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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Halivar" data-source="post: 4943224" data-attributes="member: 9327">So, I don't use solo monsters in my 4E game anymore. The grind is just too much. But it's such a shame, right? I mean, sometimes I want to have a BBEG who's bigger, badder, and tougher than everyone around him.Yesterday I was playing WOW with my guildies, going through a succession of solo boss fights in a raid dungeon. After a bit, I realized I was having more fun with those boss fights than with 4E's. The difference between the two is this: in WOW, solo boss fights have "phases" where the battle-scape is altered dramatically, and tactics must adapt to the new situation.Can this be done in 4E? I think so.As an example, let's take our standard Solo Elite poison-breathing dragon. 4 times the hit-points, 4 times the PITA. Now, let's mix it up.First, half the hit-points because for about 1/3 of the fight, players are going to be too preoccupied to hit the dragon. The fight will still be as long, but it will be more varied.Phase 1: (100%-50% hp)The dragon operates as normal, and the fight is your standard tank n' spank. The dragon saves his encounter powers and action points. Once the dragon hits 50% health, phase 2 kicks in.Phase 2:The dragon makes its bloodied attack (if any) and takes flight. He shrugs off all marks and effects while he does so. Let players nearby make their opportunity attacks, but any attempt to move, slide, push, drop, or otherwise prevent the dragon from taking flight fails.While in the air, the dragon is out of range and making full use of its flight speed. Essentially, it's off the map and "up there." A small hoard of dragonling (or dragonborn, or kobold, or whatever) minions pours out and attacks the party. Every round, the dragon chooses a party member at random and hits them with a glob of poison. It's a standard attack against that person, and the map is marked. Next turn, that glob of poison becomes a burst 2 area of effect that lasts 1 turn. It does damage to allies in range, and empowers minions, turning them into standard monsters with full hit-points.This continues for a predetermined number of waves.Phase 3: (50%-0% hp)The dragon lands, and calls for backup. 4 elite "adds" pop out and attack the party. Make sure the players know that all creatures on the board will not ignore marks, and will attack players that marked them consistently. Periodically, the dragon targets an elite and hits it with a glob of arcane goo. After one round, the arcane goo becomes a burst 1 area of effect that affects creatures and players other than the dragon, and lasts for 1 turn. Anyone or thing in the burst gains DR 10, +5 to hit, and +10 to damage. The idea is that the dragon is trying to empower his allies, but if players move them off the bursts, they can take its bonuses for themselves. If the dragon dies before the elites do, then players must fight the elites without the benefit of the arcane bursts (a moderate passive insight check to realize this). If the elites die before the dragon does, then the dragon stops creating arcane bursts, and it becomes a normal boss fight until the dragon drops.What it looks like:In phase 1, players are beating on the dragon. In phase 2, players are avoiding areas of danger while killing minions OR doing damage control on empowered creatures. In phase 3, players moving elites around to steal their dragon-given bonuses. They can choose to kill the dragon first, but this may make the fight harder for them, since they'll be facing 4 elites without the benefit of the the arcane burst bonus.Optional: Timed boss fightsSometimes things drag out way too long and everyone at the table wants some immediate resolution. In WOW, bosses have something called an "enrage timer" that prevents players from nickel-and-diming a creature to death over the course of an hour. Essentially, if you don't kill the boss fast enough, the boss gets big, red, angry, and everyone dies.Now, sudden death isn't very fun, but I think the concept can be adapted to create a time limit on the fight.Predetermine the maximum number of rounds the fight should take. Give the players a mechanism to know what that round limit is. When you hit that many rounds, the boss gains DR 20, +5 to hit, +10 to damage, and +4 to saves. Essentially, the fight is over. Players are aware that the creature has enraged, and they have lost the fight. They can discretely take a leave of absence from the fight, OR they can stick around and try to drop the "hard-mode" boss for an appropriate XP bonus.</blockquote>

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