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Encounter Balancing: Difference between revisions
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== Social == | == 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. | 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.) | 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 | 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 the two. | ||
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|+Social Encounters | |+Social Encounters | ||
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|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. | |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. | ||
|} | |} | ||
<blockquote>'''If using XP leveling,''' 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.</blockquote> | <blockquote>'''If using XP leveling,''' 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.</blockquote>''*Updated to Print 2'' | ||