Need Advice from Seasoned Monster Builders

[Myn]

Hello everyone, I need some advice and critique from some monster-building pros out there to design a level 6 solo.

I'm running a Dark Sun campaign with a 7-man 4th level party, and everyone's been having a great time with the monsters I've been running as-is from the DSCC, MM3 and MV. However, ever since I mentioned Cloud Rays (DSCC, 26) for ambiance the party has been itching to fight/interact with one.

Fast forward; the party is at the climax of a series of arena battles, and I want a really kick-ass final encounter for this arc, so I figure what better fight than the cloud ray they've been wanting? To justify the extreme leveling down (25 solo to a level 6) this one will have been subject to extreme abuse and punishment from the handlers at the arena, to the point that it's near death anyways.

Here's what i've got so far, I took some inspiration from the Young Blue Dragon found in the MV, while keeping the parts of the cloud ray I thought were appropriate.

Battered Cloud Ray Level 6 Solo Skirmisher
Gargantuan elemental beast XP 1,250​

HP 241; Bloodied 121
AC 20; Fortitude 21; Reflex 16; Will 17 Initiative +7
Speed 4, fly 12 (hover)
Resist 5 lightning, 5 thunder
Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2

Traits
Instinctive Hunting
On an initiative of 10 + its initiative check, the cloud ray can use a free action to fly up to its speed and use either Lashing Tail or Crushing Bite. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.


Undulating Winds • Aura 3
While the cloud ray is bloodied any creature that starts its turn within the aura or within the cloud ray's space takes 5 thunder damage, and the cloud ray slides it 2 squares to a square within the aura.

Flat Body
Creatures may start and end their moves in the cloud ray's space.

Unhindered
When the battered cloud ray moves, it pulls with it any creature grabbed by it. In addition, the creature remains grabbed, and the cloud ray does not provoke an oppertunity attack from the grabbed creature.​

Chained Slaves
There are four slaves chained to the cloud ray's back, each with 25hp. As a free action when the cloud ray takes damage, it can choose to have one of the slaves take the damage instead. A slave may be freed as a minor action by an adjacent creature with a DC 12 Strength or Theivery check.​

Standard Actions​

m Tail Lash (lightning) • At-Will
Attack: Melee 5 (one creature); +11 vs. AC
Hit: 2d6 + 5 lightning damage, and the target is slowed (save ends). If the target is already slowed, the target is instead immobilized (save ends).

M Lashing Tail • At-Will
Effect: The cloud ray makes three Tail Lash attacks against different targets.

M Crushing Bite • At-Will
Attack: Melee 2 (one immobilized creature); +9 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d10 + 5 damage, and the cloud ray can grab the target if it has fewer than three creatures grabbed.

R Crippling Lightning • At-Will
Attack: Range 20; +9 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d10 + 7 lightning damage and the target is slowed (save ends), if the target is already slowed, it is instead immobilized (save ends).

Minor Actions
M Crush • At-Will(1/round)
Attack: Melee 1 (one, two, or three creatures grabbed by the cloud ray); +9 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 4d6 + 10 damage. Effect: The cloud ray sustains each of its grabs.

Triggered Actions
C Empathic Plea • At-Will
Trigger: The cloud ray is first bloodied.
Attack (Immediate Interrupt):
Burst 10 (enemies in burst); +9 vs. Will
Hit: The target is dazed (save ends).
First Failed Saving Throw: The target is instead stunned (save ends).
Second Failed Saving Throw: The target is instead unconcious (save ends).

—​

Some explanation: The chained slaves are there to throw in some morality into the fight; does the party take the easy route and just burn through the buffer HP the slaves provide it, killing them? Or do they take the risky option of getting somebody ontop of the thing to free them, saving lives and shortening the battle? This is the first time I've used a mechanic like this so feedback is greatly appreciated.​

As for the rest of the fight, I plan on giving the party psionically powered disks that give them a fly speed of 10 when ridden, to allow the fight to take to the skies.​

The party is an Ardent, a Warden, a Pyromancer Mage, a rogue, a swarm druid, an infernal hexblade, and a slayer.​

This is my first homebrew solo, and I would greatly appreicate any feedback and criticism you can provide! Thank you for your time!​

 

[Nullzone]

Stunned (SE) and Unconscious (SE) are both really dangerous for a 4th level party; there's simply not enough opportunities to invoke saving throws at those levels. Be very careful with them, perhaps consider changing the progression to dazed/dazed&slowed/stunned instead. Even that could get messy if people can't make saves, so tread lightly.

Consider giving the players a way to nullify the aura temporarily (a la silvered weapons on wererats); aura 3 around a gargantuan creature means the aura occupies a HUGE amount of space, so you've very nearly got auto damage going out that way. I'm also inclined to limit his reach but that detracts from the cloud ray flavor a bit...

Be prepared to reconcile the flying disks with the people getting immobilized/stunned/grabbed; do they fall? Or if they're grabbed, does the disk just fall to the ground leaving them suspended in air? This stuff will matter in the grand scheme of the combat, so think about it, even if it just ends up being a lot of hand waving.

If the players are going to fly around they may be inclined to fly up high and then knock the cloud ray prone so it takes a bunch of falling damage; this is fine, but then realize that the players need the same kind of risk.

