I have had a look at monster summary in pdf (check Chuul entry), and would like to offer the following changes:
Concept: strong melee combatant, with special abilities allowing him to close up fast on enemies and regenerate serious damage.
Changes: I have simplified descriptions a bit. Also, I have lowered number of hitpoints, lowered Feral Regeneration to 20, changed recharge to 5,6, change wording of Rend to make it resemble a bit more similar entries of monsters with double attacks.
Rationale: Feral Troll is pretty easy to drop to Bloodied, however, rather hard to kill (2/3 chances to regenerate). With advantage of numbers on PCs' side, it will be rather easy to overpower it, but in one on one combat it will keep regenerating (6th level players should easily dish out 20 damage per hit, but that may prove insufficient to put the monster down). Finally, in a single one on one, its Double attack and rend ability should ensure that it will be able to dish out more damage. The Reflex save is for the Rogues and other striker characters, to give them a fighting chance to avoid dangerous followup.
Finally, check the new wording of Feral Regeneration (reaction, usable when bloodied, recharge at 5,6). Its meaning is simple - each time the monster is wounded and not killed, it may immediately heal itself. Of course, recharge takes place only once in 3 rounds (on average), but still, it will be damn hard to take it down for lower level characters, while those of higher level should be able to damage it fast enough.
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Feral Troll, Level 6 Elite Brute
Large natural humanoid (giant)
Initiative +3, Senses Perception +4, low-light vision
HP 100, Bloodied 50
AC 18; Fort 21, Ref 13, Will 14
Vulnerable 10 fire, saves +2
Speed 6
Action Points: 1
m Claw (standard; at-will) reach 2
. +9 vs AC, 1d8+6 damage
M Double attack and rend (standard; at-will) reach 2
. two claw attacks. If both hit the same target, see follow-up.
Follow-up: +9 vs Reflex, +1d8+6 damage and 5 ongoing damage (save ends)
M Feral Surge (move; at-will)
. charge as move action.
Feral Regeneration (reaction to attack, usable only when bloodied, recharge 5,6)
. heal 20 hp.
Humanoid Killer
. -2 penalty to attack if it targets a non-humanoid and a
. humanoid is within 2 squares
Skills: Endurance +15
Str 22(+9), Dex 10(+3), Wis 13(+4)
Con 20(+8), Int 6(+1), Cha 9(+2)
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Regards,
Ruemere
....as for testing out a 6th level elite vs. a 1st level party...I think the party should run to win (I would give them "you guys have enough brains to be sucesful adventurers" experience points for a run away - especially with trolls having the close for melee abilities they seem to have) or have environmental advantages....oil barrels were mentioned to have any chance.
