What's a fair challenge for a PC's pet?

[RangerWickett]

Normally 4e is balanced for party-of-five vs. 5 monsters. But say I want to create a 'dog fighting' competition (or Pokemon, if you prefer); how tough a monster should I pit against a PC's pet?

If the PC is a 13th level druid, his pet has half his HP, equivalent defenses, and does about (Lvl + 8) damage per hit. So it's roughly equivalent to half a normal monster. Should I use a level 9 monster (XP value = 1/2 what a lvl 13 monster would be)? A pair of level 13 minions? Make a custom critter?

Also, any suggestions for something fun to do in this fight, aside from just having to sacks of HP wail on each other?

 

[Sunseeker]

Treat the pet's approximate level as his level. So if the druid is 13th level, and his pet is roughly 6th level(rounded down), look for 6th-level challenges. Some customization is probably necessary.

 

[Jhaelen]

I think you'd have to use a level 13 monster, otherwise the attacks & defenses would be way off.
I'd either simply half the monster's hit points, too, or allow the pet to use its two healing surges in some (easy) way.
To make the fight more interesting I'd add one or two special terrain features or combine the fight with a skill challenge to achieve some goal, so fighting either isn't the only option to win or winning the skill challenge gives it an advantage to make it easier to win against the monster.

 

[S'mon]

It's equivalent to at least 2/3 of a normal monster on stats alone: 3 half hp creatures = 2 full hp creatures over the course of a normal battle. This is because 3 creatures do x1.5 the damage of 2 creatures to start with, but each drops twice as fast.
With party synergy, healing*, etc it is likely to do full damage over the entire battle. In practice it will equate to AT LEAST 1 standard monster, so add one standard monster to the enemy side if you want to maintain balance.

*I recommend treating it as a Companion Character and have it die at neg Bloodied, not at 0.

 

[RangerWickett]

Hm. I wonder if an interesting twist would be "protect the puppy." Each pet has a 'puppy' (maybe an actual animal, or just a statue, or a construct) that it has to protect from the other pet. Or maybe there's a meat-filled puppet in the middle of the field, and whichever pet retrieves it and brings it back to its master wins. Or perhaps there's a race around an obstacle course, and the winner gets a buff spell in the fight?

I wish I had a chance to playtest this. It could work, or fall flat.

 

[RangerWickett]

Hm. I wonder if an interesting twist would be "protect the puppy." Each pet has a 'puppy' (maybe an actual animal, or just a statue, or a construct) that it has to protect from the other pet. Or maybe there's a meat-filled puppet in the middle of the field, and whichever pet retrieves it and brings it back to its master wins. Or perhaps there's a race around an obstacle course, and the winner gets a buff spell in the fight?

I wish I had a chance to playtest this. It could work, or fall flat.

 

[RangerWickett]

Hm. I wonder if an interesting twist would be "protect the puppy." Each pet has a 'puppy' (maybe an actual animal, or just a statue, or a construct) that it has to protect from the other pet. Or maybe there's a meat-filled puppet in the middle of the field, and whichever pet retrieves it and brings it back to its master wins. Or perhaps there's a race around an obstacle course, and the winner gets a buff spell in the fight?

I wish I had a chance to playtest this. It could work, or fall flat.