Boss Monster

[wlmartin]

I think I may have forgot to edit the hit point total in the first thread. Each phase I had the assassin have 140 hit points.

Ah that makes a bit more sense

Well ongoing damage of the same type doesn't stack, so worst case scenario is I could have had everyone at 10 poison. One or two of the characters have a little poison resist so it's not that threatening to them.

Don't forget the 20 that the Encounter one does!

Either way, Ongoing Damage is just painful - I have not ever studied it but I would reckon that most people would save (without intervention) about 50% of the time so would take 1-2 of the damage, split it and that attack is worth 15 damage on its own which for a monster of 10th lvl is pretty powerful.

I only have a 50% chance to hit the defender with AC attacks. Very early on the Ranger nailed him with an attack that gave him a -2 penalty to attack rolls. Meaning I'm now at less than 50% to hit the defender. LUCKILY i managed to keep him slowed and prone and away from me! Even when things look grim for my party, the warlod can dish out some serious healing with several of his powers taking the party from almost dead to full. Not to mention the annoying wizard that targets Will and messes up my bad guys on a regular basis. The blackguard basically gave almost everyone a +4 to damage for the entire encounter. My players aren't totally optimized but they definately form a cohesive group and foil all my plans!

You have to realize that if players can go alpha in an encounter they can dish out a lot of pain and they can take a lot of pain to with a good leader. Warlords can make amazing leaders dishing out bonuses, extra attacks and some very solid healing.

Even though I did have 4 out of the 5 characters bloodied, and 1 or 2 into single digit hit points. They were at no point ever in danger. But I do admit enjoying listening to the wizard squeal when the assassin nailed him with 3 gouges. Stupid Wizards Escape!

Anyway, it was fun, it did take a long time to run though, as we play over maptools and have been on hiatus for the past 7 months, but it was a good campaign re-opener.

The one thing that the DMG or MM does not teach you about D&D is that although everything in the game is designed to be balanced, there are some interesting combos that players come up with incorporating their own and ally powers... even a MASSIVLY superior monster can lose it against a well trained and oiled party... chances are if you have been DMing this group for the past 7 levels you will have an idea of what they can / can't take - I am just surprised they could take this guy

I am glad you had fun though

 

[Delgar]

The warlord failed his save versus the ongoing 20 three times. He took 80 points of damage from it over the whole encounter. Much more than I had expected it to do. But I missed with a lot of my other attacks.

 

[Delgar]

Here is an overview of the adventure from the players eyes:

"Who is Arankiki!?"


The detective was yelling at me again. How long had the interview been going on now? It seemed like hours.


"I've told you. I don't know. She's like a ghost story adventurers tell one another when they want to frighten people off. Don't go on the lightning rail after dark or Arankiki will get you. Who caused the Day of Mourning? Arankiki. I never thought she was real."


"She was real enough to sneak you into the prince's party and hire an assassin."


"Yeah, so it seems..."


"Tell me the whole story once again, from the beginning."


"Again?"


"Yes, again."


* * *


We were supposed to meet Kalaes contact at the Squeaky Wheel tavern in the Cogs. We'd gotten a message to meet his man Jaxson there. We didn't think anything of it at the time. Why would we? We'd worked for Kalaes in the past. We assumed he wanted us to follow up on the lead we'd found about the threat to the prince.


Nothing against your Captain Kalaes, but he can be a bit of an ass. The first time we worked for him we wanted us to just hand over the most precious artifact of Elven kind to a bunch of goblins. I mention this not to bring up any bad blood between us but to highlight how thorough this Jaxson fellow was. He was a real ass too. Insulting and condescending the whole time, like he was doing us a favor just by meeting us. It was like we were meeting Kalaes' brother down there in the Cogs.


And just like Kalaes, Jaxson first wanted to know if we'd protect the prince for free. We did not. I have no desire for your prince to come to harm, but as you know Valenar are not members of your military nor your guard. If I am to bleed for another's kin, I demand fair compensation. After some discussion of possible titles, we eventually agreed upon a price and he paid for our drinks as he left.


