How often do you tweak monsters?

[Kannon]

I rather like going off-book. It lets me mess with my DM-players (Which I always have at least one, it seems), and tweak things I don't like about whichever system I'm using. I also ascribe to saying yes to my players as much as possible, and try to kill them in combat.

I'm also blessed with clever players that want to do more than smash things and take their loot. (And a curiously sympathetic unaligned tiefling warlord.) All of this frequently means I need to change things on the fly. I've yet to run more than one stock monster in a combat, in my most recent (Dark Sun) campaign. It's about even so far nerfing monsters and bulking them up.

For example, here was their last encounter of level 1:

Id Fiend	Level 1 Solo Controller
Large aberrant magical beast (reptile)	XP 500
HP 120; Bloodied 60
AC 15; Fortitude 14; Reflex 12; Will 13
Speed 6
Immune fear; Resist  psychic
Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2
Initiative +0
Perception +8
Darkvision
Standard Actions
m Quick Slash • At-Will
Attack: +6 vs. AC
Hit: 1d6 + 5 damage.
Effect: Before the attack, the id fiend shifts 1 square.
m Snapping Jaws • At-Will
Attack: +6 vs. AC
Hit: 2d6 + 5 damage.
Effect: Before the attack, the id fiend slides the target 1 square.
M Double Attack • At-Will
Effect: The id fiend attacks twice, using any of quick slash, snapping jaws, or solid shadows.
C Manifest Fear (fear, illusion) • Recharge 5 6
Attack: Close burst 5 (enemies in burst); +4 vs. Will
Hit: 1d6 + 5 The target is dazed and slowed until the end of the id fiend's next turn.
Minor Actions
R Solid Shadows (psychic, illusion) • At-Will
Attack: Ranged 15 (one creature); +4 vs. Will
Hit: 1d10 + 4 psychic damage and the id fiend slides the target 1 square.
R Fearful Torment (psychic) • At-Will
Attack: Ranged 10 (one or two dazed creatures); +4 vs. Will
Hit: The target makes a basic attack (Melee or ranged) against a target of the Id Fiend's choice.
Triggered Actions
Whipping Tail • Recharge 5 6
Trigger: An enemy moves within 2 squares of the id fiend without shifting or teleporting.
Attack (Immediate Interrupt): Melee 2 (triggering enemy); +6 vs. AC
Hit: 1d8 + 5 and the target falls prone.
Skills Insight +8, Stealth +5
Str 19 (+4)	Dex 10 (+0)	Wis 16 (+3)
Con 14 (+2)	Int 13 (+1)	Cha 10 (+0)

With about 6 of these:

Phantasmal Knights	Level 2 Minion
Medium natural humanoid 	XP 31
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion
AC 17; Fortitude 13; Reflex 11; Will 13
Speed 6
Initiative +1
Perception +1

Traits
Knight's Defense
The Phantasmal Knight gains a +2 power bonus to all defenses while at least two other Phantasmal Knights are within 5 squares of it.
Standard Actions
m Longsword (weapon) • At-Will
Attack: +6 vs. AC
Hit: 6 damage.
Other Powers
Aura of Madness
Action: Opportunity.
Effect: The human rabble slides the triggering creature 1 square.
Psychic Feedback (psychic)
Effect: Each enemy adjacent to one or more human rabble takes 2 psychic damage.
Str 14 (+3)	Dex 10 (+1)	Wis 10 (+1)
Con 12 (+2)	Int 9 (+0)	Cha 11 (+1)

Which they then "figured out" (By which I mean I liked the idea enough to go with it) that with all of the other illusions, maybe the knights were illusions too?
Particularly astute characters picked up that they were illusions, A DC 22 perception check (The mean base perception is 18). Which the party mage then crit a standard action arcana check to break the illusion to reveal they were all:

Crazed Human Rabble	Level 2 Minion
Medium natural humanoid 	XP 31
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion
AC 15; Fortitude 13; Reflex 11; Will 11
Speed 6
Initiative +1
Perception +1

Standard Actions
m Club (weapon) • At-Will
Attack: +6 vs. AC
Hit: 4 damage.
Other Powers
Psychic Feedback (psychic)
Effect: Each enemy adjacent to one or more human rabble takes 2 psychic damage.
Str 14 (+3)	Dex 10 (+1)	Wis 10 (+1)
Con 12 (+2)	Int 9 (+0)	Cha 11 (+1)

Half of which I came up with on the fly. So the math is likely all kinds of broken. But they got through the rest of the dungeon unscathed (using diplomacy rather than fighting with the humans under the Id Fiend's sway farther in), being very clever when it came to traps, and rolling exceptionally well. And so rather than have just the id fiend and a couple of minions they'd curbstomp for an anti-climactic battle, I added a ton more minions and added a couple of ranged powers and let him get in 3 attacks a round.

I can't be the only one who has done this before. So I'm curious as to what some of the other ENWorld DMs have come up with when the players muck up the best laid plans.

 

[the Jester]

About half of the encounters I run include a homebrewed or tweaked monster.

 

[Quickleaf]

Nice with the "these minions are not what they appear."

