Design & Development: Elite Bulette

[Gloombunny]

The reason why you would want an "elite" monster, instead of just using a regular monster of a higher level, is that elite-ness and level will make a monster tougher in different ways. A higher-level monster will have better attack bonuses and better defenses (both AC, and Fort/Reflex/Will). Fighting a monster of a significantly higher level than yours means your attacks and spells will "whiff" a lot more often, which is both annoying and weakens player contribution by making success more a matter of luck. And the monster's better attack bonuses means its attacks and spells will only rarely fail to hit/take effect, which can throw off the balance significantly. (Remember that "sweet spot" they keep talking about?)

By contrast, an elite monster will probably have a lot more HP than a regular monster of its level, but its attack and defense bonuses will be in the same ballpark. It'll probably also have either multiple actions or attacks that effect multiple PCs (like area-of-effect blasts), which makes it damage better spread out across the party, rather than smacking the crap out of one PC and leaving the rest of the party untouched. And it may have defensive abilities specifically designed to help when it's outnumbered, where a higher-level regular monster might fall surprisingly quickly to a coordinated assault.

In short, using elite monsters instead of higher-level regular monsters when you want something tough is a developers' tool to help keep the game balanced and fun for different kinds of encounters. I expect 4e will make it lot easier for DMs to throw varied encounters at the PCs without hassles like trying to figure out how many under-CR enemies add up to the right encounter level.

 

[Gundark]

The mods have specifically asked people to stop using the "FTFY" thing. It's not usually either as cute or clever as the poster thinks.

And in some cases (like this one), it's not accurate either. That's already our second Design & Development article for the month (the first was on 12/3), and it's not even the 15th of December yet.

By comparison, we got our first Design & Development article last month on November 9th, and ended up getting five articles before the end of the month.

If you're going to attempt to be snarky, please at least try to base it on some factual evidence.

QFT. Way to mod smack him...er...honorary mod smack

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

Sounds like the same as slapping on a template.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been much talk yet about all the "opportunity attacks" that are getting thrown around in this article. Did I miss something, or are they backpedalling from their claims that AoOs aren't as easy to provoke? In this example round of combat, it comes up three times. First, the wizard is afraid that casting a spell will provoke one, then the bulette provokes by fleeing, then the other moves in such a way as to avoid provoking one.

What's the story there?

There will be less AoO's because they're called "Opportunity Attacks" now!

Seriously, there do seem to be a fair few OAs there. Did they say that AoOs will be harder to provoke, or that fewer actions would provoke AoOs? I can't recall. If it was the second, then two of the AoOs we see are dealing with movement through threatened space, so we know that's still there. The wizard one is odd:

The wizard’s in a bad spot. He probably can’t lay down an attack without provoking an opportunity attack or burning his allies, so he delays.

So he has one attack that does area damage but doesn't provoke, and another that does provoke but is single target or somehow controlled?

 

[Gloombunny]

Sounds like the same as slapping on a template.

Er... does it? I don't think there's any such thing as a non-elite bulette, for instance. Elite isn't a modifier you can apply to any monster. Some monsters are elite, and some aren't. Probably in some cases there will be elite monsters that are pretty much the same as a certain regular monster except tougher, but I don't think there'll be elite and non-elite versions of everything.

That's how it's looking to me, anyway.

 

[3d6]

I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been much talk yet about all the "opportunity attacks" that are getting thrown around in this article. Did I miss something, or are they backpedalling from their claims that AoOs aren't as easy to provoke? In this example round of combat, it comes up three times. First, the wizard is afraid that casting a spell will provoke one, then the bulette provokes by fleeing, then the other moves in such a way as to avoid provoking one.

What's the story there?

I bet it works like Saga Edition Star Wars -- there are still quite a few opportunity attacks, but the list of actions that provoke is small. In Star Wars, the list is: moving out of a threatened area, making an unarmed attack without the Martial Arts I feat, aiming, loading a weapon, picking up an item, retrieving a stored item, moving into an enemy's square, using any skill that distracts you (GM's determination). Its probably the same list in 4e, with the addition of "casting a spell".

 

[Kunimatyu]

I'm curious whether Bulettes will stay Huge or be downgraded to Large. Sadly, the article wasn't very enlightening in that area.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Minor but possibly reassuring detail:

the cleric places fear in the bulette’s tiny mind, which doesn’t offer much resistance.

Those who were concerned that all mind-affecting powers and spells were being relegated to psionics can relax.

 

[Drammattex]

I like bulettes.


Yep, that's all I've got.

 

[Voss]

Alright, so not terribly surprised that bulettes are elite monsters. It seemed an obvious choice, what with the high damage, hit points, and the ability to be underground where pcs can't really get to it.

So. From the article, we've got
High AC.
Knockdown attack (vs. ?Fortitude? everyone but the fighter fell)
Rock burst.
Both managed to move, knockdown and either bite or rockburst.
Poor will defense
Poor reflex defense
Instant dive, immune to AoOs
healing. (Instant dive, healing and movement in the same turn)

Rogues have some sort of AC negating attack. Targets reflex instead?


Article needs some editing. fighter keep his feet? places fear? it don't get?
Come on, this is a preview, not a 6th grade writing assignment.

Something bothers me a little about not being able to effect them at all when they're underground. That hasn't been true for most D&D editions. It may take some abnormal spells, but there have been options, even if you're using transmute rock to mud, disintegrate or dig. Its another hint that the more esoteric spells are gone in favor of damaging whatnots.