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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 4642401" data-attributes="member: 61155">I did start to notice similar things in running solos. While I don't have an easy answer to dealing with players dropping powerful debuffs on the solo for the encounter, I do have some advice on making the solo seem powerful when it counts.  See, the first couple times I ran a solo, I tended to use its most powerful powers right out of the gate - burnt action points on rounds 1 and 2, along with its strongest attacks. The result was a party in a great deal of disarray... which then expended most of its in-combat healing... and spent the rest of the fight slogging through a relatively boring enemy, who had nothing left to really threaten them.  A better approach, I realized, is to start the fight a bit more gradually. Save your action points, simply use rechargable abilities or similar attacks. Usually this means over the first few rounds, you get a few characters in a bad shape, and they spend some of their in-combat healing patching that up - but nothing seems too dangerous, yet. The fight shouldn't yet feel boring, since the solo should have a couple different options for attacks, and they get to see a few different powers at hand.  And then you let loose. When a solo goes bloodied is a great time for this, since many have extra bonuses when bloodied, or cinematic things happen then. Now you start using action points and your big powers - and the party, not at full strength, will really feel the pain. Already having used up some healing, they are suddenly trying to find any abilities they have to keep them going - especially since the enemy is getting close to death. And suddenly the end of the battle is a very intense, very back-and-forth battle, and feels like a real challenge - even if the first few rounds of the fight were relatively laid-back, more focused on showing off how the enemy worked or engaging in witty banter than really threatening the party... yet. Now, this doesn't solve every problem. A hydra still only has one real form of attack, and even upping the intensity at the end of the fight won't make it extra interesting - same for, say, the purple worm.  But I have had good success with it as a general way of running solos, so it might help, at least to some extent.  If you are looking at getting more creative, here is one option - in a classic 'video game boss fight' style, have the monster abruptly change forms mid-battle.  Say, the fight starts with the PCs fight a Purple Worm - and when it hits bloodied, they chop off its head... and four more smaller heads pour forth, and suddenly they are fighting a Hydra! Use the Purple Worm stats until its gets bloodied, and from there, use the stats for a Hydra (starting the Hydra off at bloodied.) Adjust the monsters to be the same level, so you have one 'complete' Solo of the right level. Have them share Action Points between the two forms (so over the fight, the 'monster' uses no more than 2 Action Points), and mechanically, it should be entirely balanced. You can even use the change into a new form as a chance to wipe off status effects - thus getting around the issue of one or two attacks crippling the monster for the entire fight.  Now, you want to be careful in doing so - it is never fun for a PC to use an ability they thought they could rely upon, and have it suddenly negated. But as long as you handle it smoothly, it should be fun - and add a bit of excitement and memorability to what might otherwise have been a repetitive fight.</blockquote>

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