The Balancing Act
Dungeons and Dragons 4E is all about balance. Most players think it’s just about making sure all the character classes are balanced, so that a 10th level fighter is roughly equal to a 10th level wizard or a 10th level cleric, but the balance is also present in another, more subtle, way, one that Dungeons Masters especially need to be aware of, namely in terms of the monsters, especially the solo monsters and elites.
As written, many solo monsters are a bit too weak when it comes to damage dealing, being barely capable of defeating a single player, much less five, without many rounds of combat. That may be just a matter of opinion, but in addition to this commonly perceived weakness it’s clear most solo monsters are designed against a theoretical party of five, including, in general, one class from each role of striker, leader, controller, defender, with the ‘extra’ role usually another striker. For the most part, solos work well against such parties, but once the party size exceeds five, balance goes off track, often in a way that simply tossing in another monster, as per the guidelines in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, won’t really solve. Besides, ‘add a monster’ rather defeats the purpose of a ‘solo’ monster, and using a higher level solo is usually not an option (there are few solos in each level), or, when a slightly higher level solo is even available, increases hit points and defenses to the point that the creature takes a long, slow, time to kill, even as it deals very little damage in return.
The reason why solos don’t work against larger parties is that even a single extra character adds quite a bit to the party dynamic. An extra leader is probably the most game-changing, as practically doubling the party’s ‘fast’ heal ability can render many monsters’ damage irrelevant, leading to a relatively dull battle of players pounding on a monster incapable of dealing much in the way of damage. Even an extra striker can make a huge difference against a solo, as one extra daily power attack against a solo made vulnerable (via stun, daze, blindness, or whatever) by another character’s ability can add a devastating amount of damage, causing the feared ‘solo’ to die much more quickly than appropriate for what should be a climactic battle.
Granted, the DM could just turn away that extra player showing up at his table, but that’s a harsh course of action, so harsh that simply rebalancing the monster would make more sense. With this in mind, let’s look at a pair of monsters that are a bit off balance, made all the worse when against a party of size greater than five:
Young Black Dragon
Overview
The Young Black Dragon may well be the very first solo, and first dragon, an adventuring party will meet. High speed, high hit points, and intelligence means this creature could serve as a recurring, difficult to kill villain, encountered several times before being finally defeated.
Its defenses are mediocre, with perhaps a slightly higher than average AC for its level. The young black has fast movement, meaning, if it’s determined, a party will be hard pressed to escape from it, and, more importantly, the dragon should have little difficulty fleeing if it so desires. Its Cloud of Darkness ability is a major defense, and can completely stymie lower level adventurers, which have little chance of hitting it in the cloud. Heroes caught in the cloud will merely shift, then move out of the cloud, yielding up no opportunity attacks and being out of range of a breath attack. This is a problematic ability, since it can lead to a very strange battle as the dragon sits inside the cloud, waiting for its abilities to recharge, while the party waits outside the cloud, actions readied, for the dragon to be visible. The prospect of the dragon simply sitting in the cloud for a day or more, waiting, is rather grim, as well.
Like many solos, its damage is fairly low. The feeble bite attack is likely only to come up as an opportunity attack, and, at +8, doesn’t have a good chance of hitting most level 4 characters, at least those with shields. The claws, both of them put together, are still fairly clumsy. The tail slash is nice as a bonus attack, and the breath weapon, while a little light, is at least somewhat damaging.
General Suggestions for Fixes and Encounters
The defenses are good enough as is. The DM should consider Cloud of Darkness as an encounter power, lasting until the end of the dragon’s next turn, to avoid long standoff fights. It’s almost certainly intended to give either the dragon a short term advantage or a chance to escape, as opposed to an “every other round, nothing happens” power that can drag out fights overmuch.
When it comes to attacks, the dragon needs some help. In lieu of a double claw attack, change the single claw attack into a minor action (2/round) and bite attack damage should be doubled, with the bonus to hit kept at +8. This keeps it as a clumsy monster, but still capable of doing harm with basic attacks. The tail slash is fine as a bonus attack, but the breath attack should have an ongoing 10 acid damage, making it more than an annoyance, assuming it hits. Recharge on the Breath Weapon should be 4, 5, or 6, to compensate for the relative loss of Cloud of Darkness, and in recognition that the breath weapon is a dragon’s real, and most feared, attack, it should be a possibility at least half the time. Frightful Presence is a bit overpriced as a Standard action, and should, like the claw attack, be reduced to a minor (this is a good rule of thumb for any ability that doesn’t deal actual damage).
Black dragons should always be encountered near water, providing an easy way to escape if need be. The push effect of the tail slash should be supported, at least in its lair, with either pools of acid, small but deep pits (water-filled or not), a cliff edge, or some sort of terrain that is harmless to the dragon but dangerous for an adventurer.
Balancing for Different Party Size
As the party size goes up, the weakness of the damage and special abilities of the dragon become even more apparent, even as its fragile defenses reveal its vulnerability to most anything a party would want to do to it.
