Single combat against an NPC Slayer

[bpauls]

Hello, everyone!

I am hoping some of you can help me with a combat encounter I need to run tomorrow night.

When our last session ended, one of the PCs had just entered into single combat with a warforged slayer NPC. The session tomorrow night will begin with that encounter.

My objective is to make this a 50/50 fight.

I'm seeking help building the NPC, so the outcome will be as close to a complete toss-up as I can make it.

The concept behind the NPC is that he is a war machine, built as physically perfect as his creators could make him. Strength, Dexterity and Constitution will all be 18s. He wields a great sword and wears plate armor (he more or less IS plate armor.)

The PC challenging the slayer is a fourth level mul knight. Regrettably, I don't have his stats available--but most of the PCs in my group are fairly highly optimized.

Generally speaking, what level should I make the slayer NPC to give a single fourth-level PC a run for his money?

Also--I have never built an NPC template for an Essentials class before. Since Slayers don't have Daily powers, should I simply pick one At Will stance and one Encounter power? Or should I pick two At Will stances or two Encounter powers to make up for the lack of Dailies?

Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

 

[S'mon]

You should build him as a monster. The best way to do this is to start with the default numbers for a monster of the correct level and type, then give him Slayer-based powers.

For this guy, it sounds like he should be a Soldier. I would suggest a 4th level Elite* Soldier. For a Slayer feel, give him two At-Will Slayer stances to choose from, and a Power Strike type extra-damage power. You can go by the book and give him an extra dice of damage on a hit encounter power, but my recommendation would be a 5-6 Recharge power that does extra damage but needs to be selected prior to the attack roll. His overall typical damage output as an Elite should be 1.5 times (not 2 times) DPR of a standard monster of his level, ie at 4th level that's 12x1.5 = 18/round, not counting the action point.

*Personally I halve all hit points, and IMC he would likely be a 6th level Elite. I had a great duel last year between a 9th level Brawler Fighter PC and a 10th level elite Warlord-style NPC, Halvath Cormarrin from Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. It was very close even with the halved hp and Halvath's Leader powers not being useable in single combat.

Assuming you use full hit points on monsters, for a 50-50 fight you could build this NPC as a non-Elite but 4 levels higher, so 8th level. In that case he should be a Skirmisher or Brute not a Soldier I think, otherwise his AC will be practically unhittable. At 8th level he will have an average DPR of 16, or 20 for a Brute.