Why is the Grell an elite, not a solo monster?

[Orcus]

:\

A Solo Monster is not just a Monster who goes Solo.

A Solo Monster is a monster that has the ability to challenge as if it were four monsters of equal level.

A Grell is not a Solo monster even if it's often going Solo.

I think you hit on the solution. Solo doesnt mean "works alone" it means "this individual monster is powerful enough to fight a group of PCs as a single monster in an encounter of the same level."

I have to admit, I wish I knew the "official" reason why a monster is an Elite or a Leader. I dont really understand what the criteria is for either of those tags and, on top of that, what you get for being a "Leader."

 

[Incenjucar]

Solo monsters are very clearly about being able to make a heck of a lot of actions every round.

Kraken will definately be a solo monster, for instance, since it has plenty of tentacles to unleash.

Elites seem to be about being exceptionally tough, but not so hard-hitting that they're a higher level monster. They'll be the monsters with lots of cool abilities to utilize, which would be wasteful if you one-shotted them.

Leaders will be monsters who provide buffs or get buffed by having associates.

 

[Orcus]

What I really want to know is why they laid out the grell entry in the order they did:

Blurb
Lore
Encounter Groups
Stat blocks.
Tactics

When all other entries we have seen go:

Blurb
Stat block
Tactics
Lore
Encounter Groups

 

[Incenjucar]

Probably just editing.

4E Editing has been less than stellar since... ever.

I'm just hoping that the actual books lack that issue.

 

[Glyfair]

I have to admit, I wish I knew the "official" reason why a monster is an Elite or a Leader. I dont really understand what the criteria is for either of those tags and, on top of that, what you get for being a "Leader."

Also, you can apparently be a leader and other things, with the Kobold Wyrmpriest being an "artillery (leader).

 

[Goobermunch]

Probably just editing.

4E Editing has been less than stellar since... ever.

I'm just hoping that the actual books lack that issue.

Since editing hasn't been completed yet?

--G

 

[Reaper Steve]

What I really want to know is why they laid out the grell entry in the order they did:

I think it's all a giant Tetris game.
They arrange the blocks in different orders as required to get it all to fit on the page around the artwork without breaking up a stat block.

 

[Orcus]

I think it's all a giant Tetris game.
They arrange the blocks in different orders as required to get it all to fit on the page around the artwork without breaking up a stat block.

Yeah, I thought of that too. But look at that entry. I dont see how doing it the normal way would have broken anything up.

I hear you, god knows I've overseen enough layout and the "tetris game" as you call it (which is a pretty good image, by the way).

Just a passing curiosity by one publisher looking at what another publisher did and wondering why. Probably not that important of an observation in the grand scheme

 

[Stalker0]

:\

A Solo Monster is not just a Monster who goes Solo.

A Solo Monster is a monster that has the ability to challenge as if it were four monsters of equal level.

A Grell is not a Solo monster even if it's often going Solo.

Seems a little counter intuitive to me. If your designing a monster that will for the most part "be encountered alone" then you should build its mechanics so its a challenge to the party by itself.

For example, the pit fiend makes sense as an elite, because it will normally have minions with it. So when the party encounters it, they encounters its minions as well.

But as an elite, the assumption is that when a party encounters a grell, they will encounter something else with it. That goes against the fluff description of the creature. Now if they want to say grells often hunt in pairs or something, or often travel with slaves...then no problem.

But if the creature travels alone, then it should have the mechanics to fight alone.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

But if the creature travels alone, then it should have the mechanics to fight alone.

It does.

Use him against a party of half his level.

And the fluff text does say that you sometime see them in groups.