Overall it's not bad, the fact that he has to chain together attacks to be able to use his powerful hits makes for a good synergy and doesn't leave players getting wrecked right out of the gate; and even if he does get to wreck people with lucky hits, he'll only get to do it once, likely. Though you'll have to watch the Crush attack if you do manage to grab a bunch of people; 24 damage average on that for a minor action is scary. Consider not allowing the players to be targeted by his other attacks while they're grabbed (they're apparently in his mouth and I doubt he would slap himself in the face with his tail just to hit them, you know?)

 

[Xyrlove Woodsoul]

I like giving my solos a trait called "Brutal Shakeoff," so as to prevent it being locked down, that is, at the beginning of its turn I let my solos remove one or more conditions placed on it, but taking its level in damage for each condition removed. It has really helped my solos from being lockdowned, and my players dont feel shortchanged, because they get to do damage to it in exchange, and plus, it speeds up combat. Note: this isnt an original idea, i got it from the Sly Flourish blog.

 

[Mengu]

Actually with 7 PC's, one or two of them being stunned isn't a big deal, I'd almost say it's required to make this guy more than a push over. I half wish he could do it earlier in the encounter, rather than later. I think I'd make that empathic plea a minor action encounter power that recharges and is used as free when bloodied. However I might remove the unconscious state, it's about 20% chance of happening anyway, and doesn't really add all that much to the stunned condition (it essentially just adds prone).

I also feel this solo doesn't quite have enough actions to go up against a 7-man party. I'd give him an actual at-will immediate action, that's a slap on the wrist punishment. Something like if an enemy moves to flank, they take 5 damage from a tail slap as an immediate reaction. You could if you want refresh its immediate actions during each of its turns.

For the Crush minor action, the 4d6+10 is a bit too much damage I think, against a 4th level party. Crushing Bite, during the 10+ init, then during regular turn Crushing Bite, action point, Crushing Bite, minor Crush will potentially dish out 2d10+4d6+15 damage to 3 targets. That's 40 damage on average, and if it swings high, then you're suddenly looking at 3 unconscious PC's that will yo yo up and down until the Ardent is out of healing.

Your expected damage at level 6 is 2d6+7. I think you have the right number of attacks and everything to make it work, but I'd try and make all the damage expressions work out to around a 14 or 14.5 average. So, increase tail lash to 2d6+7, decrease crushing bite to 2d8+5, increase crippling lightning to 1d10+9, decrease crush to 2d6+7.

And I second the addition of a "Shake it off" ability. He needs some resistances or other way of avoidance. I'd give him something like a save at the beginning of both his turns against dazed, stunned, dominated, and auto success at the end of his regular turn. I'd also give him blindsight.

I can't really say how well its hit points will last because I don't know the builds or the equipment for your party, you would have a better idea about that. Since this is Dark Sun, I expect equipment may be minimal. If this was for a 4th level LFR group or something, I'd give serious consideration to increasing HP's to what would be normal for a level 6 solo (300'ish), and still keep the slave buffer. But what you have plus the slave buffer may be just right for a Dark Sun equipped party.

Speaking of the slave buffer, I'd make it a standard action to free them. Freeing a fresh slave is essentially dealing 25 points of damage to the monster, and that should not be a minor action.

Some of this also depends on how worn out they will be when they enter this fight. If they are fresh and have access to all their dailies (at level 4, that's only 1 daily but still), then 7 PC's with dailies and action points can do serious damage, potentially bloodying and crippling the poor critter in the first round. I try to make solo fights toward the end of an adventuring day, so some resources are depleted.

 

[Dungeoneer]

I agree that this doesn't seem like too much for a good sized party with some experience.

The only thing that stands out to me about it is its complexity. Personally I would forget about half those powers and special effects during combat, rendering them useless. But you may be better at handling that kind of stuff than I am.

I also find the initiative thing a little confusing.

 

[Nullzone]

The condition shake-off is a good idea, you can do the brutal thing if you want to speed up combat through some auto-damage with that, or do it like the new dragons do and give it the shake-off on its secondary initiative count if it is prevented from taking its attack during that turn because of a condition.

 

[Myn]

Thanks everyone for the help! I'll up the damage of his at-wills and decrease the minor action crush. If he's still on the weak side, would it be to much to just give him two turns instead of the move/attack? Frees up actions and gives him another save. As for him shaking off dazed/stunned I didn't consider it a problem because my party doesn't have any dazed/stuns; (Both the mage and druid insist on playing like strikers, despite my advice >_< )

As for his low HP, I'm considering buffing it, but once my party realizes that the slaves are taking the damage instead (from the ray feeding on them psionically for their life force) I'm positive they'll try to save them, giving me a round or two to beat on them while they focus on freeing them.

Them falling shouldn't be too much of a problem, the discs are controlled psionically, so if worst comes to worst and they get knocked off they can try to command the disk to catch them (actually I might make sure such a thing happens, might be very cenematic.)

For the fight I've carved out a decent looking model for the ray out of craft foam, I plan on putting some small nails on the bottom of their models so they can walk ontop of the thing as it flys around, should make it fairly neat.

Some more general DMing questions; will this guy be interesting enough on his own or should I add some terrain or other gadgets? There's the psionic equivalent of a bug-zapper over the arena to keep the ray from fleeing, but other than that it's pretty barren.

Will post my revisions once I get home.