Enemies
Enemies are represented by a single number that determines how challenging it is to defeat. Some enemies have other abilities, too, such as a dragon’s breath weapon that affects numerous targets. Elite enemies have one wound per point of difficulty, meaning that a normal goblin only requires one wound to defeat, but an elite goblin king requires three.
Challenge Rating
It's important to keep challenge rating in mind when designing or generating encounters. A starting player (with starting class skills and equipment) will find a single difficulty 3 enemy minion easy to defeat. That means they only have to roll a 3 or higher on one attack to defeat it. However, against several enemies of that difficulty, they might suffer a wound or two. Here are some general guidelines:
- Simple: fewer enemies than heroes, with a difficulty below their average maximum skill
- Easy: equal enemies to heroes, with a difficulty equal their average maximum skill, or a single enemy of a higher difficulty
- Moderate: more enemies than heroes, with a difficulty equal to their average maximum skill, plus one of a higher difficulty
- Hard: more enemies than heroes, with a difficulty higher than their average maximum skill, plus one of a much higher difficulty
- Challenging: many more enemies than heroes, with a difficulty above average maximum skill, plus a few of a much higher difficulty
Animals
Dog: 3, 2 against empathy and intimidation, 5 against stealth
Wolf: 4, gains advantage when attacking wounded characters, 5 against stealth
Tiger: 5, can move and attack in one action, 6 against awareness
Bear: 6, 5 against deception, 7 against all other social skills
Dinosaur: 7, causes two wounds, can move and attack in one action
Brutes
Goblin: 3, 2 against all social skills, 4 against awareness
Orc: 4, fights on for one round after knocked out
Troll: 5, heals one wound per round and gets back up unless burned
Minotaur: 6, 7 against magic, causes two wounds with normal attacks
Giant: 7, causes two wounds, can attack any target nearby
Constructs
Clockworker: 3, not affected by social skills, can repair other clockworkers
Gargoyle: 4, 6 against awareness, not affected by social skills
Golem: 5, not affected by social skills, immune to normal weapons
Juggernaut: 6, not affected by social skills, can move and attack in one action
Colossus: 7, not affected by social skills, can attack any target nearby
Monsters
Gremlin: 3, 5 against magic
Basilisk: 4, wounds also stun targets (willpower to resist)
Werewolf: 5, immune to normal weapons
Manticore: 6, poison causes wounds to wound again next round
Kraken: 7, attacks two targets each round, can attack any target nearby
People
Thug: 3, 4 during first round
Raider: 4, 5 against persuasion or deception
Barbarian: 5, 6 and immune to social skills while wounded
Assassin: 6, 7 against awareness, poison causes wounds to wound against next round
Necromancer: 7, can summon skeletons, fights on for three rounds after defeated
Undead
Skeleton: 3, not affected by social skills or ranged weapons
Zombie: 4, never gains advantage, not affected by social skills
Wraith: 5, not affected by normal weapons or social skills
Vampire: 6, 7 against awareness, heals one wound on causing damage
Lich: 7, can cast spells, only affected by divine spells and artifacts, heals one wound after causing a wound with normal attack
Dragons
These vicious creatures are special enemies that don't fit into any category. They are always elite monsters with 8 wounds.
Dragon: 8, breath weapon hits all nearby targets, can move and attack in one action, immune to normal weapons, causes two wounds with normal attacks
Traps
Traps are handled just like enemies, though only certain skills are effective at detecting, disarming, or bypassing them. For example, awareness might allow a character to spot a pit trap, dexterity could be used to disarm its trigger, and strength could be used to leap over and avoid it altogether.
Snare: 3, immobilized until freed
Punji: 4, causes one wound and immobilizes for one round
Gas: 5, causes one wound to all nearby, fortitude to resist (no benefit from armor)
Dart: 6, fortitude each round for three rounds, causing a wound for each failure
Shock: 7, causes one wound to all nearby and stuns for one round