Ok so I ran the beginner box and I knew it would be scaled enough for PCs to own the adventure. I think through out I did 9 damage to a PC until the space combat. They owned every single encounter. They ran from the troopers and with a very smart triumph usage escape the the troopers. They talked the space port commander to death and pretty much skewered Trex...literally the marauder skewered him. The ship battle had them hurtin' as they went to 0 health and crit'd but repaired up due to beginner box adventure allows hull repairs and strain repairs.

Now the point: how does one formulate; if possible -- trash mobs for the group. I had talked with another about this but I'd love to hear other opinions. There are 4 in my group I GM and I don't want to underwhelm them into boredom with mobs that just die in a round.

4 players

One minion per player plus 2

Two rivals and 2 minions

One nemesis 3 minions

Something like that?

4 players

One minion per player plus 2

Two rivals and 2 minions

One nemesis 3 minions

Something like that?

I find most of that a bit light. I think your minion groups, should be 3-4 minions per group, with 2-3 groups. Two groups of 3 minions is pretty light, but could be dangerous if your PCs don't have any combat focused among them, or totally ignore cover, or otherwise approach things like idiots. Three groups of 4 minions will be tough to handle, and probably at least one PC is going to take some crits before the fight is over.

Two rivals is good, but you still need a minion group of 3-4 to add in. 2 minions is extremely wimpy, only suitable as a distraction or a slight speed-bump. I'd consider 3 rivals and a minion group of 3 minions, or 2 rivals and 2 minion groups of 3 each.

With a nemesis, you absolutely need more groups to take fire or the PCs will just gang up on the nemesis and take them down far too quickly. Trex is a good example, he's all alone and unless he's top of the initiative (unlikely) he's going to be seriously hurting before he even gets to draw a weapon. So run your nemesis and a minion group of 3 as a minimum. Run a nemesis and a rival (the PCs might be confused as to which one is which at first), and a minion group of 3. Or run your nemesis with two minion groups of 3.

Lastly, for a nemesis fight, put him in a minion group of 4-5 and use the squad rules. That can be brutal and requires some actual tactics from the PCs to succeed.

Awesome thanks for the help. I had made the first mission with like 2 guards per room. That would have been terribly quick if it came to blows which it most likely will. Lol! These PCs pretty much tore that beginner box apart. Minus the space combat...

The Beginner Box is pretty easy. With 5 pregen characters my group breezed through most everything except the stormtrooper combat (I dumped two minion groups of 3 each on them). Trex went down in 2 rounds. The space combat saw them with their hull barely intact, a whole lot of system strain, and a "good grief space combat is nasty" feeling which I cherished.

So:

1. 3-4 minions x2-3

2. 3 rivals + 3 minions

3. 2 rivals + 3 minions x2

4. Nemesis +3 minions

5. Nemesis+ rival +3 minions

6. Nemesis +3 minions x2

Nemesis = 1 nemesis NPC + 5 minions with squad rules.

The Beginner Box is pretty easy. With 5 pregen characters my group breezed through most everything except the stormtrooper combat (I dumped two minion groups of 3 each on them). Trex went down in 2 rounds. The space combat saw them with their hull barely intact, a whole lot of system strain, and a "good grief space combat is nasty" feeling which I cherished.

Pretty much same here-- they made their own characters though so they could get the prequel done with their characters. They avoided that ST. Squad which was awesome -- I read that gray box about avoiding them is probably wise so they took that to heart. But they probably would have owned them. And yeah that space combat was brutal... I didn't use the twin link because hat would have killed them literally...

I think a lot of it will depend on how focused your PCs are for combat. The group I GM for could wipe the floor with 2 minion groups and a rival, but another group in which I play in would have a far more difficult time.

Ya I basically have a marauder who is disgusting in combat even as a starter. My fiancé plays an assassin and rolls like a god. A scoundrel who is talky talky but has decent shooting. Than a doctor -- he can brawl well but shoots stun bolts here and there. So ya very MMOS with the tank 2 dps and healer.

I base mine off the combat skills and attributes of the player I intend them to fight.

For example:

I have a bounty hunter with some decent skills. I usually plan the nemesis or rival around fighting him. Then I have two low combat players so I usually give a 3 person minion group (so they have YYG) each against them. For the longest time I had a non-combat droid so I would give another support NPC to the other side if warranted.

During the fight I make sure that their intended focus is the targeted player, but as the fight continues they sometimes do other things as it would make tactical sense. I try not to let my NPCs be silly, dumb, or cardboard unless of course they actually are.

I base mine off the combat skills and attributes of the player I intend them to fight.

For example:

I have a bounty hunter with some decent skills. I usually plan the nemesis or rival around fighting him. Then I have two low combat players so I usually give a 3 person minion group (so they have YYG) each against them. For the longest time I had a non-combat droid so I would give another support NPC to the other side if warranted.

During the fight I make sure that their intended focus is the targeted player, but as the fight continues they sometimes do other things as it would make tactical sense. I try not to let my NPCs be silly, dumb, or cardboard unless of course they actually are.

That is very helpful-- I have two major combat threats and one semi threat and the doctor. But I only ran the beginner game like I said so it was really hard to gauge the combat especially since minions get one shotted. Trex I thought was going to be a decent fight but the book said he runs into the ship if a fight break out to continue the battle. Which in the end separates him from the trash mobs from soaking wounds. He was nicked by a shot than literally turned into a Trandoshan shish kabob. I got one shot off but missed lol!

So I guess it's that trial and error when it comes to making these mobs.

That is very helpful-- I have two major combat threats and one semi threat and the doctor. But I only ran the beginner game like I said so it was really hard to gauge the combat especially since minions get one shotted. Trex I thought was going to be a decent fight but the book said he runs into the ship if a fight break out to continue the battle. Which in the end separates him from the trash mobs from soaking wounds. He was nicked by a shot than literally turned into a Trandoshan shish kabob. I got one shot off but missed lol!

So I guess it's that trial and error when it comes to making these mobs.

Most minion groups really have very similar base stats so only the numbers and how many are important. That is easily solved by leaving the potential for reinforcements as needed.

One more thing while this thread is watched -- minions with a mix of rivals or nemesis.

I heard some regards to having them have a group protecting them or there to soak wounds. IS THERE a specific rule for this or is it something more abstract? Like there is a rival or nemesis with a pack of minions. Do the PCs target the biggest bad guy but the wounds go onto the minions? Or do the PCs target whoever and whoever gets hit gets hit? Basically do the minions act as wounds and extra attacks or do the PCs chose who the threat is?

One more thing while this thread is watched -- minions with a mix of rivals or nemesis.

I heard some regards to having them have a group protecting them or there to soak wounds. IS THERE a specific rule for this or is it something more abstract? Like there is a rival or nemesis with a pack of minions. Do the PCs target the biggest bad guy but the wounds go onto the minions? Or do the PCs target whoever and whoever gets hit gets hit? Basically do the minions act as wounds and extra attacks or do the PCs chose who the threat is?

There is. It is part of the squad rules from the GM Guide / Screen from AoR. I can't remember them off hand.

Oh is it in the AOR core?

No, its in the GM Guide part of the GM Screen for AoR.

BAH!!

They slapped it on the GM guide and screen but not he core...FFS

I take it you didn't purchase the GM Screen?

Give a listen to the order 66 podcast NPC deli.episode. They go into a lot of discussion on this subject.

Give a listen to the order 66 podcast NPC deli.episode. They go into a lot of discussion on this subject.

A summary of that episode's creation rules is in my Dropbox here. It's basically a cleaned-up neatly formatted version of the show notes that were posted in an earlier thread.