Levelling up Calaystryx

[Riastlin]

As most of us know, Calaystryx, the three headed dragon from Monster Vault: Threats of Nentir Vale, is just a really well designed and fun solo monster. A while back, I ran her against my then 13th level party and she pretty much mopped the floor with them due to a variety of circumstances.

A recap can be found here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4t...d-calystrx-threats-nentir-vale-preview-6.html (post with details is near the bottom of that page).

So now, I think that the time has come for the party to get another crack at her. By the time they get the chance, they'll be 19th level, which of course means, I will need to level up Calay as well. The damage, to hit, defenses, and even HP (though those I believe were a little off from the standard math) I can adjust easily enough. My question concerns how else should Calay have grown?

I'm planning on upping her to Gargantuan for starters and adjusting her reach accordingly. However, I think that she's also due for an additional power or two. Just as the PCs have developed new tricks since last they saw her, so too should she (particularly since she'll be on the cusp of Epic Tier herself.

One thought, borrowing from the thread I linked above, was to incorporate a wing buffet attack that push the party around to take advantage of certain terrain features. I was thinking of making this a minor action that deals no damage but has a recharge. Not sure if that will be powerful enough though obviously a lot depends on terrain features.

I think her Action Recovery as is will suit just fine. The only potential issue is that the Invoker has a Petrify power with an after effect of immobilized but I also don't want to completely negate the party's powers either.

Still though, I'm thinking that maybe there should be another new trick for her to break out, just not sure what. I want to keep her relatively easy to run (this is actually one of the great parts of her design in my opinion) but she should show some evolution. Obviously she does now have a 4th head, and will spring a 5th when bloodied. Since I'm using different colored heads for each of her heads, one thought was to incorporate an immobilizing effect with her white head, but the party does have a lot of teleportation, etc. Again, I'm not opposed to letting them showcase that either.

At any rate, and ideas would be most appreciated. I'm looking for things that will add interesting wrinkles and give the party more pause to think and/or just look cool. I still want this to be a tough fight as I envision they'll still have at least one more encounter with her before they're through.

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Interesting. My party of 6 optimized level 9 characters kicked the crap out of a "by the book" Calastryx and I had her run away when down to about 150 hp.

Calastryx lacks off turn actions and needs either threatening reach and/or some type of immediate action. She also needs a way to deal with a defender that keeps her from sucking against everyone else in the party.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Calastryx has the ability to ignore marks. Was your defender using the Essentials rules? (Calastryx's anti-mark ability does not protect her from Defender Aura.)

Most of her attacks are against AC, which defenders really appreciate. I'd recommend giving her an attack option against something other than AC. Perhaps that wing buffet could target Reflex or Fort instead.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

One defender is Essentials Knight with Defend the Line (slow on hit) and World Serpent's Grasp (knock slowed opponent prone) which means EVERY fight against solos sucks unless the solo is very mobile.

Yeah, a wing buffet or tail slash vs. Reflex would be cool especially as an interrupt or opportunity action.

 

[teachamath]

Keep watching the LFR page. I know that an adventure coming up (one of the ABER4-1, ABER 4-2, or ABER 4=3 has a scaled up version of this dragon in it.

 

[fba827]

i like calaystryx. i put her against a group of level 13 pcs and it was a memorable fight! the pcs did not survive... but we all had fun. (she thought herself to be a god, and was drinking hydra blood which gave her the extra heads, and she (among other things) had her minions steal dragonborn eggs to raise as her own in the new world order under her, so the PCs were trying to get the eggs while fighting her in a large cave that she had as her lair)

Either:
a) Each head has a Minor Action encounter power (recharge when bloodied?) that Spews fire (Area burst X within Y - area burst as it adds deterrent to ranged attackers as well) to create a zone of fire that lasts until the end of the encounter (similar to the effect line of the breath weapon but longer duration)
b) or change the breath weapon's effect duration from end of turn to end of encounter. you really will end up with fire fields all around the combat grid encouraging movement from the PCs but the dragon giving them reason to come into the fire zones.

Some sort of off-turn action that other dragons have (like elder blue dragon's wingbackblast, or elder red dragon's tail strike)

threatening reach 3

something to annoy ranged PCs (as many of the above would annoy melee PCs, you need something to at least challenge the ranged PCs as well)

Maybe the ability to grab attack followed by a secondary attack to throw the creature to hit another with hit causing moderate damage divided evenly to both creatures and a miss causing some damage to just the thrown creature

 

[Riastlin]

Ah yeah the Essentials defender mechanics would be a bit problematic. My party at the time only had a swordmage and paladin (with only the swordmage still left) so not as problematic since she can purge the mark at the end of each turn.

I like the idea of the tail slap and the encounter long breath effects are interesting. The encounter long effects are particularly interesting since I gave Calay different colored heads, which means she has different breath weapons too.

While I like the idea of Threatening Reach, I'll have to give it some thought. My main concern is that it could really mess with warpriest in particular who would not be able to get into melee range, and has a lot of attacks that are range 5 or less (which would be a problem once Calay starts to move). Of particular concern is that pretty much all of the other characters would be able to get around the threatening reach but the warpriest, which could make the fight pretty unfun for him.

I also like the idea of a Reflex or Fort attack. I think the wing buffet makes sense as a Fort attack but perhaps the encounter long area effects can be reflex, giving her attacks against pretty much everything but Will.

Thanks for the ideas and keep 'em coming! Fortunately I have several weeks before the actual fight, but am wanting to get an early start on it to make it memorable.

 

[pemerton]

Calastryx lacks off turn actions and needs either threatening reach and/or some type of immediate action. She also needs a way to deal with a defender that keeps her from sucking against everyone else in the party.

When my 15th level group took on Calastryx (at the end of a very long day) it was a close thing, but the defender was the one who turned the tide. A dwarf polearm fighter, he kept her immobilised with hit feat that lets him immobilise a marked enemy with a basic attack (he would attack on his turn, mark, then when she tried to shift would take the combat challenge interrupt and immobilise her). She broke away once, using her encounter bite to pick him up and throw him away, but then the wizard's dragonling familiar breathed a Thunderwave onto her that pushed her back down to the ground and into the grasp of the fighter once more.

In my game it played out as a little frustrating to me - I wanted her to be able to act a bit more freely - but very tactical and gripping for the players. If the PCs had been more fresh though, in terms of powers, surges and hps, it would have been a very easy fight for them.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Did your party bloody Calastryx the first time? If so, I think it would be more than enough to have her start with 4 heads and gain yet another when bloodied this time.

Incidentally, I also plan to run an up-levelled Calaystryx (though, only level 17) against my PCs, who have never faced her before. I don't think I need to bump her up much, though... she'll be showing up as a suprise baddie at the end of a boss fight at the end of an adventuring day...

 

[Riastlin]

Did your party bloody Calastryx the first time? If so, I think it would be more than enough to have her start with 4 heads and gain yet another when bloodied this time.

Incidentally, I also plan to run an up-levelled Calaystryx (though, only level 17) against my PCs, who have never faced her before. I don't think I need to bump her up much, though... she'll be showing up as a suprise baddie at the end of a boss fight at the end of an adventuring day...

Yes, they did bloody her, and so I already had planned to start with 4 heads and throw in another when she's bloodied again. The main thing I was looking for was just a new power or two that could be thrown in to show that she has evolved too. In terms of power though I agree that the extra head and increased damage numbers should make her powerful enough.