I would like some feedback on a monster, please!

[FDM]

Ok, I am doing a sort of Shadow Over Innsmouth themed session. The final showdown is going to be with a dangerous fish-man (I have chosen deeptouched as a name for these creatures but am open to take advice on changing it; it's kind of a silly name) and his minions. The other encounters I am fine with; this one is giving me trouble.

Here are the stats I have worked up (and yes, I did take some inspiration from the aboleth!:

Deeptouched Monstrosity
Level 5 Elite Controller
Large aberrant humanoid
XP 400
Initiative +1
Senses perception +11
Weird Menace (fear) aura 1; enemies in the aura take a -1 penalty to all defenses if in the aura of at least two deeptouched.
HP 120; Bloodied 60
AC 21; Fortitude 19; Reflex 17; Will 19
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6
Action Points 1
(MB) Claw (standard, at-will)
+10 vs. AC; 1d10+4 damage.
(A) Enthralling Gaze (standard; at-will)
One creature within close burst 5; +9 vs. will; target is dominated (save ends). Special: The deeptouched monstrosity can only have one creature dominated at a time. If it wishes to dominate a second creature, the first creature is free from the domination.
Alignment evil
Languages Deep Speech, Telepathy 10
Skills Athletics +9, Intimidate +9, Perception +11
Str 15 (+4) Dex 8 (+1) Wis 18 (+6)
Con 12 (+3) Int 15 (+4) Cha 15 (+4)

Deeptouched Monstrosity Tactics

The deeptouched monstrosity uses enthralling gaze as soon as possible and then expends an action point to make a claw attack. It continues to fight in melee and dominates as much as possible.

And here are my minions:

Deeptouched Thrall
Level 5 Minion
Medium aberrant humanoid
XP 50
Initiative +2
Senses perception +4
Weird Menace (fear) aura 1; enemies in the aura take a -1 penalty to all defenses if in the aura of at least two deeptouched.
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 21; Fortitude 19; Reflex 15; Will 17
Speed 6
(MB) Claw (standard, at-will)
+12 vs. AC; 5 damage.
Relentless Mob
The deeptouched thrall gains +1 to hit any target with at least 3 deeptouched thralls adjacent to it.
Alignment Evil
Languages Deep Speech, Telepathy 10
Str 18 (+6) Dex 10 (+2) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 15 (+4) Int 8 (+1) Cha 11 (+2)

Deeptouched Thrall Tactics

Deeptouched thralls are newly dominated humanoids. They have little volition and resort simply to overwhelming their targets and clawing.

My questions are these:

Do you think the elite controller is powerful enough? I'm not sure its dominate ability combined with the claws really equals two creatures. Also, should I add a controllery ability to the claw attack?

Do you think the minions are overpowered?

Thank you for any responses!

 

[Mesh Hong]

If this is going to be a final showdown you might want a slightly more interesting main bad guy.

I have taken the liberty of redesigning your creature, trying to keep to the themes you have suggested.

How about something like:-

Deeptouched Monstrosity Level 5 Elite Controller (Leader)
Medium Aberrant Humanoid XP 400

Initiative +1 Senses Perception +11, low light vision
Weird Menace (fear) aura 1; enemies inside inside at least 2 Weird
Menace auras take a -1 penalty to all defences
Psychic Field (psychic, when bloodied) aura 1; All enemies entering or
starting their turn inside aura take 2 psychic damage
HP 120; Bloodied 60; see Psychic Defence
AC 21; Fortitude 19, Reflex 17, Will 19
Resist 10 psychic
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6, swim 5
Action Points 1

Claw Swipe (Standard; at-will)
Attack +10 vs. AC; 1d10+2 damage

Frenzied Slashing (Standard; at-will)
2 attacks; attack +10 vs. AC; 1d8+2 damage; if a target is hit by 2
attacks it is also knocked prone

