MM1, MM2 Solos Upgraded MM3 style?

[catsclaw227]

Admittedly my search-fu is lame, but I couldn't find a post anywhere discussing whether the MM1 and MM2 Solos were upgraded MM3 style.

Mostly I am talking about the more paragon and better creatures level 15+. I know that some Dragons got the treatment in Monster Vault.

But there were a whole slew of books out before MM3 that had some solos that may need tweaking. Like Plane Below, Underdark, Manual of the Planes, Plane Above, Open Grave, etc.

Is there a tweak guide for Solo's specifically somewhere that can prevent Orcus from being a trivial encounter for High Epic creatures?

And 2d10+14 for Kas the Betrayer's Terrifying Smite? Not very terrifying for even 22nd level characters. And he his other minor action is a dominating gaze that only has a range of 5. And he's a 26th level solo (Open Grave). I know damage expressions have been updated (but not in the Compendium), but there was a paradigm shift in the way Solos were written giving them interrupt attacks and saves and attacks that were like two basic attacks against different creatures, etc.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

Wizards don't tend to rewrite earlier stuff, as far as I know. Instead of updating Orcus, the Demon Prince, and letting you download the update, they make Orcus, the Awesome Demon Prince and publish him in a new book. They also don't tend to include errata in new printings of books, nor do they clean up old feats that have been obsoleted with the release of new, far better feats. I DM 4E and have done so for two years, but I sometimes find myself envious of Pathfinder fans in this regard, that new printing include errata.

 

[catsclaw227]

Wizards don't tend to rewrite earlier stuff, as far as I know. Instead of updating Orcus, the Demon Prince, and letting you download the update, they make Orcus, the Awesome Demon Prince and publish him in a new book. They also don't tend to include errata in new printings of books, nor do they clean up old feats that have been obsoleted with the release of new, far better feats. I DM 4E and have done so for two years, but I sometimes find myself envious of Pathfinder fans in this regard, that new printing include errata.

Yeah, I hear ya.

I was hoping that maybe someone at Wizards had an unofficial conversion or if there was knowledge of one in the pipes.

Maybe there's something on the Wizards boards, but I don't really ever visit there. I didn't see anything in the EnWorld 4e House Rules forum either.

 

[OnlineDM]

I've started manually tweaking older solos when I use them. I'll give them an action on 10 plus their initiative on which they get to either make a simple attack or shake off a negative condition. If they don't have a minor action attack, I'll give them one of those. I've also updated damage expressions and in some cases decreased hit points.

I don't have a formal process that I follow, but those guidelines have served me pretty well so far.

 

[Mentat55]

Hopefully this new series of articles called Monster Makeovers will address some of the issues this thread is highlighting.

The first example is more a level up of a Monster Vault creature than a rebuild of an MM1/MM2 monster, but it is a nice start, and contains some good tips.

 

[Quickleaf]

Though I tend to design each solo unique, I have updated a few solos (though nothing higher than low paragon) using these quick and dirty guidelines:

* double any static damage
* reduce three lowest defenses by 2 ( but leave highest unchanged)
* add a trait that allows shaking off conditions
* increase # actions the solo takes via powers/traits
* the solo becomes more dangerous when bloodied
* replace resistance with "yes, but..." traits like volcanic dragon
* if solo is 11th level or higher reduce HP by one-fifth

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Nullzone]

Mike Shea over at Sly Flourish recently did a post on adjusting solos, and if you comb his archives you can find some older posts about giving old solos some teeth (Orcus included).

Scaling Solo Monsters | Sly Flourish

 

[catsclaw227]

Though I tend to design each solo unique, I have updated a few solos (though nothing higher than low paragon) using these quick and dirty guidelines:

* double any static damage
* reduce three lowest defenses by 2 ( but leave highest unchanged)
* add a trait that allows shaking off conditions
* increase # actions the solo takes via powers/traits
* the solo becomes more dangerous when bloodied
* replace resistance with "yes, but..." traits like volcanic dragon
* if solo is 11th level or higher reduce HP by one-fifth

Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks for the tips. I'll give these a whirl and see how they shape up.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I've converted a few of them. I did the tarrasque. For a lot of elites, it was easier to "demote" them to standard monster status than keep them as elites though.