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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tequila Sunrise" data-source="post: 4944309" data-attributes="member: 40398">I really like 4e's monster 'ranks': minion, normal, elite and solo. I like them so much in fact that I've created a new rank in between minion and normal, the goon rank. I like how interesting encounters can be made by using monsters of different ranks. And in theory, I like the option I have of re-ranking a monster of a certain level in order to make it an appropriate challenge for higher or lower level parties. For example if my 9th level party meets the young black dragon that they drove off as a 4th level party, I can modify the same dragon into a 9th level elite and throw in a few other monsters.It sounds great, but as a player I've found it somewhat...jarring is the best word I can think of at the moment, to fight a monsters whose 'rank' has no consistent relationship to its type. For example in the last session in which I played as a goliath warden, we had one fight that involved an undead elite, a couple of undead normals and a few undead minions. All were corporeal and human. The DM described them such that their ranks were clear to us; the minions were mindless rotting shamblers while the elite was well preserved and smart. I can't clearly describe what my problem is; but monsters of similar type but of different ranks tend to jar me out of my suspension of disbelief. I think part of what maintains dragons' iconic status in 4e is the fact that their type [dragon] has a consistent relationship with their rank [solo].Or maybe I've just spent too much time behind the DM screen, or maybe my DMs should not make it clear who's a minion and who's a solo. What do you think?</blockquote>

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