Your experiences: Are high level 'named' monsters too easy?

[Mengu]

How can a solo act more than once per round if it is stunned???

Depends on the stun duration. If it's save ends, and the solo gets 3 turns per round, then the solo gets to try and save 3 times, if he makes the first one, it's free sailing for the next two turns. If duration is eont, then the solo is SOL.

Edit: And I'm ninjaed by about 2 hours, that's what happens when I forget to click post.

 

[Tuft]

Save ends effects are not pathetic if they take away the next round or two of actions of the BBEG, especially if the PC acquires or crafts magic items (e.g. Illusionist's Gloves, Orb of Ultimate Imposition) that modify the save. Orb of Imposition has been nerfed, but there are still ways to make it difficult to make a save.

How many BBEGs is a PC going to run into in a given day?

It also depends on whether the DM is rolling his dice in front of the players or not.

But, you make a good point. This house rule was implemented pre-WotC nerfing of lockdowns. It's probably not needed anymore. On the other hand, many classes have a way to stun an opponent. When fighting a Named Foe or any solo, a group of well designed PCs could try to tag team stun the foe. I'll probably keep the house rule, but change it for solos only.

Not all "save ends" are stuns or lockdowns. In the case Starfox refers to, it was the bard power Satire of Prowess, which is a Daily 19 that allows your allies to roll twice and take the best result - which just about doubles the chance of a crit. If I had missed with this daily, all my allies would have had a shot at this, since it would have lasted an entire turn. But, since I hit, only the allies after me but before the target (two out of five) got this chance.

That's the situation that's kind of pathetic...

 

[KarinsDad]

Not all "save ends" are stuns or lockdowns. In the case Starfox refers to, it was the bard power Satire of Prowess, which is a Daily 19 that allows your allies to roll twice and take the best result - which just about doubles the chance of a crit. If I had missed with this daily, all my allies would have had a shot at this, since it would have lasted an entire turn. But, since I hit, only the allies after me but before the target (two out of five) got this chance.

That's the situation that's kind of pathetic...

Which is why the house rule was limited to "Stun, Sleep (unconscious), and Petrified effects that save ends". It's not all of the cool effects that I wanted to control, just the ones that take away all of the NPCs actions and could do it for multiple rounds.