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That's my favorite plot idea in this thread. Oh, the possibilities.

Ooh, you brought new information to the thread! This review says MMIV is also organized like the 4E MM, with an entry not just for "Drow (add your own class levels, ya bum!)" but "Drow -- drow priestess, dark sniper, arcane guard, Lolth's sting". That could be quite handy. My encounter...

I looked in the 4E MM and came up with this assignment of save feats: Soldiers and Elites get all three. Great Fortitude: Brute Lightning Reflexes: Artillery, Skirmisher, Lurker Iron Will: Controller, Leader I note there's not really a "leader" role in the MM, but it seems like a useful...

I would say the spell Charm Person is the one that will be the most difficult for a new DM to plan for, roleplay, and keep balanced. I think it counts as "broken" that PCs will die unexpectedly, without their players making any bad choices, in encounters you had no idea would be tough. It...

"Swarm of shadows," taken literally, sounds like such a great monster for high level encounters. I think I'm going to use it next session. Don't know how to balance it to make it CR 13-15 (my PCs are 19th level). Maybe 2d6 auto Str damage, distraction (Ex) Will 20 or shaken => frightened =>...

What do you mean by "4E monster design concepts"? 4E lets you randomly tack powers onto monsters as long as they do the right damage -- are you saying getting Sneak Attack with the Bo9S stances is more like that than adding rogue levels would be? I looked that feat up here and it said "you...

We've done a lot of top-down design thus far. "I want a controller; what feats would fit?" How about approaching things from the bottom up? "Here's a feat -- Improved Initiative. What monster roles does that belong with?" Leaders definitely don't want Improved Initiative -- they want to...

I think that's how it should be. It rewards you for a) playing a wizard and b) using spells that attack Will instead of fireball all the time. I've seen three trolls in my lifetime and all of them were hacked to death, either because there was no wizard or he didn't have the right spells. My...

Here's a leader for you -- Hound Archon Hero. Has aura of courage, magic circle against evil, healing ability, and teleport so it can get where he can do his allies the most good. He even has Leadership. What other feats should he take?

I Googled that and wow, PHB II had a lot of feats for monster roles. Forced movement (defensive sweep), lurker damage (bounding assault), skirmisher rewards (Vexing Flanker). I like your choice of Whirlwind Attack for skirmishers. You move into position, you get extra damage. Instinctively...

We're starting from sort of opposite ends -- you're going "How can I pick the best possible feats to make a controller out of this guy?" and I'm sitting here after adding eight hit dice going "I want a controller, do I have to sort through the whole list of feats?" So I'm planning to steal your...

Fireballs will do 50 damage any time they have 2 or 3 targets. Whereas a normal level 7 barbarian (18 strength, raging 2-handed +2 greataxe) is 1d12+11, or 34 on a full attack. I think Fireball should be doing total damage in that general range, unless you get like six targets for it. Oh my...

I realize that Toughness is not a good feat, but it definitely belongs on the "brute feat list." Imagine toughness gave +50 hit points. Would you give it to every monster? No, you're not trying to optimize, you're trying to flavorize. You give it to the big bruiser ogre and the big soft...

Which should've been easy for me to remember since I've seen the Skirmish ability on the Scout class. "Striker" is very well developed, as are defender, controller, and leader, because they're PC roles and a lot of education was done. What's confusing me is the monster roles and which one...

Ah, I see how that works now! With the prereqs of "Str 13" for one tree, "Dex 13" and "Int 13" for the others. Woulda been clearer if there were a "Con 13" tough fighter, and "Cha 13" swashbuckler. And then I associate Improved Feint so strongly with rogues that it feels sneaky, not smart...

Oh, that's an easy one. Toughness is for brutes. What I like about this idea is having a reason to pick among feats. I'm not just going "what would make this a better monster," leading to everything having Lightning Reflexes and Ability Focus. I'm going "what will make this a more...

I add Hit Dice and class levels a lot more since I discovered Quickened Monster Advancer, Dingle's Games and NPC Designer. NPCs with class levels are monsters that always need feats. Empower Spell-Like Ability is a feat I've never used, but it's perfect for a striker! Thanks. I just...

In http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/242410-do-monster-roles-d-d-4th-edition-help-encounter-design-how-about-encounter.html , we looked at designing 3E encounters with 4E's monster roles in mind. (Ettin = brute, centipede swarm = controller, medusa = lurker, will-o-wisp =...

Here's an Eleven Foot Pole post touching on that issue in Thunderspire Labyrinth. In fact, I feel that one blog has more to offer your adventure designers than this whole thread. He's got advice on flavor text, NPC design, plot design, and dungeon design, and because he blogged KotS and...

I didn't know that! I guess the "entire" in the thread title is what made me think it was complete. Anyway, I didn't subscribe for WotBS -- I subscribed because every time I ask a question I get tons of instant high-quality responses from people who love the game. So I never read the WotBS...