Neonchameleon
Legend
I'd have run her straight out of the book. Mostly because for her to not have been negotiated would have taken really bad luck (the party leader's a Cha 18 Warlord who'd rather talk than fight).
Shealis as Solo - comments? (spoilers)
Skyscraper
Explorer
To be clear, my idea is to represent a paragon level Shealis, as a level 6 Solo. The 4E rules state that PCs shouldn't battle creatures that are X levels over them (I think it's 5 or 6) not because it would be unfair to them; but because the system isn't built for battles between a level 10 creature and level 2 PCs. In the Shealis example, if they opt to fight her as written in the module, she won't deal a whole lot of damage, she'll just be almost untouchable due to her high defenses. I doubt that she would be able to beat the PCs at all with her single attack per turn - she only has 2 strong encounter powers, after that she has nothing worthwhile offensively. It would be a grind fest until either the PCs are out of healing surges and they decide to flee, or they roll well enough to eventually beat her. In either case, they would not be seriously threatened and I see no fun in this kind of battle. And a paragon level wizard should threaten a level 2 party IMO.
In the proposed redesign, the situation is different because her aura, her pulsating flames rechargeable minor action, her higher damage output per attack, make her more of a threat offensively. But her defenses are lower and make her hittable. At least, that was my intention in redesigning her. If I had wanted the battle to be fair, I would have made her a level 2 or 3 solo. As a level 6 solo, she's on the verge of being out of the PCs' league.
The way I interpret 4E is that when the PCs are level 2, Shealis is a level 6 solo for them. However, if the PCs were level 8-12, Shealis would be a paragon level wizard, say level 10 standard creature. It is the exact same creature, only her strength relative to the PCs changes. Likewise, for level 1 PCs an ogre might be an elite or solo monster; for level 6 PCs the ogre is a standard monster; and for level 10+ PCs the same ogre might be a minion.
Sky
In the proposed redesign, the situation is different because her aura, her pulsating flames rechargeable minor action, her higher damage output per attack, make her more of a threat offensively. But her defenses are lower and make her hittable. At least, that was my intention in redesigning her. If I had wanted the battle to be fair, I would have made her a level 2 or 3 solo. As a level 6 solo, she's on the verge of being out of the PCs' league.
The way I interpret 4E is that when the PCs are level 2, Shealis is a level 6 solo for them. However, if the PCs were level 8-12, Shealis would be a paragon level wizard, say level 10 standard creature. It is the exact same creature, only her strength relative to the PCs changes. Likewise, for level 1 PCs an ogre might be an elite or solo monster; for level 6 PCs the ogre is a standard monster; and for level 10+ PCs the same ogre might be a minion.
Sky
