Trying to design a Boss

[Leardinal]

Hello all.

I am a long time 3.5e DM, but my new game group wants to play 4e. I have conceded, and have spent the last day or two designing the first dungeon.

I wanted to make sure the monster I modified to be the Boss of the Dungeon isn't an impossible or unreasonable fight. There are 4 PC's, and I expect them to be a level 2 when they reach this boss.

With out going into too much detail, I basically took the Deathlock Wight, (MM 262,) made him a high ranking Human Cultist (Just cosmetically, his undead bonuses are "gifts" from the cult,) and slapped the Death Master Elite Template on him.

HP and Defenses
I modified the HP and defense bonuses based on Doug Lampert's post Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213134) so now he has:

96 HP
19 AC
17 Fortitude
18 Reflex
19 Will


He retained his Necrotic resistance and his Radiant vulnerability.

Powers
All but one of his powers are standard actions

A melee attack that deals some damage and drains a healing surge from the target.
An At-Will power that is a ranged attack that deals some damage and imobilizes the target.
An Encounter power that brings back one undead.
An Encounter power that summons 4 level 4 Zombie Rotter Minions.
An Recharge power that is a close blast 5 that deals some damage and pushes targets back.


He also has an Aura that removes Radiant Vulnerability from other undead, but doesn't really do much for minions.

[Surrealistik]

As a rule, when it comes to solos, there are two key things you want to keep in mind:


Resistance to control effects like daze, unconscious, stun and dominated and the like (include immobilized/restrained if melee dependent). Versus a single entity in a combat, these status effects are much more powerful and impactful when left unmitigated. A good way to address this without being unfair/overtly penalizing to controllers is to allow the boss to mitigate control effects at some cost; he loses a turn (if he has multiple), takes damage, is subject to a penalty, his summons/zones end, etc... He can also get around this in a way via the use of summons/minions that he either attacks through, or that attack independently.


The solo's damage output per round should be roughly equivalent to 5 standard monsters of the same level. You can do this via minor/free action attacks, summon/minion attacks, huge aoe attacks, opportunity/immediate action attacks, multi-attacks, multiple turns and/or singular powerful attacks.


Furthermore, to make the fight especially memorable, you should strongly consider changing up the monster's powers/abilities and/or altering the combat zone itself when it is bloodied.

[Cealocanth]

Good start, but you're boss is a little unbalanced. 4e is all about the mathematics, and in this case, his HP are way to low (made Solo and scaled down to lvl 2, they should be around 148 for a controller) and his stats are too high (again scaled down and made solo, AC 16, Fort 13, Reflex 14, Will 15.

I strongly suggest using Wizards of the Coast's Monster Builder, as it does all that calculation and scaling of the damage and hit points and stats for you, so you can focus on the important stuff, the powers and mechanics. Which as far as I can tell, are just fine.

[incandescent]

I believe they errata'd away elite monsters getting +2 to most of their defenses, If you're building with the printed guidelines that might be why you ended up with above average defenses. As the previous posters have said, If this monster is the center of the fight and will largely be on his own with peripheral support, turn him into a solo. If he's part of a larger encounter where his cultists are pulling about as much weight as he is, then keeping him as an elite. There aren't many nasty effects that can be thrown around at level 2 unless you've got an experienced controller in the group. The worst you'll have to worry about is 'dazed' (down to one action) unless there's a wizard, which can suck for a solo type monster.

Or, if you want him somewhere in between, I like to make what i call the "triple elite" that is basically a standard monster with triple the health that can attack at least twice a round with souped up damage expressions. It works well if you see your group getting bored fighting a full fledged solo because they burned all their good powers earlier or missed with them all when it mattered. (this is if you feel comfortable with the system, i forgot you said this is your first foray so maybe wait on that.)

Looking at the base monster in the compendium, you'll need to get some synergy going with his allies if you want some of his effects to mean anything. immobilize isn't going to affect characters with a ranged option so you might want the other cultists to compensate for that by hounding the ranged characters so they don't pick on the wight while he stops the melee in its tracks. Be wary with this however, as immobilize on a low level melee character without some fancy form of movement pretty much loses his turn. If you wanted to cheat a little bit you could have his horrifying visage target enemies only that way if people do move past his honor guard front line he can push them right back out there. But, most of this stuff assumes certain back up so it all comes down to what kind of support (and by extension environmental hazards, traps, and all the normal stuff) that he'll be able to utilize.

[Surrealistik]

One thing I try/like to do is allow players to recharge one or more encounter powers between 'phases' of the Solo (typically the next phase occurs when it's bloodied). In addition to terrain, environment and Solo power/stat changes, this keeps the combat interesting.

[DragonBaneDM]

One thing I try/like to do is allow players to recharge one or more encounter powers between 'phases' of the Solo (typically the next phase occurs when it's bloodied). In addition to terrain, environment and Solo power/stat changes, this keeps the combat interesting.

Right so, thematically how do you do this? I've got a big solo fight coming up myself, and I don't want the villain to just go "Why don't you catch your breath, boys, you earned it!" or just dramatically transform for a couple minutes in some sort of Dragon Ball Z montage.

[ArcturusV]

Well, the easiest way is the perhaps counter intuitive way of letting the boss run away at a certain point. It makes some sense that a powerful solo enemy would go, "Okay... this isn't going well..." and try to tactically withdraw. If he/she/it/something has some power/movement type to allow it to get a lead this means even the most zealous of PC groups can get the equivalent of a short break before catching back up.

If your PCs wuss out and let it escape? Then you just gained a recurring villain with purpose. Or it can come back like 15 minutes later with a new batch of reinforcements/flunkies to punish them immediately if you're a more vindictive type.

I've also done it with an Outsider enemy that, when he was bloodied would recharge Encounter Powers of people in range 5 of him. Didn't help the Wizard or the Warlock because they were sitting too far out. But everyone else appreciated it. Themed up as a blast of energy that invigorated the players, kinda like how a candle flickers violently before it dies this attack (And it was an attack) not only dealt damage but also recharged them as it flooded their body with pure otherworldly power.

[Surrealistik]

Right so, thematically how do you do this? I've got a big solo fight coming up myself, and I don't want the villain to just go "Why don't you catch your breath, boys, you earned it!" or just dramatically transform for a couple minutes in some sort of Dragon Ball Z montage.

Usually I put it down to heighted resolve/psychological drive as the PCs press on and near victory; it's similar to the gaining of APs from Milestones, though there's other explanations that can be invoked, like a release of energy, etc.

With respect to the other elements, power, stat and environmental changes, typically the boss, realizing things are getting serious, goes all out in rage and/or desperation, possibly tapping dangerous/verboten power sources. Often there is some attack that triggers on a bloody which removes conditions from the boss, and gives it some distance/temporary reprieve from the PCs, while presaging a change of stats/powers. A literal transformation isn't required, though it can certainly happen where it makes sense (and is usually instantaneous, or near instantaneous). This can have destructive or otherwise encounter changing results on the surroundings.

As an example I've flavoured a Legion Devil solo called 'Baar'zuul (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XLS7R8qOTqH-wxXnH159mpRthiUzK7tW9lNfW6F9ZE/edit)' with a rage actuated transition. He starts off proud and assured, then degenerates into a rampaging killing machine as his comrade devils shun and abandon him for his evident weakness once bloodied.

That all said as Arcturus has mentioned, having the boss make a tactical retreat also works.