The dragon doesn’t really have the base abilities to fight off a horde of adventurers, but start by adding 30 hit points per hero above 5. This may seem like an egregious house rule, but, presumably, the dragon will ‘grow’ into a 560 hit point Adult Black Dragon at some point. The extra 300+ hit points for being an adult don’t just appear on its ‘you are now an adult’ birthday, and this rule won’t conflict with the adult’s stats until you have a party of 17 or more adventurers, an unlikely (and ill advised) prospect. The additional hit points might let it survive long enough for the ongoing acid damage to become a real factor in the battle. Defenses should increase slowly, just one point for every two adventurers over five (again, keeping in line with needing a dozen extra adventurers to match the Adult, which has +6 to all defenses over the Young dragon).
Unfortunately, offensive ability doesn’t scale nearly as well. In addition to the general changes suggested above, this ‘solo’ monster should also have a considerable cadre of Kobold Minions, both initially (four for each party member above five), and throughout the combat. The, the dragon should also have the following power added to its repertoire:
Call Minions (minor, recharge: 4, 5, 6)
As many Kobold Minions as there are players appear in squares out of sight of any player, more than 5 squares away from the dragon. These minions flee if the dragon is defeated.
While these minions aren’t much of a threat initially, as the fight progresses, the players may need to start dealing with them, providing a much more interesting battle. Frightful Presence is best used when many minions are in play, so the dragon might not use it immediately.
Against an undersize party, remove the Call Minions ability, and take off 30 hit points for each player under five in the group. This will keep it fairly deadly against level-appropriate heroes, but not so tough as to make the fight an endless battle.
Our second creature to consider is the:
Fen Hydra
Overview
The Fen Hydra on page 164 of the Monster Manual, represents, outside of dragons, one of the first solo monsters that paragon, or near paragon, characters might meet. Its numerous attacks and high hit points make it a natural choice for a DM to present as a single monster.
Its defenses are mediocre for a level 12 monster, although that is somewhat supported by its easily forgotten “all-around vision” ability, meaning it doesn’t yield combat advantage when being flanked. The Many-Headed ability protects it almost completely from dazes and stuns, although it’s still quite vulnerable to blindness and being knocked prone.
Offensively, this creature is weak. Damage of “1d8 +5” is minimal for a character anywhere near the monster’s level, and while it gets four attacks, that still only puts its damage, on a par with, say, a Bulette (level 9 elite, same chance to hit), and weaker than a Banshrae Warrior (level 12, not even elite or solo, and more likely to hit). Threatening Reach offsets the damage slightly, but those extra opportunity attacks are still doing very little damage, and are negated if the creature is subject to blindness or a few other effects.
General Suggestions for Fixes and Encounters
Considering the massive hit points, the defenses probably don’t need to be changed—give the adventurers the fun of beating on the thing repeatedly. Arguably, a point should go off the Reflex defense (this creature really should be noticeably more armored than agile, after all), and a point at least added to Will defense (those many heads should make it difficult to be affected by such attacks), but that’s a matter of preference. All status effects generated by non-area, non-close, attack powers should be subject to the Many-Headed ability (eg, an ability that blinds a single target should affect but one head, whereas all heads would still be affected by a blinding area attack).
As far as offense goes, flat out double the damage, to 2d8 + 10, with the restriction that Hydra Fury can’t effect a character twice (or more) unless all other characters in reach have been attacked once. Yes, this is a lot of damage, but still very manageable unless the party leaves but one character to fight it in melee while the rest keep their distance. A solo monster should be a threat to a single character, after all, and this level of damage will make a lone character think twice before going toe-to-toe with it.
Threatening Reach is a nice ability, but it’s all too easy for characters to stay well away from the hydra, especially in the generally open (if difficult) swampy terrain where such creatures are found. A DM using this monster should consider constructing the encounter so that it’s very difficult for players to get more than 2 spaces away from it, or by adding some encounter effect (tangling vines, slippery slopes, or minions/traps with long slide effects) that force players to move close to the hydra whether they want to or not.
Balancing for Different Party Size
Defenses need not be changed any more than in general, flanking is not an issue with this creature. Hit points, likewise, need not be adjusted, as 620 is already a vast pool for this level. Against more highly skilled parties, a DM might add, say, 50 hit points for every member past five, but this might lead to a few more rounds of relatively drained adventurers slogging with nothing but at-wills than might be fun. Action points should be left at 2, as it does rather fearsome damage (once doubled) that might get out of control if the creature gets too many extra attacks.
Once the party size exceeds five, the suggestion for doubling the damage becomes mandatory for making the hydra challenging, but more is necessary. Hydra’s Fury, instead of doing four attacks, should deal as many attacks as there are party members, thus going from four to a minimum of six. Once again, this could be devastating if the party doesn’t ‘share the wealth’ as it were, but a well-armored 10th level character will be hit around 50% of the time for each head. The end result is the chance of being taken to 0 hit points in a single round of focused attack (as opposed to being worn down over rounds of combat) is slim, although a defender courageous enough to face it alone will still be appreciated by the rest of the party.
For undersized groups, reduce hit points by 120 for each member below five. This leaves it quite tough, and a fairly durable but small party will find it a satisfying, but not interminable, foe.
