About enemies in my campaign

[DharienCthaeh]

Hi, I want to run a campaign of Skilled Characters, not super humans. And I have no idea of how to balance my party and create enemies, like minions, servants, villains and bosses. 

 

For example I have a really good concept for an antagonist, but is one character, so how do I make him a villain that can fight 4 other characters but not so overpowered that he can kill my players so easily?

 

 

Sorry for my bad english, I am stilll learning!

[Lucius]

 

Increase his SPD. Give him Defense Maneuver.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Give me a palindromedary

[akrippler]

In a similar vein, in my game its odd dealing with wildly different characters.  The main problem I can see being the wide range of CV's.  Average seems to be 8'ish but the fighter excels and sits at 12/12.  How do balance a challenge between them?

[Steve]

The boss character could be higher OCV/DCV but not do very much damage.

[Nolgroth]

Sometimes raw stats are not the answer. If this is a Skilled Hero campaign, then you would have to really break immersion to make the boss tough enough to go against four nearly as skilled characters. So have him "cheat" by using traps and attacks designed to neutralize the player characters without necessarily killing them. Pepper Spray (Sight Flash), Smoke Screen (Darkness), Nets (Entangle). are all good ways to temporarily disable a character so that the boss can focus on the others. It may even be appropriate to have more lethal methods such as Anti-Personnel Mines (Killing Attack, Ranged, AoE: Cone, Trigger).

 

Attacking from ambush and using Cover are excellent ways to keep your boss alive long enough to make the fight memorable. Have him wear body armor.

 

Minions are another good tool. They may not be on par with the characters, but a hit squad of 3-4 low Body but relatively skilled Mooks can make a boss fight all the more challenging. Have the Mooks use tactics as well. It will delay their inevitable demise and make the fight something to remember.

 

If it must be a stand-up, in the open fight, give the boss lots of combat skill levels; about 2-3 higher than the highest character. At low point levels, 2-3 DCV can make all the difference between hitting and not hitting. Cheat a little there and give him a small Damage Reduction (25%). It will still let the players feel like they are getting somewhere while giving him some additional time to counter-attack. Make liberal use of Martial Arts and standard Combat Maneuvers as well. 

[zslane]

For example I have a really good concept for an antagonist, but is one character, so how do I make him a villain that can fight 4 other characters but not so overpowered that he can kill my players so easily?

First, don't give your villain any Killing Attacks.

 

Next, give your villain slightly better defenses (PD/ED) than the player characters, but only slightly. Give the villain a lot of STUN and BODY, and keep the REC at a relatively normal level (around 10-15). Finally, give the villain a SPD that is 2-3 higher than the average for the player characters, which would probably put it around 6 or 7. All of this allows the villain to take on a small group without getting taken out too quickly, but also without being able to shrug off damage or regenerate it so easily that the heroes never feel like they are making any progress.

[Christopher]

The big issue with "bosses" is twofold in Hero:

1. They should not be too easy to stun (as that makes him loose actions) or otherwise disable

2. Their defenses should not be so high that only a few chracters can deal damage.

 

In superheroics my usual answer is: Lower defenses but give him Damage Reduction. That combination makes him harder to stun, while allowing everyone to affect him. However

Increase his SPD. Given him defenses against grabs.

 

Make him more then one Actor. 6E1 has a duplication build to simulate "Hydra with a lot of heads". In effect that sheet acts like 2, 3, 5 or more characers.

[bigdamnhero]

In superheroics my usual answer is: Lower defenses but give him Damage Reduction.

Damage Reduction works very well for Boss villains - that way they take a little damage each time, but it takes awhile to pile up.

 

Offensively, Area Effect attacks are great. High SPD is good too, or sometimes I'll have my villains use Multiple Attacks a lot.