Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vhex" data-source="post: 6104037" data-attributes="member: 94831">Let me preface this answer with paraphrasing Kaywinnet Lee Frye:  "throw whatever you want at them, that vampire cavalier is going to live, dammit."I haven't seen the other character builds, but weapon users will typically have a higher hit chance than implement users even if they take all the same feats.  So a paladin using a longsword (+3 weapon proficiency) is probably among the highest tier in attack stats.  Which means implement users will be around 16 to hit for most of their abilities.  Be careful in your encounter design not to relegate this to a "highest at-will only" style fight.  This is usually offset by implement casters targeting different defenses, but you may want to look at what powers and attack bonuses all of the players have.It's not a problem to have a main monster that only some characters can hit regularly, but it means you need to give the characters that are hitting on a 16 or higher other options:1.)  Some way to buff up their attacks.     a.)  A magical zone that keeps moving around the room that grants a +3 bonus to spell attacks while standing in it.     b.)  A fountain that requires a minor action to drink from, but makes your next attack a flat +19 to hit.     c.)  A morale bonus that lets you roll two D20s on your next attack when you slay reinforcements.  2.)  Something equally as important to do.     a.)  A skill challenge that MUST be completed for the party to win.     b.)  Hordes of reinforcements that must be taken out.     c.)  Some way to help the rest of the party in a way that only their unique abilities can.It's no fun to be the one who can't attack the big bad, so the second option requires more creativity than I have.  The benefits of things like 1a are the party may not use it and if they do use it and it begins to trivialize the encounter, the "move" can be somewhere the party can't see it (or under the dragon!)Option 2 is good as well, but I'm not sure it fits the flavor of the fight you're going for.Another option that works really well in a three stage fight is having the defenses change on the monster between stages.  Your party won't know when those stages are going to occur, so it's possible as a DM to adjust the defenses between "stages" without adjusting the hitpoint total.  If the party is doing better than you expect, it's a four stage battle and the defenses increased (what would normally be mid-stage) as the dragon got enraged!  If they're doing worse then it's a four stage battle and the defenses decreased as the dragon used all of its "buff magic" up.Those are some ways to deal with it on the fly, but there's no better way to do it than to play out the battle as you see it happening.  The best way to design a "tight" encounter is to look at the powers and bonuses your players have and build around that.  Negate things like action denial on a solo, but don't make anyone's role or power useless (and if you do, make sure they have something else to do).If the encounter kills them it should be because they didn't work together, made bad decisions, or had extremely bad luck with the dice opposite your extremely good luck.  For that reason, I like to add in obstacles that play to the characters' (and sometimes the players') flaws.  Things like the enemy artillery on the ground behind a wall of fire with threats flying in the air means that the melee characters have to find some way to deal with the fire guys because the ranged characters are dealing with the sky threat.  Obviously that doesn't work in this case, but something like Kobold Press's disease style environments (that get bad when the players do bad and good when the players do well) are good ways to do this.  Although I never like to provide a detriment without a benefit or at the very least a way to remove the detriment.Lastly, at paragon tier and with 7 players, you should absolutely feel free to give that creature extra oomph and extra attack powers.From a "preserve my hide" perspective, keep in mind that the characters will not have had an extended rest (and rightfully so).  So a method of action recovery or resource recovery goes well the harder you make the fight.  These can also be things that crop up mid battle as long as you can find a way to work them in without seeming like you're throwing the party a bone.  One mechanic that I use and like is spending healing surges to regain powers or boost the character (and if you don't have healing surges, take damage equal to your surge value that cannot be reduced by any means).  I don't know that I'd let the vampire do the surge part since they have a way of gaining surges.  The idea is something that allows the players to take a consequence for a different kind of benefit.</blockquote>

Verification