Hard Solo Encounters: How Difficult is n + 3?

[frankthedm]

The important thing is what the parties attack roll bonuses are. Solos generally have a slightly higher defense for it's level. Add in a few more levels and hitting the monster will be very difficult.

 

[Syrsuro]

I just sent my group of 5's (6 of them) through an encounter with a 4th lvl solo (xp budget 2150 - just above 8th lvl for them) And they barely noticed there was a fight. Depends on what sort of encounter you have.

I'm confused.

A 4th level solo has an XP budge of 875 and I wouldn't expect them to notice that there was a fight. It's a third level encounter for a party of 6.

2150 seems to be somewhere between 9th and 10th solo.

Or are you talking about a fight which happened to include a level 4 solo as one of the combatants, in which case you probably would have gotten more bang for your budget with a higher level elite than a low level solo.

Carl

 

[dammitbiscuit]

Make it a solo encounter that's not level 6. When the dragon becomes bloodied, have it scream and roar in furious anger. If the party seems to be having an easy time of it, have minions or maybe even soldier-type allies come to its aid later in the initiative. "Master, no!"