Kobold Overseer (4.0 PEACH)

[Snowbody]

Thought my kobold lair needed a pure controller to counteract my PCs' extremely mobile strikers and defenders.

{table=head][div]Kobold Overseer[/div][div]Medium Natural Humanoid[/div]|[div]

Level 3 Artillery (Controller)

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XP 150

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[div]Initiative +5[/div][div]HP 48; Bloodied 24[/div][div]AC 15; Fortitude 13, Reflex 13, Will 13[/div][div]Speed 6[/div]|[div]

Senses Perception +8; darkvision

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{colsp=2}Whip (standard; at-will) * Weapon
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Melee 3, threatening reach; +4 vs. AC; 1d4+1 damage

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{colsp=2}Sticky Whip (standard; at-will) * Weapon
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Melee 3; +6 vs. Reflex; on a hit roll 1d8 to determine the ongoing effect (save ends, multiple different effects can stack):

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1. (eyes) blinded
2. (throat) ongoing 6 damage
3. (weapon arm) -2 to attack
4. (off arm) grant CA to all enemies
5. (chest/legs) grabbed, can break normally
6. (hips) slide 2 each turn
7. (legs) knocked prone on any hit; standing is 1 action category slower than it normally would be
8. (weapon) disarmed, weapon pulled up to 2 squares toward overseer, can follow it as a free action after the overseer's turn

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{colsp=2}Shifty (minor; at-will)
{colsp=2}[div]

The kobold shifts 1 square.

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{colsp=2}Distant Advantage
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Enemies granting CA to another kobold grant CA to the overseer.

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{colsp=2}[div]Alignment Evil Languages Draconic[/div][div]Skills Intimidate +5[/div]
{colsp=2}Equipment whip
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[Treblain]

If you're going to have threatening reach, why not have the whip's OA trip the PCs to knock them prone or stop their movement? 1d4+1 isn't going to be much of a control. Granted, the PCs don't know how much damage it deals until it hits, but it could do with some harder control.

Also, is it supposed to be Medium or Small?

[Snowbody]

Thanks for commenting!

I was afraid giving it threatening reach was making it too strong for a 3rd-level mob, so I minimized the effect of the MBA. What do you think of this idea: the OA, if it hits, stops charges and any time the PC is moving more than his regular move allotment (double move/run/move + attack power that results in a move before or after the attack) or is that overcomplicating things? I just want to slow them down, not stop them completely.

Most kobolds are Small; I envisioned these as overseers for slaves (kobolds or not) owned by some other race so they'd need to be larger.

[Mando Knight]

Threatening reach 3 is totally out of line for a short heroic-tier humanoid (even threatening reach 2 is fairly rare... in Large creatures), and reach 3 itself is out of line for a Whip in general (it only grants reach 2 to Medium characters). The at-will secondary ability is also out of line. Blind (save ends) is something that Solos might do once an encounter. Or Tiamat once a round, but she's just broken. You'll also rarely ever find ongoing damage in values other than multiples of 5. Furthermore, a special attack that strikes a NAD and implements debilitating effects should never be more accurate than the MBA.

Other than that, however, the creature is terribly weak and in no way Artillery. The MBA has little chance of hitting most level 3 characters (50% against 15 AC... I can't think of a reason why any melee character would have less than 16 AC at first level, and then there's always a Mark, which will drop your accuracy by another 2), and any real artillery character (archery Ranger, wizard, whatever) can blow it away with relative impunity as the Kobold will have enough trouble with the Defender. A level 1 Slinger is better than this guy, and that's a MM1 monster.

Also, a properly Medium-sized Kobold is huge for a Kobold. Most don't get much larger than 4'0" and 75-ish pounds, about the size of a Halfling. Even if they get as tall as a short Dwarf (under 4'3"), they'll be lighter than an anorexic Elf (under 120 lbs).

[Snowbody]

Wow, thanks, that sobers me up quick. I had a sinking feeling that putting threatening reach on the level 3 mob was out of line. I also didn't realize Blinded was so rare an effect to hit. Gotta think about this some more.

What I wanted was a controller who wasn't rendered completely ineffective in the event that the strikers or defenders dance through the line and close to melee. Controllers, to be effective, have to debuff targets that are at-range, but making their attacks Ranged or Area means that they eat a ton of OAs once the defender or striker reaches melee range.

I don't care if it has low HP or low damage output; I don't mind if it dies a round or two after the strikers catch it. Its purpose is to be squishy and drop annoying status effects on the overly mobile PCs. What should I be looking at?

[Mando Knight]

I also didn't realize Blinded was so rare an effect to hit.

Let's look at what happens when you're Blind:
-You take a -5 to all Melee and Ranged attacks (all enemies have total concealment against you)
-Enemies can freely make Stealth checks against you (again, total concealment)
-You grant Combat Advantage
-Aforementioned Stealth checks are easy, since you take a -10 to Perception
-You can't flank

It's one of the nastiest conditions in the game, right up there with Daze and Stun. It's the reason why the MM1 Black Dragon is reviled. Also, having a standard-accuracy attack vs Reflex that can instantly disarm a character is a jerk move reserved for Rust Monsters and the like.

What I wanted was a controller who wasn't rendered completely ineffective in the event that the strikers or defenders dance through the line and close to melee. Controllers, to be effective, have to debuff targets that are at-range, but making their attacks Ranged or Area means that they eat a ton of OAs once the defender or striker reaches melee range.

I don't care if it has low HP or low damage output; I don't mind if it dies a round or two after the strikers catch it. Its purpose is to be squishy and drop annoying status effects on the overly mobile PCs. What should I be looking at?

A melee-focused Controller is generally close to being the bastard child of a Skirmisher and a Soldier.

A Controller, in general, focuses on three things: debuffs, forced movement, and area strikes. Survivability and damage are both very important concerns, however, since the former gives the Controller more time to wreak havoc and death is a rather potent debuff.

A Standard monster in early Heroic tier will do this mostly via 1-turn Slow, -2 attack or defense penalties, a couple squares of forced movement (or knock prone), or a Burst 1 or Blast 3 area attack. An at-will will generally have one of these things, and an encounter power will have two (or a ramped-up version of one, such as Immobilize, a turn of Daze, or a relatively large blast), along with increased damage.

[Talyn]

"Disarm" is actually fairly difficult to adjudicate in 4E, and is not actually a standard status effect.

What happens to the weapon? Does the Kobold get it? Can he then wield it? If not, where does it go? Is a it a minor action to recover it? Move action?

Remember that almost every single martial power requires a weapon (and in rogues' cases, specific types of weapon) to use.