CapnZapp
Legend
Premise of this exercise is designing a monster by tweaking an official wotc stat block.
This monster should work for the following assumptions:
- a true solo encounter
There are no other monsters present, neither before, during or after this encounter.
In fact, let's assume this monster is the only encounter in the adventuring day.
That way, any guards etc becomes a bonus challenge rather than something necessary to uphold the big bad's badness.
- the heroes are not caught unawares, and they don't come unprepared
This simply means that whatever resistances the monster has, expect the players to bring what's needed to counter them.
- no expectations of a DM having to "play it smart" just to uphold the challenge.
To phrase this bluntly: let's assume the solo monster will basically just move up to any bothersome mortal and smash him or her. This means the DM isn't expected to spend much time in preparation; just plop down the big bad and have him attack
- no elaborate terrain or other set up.
Not saying a featureless grass lawn, but the monster's challenge should not significantly depend on the terrain (or any other features than what's in the stat block!)
Let's take Juiblex the Demon Lord as a good example, since he's basically just your big ooze, meaning there is some justification for him being alone, not using sophisticated tactics, and not really considering retreats or allies.
Now, what is the end result desired?
For me, it's that this solo should present a party of tier III characters (levels 11-16) with a very difficult but beatable challenge, which matches the intent of Out of the Abyss as far as I can see.
I don't want to be more specific than that, since different characters and party compositions vary wildly in combat power. Let's just say that to beat Juiblex at level 11 you should need to be super optimized, both in general and for this particular enemy: having the right magic items, feats, ability scores, multiclass combos and so on for the job. And even then, the fight should feel very deadly indeed.
On the other end of the scale, if you have no magic loot at all (that is, less than given out by the adventure), you might find Juiblex too strong even at level 16, unless you're an double-strength party. Of course, if you have that many heroes (eight or more) AND you're a bit minmaxed, then Juiblex will probably wimp out unless you reinforce his encounter.
One observation is: any spell that would take a monster right out of the fight should be interpreted as winning a free round, or perhaps two at the most. Let Juiblex take the pain from being trapped in a Forcecage... for a full round, then simply smash the supposedly unsmasheable spell. I find Legendary Resistance simplistic, crude and unfair and I feel “instawin yes, but only for that round” works much better. The player can see some result of his spell, rather than the monster basically cheating it away.
I'm gunning for Juiblex lasting five combat rounds at the very least. Anything less than that, and the combat's a speed bump more than a memorable event. Remember, we do not precede this solo fight with other encounters so a three-round fight is not appropriate.
This means, unlike Dave2008's excellent work, I'm not going for the “strengthen attacks, not hp” route. I feel hit points are the true indicator of level in this edition, and hit points is also the buffer against the players bringing lots of allies. It's simply a different philosophy than his Immortal game. I imagine he would say that if the PCs bring allies, so should the BBEG. I'm more inclined to having a dragon soaring above the city, taking on the numbers all by itself.
I am not experienced enough with level 15ish play to know for sure how much DPR can be expected from a well-rounded party, so I'm going to guess at 25-30 damage per round and character. This means that Juiblex needs to have at least 30x5x5=750 hp or in that neighborhood. Most easily, we double his statted hp from 350 to 700. (This brings other advantages – see Ooze Eject below)
Remember, to me it's better if the combat lasts 6, 7 or even more rounds than if it lasts only 3 or 4. Remember, the design goal isn't "design a solo that CAN last five round", it's "design a solo that WILL last five rounds". So if I have to choose between giving the solo a hundred hp too much or too little, I'm always going to go with the former. Worst case scenario: the players fail to win, which only means their respect for the solo increases, and they'll try harder the next time.
(What next time, you ask? Well, do you know how hard it is to permanently kill off a group of high level characters in D&D?! Let's just plainly assume they'll be back one way or another)
Obviously, if the BBEG has good staying power, the need to sharpen its attacks isn't as dire. That still doesn't mean I agree with WotC's softie approach. The kid gloves does go off, just that I don't feel I need an accelerated offensive curve like Dave2008 uses.
Now, we basically go through every statistic and comment/change it. The official stats for Juiblex is on page 242 in Out of the Abyss. Dave2008's version is *here*.
