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4E: BBEG's Redemption?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lacyon" data-source="post: 4157480" data-attributes="member: 63046"><p>If all the players are unleashing their dailies in a single fight, they're getting +200% damage in the first round over using their at-wills instead. That's a lot like getting 2 extra actions each. If they're also using action points, that's 3 extra actions.</p><p></p><p>Presumably, tools that powerful aren't meant to be used in 'normal' fights unless the dice turn severely against the party. The 'boss fights' will probably be of higher-than-normal XP value, such as the Solo Black Dragon (which was maybe a bit much at nearly 50% more XP value than a 'normal' fight), and I expect to see the DMG say so.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If you stray too far out-of-level, the system's likely to break down.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Okay, sure. But it has to hit with both attacks and a followup against the same target, who then fails his normal save and any extra saving throws the party throws his way. Granted, those attacks are individually likely to hit, but there's a lot of gain-a-save powers, besides the DC 15 Heal check to do same.</p><p></p><p>When there's 6 of these squaring off against a 10th-level party, there's a lot of chances for that to happen, and then all the Chuuls can try to finish that guy off, and party members will feel the urgency of using their abilities to prevent that from happening (by granting extra saves, forcing the Chuuls to back away and threatening OAs, etc.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sure.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, that's supposed to be part of the point of the minion/normal/elite/solo classification. If you're just going to add a couple of skeleton warriors to a 10th-level fight, it's probably fine to use them as written. If you want a *bunch* of them (say, enough to constitute an entire 10th-level encounter), well, let's look at the stats we have:</p><p></p><p>Level 3 soldier (Skeleton Warrior) has an attack at +10, and defenses of 18/15/16/15, 45 hp.</p><p></p><p>Level 10 soldier (Chuul) has an attack of +17 and defenses of 27/26/20/21, 109 hp</p><p></p><p>A party that's used to fighting Chuuls is going to easily hit the Skeleton Warrior, and not be hit very frequently. There'll be almost 4 skeleton warriors per PC though, so there'll be several hits per round, and probably a crit or two for some extra damage, there's going to be a lot of rolling for not a lot of effect. Meanwhile, though the skeleton doesn't die in one hit, it is going to be hit by nearly every attack the PCs make against it, so they'll drop steadily and predictably. That fight is going to take a long time, and be pretty predictable (read: boring).</p><p></p><p>A level 10 minion is supposed to be worth something like 125 XP, compared to the Skeleton Warrior's 150. If you 'minionize' the Skeleton Warrior, making it something like a 10th or 11th-level minion, boosting its attack bonus and defenses, but dropping down its hp and (maybe) damage, suddenly each one hits more frequently, which means the total damage per round increases, but the length of combat decreases. In theory, such a fight would drain (on average) roughly the same amount of party resources, but the fight itself would be faster and more interesting - the PCs aren't hitting all the time, and the minions aren't missing all the time.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Remember that the Dragon is supposed to be fighting 5 4th-level characters, not 6, and that its XP value is predicated on not everyone in the party dropping dailies on it. (From the reports I heard, it didn't have that much trouble dropping 1st-level PCs unless it failed its <em>sleep</em> save.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lacyon, post: 4157480, member: 63046"] If all the players are unleashing their dailies in a single fight, they're getting +200% damage in the first round over using their at-wills instead. That's a lot like getting 2 extra actions each. If they're also using action points, that's 3 extra actions. Presumably, tools that powerful aren't meant to be used in 'normal' fights unless the dice turn severely against the party. The 'boss fights' will probably be of higher-than-normal XP value, such as the Solo Black Dragon (which was maybe a bit much at nearly 50% more XP value than a 'normal' fight), and I expect to see the DMG say so. If you stray too far out-of-level, the system's likely to break down. Okay, sure. But it has to hit with both attacks and a followup against the same target, who then fails his normal save and any extra saving throws the party throws his way. Granted, those attacks are individually likely to hit, but there's a lot of gain-a-save powers, besides the DC 15 Heal check to do same. When there's 6 of these squaring off against a 10th-level party, there's a lot of chances for that to happen, and then all the Chuuls can try to finish that guy off, and party members will feel the urgency of using their abilities to prevent that from happening (by granting extra saves, forcing the Chuuls to back away and threatening OAs, etc.) Sure. Well, that's supposed to be part of the point of the minion/normal/elite/solo classification. If you're just going to add a couple of skeleton warriors to a 10th-level fight, it's probably fine to use them as written. If you want a *bunch* of them (say, enough to constitute an entire 10th-level encounter), well, let's look at the stats we have: Level 3 soldier (Skeleton Warrior) has an attack at +10, and defenses of 18/15/16/15, 45 hp. Level 10 soldier (Chuul) has an attack of +17 and defenses of 27/26/20/21, 109 hp A party that's used to fighting Chuuls is going to easily hit the Skeleton Warrior, and not be hit very frequently. There'll be almost 4 skeleton warriors per PC though, so there'll be several hits per round, and probably a crit or two for some extra damage, there's going to be a lot of rolling for not a lot of effect. Meanwhile, though the skeleton doesn't die in one hit, it is going to be hit by nearly every attack the PCs make against it, so they'll drop steadily and predictably. That fight is going to take a long time, and be pretty predictable (read: boring). A level 10 minion is supposed to be worth something like 125 XP, compared to the Skeleton Warrior's 150. If you 'minionize' the Skeleton Warrior, making it something like a 10th or 11th-level minion, boosting its attack bonus and defenses, but dropping down its hp and (maybe) damage, suddenly each one hits more frequently, which means the total damage per round increases, but the length of combat decreases. In theory, such a fight would drain (on average) roughly the same amount of party resources, but the fight itself would be faster and more interesting - the PCs aren't hitting all the time, and the minions aren't missing all the time. Remember that the Dragon is supposed to be fighting 5 4th-level characters, not 6, and that its XP value is predicated on not everyone in the party dropping dailies on it. (From the reports I heard, it didn't have that much trouble dropping 1st-level PCs unless it failed its [I]sleep[/I] save. [/QUOTE]
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