Well, as the title says, something about the encounter difficulty.

I'm a bit confused how to balance those encounters, to the amount of players (and their "strength"). Can someone please explain this a bit easier?

I understand that your players might meet 1-3 elites and a master npc at some encounters.

Encounter Rank is basically the same as the Rank of the PCs. You can find the PC Ranks table on p.58.

Threat Threshold table can be found on p.284. The Threshold value is a number multiplied by the number of PCs in the party.

When you look at the NPC profiles, starting on p.286, you'll see a little black circle with a value in white, up in the right corner of the NPC profile, directly above the NPC's Strength value. This number is the NPC's Threat Level .

When the combined Threat Levels of all the enemies in a Combat Encounter matches the Threat Threshold you found in the table on p.284, you should have a Combat Encounter that is reasonably well-matched against the PCs.

Do note that the system isn't perfect. You should use it as a very, very rough sort of rule of thumb, at most.

Thanks for that

I just got a bit confused, that you could have a rank 12 encounter.

Some of the npc's are even at 20+ o.0

I just got a bit confused, that you could have a rank 12 encounter.

The Encounter Ranks aren't balanced to provide a "boss fight" type combat encounter if they match the Rank of the characters. Or to put it differently: they're balanced to provide fights your PCs can survive at least a few of, without needing downtime & intensive medicae treatment.

If you're trying to create a combat encounter that is an even match for the PCs, the Encounter Rank should be 3-4 levels above the highest ranking PC.

Some of the npc's are even at 20+ o.0

That's because you add up the Threat Levels of the enemies until you get a value equal to the Threat Threshold of the Encounter Rank you've decided on.

Let's say you've decided on an Encounter Rank of 4 and you have 4 PCs in the group. Checking the table on p.284, that's a Threat Threshold of (10*number of PCs) 40. So you need around 40 Threat Levels worth of enemies in total for the Combat Encounter, for example:

Crime Lord (Threat Level 17), a Heavy (Threat Level 7), and 4 Thugs (each Threat Level 4). Altogether the Threat Levels of this merry band of criminals add up to a Threat Threshold of 17+7+4+4+4+4= 40. Exactly what you wanted for your Encounter Rank 4 Combat Encounter.

Thanks for the help. That made it far more simple.