Encounter Balancing

Combat

Combat Encounters

Dfficulty	Encounters
Trivial	Total enemy ML = 1/2 total party level - 3 or more
Easy	Total enemy ML = 1/2 total party level - 1 or 2
Normal	Total enemy ML = 1⁄2 total party level
Difficult	Total enemy ML = 1/2 total party level + 1 or 2
Deadly	Total enemy ML = 1⁄2 total party level +3 or 4
Very Deadly	Total enemy ML = 1⁄2 total party level +5 or more

For example, if an adventuring party consists of four level 3 heroes, their total party level is 12. A normal combat encounter would pit them against enemies whose total ML equals 6. A deadly combat encounter might pit them against enemies whose total ML is 9 or 10. The deadly encounter would grant the party a total of 60 XP, or 15 each.

Social

Social encounters can be a great place to utilize skill challenges. Social encounters lend themselves especially well to tiered success outcomes, given that any significant social interaction with a potential friend or enemy can have a variety of favorable or punishing outcomes.

When preparing for a social encounter, it is helpful to consider the end goals of each party involved. What do the adventurers want? What do the relevant NPCs or factions want? Even if they are not present in the scene, what do the villains want? Can the villains’ influence be felt in some subtle way in the interaction, even without them being present? (Note that depending on your villains, this is not frequently needed, but can be a helpful question to ask yourself anyway while brainstorming.)

Using any variation of the rules for skill challenges, you can collaboratively narrate the social encounter with your players. Depending on how convincing they are, they may achieve the best possible outcome in the encounter. They may fumble the interaction and leave humiliated and without any help from the NPCs, or they may achieve some form of compromise between total success and humiliation.

Social Encounters

Difficulty	Balance
Trivial	If the party fails, there are no negative consequences.
Easy	If the party fails, there are no lasting negative consequences.
Normal	If the party fails, they might lose 1 Goodwill or be seen unfavorably by someone with as many Professional Ranks as them.
Difficult	If the party fails, they might lose 1-2 Goodwill or be seen unfavorably by someone with more Professional Ranks than them.
Deadly	If the party fails, they might lose 1-3 Goodwill or be seen unfavorably by someone with more Professional Ranks than them. They might be thrown in jail or run out of town.
Very Deadly	If the party fails, they might lose 4-6 Goodwill or be seen unfavorably by someone with as much influence as a king or high priest. They might be run out of town or imprisoned and sentenced to execution.

For example, an easy social encounter might entail haggling with a merchant that sells valuable wares. A deadly one might involve the heroes trying to discredit a powerful member of society.

Exploration

Exploration Encounters

Difficulty	Balance
Trivial	Skill checks are generally DC 8 or lower and failure has minimal consequences.
Easy	Skill checks are generally DC 8-12. Failure might make a hero suffer minor cuts and bruises.
Normal	Skill checks typically range from DC 8-23 depending on what they entail. Failure might make a hero suffer Fatigue or similar detrimental conditions.
Difficult	Skill checks generally range from DC 12-23. Failure might result in detrimental conditions and noteworthy damage.
Deadly	Skill checks range on average from DC 17-30. Failure usually results in significant loss of HP and equipment as well as detrimental conditions such as Fatigue.
Very Deadly	Skill checks typically range from DC 23-47. Failure might result in a hero’s death or in losing virtually all of a hero’s equipment.

Note that exploration encounters will be much easier for high-level characters. If your adventuring party is level 11-20, then decrease each difficulty level by 1 when calculating XP. If they are level 21-30, decrease each difficulty level by 2. This means that a Very Deadly exploration encounter for a level 8 party would only be Deadly for a level 16 party, and only Difficult for a level 24 party.