Mob Design Feedback

[Surrealistik]

Those playing in my campaign on the GitP forum please leave the thread.

Constructive criticism/feedback on this arc concluding boss is welcome. It will be accompanied by 4 level 6 legion devil minions. PCs will be L3-4.

Note that I've reduced all defenses by 2 and increased all attack bonuses by the same amount:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17DiYqm53M1E5FqSjgVslqvaCTvEUuVoZsCbohBwy6iY/edit

[Adoendithas]

Looks cool. Do you mind if I use it in my campaign?

[Wymmerdann]

It's pretty clear this guy's designed to handle optimised parties; the traditional dangers of a poorly designed solo: lack of damage output and save-ends management seem well catered for. I'm surprised you bothered to make the aura immune to ending affects: if that low-level a character can cancel an aura I'd let them have it. Although he's essentially immune to most save-ends effects while in the middle of his posse, it's good to see you balanced his mighty save-bonuses with a need to take psychic damage to activate multiple-saves. Given his relatively low will defence it should be fairly easy to tag him with an effect, but that effect almost certainly won't last a round, especially while bloodied. That's probably intended.

Gameplay-wise I think his damage output is going to be insane, especially against a melee-focussed (or simply close-to-the-action) party. At first I thought being able to counterstrike with storm of blows would be far too powerful and wipe most parties within 1-2 rounds, but then I saw that it only activates on-turn, which should essentially remove that possibility.

Fullblade Maelstrom is very strong for a move action, perhaps make it a recharge power rather than an at will? Being able to teleport as a move action every turn would keep the party on their toes anyway: let alone being able to shift faster than most of them can run while handing them their asses.

Any casters lacking acrobat boots or the feat that lets you shift while prone probably won't survive more than 2 rounds: there's no-way to maintain distance from this speed-devil and he should be able to keep them prone while shrugging off disables fairly easily. Even a fighter won't be able to lock him in place as he isn't going to be provoking opportunity attacks while shifting, and can easily shift out of opportunity attack range before attacking the squishier targets. I assumed the lack of mark management was intentional, but given his mobility I don't see him setting many mark-riders off other than radiant damage from a paladin.

Anyway, I'm much less experienced at this business than the proficiency of your posts leads me to believe you are, so I'm sure your party should stand a chance.

[Vknight]

Also he plays more like a skirmisher at the moment.
So many less shifting otherwise he seems like a skirmisher given a Hp boost.

Or maybe turn him skrimisher and give him various crit effects. (High Crit etc, with all the attacks he can get off a round)

[tcrudisi]

I wanted to give feedback but google wants me to log in, so I find myself unable to view the monsters.

I only mention it because chances are you've unintentionally prevented others from offering feedback as well.

[Ashdate]

I would personally drop the "boss" to elite hit points and make the minions low-level guys so they take more than a breeze to kill. The levels may need to be adjusted accordingly. If you want to make him a solo, think about fitting in another "phase" (with different abilities) to break up the combat more (maybe pre-minions killed, post minions killed, bloodied?).

Otherwise, do yourself a favour and split your boss into "two" character sheets (one for non-bloodied and one for bloodied).

[Surrealistik]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it. Responses spoilered for obvious reasons:


@ Adoendithas: Feel free to use the mob, though I would keep in mind that it's a WIP at this point, and is probably going to undergo further tweaking.

@ Wymmerdann: Yeah, this boss is designed to dish and take large amounts of damage, and is generally orientated towards a skilled and optimized party.

With respect to damage I'm making the following assumptions:


Storm of Blows is effectively 3 (equal level) standards worth of damage.
Overwhelming Impact is 0.5 standards worth of damage * 2-3.
Fullblade Maelstrom is 2-3 standards worth of damage.
Counterstrike is ~0.4 standards worth of damage given the mob's relatively low defenses, possibly more if it counter-charges someone with poor positioning (but that's their bad really). Adjusted upwards due to extra damage while bloodied.
While bloodied, Trample works out to 0.5 standards worth of damage (0.25 net).
While unbloodied, Call of the Legion is 0.5 standards worth of damage (0.25 net).
Unstoppable Charge is effectively an additional standard, but it requires provoking, so I'm not sure that it should be included.


In total this works out ~7.65 standards worth. This is definitely excessive, even if we account for the fact that the solo has one equal level standard worth less of HP to compensate for (I'd consider this to work out to ~1 standard worth of extra damage). So 6 is the target number here, maybe with a little upwards wiggle room (0.5-1). I'll consider knocking down Fullblade Maelstrom, since its output is almost as powerful as Storm of Blows, the boss' bread and butter.

Concerning the aura, I made it impossible to disable because it'd be silly if this were the case; the idea is that he's empowered by the support of the other legion devils nearby. That said though, I think it's just best if I change it to a simple trait.

@ tcrudisi: That's strange. I'm not sure why it's not displaying for you as I set it to be publically viewable by anyone with the link. Anyone have any ideas as to why it is unviewable for some?

@ Vknight: I see that. That said, I definitely want him to act predominantly as a brute; high damage output/hp, low defenses. I am considering perhaps dividing him into two phases, one skirmisher, one 'bloodied' brute (something I normally do when it comes to my solo design). Alternately, I will revise his mobility enablers to require aggressive action as per the Avenger (ending close or adjacent to a target). See below.

@ Ashdate: I want to keep the boss at solo hit points, since he has both Call of the Legion to replenish mobs during his non-bloodied state, and he is intended to dominate the fight and attention as much as possible as a sort of sub-BBEG.

I'd considered making him an official two part boss, but I figured it would be adequate to simply differentiate his bloodied state in the way it currently is to keep the fight 'fresh'. Definitely will revisit the idea if you think this may be better.

[Surrealistik]

Created a two stage Skirmisher/Brute version in accordance with feedback.

[Vknight]

I like it
He's still really nasty but considering who you play with and your own play style Surreal this will be great.

[Adoendithas]

Thank you! I've just been searching for a level ~6-7 boss for my campaign, and this fits the theme nicely. : )

[Surrealistik]

Not a problem Adoendithas, just let me know how it works out; a detailed account of the battle would be awesome!