Power levels of PCs and NPCs

[Icel]

Next week I'm going to start running an adventure to my group. Up until now I wasn't the GM and we played D&D, but I convinced them to let me run an adventure in HERO.
There are 3 players, each with 150-point character.
My question is, what point-base I need for building a foe that will be a decent fight for them (considering that there is one foe for 3 characters)?
And what point-base I need for building a foe that will be slightly weaker? stronger?

[Black Lotus]

Mmmm, I'd say 300 - 350 points to give them a good challenge. It really depends on what you assign the points to, though, and how combat-oriented each of the player characters is.

Deciding things like this is one of the hardest parts of HERO, because characters can have such a wide and different range of skills....

[Flames]

I'm curious to know what genre you're running, and what kind of villain this is that your heroes are up against. Villains often have henchmen who make convenient fodder for the heroes to beat up on while he makes his escape. Against three 150-point heroes a 250-point villain might make a good stand, depending how well his defenses match up to their attacks. Figure out the average damage a player will do and give the villain defenses to almost match it, perhaps throwing in an in-obvious vulnerability that the heroes could make use of when all seems lost. I've found that when heroes defeat a villain by using their wits instead of brawn they've got something interesting to talk about.

[Icel]

The genre is fantasy.
There will be 3 secondary villains, one is a priest that will be backed by 4 cultist, one is a lich that will fight on his own and the last is a golem-like foe that will have skeletons as backup.
In the end there will be a master villain, an Arcanist, which will bring back from the dead the priest and lich, but in weakened form.

[Flames]

I'd say build him on as many points as need be to make him a real challenge for the players, and then stack a few disads and power limitations on him just to make more fair. I'd try to keep him at around 300 points. If the players complain, just say, "Eh, he's got a lot of experience points."

[Icel]

They won't complain, they don't now the systems. It's a kind of introduction adventure.

[pinecone]

One easy way to figure how tough the heros are is set up the first fight vs "mooks"...you know basic no special thugs...then add in a thug leader or so...after you see them in combat you've gat a much better idea of how tough the "Boss" needs to be....

[Icel]

One easy way to figure how tough the heros are is set up the first fight vs "mooks"...you know basic no special thugs...then add in a thug leader or so...after you see them in combat you've gat a much better idea of how tough the "Boss" needs to be....

Yea, I figured that out. I also need to do this for teaching my players the combat system.

[Protec]

As the GM points aren't really your concern except as they apply to your PC's character creation. For balance's sake, definately pay more attention to DC's vs. Defences, especially since you are just introducing the system.

Unless you have built the characters for your players, it's unlikely that their 150 pt characters will stand up to the same sort of punishment as the builds of more seasoned players. In the end, I say figure the total points if you want to show the players a write-up, and dont bother if you arent concerned with them seeing it.