I rarely change MM3 or MV monsters, I sometimes change MM1 and MM2 monsters depending on my needs (usually updating the math), and I almost always change solo monsters.

When I make changes I prefer them to be big story-driven changes, like a skin-walking werewolf's foreshadowed vulnerability to wolfsbane.

However there are times when I just don't flat out like a monster's design. Usually I'll find a stand-in monster in those cases, though I do have a couple "standard changes" I make as a matter of course. For example, my orcs don't heal but instead auto-charge, and my insubstantial monsters don't take half damage but instead gain temporary boosters (like removed from play until start of next turn) unless a certain damage threshold is reached with a given attack.

 

[aco175]

I mostly just update monsters to deal more damage or give a lower level monster some cooler powers, or that they recharge. I did take the death knight power and give it to some of his bad guy followers. it allowed some of the other monsters a save vs some conditions, even if there was no save. I do tweak npc's with other powers and haves spells that recharge.

 

[Kannon]

I make as a matter of course. For example, my orcs don't heal but instead auto-charge, and my insubstantial monsters don't take half damage but instead gain temporary boosters (like removed from play until start of next turn) unless a certain damage threshold is reached with a given attack.

I like it. Next session is them finding a dungeon loaded with undead. The specters will definitely have something like that.

 

[Quickleaf]

I like it. Next session is them finding a dungeon loaded with undead. The specters will definitely have something like that.

Actually I came up with this idea when running some specters! Hope it works out good for you.

I knew from playing in another 4e game that fights against insubstantial monsters tended to drag, since they effectively have more HP than other monsters of an equal level.
E.g. Kobold slyblade (level 4 lurker) has 42 hp while a Specter (level 4 lurker) has 30 hp...and insubstantial...so effectively 60 hp. And having 150% the hp of normal monsters seems to be the rule for insubstantials.

So I wanted a rule which didn't contribute to combat grind, and was interesting in a story & tactical sense.

If a specter is hit but doesn’t take at least 1/4* of its hit point total in damage, it may choose to be removed from play until the start of its next turn, reappearing no more than (speed) squares from its previous location.

*1/4 worked for my group, but if your group outputs tons of damage, increase to 1/2.

First off, this is flavorful. You attack the specter only to have it dissolve into a screaming burst of writhing shadow. It's just gone. Then it emerges from a mirror or a suit of armor to attack a back-line PC.

Tactically, the players will either focus on hitting hard or creatively taking advantage of "ready action" rules to anticipate what the specters will do next.

Once the players start readying actions to deal with the specters, have some of them present themselves as targets only to ready invisibility if a PC moves adjacent.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I tweak monsters all the time.
One thing I've done to make dragons usable is 1/2 their hp and give them an extra action each turn.

Then there's the standard 4E modifications per the book. They work relatively well, though adding a class to a monster can be a bit time consuming.

 

[Kannon]

Used a couple of fun mechanics in our latest game. One artillery with an immediate interrupt to get +3 to all defenses and DR 3/all until the start of next turn (I like the DR mechanic, so I brought it back.). Not grindy, but lets it last a little longer on a low health artillery critter.

And DR 6/ AC defense helps minons resist getting poked to death, but still lets controllers and most solid hits work as normal. Which is a good compromise.

The mechanic I stole from Quickleaf worked out as burrowing bugs. Which was fun, and really kept the players guessing. (They opted to head back to town, springing the attack and siege early. Oops.)

May have messed up a bit with this one, though:

Bloodlust (Trait):
Gain a Standard Action when you reduce an enemy to negative hit points.

See if you can figure out where that one went wrong on a charge-happy elite brute. Recharge power to bloody someone, AP to knock them down, charge, crit knock someone else down... and of course, the player asks "So... does that proc more than once per turn?".

I play elites as close to player-equivalent, so they benefit from player house-rules and rules interpretation, and they all agreed they'd abuse it if it was them... So one more unconscious and another crit that left someone (barely) standing. Er, oops?

It left them terrified of the (Large) insectoid wrecking ball, though. Which was the point. It's also now clarified to work only once per turn. They also then focused it down like they were supposed to before, and break the link to the hive mind. (Yes, I stole the idea from Tyranids. It even has a tyranid mini.)

 

[PeelSeel2]

I give elites two full turns in a round, at initiative and at initiative-10. Solos I give three turns per round. At Initiative, initiative-10, and initiative-20. I usually half their hit points. Solos and elites get a special "Shake it off" power at the start of their turn. Roll an unmodified saves against all effects, regardless of duration.

Minions get a save against all damage they take. If they make it, they live.

 

[Doombybbr]

I would give elites and solo monsters extra turns depending on how they fight eg. a boss may have 4 turns but can do low damage per turn, however he gets a ability turn where he can only use his special ability (he splits into four enemies that share the same hp pool then on the next turn he does a large amount of damage to one target and forms back into one target), ailments that end turns or do ongoing damage can target one turn each (he gets a -2 save vs all ailments affecting his current turn each turn)
he cannot save vs. marking, temporary stat debufs and combat advantage.
however a boss that does high damage per tun instead of one that does low damage may only get 2 turns.