Please explain lowering HP's and amping damage

[kaomera]

The numbers I remember (pre-MM3) were drop hp by 33% and up damage by 25%.

I did something like this in my games and it helped a lot

Since MMIII I have been very happy with how monsters fight. MV is great.

Yeah, that. I think I'm going to have to try implementing that. I'm finding that while some encounters may drag on for quite a while the PCs aren't ever in any real significant danger of being bloodied.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Yeah, that. I think I'm going to have to try implementing that. I'm finding that while some encounters may drag on for quite a while the PCs aren't ever in any real significant danger of being bloodied.

If the pcs are not even being bloodied, something is very wrong.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

If the pcs are not even being bloodied, something is very wrong.

Yeah, that's for sure. Even with MM1 monsters and their measly damage you really should have some seriously threatening encounters, certainly at lower levels.

 

[kaomera]

Yeah, that's for sure. Even with MM1 monsters and their measly damage you really should have some seriously threatening encounters, certainly at lower levels.

Well, they are level 13 now, but they are just really trouncing everything. I mean, it's a fun game, but they got through 4 encounters at level 12 (2 standard, 2 hard) and had used barely over 1/2 their surges and the Ardent's player noted that he hadn't had a chance to use his abilities that key off of him being bloodied. They did use almost all of their dailies, but only because they knew it was the last encounter (and the solo lasted 2 turns once they came to grips with it).

I think the problem is partially that they're too defensive (both in terms of optimization and play style). Two leaders, two defenders, and a striker. It seems like they get the last monster down to the point it's about to drop, and then it still takes a turn or two to get it down because they don't want to risk getting hit... And the Fighter's player will be warning that she's getting near bloodied and may need healing soon for several rounds (while being beaten on) before they actually have to pull out any healing abilities, between DR, temp hps, defensive buffs, etc.

EDIT TO ADD: I'm not going to rule out that I'm not playing the monsters well enough. Throughout that series of fights they faced a number of Gnolls and Hyenas that never seemed to be able to get the bonuses they might have for ganging up, and I keep forgetting auras. I'm trying to streamline my monster writeups to compensate...

 

[On Puget Sound]

My seven level 13s took on a 19-solo beholder last week (2nd enc of the day, after dealing with some ogre and drakkoth lackeys) and we had one actual death and a lot of scary times. They went in prepared, which helped, but the party got split as the beholder telekinesed 3 of them down a 75' well so it could focus on the other 4.

In my other campaign, six level 4s fough kruthiks and came as close to a TPK as I've seen, even though it was just two L+0 and one L+1 encounter. Kruthiik hive lord is seriously bad news, with an at-willl weaken/ save ends blast AND an allies-double-damage aura.

I think somehow you are being too kind to your players.

 

[kaomera]

I think somehow you are being too kind to your players.

Maybe. I've been trying to avoid encounters (or even single monsters) over level + 3, trying to speed the game up a bit. I have an encounter planned for this week with a level 13, two 14s and a 15 (no solos or elites). That should be spot-on for a level 13 (standard) encounter. I could up them all by a level, but it's trolls and a cyclops and I'm concerned about things dragging against multiple brutes and soldiers...

 

[hexgrid]

I know that at one point (prior to MM3 and the July 2010 updates) I had seen several posters suggesting reducing monster hp by some % and then raising average damage by some % (different values for each, IIRC) specifically to speed fights up without reducing challenge. Anyone have a link to that?

I've been halving all HP and giving monsters a damage bonus equal to their level.

This results in crazy amounts of damage from the monsters, but the players still seem to manage it okay. No one has even gone to zero hit points recently, and combats still seem to take a while to resolve.