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

You know what would really help against those enemies? Magic!