Insubstantial and weakened

[blargney the second]

My group has fought wraiths before without radiant damage in the party. It was a little tricky, but no big whoop. *shrug*
-blarg

 

[DracoSuave]

It is a good monster if you have a group that likes to play D&D, with a W.O.W. instance mentality where there is a "right way" and all other options are a wrong way. Many people get frustrated by this type of encounter design, (in fact my best friend who Loved WOW percisely for the step by step nature of boss batles hates that in Pen and Paper games).

There's no mention of a 'Right way' but it's a puzzle the players have to solve, as opposed to the standard encounter. You set them up for special occasions. It doesn't have to be a 'right way or wrong way' deal. It's a matter of having encounters that are more elaborate than 'Monster here, player here go!' which, in turn, reduces 'grind' and increases dramatic tension in a manner that isn't strictly 'add 5 more points of damage.'

The idea is to tell a story, not to pit combat stats against each other to see who comes out on top (Hint: The players have the advantage). Sometimes that requires making things a little bit more difficult and presenting the players with tactical challenges.

It doesn't even have to be one single strategy that works. Leave it to your players to figure out how to use their tools you provide. They'll probably do something you don't expect.

And sometimes, you can even make finding the solution an adventure all in itself.

But in order to make it meaningful you have to set up a situation where the players can't simply roll dice at the thing to down it.

 

[Nail]

The 4E Wraith is the new equivalent of the 3e shadow....a monster that historically has not been a "boss" monster, or mover and shaker, and has to be treated with such care as the DM...that many will chuck it, and just use a different monster.

....or the DM finds out the hard way.

The trick here is that it's not immediately obvious that this monster does what it does....unless you really think it through. That's problematic, at best; a hallmark of poor design.