[4E] Average Monster Attack/Defense Values by Level

[RTGoodman]

Hey guys, I know I've seen a chart somewhere around here that has a list of average attack bonuses and defense score for monsters by level, but after much Googling I'm can't find it again.

Can someone either point me in the direction of that thread/chart or tell me that I'm crazy and I'll have to do it myself?

[Asbestos]

Hey guys, I know I've seen a chart somewhere around here that has a list of average attack bonuses and defense score for monsters by level, but after much Googling I'm can't find it again.

Can someone either point me in the direction of that thread/chart or tell me that I'm crazy and I'll have to do it myself?

You are not crazy, for I too have seen such a chart. However, I also don't know where it is... I feel like it was made by Yakk.

[Dhavaer]

The table is here.

[RTGoodman]

I feel like an idiot now.

I was thinking it was either here or on the WotC forums, so I did all my Google searches for site:giantitp.com or site:wizards.com. I didn't even think to check ENWorld.

And you know what's worse? I had that bookmarked already anyway, but as "4E Monster Resistances/Immunities" since that's what I used it for last.




Regardless, thanks!

[Decoy Lockbox]

I always keep these numbers in mind when building a character. They are quite easy to remember:

Artillery/Soldier attk: +7
Brute attk: +3
All others: +5
All non-Ac attacks: listed value - 2

Soldier AC: +16
Brute AC: +12
All others: +14

Non AC defenses: +12

Now, monsters do vary a bit in their values, but these are the baselines.

You can use these numbers for optimizing like this:

Lets say you were making a fighter, and wanted to have a "good" AC. Take your level (lets say 6 for this example), then add the average monster attack value (+5), to arrive at +11. Then add 12 to this value to determine the minimum AC you will need to have a "good" AC for your level. In this case, it is 23.

The reason I used 12 is because I treat any defense that gives you an evasion rate of higher than 50% to be "good", and any that gives one lower than 50% to be "not so good", with 50% being "ok". There is a 45% chance of rolling a 12 or higher on a single d20, so 12 is used in the aforementioned sum. So in this case, you would want your fighter to have an AC of 23 or higher, which is easily doable at lvl 6 by either wearing a suit of +2 layered plate armor, or by wearing a suit of +2 drakescale and using a shield. Now, if your fighter uses the tempest technique or battlerager vigor, things get a little harder...

[Townopolis]

Not that much harder. The battlerager has no real incentive to not be wearing scale (although he does have a fake incentive), and the tempest just needs a defensive weapon, such as double swords (refluff to paired swords) or a spiked shield (which is my personal favorite).

[Colmarr]

You can use these numbers for optimizing like this:

That's quite handy. Thanks for posting it. I'm off to mathhammer my cleric

the tempest just needs a defensive weapon, such as double swords (refluff to paired swords)

Why bother refluffing? I thought that double weapons counted as wielding two weapons for mechanical purposes. Am I wrong?

[Artanis]

Why bother refluffing? I thought that double weapons counted as wielding two weapons for mechanical purposes. Am I wrong?

If nothing else, a lot of people consider double weapons to be stupid and/or not as cool as dual-wielding.