Encounter Level - realistic maximums

[the Jester]

FYI there are several other dracoliches in Draconomicon I, including the stoneborn dracolich (level 11 solo soldier) and icewrought dracolich (level 16 solo controller), either of which might work well for you.

 

[babinro]

If you want a big baddie I would not use levels to make it big and bad. I'd give it extra hp, lots of minor action powers, free actions when hit, powerful recharge powers.

It isn't very fun for players to fight something their level +7 or 8 mainly due to their defenses. round after round of having to roll a 16 or higher to hit something is just not very fun. But having the monster have WAY too many actions and responses for your actions, having lots of hp, and lots and lots of damage is how you make an encounter fun imo.

I would take a level +4 or 5 solo that fits your idea, and then give it a bunch more powers that don't happen on their turn, as well as minor action powers.

Flipguarder really has the right idea here. In my experiences as a DM, a big boss is better played out as a creature who is either equal to or slightly above the PC's level with modifications. Minor action attacks, quicker recharges, interesting immediate actions and means of removing or delaying conditions for a round all make the creature much more interesting.

To go one step further, consider giving a boss stages. Add some of the immediate interrupts or minor action attacks only when it is bloodied to spice things up.

Playing solo monster's otherwise runs into problems like having a monster whose defenses are way too high along with its HP. The creature will pretty much never miss making PC's who focus on defense much less useful. Or, in the case the creature has low defenses it could simply spend several rounds doing little to nothing due to conditions inflicted onto it making the 'boss' a boring battle.

 

[Starfox]

High level optimized characters can take a lot more. I played a lvl 34 encounter on my lvl 25 party - but they did start with surprise and the encounter came in 3 groups. They used most of their powers (only encounter for the day and they knew it), but toon pretty little damage. The bard used 2/3 Majestic Word.

 

[Amaroq]

To go one step further, consider giving a boss stages. Add some of the immediate interrupts or minor action attacks only when it is bloodied to spice things up.

Fully agreed. The "grind" feel that some people complain about tends to come about in the stage where the big-bad is bloodied, and everybody is down to at-wills unless the big-bad recharges an encounter power.

Letting the big-bad "power up" when Bloodied raises the stakes dramatically - and its very cinematic: anime villains, for example, tend to hoard their best powers for later in the fight when you've "proven yourself" worthy. Its even good tactics - hold onto your dailies until you're convinced that the foe is worth expending them.

It also makes good game sense; by the time he's bloodied, the good guys have usually thrown out multiple continuing effects, such as zones, etc. If the boss can't either shrug off effects or unveil new levels of beat-down, he's a lot less scary by then than he was.