Custom monster feedback

[Kane0]

Hey guys, i'm trying to put together a monster for my party to face off against as the BBEG of a minor plot arc. The party are level 13-14 and are fairly well equipped and built, with one being significantly more powerful (he can do some truly rediculous damage in the right circumstances).

Here is what I have so far:
Cornugon (Chosen for plot relevance, and that they don't seem to exist in 4e. Seems a good fit for the unique but not super powerful devil i'm trying to portray)
Large Immortal (Devil)
Level ??? Solo (Soldier?)

Initiative +14
Perception +14 (Darkvision and see invisibility)
HP 300
Bloodied 150
AC 32
Fort 30
Ref 28
Will 28
Speed 8 (Fly 6 Clumsy)
Resist Fire 20 & Poison 10
Saving Throws +5
Action Points 2

Traits
Aura of Fire (Aura 2)
Enemies entering or starting turn within aura take 10 fire damage

Battle Ready
The Cornugon gains an additional partial turn at initiative +9 and initiative +4, with one standard action for each. He cannot use action points on these partial turns.

Blessings of the Blood War
If cornugon or an ally within 3 bloodies a foe then cornugon and all allies within close burst 3 gain +2 to attack and damage until the Cornugon's EoNT
If cornugon or an ally within 3 reduces a foe to 0 HP then cornugon and all allies within close burst 3 gain 2d10 +5 temp HP

Standard Actions
Vicious Chain (At Will)
Melee 2, one or two targets, +20 vs AC, 2d6 +10 damage plus ongoing 5 (save ends)

Flame Lash (At-Will)
Range 5, one or two targets, +18 vs Fort, 2d8 +8 Fire damage plus knocks target(s) prone

Summon Legion (Encounter)
Summon 5 Legion Devil Veterans (level 16 minions) that last until end of encounter and obey commands loyally. Legion Devils appear within close burst 5.

Move Actions
Reposition the Troops (Encounter)
Close Burst 5, teleport self and up to 4 allies to any other location in the burst

Tactical Retreat (Encounter)
End an effect on the cornugon that lasts until SoNT or EoNT, roll one saving throw against an effect a save can end, then teleport up to 10.
This power only ends effects and allows the saving throw if the cornugon is not bloodied. The teleport functions normally.

Minor Actions
Poison Sting (Encounter)
Melee 1, +18 vs Reflex, 2d8 +4 poison damage plus immobilized (save ends). Aftereffect 10 poison damage.
Cornugon gains a second use of this power when bloodied.

Command (Encounter)
Range 10, +18 vs Will (+2 if target is an ally), target slides up to its speed and makes a basic attack against a target of the Cornugon's choice

Incite Terror (Daily)
Close Burst 5 (enemies), +18 vs Will, affected targets take a -2 to attack and are weakened (save ends both)

Triggered Actions
Shielding Flames (Encounter)
When first bloodied, Cornugon takes half damage from the attack that bloodied him. This damage cannot be reduced to below an amount that would not leave him bloodied. He then gains resist 10 all until the end of the encounter.

Death Throes (Encounter)
When reduced to 0 or fewer HP, explode in a close burst 4, dealing 2d10 +10 fire and necrotic damage. +18 vs reflex for full damage, miss half

Tactics:
The cornugon will usually open combat strong. He wastes no time or effort until he is sure of his victory, only then will he go into gloat and speech mode.
He will use his action point to summon allies, especially if there aren't any present. He should be a competent and somewhat experienced lieutenant of hell's legions and will act as such, acting as a leader for the lesser devils and striking from a position behind them while making use of solid tactics.
If pressed he will retreat, sacrificing his lackeys if he has to. He relishes a good fight and will not shy away from combat, but he knows the time it takes to reform and reaffirm his position in hell is almost never better than the loss of face from retreating and exacting vengeance.

Is there anything you guys think i should change? Likes, dislikes, additions, removals, etc?
Any feedback is appreciated, and thanks in advance!

[Inevitability]

Firstly, a Solo always should have 2 action points and a +5 bonus to saving throws.

Secondly, monsters usually do not have daily powers. Unless you intend for the party to fight him twice on the same day, this could be simplified by making these encounter powers.

Looking at the DMG errata (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/UpdateDMG.pdf), the monster should be able to deal at least 3d6+9 damage, five times per round. Otherwise its damage is just too low to be a threat.

Maybe make command and Flame Lash at-will powers and give him a standard action attack that lets make him 3 Vicious Chain attacks?

Also, I don't think See Invisibility is a thing in 4e. Maybe give him blindsight or truesight?

