D&D 4E The 4e Solo Thread

[the Jester]

Your stat blocks are invisible, [MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]. Can you remove any formatting from them?

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=1165](Psi)SeveredHead[/MENTION] I noticed the same thing about prone DMing my first solo fight in my first 4e campaign; it was a homebrew solo against a large party of level 5 PCs. I also noticed shortly thereafter that Acrobat Boots were a common item among PCs, a level 2 item that turns rising from prone into a minor action. When it fits the monster, I commonly give them a "quick rise" power like this.
[MENTION=98255]Nemesis Destiny[/MENTION] I like that cave troll! It makes for an unusual dilemma in play: the less conditions we give this troll, the less effective he is against us. I wouldn't make a habit of designing monsters that way (I want *both* sides encouraged to do cool stuff!), but it does work nicely for the monster you chose.
[MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION] Wow, ongoing 25 damage until grab ends on a level 16 solo. I like how you roll

 

[RangerWickett]

Wow, ongoing 25 damage until grab ends on a level 16 solo. I like how you roll

Well, at that level ongoing 10 is normal for single monsters, and this monster is equivalent to 5, right? So it grabs 2 PCs and splits ongoing 50 between them.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] - Thanks!

I don't design all solos this way, but for the fight in question, it worked very well. The best part is, the players don't get to know about these things until after they've applied the conditions. Sometimes it took a round or two of trying before they figured out what was going on, so I didn't find it really really reduced the use of conditions. The group so heavily relied on their usual tactics that facing a monster that could throw it back in their faces left them going, "oh crap! what do we do now?" Suddenly the routine was interesting again.

I've also gleaned a lot of good ideas from this thread, so I hope my contribution can inspire someone's ideas.

 

[Manbearcat]

@Manbearcat Yes! I totally agree a lot of good advice could be compiled about how to link solos to their lairs; that D&D 5e black dragon article was a step in the right direction IMHO.

To that end, I think it would be helpful if maybe a few folks did a tutorial on what sort of lair and battlefield compositions synergizes with the BBEG's presented here and how they would yield a dynamic, climactic combat.

At some point in the future I'll probably do so for a few of [MENTION=1210]the Jester[/MENTION]'s if he doesn't mind. His orc horde one is disturbingly similar to one in my game (I used two Solo barbarian Swarms + other minions for a mass battle that wrapped up a tier of play). I might use that one.

 

[the Jester]

To that end, I think it would be helpful if maybe a few folks did a tutorial on what sort of lair and battlefield compositions synergizes with the BBEG's presented here and how they would yield a dynamic, climactic combat.

At some point in the future I'll probably do so for a few of [MENTION=1210]the Jester[/MENTION]'s if he doesn't mind. His orc horde one is disturbingly similar to one in my game (I used two Solo barbarian Swarms + other minions for a mass battle that wrapped up a tier of play). I might use that one.

Oh, that would be more than fine by me! I love seeing how other folks use, would use, modify and improve my stuff!

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Since a solo is the equivalent of 5 monsters, I always try to give solos 5 attacks per round.

Sometimes I try to make that all one standard action, so dazing doesn't hurt them much... but then the at-will will almost certainly overcompete with recharge powers. Last 4e session, I had an elite that made its recharge attack twice (just like its at-wills were made twice) but that was nasty. With an action point it could make four attacks per turn, two of which were very high power, and could make all against the same PC.

 

[Balesir]

Since a solo is the equivalent of 5 monsters, I always try to give solos 5 attacks per round.

Not that this isn't fine if you want it to work this way, but solos don't actually need this much damage to be as damaging as a same-level monster, in general. An encounter of five standard monsters will, assuming the PCs focus fire, inflict a decreasing number of attacks per round as the combat proceeds. A solo, on the other hand, will do the same average damage each round (if it is not condition bound).

A result f this is that solos only need to do around three times the damage of a standard, provided that they can't be condition-bound to do more than reduce their damage by roughly a third. Giving them quadruple damage and condition-proofing half of it (or slightly less) would have a similar effect.

 

[Quickleaf]

Not that this isn't fine if you want it to work this way, but solos don't actually need this much damage to be as damaging as a same-level monster, in general. An encounter of five standard monsters will, assuming the PCs focus fire, inflict a decreasing number of attacks per round as the combat proceeds. A solo, on the other hand, will do the same average damage each round (if it is not condition bound).

A result f this is that solos only need to do around three times the damage of a standard, provided that they can't be condition-bound to do more than reduce their damage by roughly a third. Giving them quadruple damage and condition-proofing half of it (or slightly less) would have a similar effect.

The idea of condition-proofing a solo's damage is of a lot of interest to me because how you answer this question (and to what extent, or even if you answer it) says a lot about the monster's story.

For example, I just wrote up The Red Knight (15 elite brute) for an upcoming adventure, drawing on some solo design guidelines: action recovery & condition-proofing his damage. The adventure is designed around a split party, with some facing the Red Knight and some simultaneously exploring his lair, so he will feel like a mini-solo. I gave the Red Knight a feature which solved two birds in one stone when paired with his double attack at-will and improved critical damage:

Strength of Seven Men: When the Red Knight is knocked prone or suffers a condition besides marked, increase the damage his basic attacks deal by +1d10 until the end of the encounter. This is cumulative, with a max +5d10, bringing his total basic attack to 7d10.
Also, when the Red Knight would be weakened, his basic attacks instead lose their miss damage.

Cruel Precision: The Red Knight scores critical on a 19-20 with a spear.

Basic Attack: Longspear (at-will): Melee 2; Attack +18 vs. AC (+19 vs. bloodied); Hit 2d10+18 damage (crit 38+3d10), against bloodied enemies the Red Knight deals +10 damage; Miss: half damage.

Double Attack (at-will): The Red Knight makes two basic attacks.

This reflects the story about the Red Knight being physically incomparable, but also a sadistic brutal bastard who impales foes on spears and leaves them on display, and that he is an easily frustrated/infuriated opponent.

 

[RangerWickett]

Not that this isn't fine if you want it to work this way, but solos don't actually need this much damage to be as damaging as a same-level monster, in general. An encounter of five standard monsters will, assuming the PCs focus fire, inflict a decreasing number of attacks per round as the combat proceeds. A solo, on the other hand, will do the same average damage each round (if it is not condition bound).

A result f this is that solos only need to do around three times the damage of a standard, provided that they can't be condition-bound to do more than reduce their damage by roughly a third. Giving them quadruple damage and condition-proofing half of it (or slightly less) would have a similar effect.

Good guideline!