How do I... - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

How do I...

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
yushimi
Sep 25, 2011 11:33:51 Make a challenging level 1 encounter with a solo medium humanoid? I want him to be the boss at the end of my group's first adventure.

Group size: Me (DM) and 4 PCs
PC 1: Shade Swordmage
PC 2: Human Monk
PC 3: Dragonborn Warlord
PC 4: Vryloka Wizard

I would prefer this enemy to be either Human, Dwarf, Eladrin, or Githyanki and have a magic weapon.
#2
slobo777a
Sep 25, 2011 11:46:44 You could reasonably stat the final encounter as Level+2, so that gives you 600xp to play with.

That looks like one solo L1 plus 4 minions. For a "solo" battle, I quite something that generates the minions (e.g. they might be spell effects or re-animated by the bad guy when taken down). That's just one of many possible things you can do to keep the encounter dynamic (don't use all your tricks up at once of course).

I might start with Young Gray Dragon (from Draconomicon), level it back down to 1, replace the Breath Weapon with something that generated undead minions, alter damage types and re-fluff.

. . . there is such a huge range of possibilities! I could give it a go if you want to describe the kind of enemy (theme, and particular strengths and weaknesses) - at least a bit more than humanoid. For instance, is the bad guy supposed to be big and tough, sneaky and shadow-y, is he arcane or divine?

Edit: Also, what's the theme of the weapon. I assume it's to be treasure, but it would help the theme of the bad guy if the power of the weapon was factored in to its stats. Note you have no requirement to use the official rules for the magic weapon on the bad guy, but I do find it helps to be approximately right, because many players don't think in terms of 4E's fluid descriptions by default.

#3
yushimi
Sep 25, 2011 12:09:50 I want the adventure to take place in an old mine shaft that found an underground cave but couldn't continue because of an unknown force. One of the PCs should have a magic stone that lets whoever holds it go into the cave. There would be an empty treasure chest in a hole (It was carrying the magic weapon that the bad guy uses) and the monsters should be things like vampires and zombies. I want the bad guy to be an insane miner that continued through the cave while ignoring the force holding him back. The magic weapon should prevent necrotic damage and repels demons/undead if the wielder completely loses his/her sanity and prevent the wielder from doing lethal damage if he/she is sane. The PCs should have a choice of just killing the miner or knocking him unconscious and taking him to a church to get cured (another quest needs to be done to get the components for this).
#4
yushimi
Sep 25, 2011 13:27:35 Does anyone have advice for ability scores/HP?
#5
whakapapa
Sep 26, 2011 7:18:17 I'm unfamiliar with 4th edition stats, but here are some suggestions;

- If its a magic curse, perhaps you can give him the equivelent of permanent rage effect - ie. +4 str/+4 con, -2 armor, -x wisdom (to make him insane and lack of judgement), give him extra HP so he survives longer - you dont need to explain it, but maybe he is just a tough guy, he is special in some way, he absorbed necrotic energy to give him false (temporary) hp, or the depths/gasses of the mine make the players do less physical damage (ill at ease, difficulty in moving around if its narrow or slippery)
- If the PC's have high AC, maybe make the environment so they lose ac (like becoming slight ill from going so deep into the ground), and/or have the miner use the environment to damage them - poisenous and/or flamable gasses, partial cave collapse...
- Give him abilities that enables him to throw huge rocks in their faces
- Basically try not to make him sound like an awesome fighter, but rather just a miner who is strong, brutal and to the point, no finess.. and he is tougher than usual because he experienced something weird and is now scared + insane... that could MAYBE make the players think; hmm, maybe we just ought to knock him out instead of killing him.

If you get the stats right for that, it should be an interesting encounter I think Definately if you play on the dangers of mining too deep.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 yushimi Sep 25, 2011 11:33:51	Make a challenging level 1 encounter with a solo medium humanoid? I want him to be the boss at the end of my group's first adventure. Group size: Me (DM) and 4 PCs PC 1: Shade Swordmage PC 2: Human Monk PC 3: Dragonborn Warlord PC 4: Vryloka Wizard I would prefer this enemy to be either Human, Dwarf, Eladrin, or Githyanki and have a magic weapon.
#2 slobo777a Sep 25, 2011 11:46:44	You could reasonably stat the final encounter as Level+2, so that gives you 600xp to play with. That looks like one solo L1 plus 4 minions. For a "solo" battle, I quite something that generates the minions (e.g. they might be spell effects or re-animated by the bad guy when taken down). That's just one of many possible things you can do to keep the encounter dynamic (don't use all your tricks up at once of course). I might start with Young Gray Dragon (from Draconomicon), level it back down to 1, replace the Breath Weapon with something that generated undead minions, alter damage types and re-fluff. . . . there is such a huge range of possibilities! I could give it a go if you want to describe the kind of enemy (theme, and particular strengths and weaknesses) - at least a bit more than humanoid. For instance, is the bad guy supposed to be big and tough, sneaky and shadow-y, is he arcane or divine? Edit: Also, what's the theme of the weapon. I assume it's to be treasure, but it would help the theme of the bad guy if the power of the weapon was factored in to its stats. Note you have no requirement to use the official rules for the magic weapon on the bad guy, but I do find it helps to be approximately right, because many players don't think in terms of 4E's fluid descriptions by default.
#3 yushimi Sep 25, 2011 12:09:50	I want the adventure to take place in an old mine shaft that found an underground cave but couldn't continue because of an unknown force. One of the PCs should have a magic stone that lets whoever holds it go into the cave. There would be an empty treasure chest in a hole (It was carrying the magic weapon that the bad guy uses) and the monsters should be things like vampires and zombies. I want the bad guy to be an insane miner that continued through the cave while ignoring the force holding him back. The magic weapon should prevent necrotic damage and repels demons/undead if the wielder completely loses his/her sanity and prevent the wielder from doing lethal damage if he/she is sane. The PCs should have a choice of just killing the miner or knocking him unconscious and taking him to a church to get cured (another quest needs to be done to get the components for this).
#4 yushimi Sep 25, 2011 13:27:35	Does anyone have advice for ability scores/HP?
#5 whakapapa Sep 26, 2011 7:18:17	I'm unfamiliar with 4th edition stats, but here are some suggestions; - If its a magic curse, perhaps you can give him the equivelent of permanent rage effect - ie. +4 str/+4 con, -2 armor, -x wisdom (to make him insane and lack of judgement), give him extra HP so he survives longer - you dont need to explain it, but maybe he is just a tough guy, he is special in some way, he absorbed necrotic energy to give him false (temporary) hp, or the depths/gasses of the mine make the players do less physical damage (ill at ease, difficulty in moving around if its narrow or slippery) - If the PC's have high AC, maybe make the environment so they lose ac (like becoming slight ill from going so deep into the ground), and/or have the miner use the environment to damage them - poisenous and/or flamable gasses, partial cave collapse... - Give him abilities that enables him to throw huge rocks in their faces - Basically try not to make him sound like an awesome fighter, but rather just a miner who is strong, brutal and to the point, no finess.. and he is tougher than usual because he experienced something weird and is now scared + insane... that could MAYBE make the players think; hmm, maybe we just ought to knock him out instead of killing him. If you get the stats right for that, it should be an interesting encounter I think Definately if you play on the dangers of mining too deep.