[Epinephrine]

Cornugon (Chosen for plot relevance, and that they don't seem to exist in 4e. Seems a good fit for the unique but not super powerful devil i'm trying to portray)
Large Immortal (Devil)
Level ??? Solo (Soldier?)

Cornugons do exist (they're going by the name Malebranche IIRC, or maybe horned devil). Cornugons are pretty tough, being the second? strongest devils in the game, Pit Fiends being stronger. In game terms I think the lowest of the Cornugons are level 25 or so?

Nothing wrong with pitching a lower level version at them, but you might want a reason for it to be so much weaker than its brethren, or you restructure the ranks of devils to adjust.

The stats look off to me, if it's a solo of mid paragon level they should have 600 or so HP (check MM3 on a business card, I think it suggests about that much)
For a level 16 solo soldier the defenses are a bit low (AC is correct, a little weak on Ref/Will) I'd probably make them a bit slow, but strong on Fort and Will, so Fort 29, Ref 26, Will 29 might work.

I see only 1 action point and a +2 to saves, so I'm guessing at this point you're talking about an Elite (good choice, I think Elite is reasonable, too) in which case the HP should only be about 300.


Standard Actions
Vicious Chain (At Will)
Melee 2, +20 vs AC, 2d6+6 damage plus ongoing 5 (save ends)
A bit weak, really. Granted, you're counting on an aura for 10 damage a round, but a level 16 soldier should be hitting for ~24 damage average, and an elite should do twice that if able to act (between minor actions and main attacks). It doesn't have at-will minor attacks, so it's only getting those a couple of times. If you want it to get ~48 damage out if it hits each round, (subtract 10 for the aura, call it 38 damage, subtract a bit for the two minor action attacks over 4 rounds, call it another 10 or so?) it will need to be hitting for 28 or so damage with its standard action attacks. I'd say 3d8+10 damage with ongoing 5 damage would be about right. Likewise, bump up the damage on the Flame Lash (4d8+12?). Increase the reach of the chain, it's Melee 2 in the hands of a medium creature, should be able to tag foes 3 squares away.

Edit - I was assuming you were in fact deciding to go with an Elite, if you want a solo (as Dire Stirge mentions, above), you should have a damage output of ~100 per round, and ways to prevent losing too many actions to daze/prone, etc. Typically I like to have a standard action that delivers 3 attacks worth of damage, a minor or immediate for another attack worth, and an off-turn attack phase to clear conditions and attack for another attack worth (see dragons for this).

[Kimera757]

It's hard to analyze a monster without knowing its level. Be sure to use the revised monster stats. This one has numbers all over the place, and the damage is far too low.

Solo monsters are always weaker than they appear on paper. You do not need to hold back or worry about this guy being too powerful. It will not happen.

I like the leaderly traits. The fire aura needs to reach at least two (anyone the cornugon can hit with its chains should be vulnerable to being burned). If the cornugon drops a PC, do the minions it has summoned gain temporary hit points? (I'm thinking that trait needs a slight revision to only give temp hp to non-minion allies.)

Solos need to make multiple actions per round. Take a leaf from some "Schrodinger's Monsters" and give the solo more actions when facing more opponents. A good one is giving the boss a free action attack at the end of every PC's turn.

The chain attack should deal ongoing 10 damage since this is a paragon monster, and it should target multiple PCs. That can also make healing prioritization difficult. (Should you heal that PC now, or wait till they save?)

Flame Lash is far too weak, dealing an average of 9 damage. Given the solo is a solo, it shouldn't be something that only attacks one opponent. Solos almost never get encounter powers, as said powers get upgraded to recharge when first bloodied. The only encounter power a solo should have would be a utility power (since those are too grindy to keep throwing); a good encounter utility can dissipate an alpha strike. Tactical Retreat is a good idea, but too limited. Frequently a boss monster can be crippled by an effect that doesn't allow a save but instead lasts until the end of the PC's next turn. Take a look at the death knight's utility power and steal that. Change the conditions affected for whatever crippling control effects PCs throw, and (to keep it from washing off control effects like a Final Fantasy boss) only allow that when the solo is not bloodied.

Summon Legion should not be a daily, it should probably be a recharge when first bloodied power. It also should not summon a random number of minions. It's a paragon-level monster, so it should summon 5 minions each time it uses the power.

Incite Terror is kind of ... unfun. No player likes taking a -5 penalty to attack rolls, especially for a long time. I would tweak that slightly, perhaps inflicting that power as a trigger on a PC the first time they see the cornugon. That's a pretty good way of crippling an alpha strike... but the effect shouldn't last more than one round. Note that I have no problem whatsoever with crippling PC defenses. PCs can heal.

