How do monsters stack up against monsters?

[DefKab]

So, I'm running a party of three, and we all agree that a little more muscle with thicken out our game, so I want to offer them a hireling, a merc of some sort, and I was thinking about making them a Monster stat block, not a full blown pc, so it's easy to play, and I'd let the closest person within 10 squares control it.
That last part is two fold... One, I can write a power for it (close burst 10, closest ally), and two it'll be considered in tactical play. If he's forced out of the range, I default his actions, and the other characters have to deal with him leaving their control as someone else moves closer.
So, ultimately, how would a say, 1st Level Elite matchup along side PC's? Twice as many hitpoints makes me say he'd be a two encounter resource (no healing surges make him hard to keep alive), however since he's doing reduced damage, he's not as big of a target.
What do you guys think?
How would you do a mercenary?
Could I alter a monster to make it more viable, like just by adding a surge value? (It would be so much more effective to heal the High HP merc, but do you really want to heal a non-essential resource?)
Gimme your ideas!

[Inspectre]

There is a section in the DMG2 all about creating a "companion character". Generally this doesn't need to be an NPC using a PC class - it can be anything really, including a monster. I would recommend going with that if possible, as it provides a decent framework for creating an ally that is quite useful, but unlikely to overshadow a PC.

[Ashdate]

Using a monster as a pseudo-PC that your players run works well. In fact, the DMG2's rules for companion characters are pretty much "adapt a monster from the book." All that is really adjusted are hit points and healing surges.

Without regurgitating the table on page 30 of the DMG2, you can basically determine hit points/surges by pretending they're a PC class. Choose a monster whose role roughly fits what the party needs. in general, soldiers = defenders, skirmishers/artillery = strikers, and controllers = controllers. Leaders are trickier; you're probably looking at something that plays more like a Warlord than a cleric, although you could give a creature a healing word-esq power.

So if the monster is suppose to fill the role of a Defender, give them a fighter's hit points and healing surges (i.e. 6x level + 9 + con score, 9 + con mod surges). If they're filling the role of controller, give them a wizard's. Leaders = cleric's, strikers = rogue's. Pretty simple. Turn any rechargeable powers into encounter ones, and you're pretty much done.

Three things I would caution about in regards to adjusting a creature to use as the base for a companion character:


KISS: Elites and Solos are of course out, but try and avoid monsters that have off-turn attacks and such. Players already have their own to worry about. Avoid stuff like attacks that cause bookkeeping, like a creature with a sustain power.

Avoid powerful at-will attacks: your players will hate fighting a creature that can daze/dominate/stun as an at-will attack, and so will you.

The book you pilfer from will matter: as you will hear everywhere, the MM1 math was terrible. And it was! It wasn't until MM3 that they got it more-or-less right. It's not as much of an issue in low-heroic tier, but by high-heroic and paragon you'll find that companion characters in MM3 and beyond do A LOT more damage. As an example, a MM hill giant (level 13 brute) does 1d10+5 damage with their basic attack. A MV hill giant (also a level 13 brute) does 3d10+11. I recommend figuring out how much the party striker does, and aiming to be a hair below that.

[Mando Knight]

So if the monster is suppose to fill the role of a Defender, give them a fighter's hit points and healing surges (i.e. 9x level + 6 + con score, 9 + con mod surges).

Fighter's HP is 6*level + 9, not the other way around (which would give more HP than a Soldier-type monster would normally get after level 2).

[Ashdate]

Fighter's HP is 6*level + 9, not the other way around (which would give more HP than a Soldier-type monster would normally get after level 2).

Apologies, you are correct! I tpyod (and fixed the above post).

[kidnicky]

Pikachu could be a good example. Seriously, I'm not joking. Just keep it simple, he can area attack electric shock for less damage, or shock one specific guy for more damage. Like others have said, make the damage and the hp a little less than the weakest PC.

If Pikachu is too girly for you, you could grimdark him up to fit the setting. There must be fanart of realistic or mean pikachus on devianart or wherever.