Fully believing we had a prince to protect, we pondered the best way to do with the resources we had. We didn't know much about your prince Boran except that he was known for his love of festivities. This meant that if we wanted someone close to him at all times, we would need someone who could entertain him in some fashion. In the end we decided that Graelen would do his best to stay near the prince as he had the best chance of fitting in.


When we arrived at the party we saw that the guests were being checked for weapons, a reasonable precaution, however one that would thwart us in our efforts. Grayos used some magic to conceal my bag of holding and allow me to call it from somewhere else as needed. We placed our weapons inside and went to be searched, but as we came up to the security guards they waved us through without searching us at all. We assumed this meant Kalaes had provided entry for us so we didn't think anything of it.


I handed out our weapons discretely before we split up to cover the party. Graelen went to speak with an old acquaintance by the Southwest corner. Mathas followed acting as his personal guard. Tor and Grayos went searching to the North. I went upstairs to get a better view from the balcony.


I was the one who spotted the assassin. He withdrew a crossbow from his cloak and aimed down at where Graelen and the prince were standing. I just had time to shout out a warning before the assassin fired. Graelen's first thought was to save the prince. He dove in front of him and took the bolt. From there all hell broke loose.


The assassin leaped to the chandelier and dove to the ground withdrawing daggers as he fell. He then cut a bloody path to Graelen, nearly killing him with poison.


The battle seemed to take forever. Every time it appeared we had defeated the assassin he came back with renewed strength. Perhaps his werewolf blood gave him powers far beyond normal men. All I can say is that he moved like a lightning bolt and appeared to be a whirlwind of teeth, claws, and knives. When he wasn't hurling furniture or stabbing with poisoned knives, he was grabbing party-goers to use as shields.


We are not murderers, detective. No shot was fired that was not sure to hit the beast and only the beast. What damage was done, was done by its own frenzy. Had we any mischief in our hearts we could have done great harm, but we did not.


When at last the beast fell, we thought we had fulfilled our duty and protected your prince. We made no efforts to flee and came willingly to your cells. That's when we found out this had all been some elaborate plan by Arankiki. I know it sounds strange, but we have no reason to wish your prince dead.


* * *


"What do you think, Detective?"


"I think he's just dumb enough to fall for something like this, Sir. Besides the interview room was recently renewed with the ritual of Discern Lies. He certainly believes what he's saying is true."


"Hm, the physical evidence and witness testimony also corroborate his story. I just know he knows more than he's letting on. Perhaps if we let him go and keep him under surveillance we can find out what's really going on. Have the prisoners released ... for now."


* * *


"Did they tell them anything?"


"What was there for them to tell? You had them dancing from your strings the whole time."


"Still, I'd rather get credit for all my hard work than make those morons seem even vaguely competent. Bring the carriage around. I have a declaration to make."

 

[NewJeffCT]

.. I did this just for fun but I was just quite surprised that you would pit a 10th lvl solo against a 7th lvl party. Of course I had him unleash everything at one player to begin with and he would appear much weaker after that but to that one player, without a save or a heal - he is dying!

That being said, I am glad your encounter worked out well - I would be fearful if you were my DM for the threat of a TPK each session!! but no doubt would have been lots of fun.

I've found with 4E is that if I want a "boss" solo fight, I would need to have a solo monster be several levels higher than the party, so this is not surprising to me at all. A solo that is the same level as the party, or even 1 or 2 levels higher, would not have much of a chance, and your example above proves it. (I ran my level 8 party of six PCs against a level 12 solo who had two level 7 lurkers as allies and the party won.)

Your example above had the bad guy burning both of his action points in the first round and not even dropping one PC below 0. At level 7, the PC most likely has an item that gives them a saving throw bonus, so would make his or her save more often than not. Plus, since only one PC has been injured, the party healer can focus on that one hurt person on their turn.

The fighter's surge value is 18, plus whatever bonus the healer can provide - another +5 is not unreasonable, so the fighter would go from 17 hit points to 40 once healed, so can last through 2 more rounds of poison. And, if the assassin keeps focusing on the fighter, the rest of the party can attack the assassin.