Solos need to get nastier as they take damage, specifically upon becoming bloodied. The cornugon, especially with an anti-alpha strike ability, should reward PCs with the patience to save their big guns for the end. I'm not sure what the best type of power up should be, but perhaps the aura can get bigger and dish out more damage.

[Kane0]

@Dire_Stirge
Easy fix, done.
The see invissibility is a specific thing to our game, with one party member having frequent access to it (its a long story, but this guy is was first encountered before we switched our game from 3rd to 4th ed.)

@Epinephrine
No Horned devils I could find in the Compendium, just the Malebranche/War Devil (lvl 22 Brute Leader). I can see them taking the place of Cornugons in 4e, as they appear to have pretty much the same role in the heriachy.
Increasing HP and such is easy, done and done.
Elite may work, depending on how the summoned minions work. As far as i know a solo doesnt get that kind of help and has to get funky with the action economy to keep up with a party.
Can also up damage easy.

@Kimera757
it should be a match on its own (plus minions, so elite?) for a party of 5-6 level 14s that have above average combat performance.
The Temp HP should affect minions, hopefully it will fool the PCs into thinking some are standards and throw them off a bit.
I remember a fight I did like that before, where he acted twice per round. I think I can do something similar here.
Have changed the chain and lash powers, both hit up to 2 targets now, as well as a bit more damage.
I'm avoiding powers that recharge for now, that will come into play later on with some other encounter's im planning.
Have altered Tactical Retreat, should help with those alpha strikes
I could make incite terror a multi-hit effect for less, maybe a -3. The save ends seems appropriate for the party though, they rarely have to make saves apart from ongoing damage.
Added a triggered action that helps with alpha strikes and makes him a bit nastier as he gets bloodied.

Thanks for the help guys :smallsmile:

[Epinephrine]

No Horned devils I could find in the Compendium, just the Malebranche/War Devil (lvl 22 Brute Leader). I can see them taking the place of Cornugons in 4e, as they appear to have pretty much the same role in the heriachy.

In AD&D it was the horned devil (malebranche) (greater devil); in 3.5 the horned devil is called a cornugon. Since they are both the horned devil, and occupy the same place in the hierarchy, I'm pretty confident it's a name change.

[Tegu8788]

There is also no such thing as Fly Clumsy in 4E. I know in the past you've talked about your group mixing 3.5 and 4E rules in odd ways. If that's the case, then things are gonna get even weirder.

[Inevitability]

There is also no such thing as Fly Clumsy in 4E. I know in the past you've talked about your group mixing 3.5 and 4E rules in odd ways. If that's the case, then things are gonna get even weirder.

Erm, there actually is. For one, Orcus has it.

[Kane0]

I know in the past you've talked about your group mixing 3.5 and 4E rules in odd ways. If that's the case, then things are gonna get even weirder.

Oh don't get me started. I'm actually only suggesting things for my DM to run up against my warlock for his little subplot finale. Said warlock in question is capable of ludicrous damage and is virtually unkillable compared to the rest of the party, not to mention the assortment of tricks he has available to him.

By I digress. It seems an elite is more appropriate than a solo, since he will have 5 minions summoned almost any time he fights. Basic numbers can always be tweaked, i'm more concerned about him being shut down by alpha strikes, condition lockdown and so on and so forth.

[Epinephrine]

By I digress. It seems an elite is more appropriate than a solo, since he will have 5 minions summoned almost any time he fights. Basic numbers can always be tweaked, i'm more concerned about him being shut down by alpha strikes, condition lockdown and so on and so forth.

Solos can have minions, and indeed some solos generate minions as they fight. Solos don't need to be "solo", I've even used pairs of Solos against the group. (I still remember when they saw the dragon fly overhead, screeching. And then the answering screech, coming from the other direction. "TWO DRAGONS?!"). They are the equivalent of ~5 creatures, but you can easily have encounters with more than 5 creatures, as long as you make them less powerful individually.

[Kimera757]

I once threw an 11th-level solo controller riding a level 11 solo artillery dragon at my PCs. It was ... brutal, like any level +4 encounter.

IME low-level PCs have trouble with even level +2 encounters while paragon-level PCs laugh at them, but every level +4 encounter I've used has been vicious :)

I don't think there are general rules for clumsy flight, even though a couple of creatures have it. I suspect WotC simply made an error.

[Epinephrine]

I don't think there are general rules for clumsy flight, even though a couple of creatures have it. I suspect WotC simply made an error.

Clumsy is found in Monster Manual 2, page(s) 216, Rules Compendium, page(s) 309, Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale, page(s) 122, according to the compendium.

While a creature is clumsy, it takes a -4 penalty to attack rolls and all defenses.