Dear bloody god: Calystrx (Threats to Nentir Vale Preview)

[Riastlin]

Yeah solos really do need something to deal with conditions. Dealing with marks as I said before is less critical though still helpful, and I would certainly be careful about allowing the solo to just ignore marks, I still think either shaking it off at end of turn, or else with a save, is a better bet. That way, the main actions during the solo's turn are still impacted by the mark, but the monster has a chance to still have its out of turn attacks unaffected. Ironically, its less of a deal with Calystrx since her extra actions come primarily from her multiple initiatives rather than having a lot of triggered actions (like the beholder for instance).

As for Cal herself, I will definitely be using her in the "near" future. Actually, I'm thinking of having her first encounter the party out the open (away from her lair) and when they bloody her, the 4th head pops out, she novas for a round, and then flies back to the safety of her lair -- leaving her to be encountered later but now with 4 heads for the entire fight. For that second fight I'll likely grow her up another size category as well and level her up X levels (X being dependent upon when the party gets to tracking her down). Nothing like letting the party know they just made a future fight that much harder.

 

[Kinneus]

Let's not forget as well that most defenders can still apply their mark again on the next turn

My Hybrid Swordmage is going to cry himself to sleep at night, though.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Yes, that was the inspiration. I loved the Fifth Age RPG.

You know what you should do, is make a 4E Dragonlance setting. Please! I know I said so when I gave you some XP, but I think it bears repeating. Make 4E Dragonlance!

Also, now that we have Malastryx (totally going to use Calastryx as a daughter of Malys by the way), make Khellendros, Beryllinthranox, Gellidus, and Onysablet so we can have the complete set. Also, we need Sea Dragons (the turtle shell ones).

Again, make with the 4E Dragonlance, Please. Put the sheer amount of awesome into it as you are the MV.

 

[Herschel]

My Hybrid Swordmage is going to cry himself to sleep at night, though.

Eh, I don't really think so unless the DM is out to screw you. The hybrid swordmage can't change his marked target but when your mark is obliterated you should have use of it again.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Controllers are not rendered useless by Action Recovery; they are just no longer overpowered. Without AR when a controller stuns a solo for a round, he's stunning five monsters worth of enemy rather than 1-2 monsters (3 if you're lucky). That may not feel it but it's pretty overpowered - even with AR, controllers are still as useful as they are in any normal fight. And inflicting a to hit penalty for a round (by e.g. Phantom Army) is still massively disproportionately powerful.

Or to put things another way a round of actions from a PC for a round of actions from a solo is a superb trade - equivalent to a round of actions from all the enemy monsters.

 

[Matt James]

A strong controller would be an asset to use against Calastryx, even with her Action Recovery. You are still mitigating her ability to unleash hell on a player and would be more efficient than many leader builds when considering the +/- of HP distribution (preventing loss versus granting gain).

 

[Talaeden_Denthiir]

Thanks for all of the great advice from everyone on making Cal an Epic Threat for my PC's. I'm still working on it. Some things I've been pondering.

I've always had a problem with Dragon's Breath weapons in 4E, although less so now. This is called Dungeons and Dragons after all. Most dragons of lore and prior editions being fearsome opponents. I mean in MMI, a level 15 Red Dragon does 2d12+6 damage with it's breath weapon. Yes, i know it is a 'controllery' effect and 'less damage to multiple opponents' but most PC controllers of that level get multiple powers that can do that with a mix of encounters and dailies. Yes, I also understand that this dragon is a 'defender solo' and it's breath weapon recharges on a 5 or 6. And Yes, i also understand that with MM3 and MV, the level 7 red dragon does more, so that if an official level 15 was out, it would do more, but many times rolling that 6 sider as a DM, the breath weapon never gets recharged.

That's why I like Cal. She acts on multiple initiative counts and can breath up to four times for 2d12+7 before recharging. The Breath weapon becomes more Iconic and Fearsome that way.

The thing that worries me though is her HP. Since MM3, the idea for HP going forward seemed to be among other things, "less HP, more Damage'. Looking at the Level 17 White Dragon in the MV (who's also a Brute), we see it has 668 HP, which is less than Cal even though she is 3 levels lower. Was this intentional, due to the fact that she has multiple heads?

~Teo

 

[Mentat55]

Hmm, Calastryx's HP seemed to have been calculated thus: (15*10 + 21)*4 = 684. Correct me if I am misremembering, but solos usually use base 8 HP per level, instead of the role-dependent HP (brutes 10, lurkers/artillery 6, everyone else 8). This strikes me as potentially an error.

 

[keterys]

Yeah, Cal's hp must be wrong.

Curious to see how it runs. I suspect it'll be a bit swingy between groups that can do massive attack penalties, and those that have more traditional methods that the action recovery will largely mitigate.

 

[Riastlin]

Yeah it does seem a bit high. The "less HP" thing though is not entirely accurate. HP, as a general rule, have remained the same. The difference is that encounters can now be lowered in level to provide the same challenge and lower level monsters can be used which has the effect of seemingly less hp as a level 14 monster will have fewer hp than a level 17 monster of the same role.

As for Cal, I suppose it could be intentional, and certainly there's some room to argue that it should be that way, but yeah, per RAW this would be in error. In thinking about my plans for her, I may even give her an option to get outta Dodge on the second encounter after she's bloodied (only now with 5 heads). Let the PCs realize that they just keep making her more powerful. Its a tricky proposition though and would have to be carefully done, but doing this could make for a really interesting recurring villain, and one that the PCs will absolutely love to kill when they finally get the chance. I think in some ways this can be thought of in the same vein as Rodney Thompson's conversion article last week in that you are throwing a really tough challenge at the party and basically forcing them to plan ahead and make sure that they have found a way to trap Cal before they encounter her. Definitely makes them think as opposed to just simply hacking away with their most powerful spells.

For a semi-similar example, I ran through Reavers of Harkenwold as a player. *SPOILER ALERT* Given the way our adventure went (essentially not all that well, but well enough) we ended up having to fight Nazin (or whatever his name is) three times before we finally killed him. My runepriest went into the last encounter with 8 HP and no surges. The fighter was at 23 HP and no surges. I ended up unconscious, but alive. Thing of it was though, as annoying as it was for him to get away twice, we felt the ultimate victory was that much sweeter in the end.

So yeah, I'll have to be careful with how I plan out the Cal encounters, but I think it could make for a really awesome recurring villain as the PCs just keep making her more and more powerful.