Help me with shadow dragon conversion plz!

[Aratargul]

Hi, I want my players face a Young shadow dragon but with the new maths after MM3 need to be converted

Young Shadow Dragon Level 8 Solo Lurker XP 1750
Initiative +14 Senses Perception +12; Darkvision
HP 344; Bloodied 172
AC 23; Fortitude 20, Reflex 21, Will 18
Resist 15 necrotic; Vulnerable radiant (whenever a shadow dragon takes radiant damage, one of its globes of darkness ends)
Saving Throws +5
Speed 8, fly 8 (hover), overland flight 10, swim 8
Action Points 2
m Bite (standard, at-will) Necrotic
Reach 2; +13 vs AC; 1d8+4 damage, and the target is weakened (save ends).
m Claw (standard, at-will)
Reach 2; +13 vs AC; 1d6+3 damage.
M Draconic Frenzy (standard, at-will)
The dragon makes a bite attack and a claw attack.
M Tail Slash (immediate reaction, when an enemy misses the dragon with a melee attack, at-will)
the dragon attacks the target; targets the enemy that missed it; +13 vs AC; 1d6+4 damage.
C Breath Weapon (standard, recharge 5 6 ) Necrotic
Close blast 5; +11 vs Fortitude; 2d6+5 necrotic damage, and the target loses one healing surge and is weakened (save ends). Aftereffect: The target's necrotic resistance is negated until the end of the encounter. Miss: Half damage, and the target does not lose a healing surge.
Bloodied Breath (free, when first bloodied, encounter) Necrotic
The dragon’s breath weapon recharges, and the dragon uses it immediately.
Frightful Presence (standard, encounter) Fear
Close burst 5; targets enemies; +11 vs Will; the target is dazed until the end of the dragon's next turn. Aftereffect: The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).
A Globe of Darkness (minor 1/round; sustain minor, at-will) Zone
Area burst 2 within 10; this power creates a zone of darkness that remains in place until the end of the dragon’s next turn. The zone blocks line of sight for all creatures except the dragon. Any creature entirely within the area (except the dragon) is blinded.
Combat Advantage
The shadow dragon deals an extra 1d6 damage against a target it has combat advantage against.
Shadow Walk (move; at-will) Teleportation
The shadow walker turns invisible until the end of its next turn or until it attacks when it moves 3 or more squares on its turn.
Alignment Evil Languages Common, Draconic
Skills Intimidate +9, Stealth +15
Str 20 (+9) Dex 23 (+10) Wis 16 (+7) Con 14 (+6) Int 12 (+5) Cha 11 (+4)

Converted:

Young Shadow Dragon Large shadow magical beast (dragon) Level 8 Solo Lurker XP 1750 Initiative +14 Senses Perception +12; Darkvision
HP 272; Bloodied 136
AC 23; Fortitude 20, Reflex 21, Will 18
Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable radiant (whenever a shadow dragon takes radiant damage, one of its globes of darkness ends)
Saving Throws +5
Speed 8, fly 8 (hover), overland flight 10, swim 8
Action Points 2
TRAITS
Action Recovery
Whenever the dragon ends its turn, any dazing, stunning, or dominating effect on it ends.
Instinctive Devouring
On an initiative of 10 + its initiative check, the dragon can use a free action to charge or to use bite. If the dragon cannot use a free action to make this attack due to a dominating or stunning effect, then that effect ends instead of the dragon making the attack.
Combat Advantage
The shadow dragon deals an extra 2d6 damage against a target it has combat advantage against.
Shadow Walk
The shadow walker turns invisible until the end of its next turn or until it attacks when it moves 3 or more squares on its turn.
STANDARD ACTIONS
m Bite (at-will) Necrotic
Reach 2; +13 vs AC; 2d10+7 damage, and the target is weakened (save ends).
m Claw (at-will)
Reach 2; +13 vs AC; 2d8+6 damage.
M Draconic Frenzy (at-will)
The dragon makes a bite attack and a claw attack.
C Breath Weapon (standard, recharge 5 6 ) Necrotic
Close blast 5; +11 vs Fortitude; 3d8+10 necrotic damage, and the target loses one healing surge and is weakened (save ends). Aftereffect: The target's necrotic resistance is negated until the end of the encounter. Miss: Half damage, and the target does not lose a healing surge.
MINOR ACTIONS
A Globe of Darkness (minor 1/round; sustain minor all current globes, at-will) Zone
Area burst 2 within 10; this power creates a zone of darkness that remains in place until the end of the dragon’s next turn. The zone blocks line of sight for all creatures except the dragon. Any creature entirely within the area (except the dragon) is blinded.
TRIGGERED ACTIONS
M Tail Slash (immediate reaction, when an enemy misses the dragon with a melee attack, at-will)
The dragon attacks the target; targets the enemy that missed it; +13 vs AC; 1d8+6 damage, and the target falls prone.
C Bloodied Breath (free, when first bloodied, encounter) Necrotic
The dragon’s breath weapon recharges, and the dragon uses it immediately.
Alignment Evil Languages Common, Draconic
Skills Intimidate +9, Stealth +15
Str 20 (+9) Dex 23 (+10) Wis 16 (+7) Con 14 (+6) Int 12 (+5) Cha 11 (+4)

CHANGES:
Necrotic resistence down by 5, HP lower, add: action recovery, Instinctive Devouring, Plus 1d6 Combat advantage, eliminate: Frightful Presence. increase damage for bite, claw, breath weapon and (tail slash + prone condition), add: all current globes for globe of darkness.
THANKS FOR HELPING ME!!!!