This monster should work for the following assumptions:
- a true solo encounter
There are no other monsters present, neither before, during or after this encounter.
In fact, let's assume this monster is the only encounter in the adventuring day.
That way, any guards etc becomes a bonus challenge rather than something necessary to uphold the big bad's badness.
- the heroes are not caught unawares, and they don't come unprepared
This simply means that whatever resistances the monster has, expect the players to bring what's needed to counter them.
- no expectations of a DM having to "play it smart" just to uphold the challenge.
To phrase this bluntly: let's assume the solo monster will basically just move up to any bothersome mortal and smash him or her. This means the DM isn't expected to spend much time in preparation; just plop down the big bad and have him attack
- no elaborate terrain or other set up.
Not saying a featureless grass lawn, but the monster's challenge should not significantly depend on the terrain (or any other features than what's in the stat block!)
Let's take Juiblex the Demon Lord as a good example, since he's basically just your big ooze, meaning there is some justification for him being alone, not using sophisticated tactics, and not really considering retreats or allies.
Now, what is the end result desired?
For me, it's that this solo should present a party of tier III characters (levels 11-16) with a very difficult but beatable challenge, which matches the intent of Out of the Abyss as far as I can see.
I don't want to be more specific than that, since different characters and party compositions vary wildly in combat power. Let's just say that to beat Juiblex at level 11 you should need to be super optimized, both in general and for this particular enemy: having the right magic items, feats, ability scores, multiclass combos and so on for the job. And even then, the fight should feel very deadly indeed.
On the other end of the scale, if you have no magic loot at all (that is, less than given out by the adventure), you might find Juiblex too strong even at level 16, unless you're an double-strength party. Of course, if you have that many heroes (eight or more) AND you're a bit minmaxed, then Juiblex will probably wimp out unless you reinforce his encounter.
One observation is: any spell that would take a monster right out of the fight should be interpreted as winning a free round, or perhaps two at the most. Let Juiblex take the pain from being trapped in a Forcecage... for a full round, then simply smash the supposedly unsmasheable spell. I find Legendary Resistance simplistic, crude and unfair and I feel “instawin yes, but only for that round” works much better. The player can see some result of his spell, rather than the monster basically cheating it away.
I'm gunning for Juiblex lasting five combat rounds at the very least. Anything less than that, and the combat's a speed bump more than a memorable event. Remember, we do not precede this solo fight with other encounters so a three-round fight is not appropriate.
This means, unlike Dave2008's excellent work, I'm not going for the “strengthen attacks, not hp” route. I feel hit points are the true indicator of level in this edition, and hit points is also the buffer against the players bringing lots of allies. It's simply a different philosophy than his Immortal game. I imagine he would say that if the PCs bring allies, so should the BBEG. I'm more inclined to having a dragon soaring above the city, taking on the numbers all by itself.
I am not experienced enough with level 15ish play to know for sure how much DPR can be expected from a well-rounded party, so I'm going to guess at 25-30 damage per round and character. This means that Juiblex needs to have at least 30x5x5=750 hp or in that neighborhood. Most easily, we double his statted hp from 350 to 700. (This brings other advantages – see Ooze Eject below)
Remember, to me it's better if the combat lasts 6, 7 or even more rounds than if it lasts only 3 or 4. Remember, the design goal isn't "design a solo that CAN last five round", it's "design a solo that WILL last five rounds". So if I have to choose between giving the solo a hundred hp too much or too little, I'm always going to go with the former. Worst case scenario: the players fail to win, which only means their respect for the solo increases, and they'll try harder the next time.
(What next time, you ask? Well, do you know how hard it is to permanently kill off a group of high level characters in D&D?! Let's just plainly assume they'll be back one way or another)
Obviously, if the BBEG has good staying power, the need to sharpen its attacks isn't as dire. That still doesn't mean I agree with WotC's softie approach. The kid gloves does go off, just that I don't feel I need an accelerated offensive curve like Dave2008 uses.
Now, we basically go through every statistic and comment/change it. The official stats for Juiblex is on page 242 in Out of the Abyss. Dave2008's version is *here*.
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then Juiblex is still in the game even without his legendary actions.
