So I'm pretty new to GMing and FotN in general, and I'm struggling with balancing combat. I have 2 new tabletop players that I don't want to scare away, and 3 veterans that want to break the game. It seems I either make the combat laughably easy or "Welcome to Dark Souls." what are your recommendations for balancing combat?
So far I tried 3 level 4s against my group of 4 levels 5s (one was not present, combat was stupid easy), 2 level 5 rager ulfhedin against 2 level 5s (extra training for 2 members, they got annihilated), and 2 level 5s against 4 level 5s (would've been 3 but one had a damn warhorse, and they walked through that combat like it was nothing.
Balancing Combat
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Vitotaylor36
- Posts: 41
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Balancing Combat
Wise in measure let each man be,
but let him not wax too wise;
for never the happiest of men is he
who knows much of many things.
The Hávamál, verse 54
but let him not wax too wise;
for never the happiest of men is he
who knows much of many things.
The Hávamál, verse 54
Re: Balancing Combat
so a few things -
FOTN:R rewards system mastery pretty highly. the Meta economy, if you get it, will allow you to exceed expectations rather regularly. If you DON'T get it, it will be much harder. I think you probably saw that with your new players.
FOTN:R is also fairly cinematic. You can expect them to be able to take out large chunks of opposition, particularly if they are focusing runes towards putting people down. I like to use some bulk on the field, because killing 10 guys is a lot more cinematic than killing 1 guy who is 10x as tough.
I generally shoot for a TOTAL level of the opposition equaling the TOTAL level of the party, and I try not to perform any more than half the runes I have against any player in one action. I will pick on weaknesses for senior players. I will try to use things in unconventional ways (you know you can split up multiple effects in active powers, right? so you can cure conditions on one guy and heal another guy).
FOTN:R rewards system mastery pretty highly. the Meta economy, if you get it, will allow you to exceed expectations rather regularly. If you DON'T get it, it will be much harder. I think you probably saw that with your new players.
FOTN:R is also fairly cinematic. You can expect them to be able to take out large chunks of opposition, particularly if they are focusing runes towards putting people down. I like to use some bulk on the field, because killing 10 guys is a lot more cinematic than killing 1 guy who is 10x as tough.
I generally shoot for a TOTAL level of the opposition equaling the TOTAL level of the party, and I try not to perform any more than half the runes I have against any player in one action. I will pick on weaknesses for senior players. I will try to use things in unconventional ways (you know you can split up multiple effects in active powers, right? so you can cure conditions on one guy and heal another guy).
Re: Balancing Combat
As I have said in another thread, I used to go by level but that didn't work for me. Most of the time, I prefer to make a challenge by the amount of damage / condition that players can make and take and then try to match it on the monster side. This is still a lot of uncharted territory but I got some feedback from my player that I'm on the right track.
I also do like Raleel and try to make it more challenging to senior / experience players and do unconventional action and sometime just hit them with generic action to keep them on their toes.
I also do like Raleel and try to make it more challenging to senior / experience players and do unconventional action and sometime just hit them with generic action to keep them on their toes.
Re: Balancing Combat
The other thing is, if you were playing a system like 5e, you probably wouldn’t mind fudging dice rolls, so if you’re playing behind a screen or using the app for the denizen play mats, there’s no reason why you can’t add or subtract health if the encounter seems too easy or too hard.
Hell, sometimes for large numbers of enemies (e.g. 6 skeletons, 4 Haugbui against one player and his Nanus Drake) once I know essence and destiny, I’ll generalize their health (e.g. 3 essence enemy is appr. 15 HP) and just keep them going until they’ve taken roughly that much, with a little wiggle room if they’ve got healing powers.
Hell, sometimes for large numbers of enemies (e.g. 6 skeletons, 4 Haugbui against one player and his Nanus Drake) once I know essence and destiny, I’ll generalize their health (e.g. 3 essence enemy is appr. 15 HP) and just keep them going until they’ve taken roughly that much, with a little wiggle room if they’ve got healing powers.
Re: Balancing Combat
So does that mean if I have 5 level 11 characters and I want to put them up against a wraith, I should make it level 55? That seems...excessive
Re: Balancing Combat
You’d be surprised how quickly the party’s abilities escalate. I’ve got one player who recently boosted his parry to 24 with some clever multiclassing, a couple metas, and a little help from the party blacksmith.