What attribute level would a Balrog be?

[Stormcrow]

Not bad!

[Glorelendil]

Well, I had to do it. Here are some quick stats for the Balrog I cooked up.

The Balrog of Moria
Durin’s Bane

Attribute Level: 10
Endurance: 150
Hate: 20
Parry: 12
Armour: 8d

Skills:
Personality 6, Survival 4, Movement 4, Custom 2, Perception 5, Vocation 5

Weapon Skills:
Fiery Blade 6, Whip of Flame 5

Special Abilities:
Denizen of the Dark, Dreadful Spells (Fiery Aura)*, Great Leap, Great Size, Hideous Toughness, Horrible Strength, Savage Assault, Strike Fear (TN20), Thick Hide, Thing of Terror (TN20)

*Fiery Aura: Reduce the Balrog’s Hate by one to inflict 10 points of Endurance damage to every Companion currently engaged in close combat with it.

-Eirik

I'll add this to my simulation. What stats are you imagining for Fiery Blade and Whip of Flame?

[Stormcrow]

I'm not sure I'd set the weapon skills quite so high. Do we have any indication the balrog was a master of weaponry?

[Glorelendil]

I'm not sure I'd set the weapon skills quite so high. Do we have any indication the balrog was a master of weaponry?

He had some pretty fancy whip maneuvers...while in free fall...if I remember my lore correctly.

As for the sword, he's had a long time to hone his skills, but they may have gotten a bit rusty over the millennia. Also, he probably rarely has to actually fight anything to get his way.

And how do we know "he" isn't a "she"? Hmm?

[Ferretz]

Ouch, I forgot about the stats for the weapons. As for the skill being so high, I'd say yes, since he's extremely old, having killed and maimed for thousands of years. One change could be to remove Favoured on the blade, though. He is a bit more of a brute force kind of guy, and his Attribute Level, along with the Special Abilities, handles this.

As for the weapons, and without having the book with me, I'd say that the sword is Damage 12, Edge 8 and Injury 20. Called Shot is being lit on fire for 10 Endurance damage each round until a point of hope is used to put it out. The whip is Damage 8, Edge 10, Injury 12. Called shot is being entangeled, as in the Ensnared Special Ability.

This is just of the top of my head. Any thoughts? Keep in mind, this is just an experiment. I'm not suggesting that anyone should put the Balrog against his players.

-Eirik

[Angelalex242]

No Quarter should be added. Otherwise it's fine. (Balrogs do not suffer PCs to live.)

And I still say Attribute should be 12, not 10. It's a Maia. I'd jack the Hate up to 50, just so it can abuse all of its powers every round if it sees fit.

Re:Tom Bombadil

He's not a Maia. He's...something else. He completely ignores the power of the One Ring like it's a child's toy.

[Sprigg]

I'd be terrified even to send a 6/6/6 party of five against that.

[Tolwen]

I'd be terrified even to send a 6/6/6 party of five against that.

That's the point. Normal characters (even of max. ability) can only survive when they run early on and fast enough.

Cheers
Tolwen

[Sprigg]

Oh yeah, I understand that. I just imagined that encounter, and how quickly it would go south for the players. Absolutely brilliant.

[Elmoth]

I find him to be rather weak right now. It is a Balrog what we are talking about. Having to swing his sword twice (or trice!) at a simple human being to bring him down is at least debatable. A normal human should simply die when hit by a balrog.

But then, I do not see the need to stat up something that is basically out of the character's league. Different approaches to the game, I guess