 

[the Jester]

The biggest thing is to increase its damage.

A typical level 8 monster should deal an average of 16 points of damage a round. A solo should have the damage output of 5 monsters. This is before figuring in "lurker" effects, which typically improve a monster's damage output by around 50%.

This guy, in a typical round, will potentially attack with:

1 bite (instinctive devouring)
1 bite + 1 claw (draconic frenzy)
1 tail slash

Right now, the bite averages 8.5 damage; the claw averages 6.5; and the tail averages 7.5. So you're looking at roughly 31 damage vs. the 80 that it should deal by the numbers.

I'd suggest changing the bite to 3d10+4 (average 20), the claw to 3d6+5 (average 15) and the tail to 4d10+3 (average 25). Now we're up to 80.

I would also increase the breath damage- a limited-use ability is usually doing 25-50% more damage than a standard (so let's call it 24). Reduce by about 25% because it attacks multiple targets, and let's go with 18 damage- perhaps 3d6+8?

Also, hps should be 272: [(9x6 =) 54 for an 8th level lurker + 14 for con =] 68 x 4, or 272.

Hope this helps!

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=84153]Aratargul[/MENTION] First off, it's a decent conversion. It does need some work however:

Average damage on bite, claw, and tail should be around 16 (level+8), so something like 2d8+7. You want a solo to be dealing damage equivalent of about 4 creatures each round. So, with that damage change you've got 4 attacks per round (claw, bite, reactive tail, instinctive devouring). That's about right.

I dont kow what kind of control/stun-locking your PCs can bring to bear, but you might want to consider upping the shadow dragons ability to shake off conditions. Some kind of minor/free action that only works against conditions of PCs who can't see the shadow drags would be evocative.

Globe of Darkness: the sustain minor should sustain *all* current globes. So there's the encroaching threat of darkness on the battlefield, creating some urgency. Put in a proviso that magical light spells cast in/at a globe negate it.

Breath Weapon: I find that healing surge damage in a solo fight usually means little, since the players will always seek to face a solo at max surges/daily powers. Maybe you've got it worked out where they're facing the shadow dragon depleted, but I think a different approach would serve your needs better: Either change it to (1) cannot spend healing surges (save ends), or (2) reduce their max HP value by damage dealt (save ends).

 

[the Jester]

I dont kow what kind of control/stun-locking your PCs can bring to bear, but you might want to consider upping the shadow dragons ability to shake off conditions.

At heroic levels, I think this is less vital, but certainly if you made an 18th or 28th level version of this guy, you might want to do so... though I think that MV-style dragons have enough action recovery ability, personally.

Globe of Darkness: the sustain minor should sustain *all* current globes. So there's the encroaching threat of darkness on the battlefield, creating some urgency. Put in a proviso that magical light spells cast in/at a globe negate it.

Yeah, that bit about sustaining only one globe always bothered me. I like the magic light idea too.

Breath Weapon: I find that healing surge damage in a solo fight usually means little, since the players will always seek to face a solo at max surges/daily powers. Maybe you've got it worked out where they're facing the shadow dragon depleted, but I think a different approach would serve your needs better: Either change it to (1) cannot spend healing surges (save ends), or (2) reduce their max HP value by damage dealt (save ends).

I think he's trying to be basically faithful to the version of the shadow dragon in Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons. I support that, personally, although if he was to design a shadow dragon from scratch, I'd try out one of your ideas.

 

[jamesmanhattan]

A big warning!! A Solo Lurker that Weakens and drops a Globe of Darkness causing everyone to take -5 to attacks is going to frustrate the HELL out of your players!

That's one big reason they got rid of the Globe of Darkness for the Black Dragon in the Monster Vault.
I'd start with the Black Dragon from Monster Vault and try to change that to be more Shadowy. (Drain Surges, teleport etc, Vulnerable Radiant)

Also a big thing to remember. All Solos, regardless of "Role" use d8's for Hit Dice. Lurkers do not use d6's! Brutes do not use d10's etc!! They have the HP of 4 monsters.

I'd get rid of the Combat Advantage thing.
Get rid of Draconic Frenzy, its attacks should be "one bite" or "two claws" don't combine them.
Level 8 Bite should do 2*16=32 damage on avg, so 3d10+16.
--- note: most times they let the bite do damage on a miss and reduce the hit damage to 32/1.5 =21
---- Bite: 2d10+10, and half (10 dmg) on a miss
Claw should do 16 each, and always get to attack twice, so each claw 2d8+7

Breath Weapon target 24 damage+half on miss= 3d8+11

Tail Swipe is all extra, half a standard monster so 1d8+3

Most importantly, just simply check out the damage from either Young Red Dragon lvl 7 or the Young Blue Dragon lvl 6, in the Monster Vault. Simply add 1 or 2 damage to each of the attacks for each level up you give them, and use that as the target damage. Also, add 8X4 HP per level up.

 

[Aratargul]

DONE
Thx for all your suggestions, i have 1 question for the combat advantage its like the rogue sneak attack (only 1 per turn) or it does every time he has combat advantage??