I'm wondering how the more experienced GM's are handling the lack of a real ranking system for the monsters in the game. I know we have the skull system, but it seems like they've sort of left a hazy area when it comes to knowing what will be too much for a party and not enough for some. Have any of you found a good system, or learned anything to help in this area of the game?

Thanks,

Wookie

i'd say to start, know your players (abilities, skill level and equipment) and know the monsters you present them. If the group is a merchant, a bailiff and a scribe and you put 3 Gors, they'll most likely die. A solider, mercenary and scout could be ok (they'll have a hard time). If you put 3 goblins/bandits (basic humans) for the 1st group, they'll have their chances, but it will be most likely too easy for the second group.

Then it get's more complicated with range combat & spells but it's what you can dish and do versus what they can take, and the same way around

I really wish they'd thought more about this in the rules. I understand the "Try and guesstimate how your good party will fair" but in all honesty it something they should have put more thought into. New Gm's such as myself will have a hard enough time trying to run the first five sessions without also having to worry about overkill, or under. I know good GM's can adjust overkill, but still LOL.

If anyone else has suggestions related I'd appreciate the input!

Until you really get the hang of it, and sometimes even afterwords, it will be a trial and error issue. Throw them up against a small group of adversaries and see how they do, then modify the next fight accordingly. You can always increase the difficulty of an encounter by giving the enemies a special maneuver/single use item, or flubbing the role in your own favor. (the same goes with decreasing difficulty - the screen is there to, among other things, let you lie to your players without them noticing.)

If a fight is going badly you can also have it interrupted by throwing in another encounter - guardes or others coming to investigate the sounds of battle; part of the attacking group breaking off to pursue a witness who stumbles upon their ambush; chaos creatures might begin fighting amongst themselves to get in that last hit; one of the villains might turn out to be sympathetic or just trying to break away from the enemy group and see helping you out as a way of doing so. (had one of my characters introduced this way in a game and it was a lot of fun, npcs can be introduced through this method as well) You can even do the cliched gimmick of having a mysterious someone aid the enemy from afar then retreat before the PCs can catch him. (what are the individual's goals? Is he a friend? Someone watching and aiding the enemy for his own reasons? Even though it is cliched, if used sparingly this can give you a story tool to play with)

Soon enough you'll get a good feel for what the party can handle and what they cannot. Most important rule of Game Mastering: Don't be afraid to change things on the fly.

sugarwookie said:

This is very hard in a game where the system is balanced, and a character can have all social cards, or all combat cards, to 'Balance' and encounter with some arbitrary number type. If you have lots of heavy fighters they will MOW (like a self-propelled lawnmower) through the enemy ranks. 2 socialites and some scholars? Not so much necessarily.

Most PCs should have 3+ toughness. If they don't, ask them to reconsider. Anyone with 2 toughness probably has no place in combat. Ultimately this means that they can usually take a bit of fatigue if necessary. If a combat goes badly, the wise decision is to retreat. Monsters have to suffer wounds to chase them, or you can use a 'chase tracker'. My point is that a little overkill is better than underwhelming them. They can always retreat, regroup, scout out the situation, and approach it more cautiously.

As for further advice. If you have a planned enemy (say greenskins or beastmen) start by throwing a small group at them. Lets go with beastmen. Toss 2 groups of ungor henchmen (number equal to party size) and a Gor at the party and see how they do. This introduces the enemy (lets them know they are lurking) and lets you adjust difficulty between fights.

If they toast them? This is the order of 'increases' I do:

• Add weapons and armor to the enemy. This increases damage, crit potential, and soak values.
• Convert henchmen to actual units of the correct type. So a group of 4 henchmen becomes 4 full guys instead of henchies.
• Increase enemy number. If you had 4 full guys, go to 5-6.
• Add a few 'cards' to their repertoire. A couple 'reckless cleaves' are **** scary.
• Increase their A/C/E pools by a couple. Particularly Aggression. And spend a little cautiously, or less so if the party is still winning.
• Increase 'leader type' count. So 1 Gor becomes 2.
• Add higher 'leader type'. So convert a Gor to a Wargor (yikes!).
• Increase stats on leader (but not line troops).
• Change environment to favor the baddies (IE darkness letting them get the surprise off, and starting in close range)

Hope that helps.

All good advice so far. But I find the easiest way off the gate to balance encounters is to have enemies retreat or just let them die quicker if the fight is getting to tough and you aren't trying to kill your players. If the fight is going to easy then bring in enemy re-enforcements targeting your players back field. Allow them to have a rally step to make it more fair. But enemy re-enforcements are perfectly logical given that many monsters are parts of larger herds/tribes etc....

Another way to help players in a tough fight is have re-enforcements show up on their behave, a group of Elven wardens show up snipe a few monsters and fade into the distance. Perhaps some road wardens or a witch hunter just happens to be in the area or a Troll Slayer even. Some of these you could even have as reoccuring NPC that just happen to be traveling alongside your players.

Keep in mind that the game is deigned around waves of enemies. So, start small. Throw a wave of a few enemies that you think will pose just a slight problem for the group. Then after a couple rounds, if things are going too easy, have a second group of enemies arrive and join the fight. If the fight is difficult, then don't have the additional enemies show up (or delay them). The other suggestions in the thread are excellent too.