Appropriate encounters?

[Alex]

First off, apologies for asking a stupid question, but I'm planning to GM a fantasy campaign soon (first time in the chair, so to speak) and couldn't find the any mention in the rulebook.

How do you go about judging an appropriate encounters? I've got 2, maybe 3 players, starting at 1st level. Are there guidelines I've missed somewhere? Would it be 1 1st level adversary per PC? What if they were minions?

I just don't want to throw too much at the players before the game gets off the ground- probably a bad thing for the first session!

[ValhallaGH]

Guess.

There are no guidelines in the books. Partly this is because the deadliness of an encounter varies with how well you roll dice. Partly this is because not all levels are equal, and not all foes are equally challenging.

My Advice: Take a look at what you're planning to use. If it seems like the foes are about equal to the heroes, weaken them a bit (unless it's supposed to be a slaughterhouse fight).

Good Luck.

[Nightshade]

Unfortunately, its hard to come up with any sort of useful metric here, for the reasons VGH states above; a very quick and dirty approximation would be to look at Attack, Defense, Damage and Toughness (with a nod to M&M) and compare to the PCs in the same areas.

[Masada]

Run a few encounters as non-lethal. A bar fight or something. If the PC's get pummelled in to unconsciousness, they just end up in the alley with a headache.

Or... use some GM magic and establish an illusion arena where heroes can fight illusion monsters that appear totally real, but death is only unconsciousness.

Also realize that players can spend Conviction to auto-stabilize if they drop to incapacitated. As the GM (Narator) you can also just rule that a player is stable, but unconscious.

The GM has to be prepared for what to do when PC's die out of sheer bad luck. You should also prepare for what to do if the party wipes out. Think about what should happen with character deaths and discuss options with the player "just in case." Then folks know what to expect and a death doesn't stall the game or leave any one out unexpectedly.

[Alex]

Thanks guys, kinda guessed that was the idea, but thought it best to check I wasn't missing something.

A spot of non-lethal brawling is a great idea for getting used to the whole thing- should've thought of that myself. Thanks!

[GravitysAngel]

Also, PCs should not be afraid to run or negotiate or trick when outgunned. Not every fight has to end in a win, nor must every fight be fought to the death. If an NPC is more than a match for the PCs, have the city guards show up, have the NPC show a moment of compassion and spare their lives, etc.

[phloog]

Also, PCs should not be afraid to run or negotiate or trick when outgunned. Not every fight has to end in a win, nor must every fight be fought to the death. If an NPC is more than a match for the PCs, have the city guards show up, have the NPC show a moment of compassion and spare their lives, etc.

This was where I was going to head.

Any time you're concerned about the power of an encounter (which in early days with any new system will be "all the time" until you get a handle on it), you should list one or more contingencies. Remember that in True20, despite the fact that Toughness doesn't scale, it is uncommon for any failed save to make someone just absolutely dead.

The Wampa knocked Luke out...the result was not death, but capture, and a new chapter

Often the hero is essentially dead, but then wakes up bandaged and weak.

For each encounter, write up what happens in the event of a complete defeat, probably in terms of:

Intervention (the cavalry/town guards/maiden they helped earlier/etc. arrives)

Capture

Robbery (they are left alive, but without valued possessions - if they acted foolishly maybe these goods are lost forever...if it was just a bad choice on your part for enemy level, then the next chapter is stealing back their stuff)

Mercy (or false mercy - the villain spares them, but holds one or more of them hostage until the rest complete some task for her...this is tricky because it takes players out of the action...the same could be done with possessions - "You'll get these back when I'm satisfied")

The other option that I just thought of for larger battles is reliance on the minion rules.

The idea: Create an encounter with multiple enemies (brigands, pirates, guards, etc.) Stat up some of them as strong enemies (leaders, captains, etc.), the rest as minions. If the encounter seems to completely outclass the party, begin assigning the Minion type to enemies that were not previously on the fly....even if they've already taken damage.

Has anyone ever done this?

[ValhallaGH]

The other option that I just thought of for larger battles is reliance on the minion rules.

The idea: Create an encounter with multiple enemies (brigands, pirates, guards, etc.) Stat up some of them as strong enemies (leaders, captains, etc.), the rest as minions. If the encounter seems to completely outclass the party, begin assigning the Minion type to enemies that were not previously on the fly....even if they've already taken damage.

Has anyone ever done this?

Yes. It works pretty well, and can turn a deadly encounter into a cakewalk, as foes roll just badly enough to fail.
Instead of hanging around, being worn down and dealing a lot of pain as they go, they drop suddenly and that's one less source of pain.

Good Luck to Alex.

[barsoomcore]

One rule I've implemented is that any lethal damage can be delivered as non-lethal damage at no penalty.

So bad guys can use their natural weapons, their swords, whatever, and deal non-lethal damage at will.

So good guys get knocked out far more often than they get killed.

[Masada]

In Savage Worlds there is an Edge (Feat) that says enemies always seem to "leave you for dead" even when you're not. Not that True20 needs another Feat, but it would give me a warm fuzzy as a Narrator know my player had traded a feat for a flavorful characterization.

[ValhallaGH]

In Savage Worlds there is an Edge (Feat) that says enemies always seem to "leave you for dead" even when you're not. Not that True20 needs another Feat, but it would give me a warm fuzzy as a Narrator know my player had traded a feat for a flavorful characterization.

Sounds like a Benefit to me. Benefit (left for dead) - your foes leave you for dead, assuming that you've conveniently expired even when you haven't.

I do love that open-ended Benefit feat.

[JBowtie]

As a (very rough) guideline, you can do the following to balance encounters.

Toughness is the most significant factor in most encounters, followed by dodge. After accounting for these, you will still need to look at things such as the freshness of the party, terrain or tactical advantages, etc.

If a foe has a Toughness within about 3 points of the party's average damage, I consider it to be an average encounter. For an average encounter 1 foe per PC is fine.

For every 2 points of difference beyond that, I decrease the number of foes by one (or increase if I'm using weak monsters).

For every five points of difference between the average to-hit and the target's defense, I decrease the number of foes by one (or increase if using weak monsters).

If the party is at less than full Conviction points I often decrease the number of foes to avoid a death spiral, particularly if it's a high-damage creature.

Now, with minions, I'll go one of two ways...

A) Convert each foe into a combat unit.
or
B) Replace each foe with one minion per PC.

If a foe has Conviction points, it's either a solo encounter (esp. spellcasters) or someone accompanied by minions.

This works out quite well for me, as I have enough experience behind the screen now to eyeball an encounter and decide if I need to further adjust things. If I'm using a converted adventure I often need to make things tougher!

A couple of reminders for new DMs:
1) Encourage PCs to use Conviction; I give bonus Conviction (and call it that!) the first few sessions to make sure they don't hoard it until they're comfortable with the mechanics.
2) Extra effort is often overlooked by less tactical groups.

[JBowtie]

I do love that open-ended Benefit feat.

I hate it - it reads like the answer to the question "what is a feat?" rather than actually being a feat itself. I have never met a player who did not say "what the hell does this mean?" when they're creating a character. It conveys nothing concrete mechanically or flavour-wise.

I much prefer to simply define a new feat with concrete benefits than try to shoehorn completely incompatible concepts inside the same overbroad category.

(rant done)

[Rimlar]

Until you get a good feel--cheat. Strengthen or weaken adversaries on the fly. You will need to do it less and less as you get a better feel for it but a good narrator never swears it off completely. Increase or decrease rewards proportionately, of course when you make changes.

Rimlar