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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Helldritch" data-source="post: 8617996" data-attributes="member: 6855114">I don't think bounded accuracy make solo monster a non threat. It is their innate design spec that makes them so. Most monster have an AC no higher than 20. The average is more around the 15 mark than anything else. As soon as a monster or player bypass that mark, BA starts breaking down. The designer quickly saw this and brought up the HP count for solo monster where an increase in AC would have suffice. But theybfeared that with lower HP, casters (read here wizards and sorcerers) would have too much any easy time to mow these down. Again the HP bloat was retained. For my solo monsters, I do not hesitate to raise their AC by 1 for each players above 4. You can't imagine how this simple change wreak players plans. I give them 1 more legendary action per players above 4 and all of a sudden, these solo monsters becomes a terror to behold. If said monster can use protective spells and magical items in its hoard, so much the better. Feats like GWM and SS become dead weight against these. I had a lich with an AC of 25 and the players are still talking about it 5 years later. They remember the fight as vividly as if it was yesterday. It was hard to hit, could dish a lot of damage and it almost TPK a group of 18th level characters almost single handedly.  All it had with it was a shield guardian. Even Strahd became a terror with these modifications. Bounded accuracy is great, but solo monsters need a tweak or they just fall short both in damage and the threat they represent. It is also why, as it stands with standard rules that healing in combat is sub-par compared to full aggression. It isuch more convenient to remove the threat than to mitigate its effect. My combats lasts around the 6 to 7 rounds mark with really tough combat going for 13 to 15 rounds. The fight with the lich lasted 20 rounds! Even Strahd lasted 9 rounds not counting the hit and run tactics he had used and the group was absolutely terrorized as Strahd would retreat to heal and come back fully healed. The drain on the player's ressources was the main line here.  With such long combats, healing during the fight becomes a necessity and a more than viable strategy. But YMMV.</blockquote>

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