Enthralling Gaze (Standard; recharge ) ♦ gaze, psychic
Range 5; does not provoke opportunity attacks; attack +9 vs. Will; 1d4+4
psychic damage; on hit target is dominated (save ends); Monstrosity may
only dominate 1 target at a time, if it dominates a new target the original
target is immediately released

Chains of the Sea (Standard; encounter) ♦ psychic
Area Burst 2 within 15; enemies only; attack +8 vs. Will; 1d6+4 psychic
damage; on hit target is immobilised (save ends)

Hustle Thralls (Move; encounter)
Range 10; 2 target Thralls may make an immediate free move action

Psychic Defence (Immediate Reaction) ♦ psychic, when bloodied
When bloodied Monstrosity's Psychic Field aura actives as an immediate
free action

Alignment Unaligned Languages deep speech, telepathy 10
Skills Athletics +9, Intimidate +9
Str 15 (+4) Dex 8 (+1) Wis 18 (+6)
Con 12 (+3) Int 15 (+4) Cha 15 (+4)


For your minions I would probably change the Relentless Mob power to 2 adjacent enemies rather than 3. As minions do not last very long and they need all the help they can get.

I have also just noticed that you have increased their AC by 2 from 19 to 21. As I don't know the level of your group I cannot comment on how appropriate this is, but it should be ok, just check it against your players attack values.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I would increase the Aura penalty to -2. It should be a notable feature.

A power that targets one creature at range and is not supposed to provoke opportunity attacks could probably be a close burst power that targets just one creature. That seems to be how most PC powers are designed that need this feature, too.

You might want to give the basic at-will power also a minor control feature (slide, push or pull).

 

[Mesh Hong]

A power that targets one creature at range and is not supposed to provoke opportunity attacks could probably be a close burst power that targets just one creature. That seems to be how most PC powers are designed that need this feature, too.

I agree that it would definately need wording like that for a PC power.

My expression is just my own personal way of handling it for monsters, I find it much easier to read during the heat of combat. Each way is probably equally valid and gives exactly the same result.

I also agree that adding a slide onto the basic attack would give you some interesting results.

I am less inclinded to agree about upping the defence penalty from the Aura as the minions already have a +2 bonus to their AC so might be a little more troublesome to the PCs in combat. If I was going to make a change I might increase the size of the aura, probably to 2, maybe 3 squares.

These are just my opinions though, it really depends on the size and capabilities of the PC group facing this encouner....oh and the terrain as well of course.

 

[FDM]

Thank you very much, guys! I am definitely going to incorporate some ideas from this into the creature.

They have a buffed up AC because in the latest D&D podcast Mearls and company talk about how they didn't think minions were defined well enough (or powerful enough to count at 1/4 of a monster) and they were remedying this in the MM2 by incorporating the concept of roles into the minion. These were intended to be "soldier" minions.

 

[FDM]

Oh, and there are examples of ranged attack powers that don't provoke OAs in WotC stuff but I can't think of any off-hand. I do know that they are not identical; burst powers are not affected by concealment (but are affected by cover) while ranged power are.

 

[Mesh Hong]

They have a buffed up AC because in the latest D&D podcast Mearls and company talk about how they didn't think minions were defined well enough (or powerful enough to count at 1/4 of a monster) and they were remedying this in the MM2 by incorporating the concept of roles into the minion. These were intended to be "soldier" minions.

Just for the record for minions I use a system that someone on this forum suggested (sorry I cannot remember who) for making them an appropriate threat depending on their level

level 1-5; 4 minions = 1 standard creature
level 6-10; 5 minions = 1 standard creature
level 11-15; 6 minions = 1 standard creature
level 16-20; 7 minions = 1 standard creature
etc

I have used this quite a bit and I am happy enough with the results, it also means that you have loads of cannon fodder to throw around. At the end of the day though they still get annihilated by big burst effects from clerics and all the other usual sources. But you just have to keep telling yourself that its their job to die.