What changes when you adjust a monster's level up or down?

[NewJeffCT]

This is spelled out in the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the updated version is in the tables on page 40 of this document.

In a nutshell, when you change a monster's level by 1 (up or down), the following things change:

• All defenses change by 1
• Attack bonuses change by 1
• Damage changes by 1/2 (1 for every 2 levels)
• Initiative changes by 1/2
• Skill checks change by 1/2 (Perception, Stealth, etc.)
• Hit points change by 6 for Artillery and Lurkers, 8 for Skirmishers, Soldiers and Controllers, and 10 for Brutes

Because I have a larger group, I have often had to bump up monsters a few levels to make them more of a challenge. However, at what point do you add a new encounter type power? If you take a level 5 Solo & bump it to level 7, does it also get a new encounter power, or do you just up the damage iteration only? Or, maybe improve its recharge?

Thanks

 

[OnlineDM]

If it's just a couple of levels, I wouldn't change anything except the numbers. 3 or more levels is when I start to look for a different monster of the level I want as a guideline.

If you have a 5th level monster and you want to change it into a 9th level version, I'd suggest looking at a similar 9th level monster (same role, maybe similar keywords) and see how your leveled-up monster would compare to the native 9th level monster. If your leveled-up guy would look underpowered, it's time to think about stealing a more potent power from the 9th level guy (reskinned and reflavored as you see fit).

Keep in mind that DMing is still an art, not a pure science. The numbers are good guidelines, but they're not the whole enchilada.

 

[CovertOps]

Because I have a larger group, I have often had to bump up monsters a few levels to make them more of a challenge. However, at what point do you add a new encounter type power? If you take a level 5 Solo & bump it to level 7, does it also get a new encounter power, or do you just up the damage iteration only? Or, maybe improve its recharge?

Thanks

Larger groups are a whole different problem unto themselves. I have a larger group and I subscribe to Stalker0's encounter design theories/guidelines. Never use creatures more than +/- 2 levels of the party. When I build my encounters I only decide what creature type(s) I'm going to use. Then on game night I pick a quantity of those creatures based on how many players show up. Quick XP values for level 1-5 (standard creatures only):
1: 100
2: 125
3: 150
4: 175
5: 200

Since standard creatures have the same value as a PC of equal level then if you have a party of 7 level 1 PCs you have an encounter budget of anywhere from 7 * 100 (level "n") to 7 * 200 (level "n + 4") or 700 - 1400 depending on how hard you want the encounter to be. While you could use 5 level 5 critters for 1000 xp and be in the right range, your PCs will be missing frequently (defenses on critters will be 4 points higher at level 5 compared to your PCs chances to hit so they will all be hitting 20% less often). The fight will be tough, but feel grindy and that's bad encounter design IMO. You'd be much better off with 10 level 1 critters for 1000 XP or if that's too many swap in a few elites (1 elite = 2 standard) to reduce the number of minis on the board.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Thanks CovertOps - I was not clear with my above post. I had meant more for a Solo encounter. I ran a test encounter before we started the current campaign and the players at level 1 easily beat a level 2 Solo, and the damage the solo dished out was not a threat at all to the party (this was 10 months ago or so... before MM3 upped the damage). The party was at level 3 when the adventure I was running called for them to face off with a level 4 Solo. However, I bumped up the level 4 solo to a level 5 and also gave it a skirmisher ally to function as a flanker and it worked out as a much better "showdown" encounter. I'm pretty sure if six PCs (including 2 strikers) could focus their entire arsenal on one bad guy, they'd take him down in a round to a round & a half.

Similarly, when they were at level 4 and they had a showdown with a level 5 solo, I bumped the solo up a level to six, and then bumped up their next level 5 solo to a 7. (there were other non solos in between, where I can just add an additional bad guy or two to up the encounter level)