have something up its sleeve to deal with "The people in the back of the party".
Actually, I can't think of any off the top of my head. However, I think a Troll is a nice candidate for Solo monster. However, you might want to use trolls in multiple situations, so hm.
Take a look at what we know about solo monsters: Dragons, the Beholder, I think the Hydra is too. All these appear to handle range and melee relatively well. In fact I'd say the Beholder is far better at ranged than melee, but yes.
So, a solo monster ought to have something up its sleeve to deal with "The people in the back of the party".
Actually, I can't think of any off the top of my head. However, I think a Troll is a nice candidate for Solo monster. However, you might want to use trolls in multiple situations, so hm.
The Ubbergeek
First Post
Ogre?
It was the/one of the first boss of the first D&D arcade game, incidently. Not a bad idea.
It was the/one of the first boss of the first D&D arcade game, incidently. Not a bad idea.
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Rechan said:
Creatures like Ogres, Trolls, Minotaurs, Devils and Demons-- these all make excellent low- to mid-level solo monsters, but they also make good minions at higher level.
Because these "staples" of the MM fall into more than one category, I'd say it's a very safe bet there will be easy ways to add Boss, Elite, and even Minion "templates" to monsters.
We simply have to have the flexibility to use these monsters in the same ways we've been using them for 30 years. I can't imagine any final design that won't allow it.
The ogre, in particular. I can't imagine that we won't be able to fight one ogre Boss at 3rd level, and a half a dozen of them guarding a bigger Boss at 10th level.
I suspect that as well as having multiple actions, a solo monster would need to be a creautre you'd expect to encounter.....solo. Preferably something reasonably epic to fight.
So I doubt we will see solo ogres, trolls, winter wolves, etc. because those are all things you might expect to fight in packs (at least once you get higher level). Similarly a carrion crawler doesn't really have that epic final encounter feel to it, and is something i always imagined in groups.
Presumably it can't be something usually found with minions either. The pit fiend for example would normally seem like a great solo monster, but because it's a general type monster who's whole purpose is to boost others he ends up as an elite instead. For the same reason I might not expect a lich to be a solo monster, because while it's epic and while your unlikely to fight more then 1, you'd usually expect it to be surrounded by undead minions.
So I doubt we will see solo ogres, trolls, winter wolves, etc. because those are all things you might expect to fight in packs (at least once you get higher level). Similarly a carrion crawler doesn't really have that epic final encounter feel to it, and is something i always imagined in groups.
Presumably it can't be something usually found with minions either. The pit fiend for example would normally seem like a great solo monster, but because it's a general type monster who's whole purpose is to boost others he ends up as an elite instead. For the same reason I might not expect a lich to be a solo monster, because while it's epic and while your unlikely to fight more then 1, you'd usually expect it to be surrounded by undead minions.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
Either Solo, Elite, Minion, etc templates, a simple level change (IE a 3rd level Solo is a 6th level minion, or whatever), or they can give us multiple stat blocks for variety.
I expect a combination of all three.
Fitz
I expect a combination of all three.
Fitz
Rechan said:
I agree. That's totally reasonable. I'd bet that to be a solo monster, a creature must be able to (mostly) fill all enemy roles. Any serious deficiencies and it's probably more fun to fight them as part of a group.
It seems like most solo monsters are iconic monsters (to me). I know of very few monsters, but I've definitely heard of all the solo monsters... Both from fights in game and from people reactions to talking about those monsters. While my initial thought was that solo monsters would be present at nearly all levels, I think it makes more sense to have solo monsters be a very rare type of creature.
Stormtalon
First Post
I could see a Manticore as a solo monster. Claws, teeth, flying.... and tail spikes it can zing at the party. Could be a rather nasty critter, all told, and may be just right for mid-heroic.
