Question on opponents

[The Warlord]

Hey all,
Been outta Role-playing for a few years (thanks GW...).
Anyway, I plan on running Conan soon, but am not too familiar with the d20 monster/npc stats. I see the corebook has the numbers for only a few humans, but what if I need others? Also, how can I know looking at the numberline if an enocunter will be too easy/too hard/just right for the party.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

(also, is mongoos gonna publish a 'monster manual'?)

 

[Mijoro]

If you go to Mongoose's Conan page, under "downloads" you'll see "NPC sheets". If the NPCs you need aren't there you'll have to make 'em yourself.

As for CRs in the Conan game - there aren't any. Encounters in Conan are not ultra-balanced like in 3.5. Running away is a time-honored tradition in Hyboria - one that your characters should be aware of. As DM you should eyeball each encounter to insure it's not going to TPK your game after the first combat round, but you shouldn;t be afraid to throw a few knuckleballs at your players.

 

[sbarrie]

But if you do overestimate the players' opposition, the party can always be Left For Dead instead of killed.

 

[Morpheus]

Your players are going to have to adjust to the fact that they are not always going to be the "top dog". Sometimes, they are going to have to turn tail and run. If not, woe be unto them... :shock:

 

[Prof.Dogg]

But likewise, with smarts & good luck, they can overcome any tougher opponent as well. I already mentioned how my 2 1st level players overcame my Rakshasha (modified from the SRD) - an EXTREMELY tough opponent. They won by not coming to blows but out-thinking him.

 

[Qjedi]

Yeah, BullBear, I have to agree. It takes a lil getting used to, but my rule of thumb is that any PC based on 1d10+8 points per stat can take out any character up to 3 levels higher with some decent gear, and 5 levels if they have a high strength and a greatsword.
Any single wound over 20 points of damage forces a "Save or Die" Fort save vs DC10+(1/2 of the total damage)
For instance a 26 point hit (not unreasonable with crits) vs an unarmored opponent requires a 23 Fort save or they die.
I have seen a 3rd lvl Barbarian (18 Str, Hyrkanian bow +4 Mighty, and Zhaibar knife, chain shirt and steel cap) go through multiple Nomads of 6th level and a tenth level Nomad in one extended encounter.

Don't be afraid to hit a group with anything under 10 HD, because it is going to have to make massive damage saves unless it has REALLY heavy DR (8+) or wears armor.

I have found Chakan to be an ideal opponent for low levels, if you want to wake them up, otherwise stick with twice their number of NPC's of the same level and remember to use the multiple attackers bonuses (+1 to hit for each additional attacker, cumulative, in a round. 1st attacker +0, 2nd attacker +1, 5th attacker is at +4, etc.)

Damn I love the Conan rules...

Later, hope it helps!

 

[Anonymous]

hmm.. I am sorta thinking it might be an idea to have some sort of skill based or even wisdom based check to grasp how powerful a creature is compared to you.. possibly after you have seen the creature and not just heard tales of it. To allow for overtly powerful monsters that just might cause a TPK.

 

[Qjedi]

It really does take all of the fun out of discovering things, but if you insist, then just use Kno: Arcana and Kno: Nature skill checks. That seems to be the most reasonable to me. Scholar = Gooooood

Later!

 

[Murte]

hmm.. I am sorta thinking it might be an idea to have some sort of skill based or even wisdom based check to grasp how powerful a creature is compared to you.. possibly after you have seen the creature and not just heard tales of it. To allow for overtly powerful monsters that just might cause a TPK.

You of course mean TPFPU, that would be Total Party Fate Point Usage. :wink:

 

[DrSkull]

Sometimes equipment on enemies matters a whole lot more than class and levels.

Last game 2 of my 5th level players in heavy armor with bardiches and greatswords attacked 10 3rd level borderers with crossbows, battleaxes and shortswords. The borders were absolutely slaughtered in about 2 rounds. The crossbows did nothing. The battle axes did nothing. When they tried to grapple, the PC with Combat Reflexes killed 4 of them in 1 round.

A little later, all 4 players attacked some Gundermen Pikemen in heavy armor, also 3rd level with similar ability scores to the borderers. The pikemen inflicted a righteous ass-beating on the players, forcing them to flee for their lives. Pikes with Power Attack gave enough punch to get through the heavy armor and actually do some damage, and the overlapping opportunity attacks by the pikemen really caused some grief.

The point being, equipment is often key. Big armor on the PC's requires that NPC's be able to do righteously large amounts of damage.

 

[Morpheus]

Sometimes equipment on enemies matters a whole lot more than class and levels.

Last game 2 of my 5th level players in heavy armor with bardiches and greatswords attacked 10 3rd level borderers with crossbows, battleaxes and shortswords. The borders were absolutely slaughtered in about 2 rounds. The crossbows did nothing. The battle axes did nothing. When they tried to grapple, the PC with Combat Reflexes killed 4 of them in 1 round.

A little later, all 4 players attacked some Gundermen Pikemen in heavy armor, also 3rd level with similar ability scores to the borderers. The pikemen inflicted a righteous ass-beating on the players, forcing them to flee for their lives. Pikes with Power Attack gave enough punch to get through the heavy armor and actually do some damage, and the overlapping opportunity attacks by the pikemen really caused some grief.

The point being, equipment is often key. Big armor on the PC's requires that NPC's be able to do righteously large amounts of damage.

You got that right. Equipment is paramount. The Picts are a good low-level challenge, but for higher-levels, you need to use some serious weaponry: Pikes, bardiches, greatswords etc.

 

[Qjedi]

Or Bowmen atop a low cliff in a nasty little valley lined with several ambushes like ROCKFALLS along the top.
Yeh, just don't ever, ever, EVER let the PC's get up there unless you want to see lots of dead mooks in the valley...

Just keep in mind that Strength is the god-stat in Conan, and every bow is a mighty Strength bow and that even hunting bows are made for Strength, and even in Kush they use hunting bows, as do Picts, who also use traps. A pict in foreign territory is a low level encounter, a dozen Picts in their forest is death on roller skates for your group. Even 25 point picts have a shaman who summons snakes and demons and the pictish wilderness has no safe places in it, if it isn't poisonous, it's probably a mammoth or stole your rations. :twisted:

Enjoy!

 

[The Warlord]

Thanks for all the advice, all!

Hate to ask, but what is SRD...?

 

[Prof.Dogg]

The Standard Reference Document which all d20 games may take their rules from freely.

 

[Qjedi]

You can find the SRD here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/20040121a

I love it, personally, it saves me from needing more books than I can afford.

Hope it does you some good.
Later!