Help balancing combat!

[TheMonarchGamer]

Hello all!
This is my first post on the C7 message boards, so please bear with me if I'm not clear enough.

After buying the One Ring RPG (the new hard-back book, not the slipcase edition), I was so enamored with the mechanics and artwork that I finally convinced my gaming group to let me run a campaign of TOR. However, much to my chagrin, I realized (as I was putting my adventure together) that I have no idea on how to balance combats so that the players are evenly matched against the enemies.

If there is a section of the rulebook that I missed or an article you can point me to, I'd greatly appreciate it. If not, any advice would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

Also, has anyone made NPC stats for Gondorian characters? While I think I have some pretty workable villains based on both the NPC creation table and the bestiary in the back of the book, I'd be curious to see if anyone had beaten me to it.

Cordially,
The Monarch Gamer

[Hermes Serpent]

Where does it say that combats have to be balanced?

The Run Away option is there for a reason.

[Angelalex242]

Well, running away often counts as a misdeed, hence, Shadow points as directed.

[Deadmanwalking]

Well, running away often counts as a misdeed, hence, Shadow points as directed.

Not if you do it collectively.

[TheMonarchGamer]

Ok, thanks all. I suppose I was just wondering roughly how many orcs or things player characters could take on fairly easily - but I suppose that's something we'll figure out together!

[Deadmanwalking]

Ok, thanks all. I suppose I was just wondering roughly how many orcs or things player characters could take on fairly easily - but I suppose that's something we'll figure out together!

It varies a lot depending on the type of orc and how combat focused and effective your PCs are.

A group where nobody has Parry higher than 3, you have no archers, all your characters went Wisdom and non-combat Virtues, and nobody bought their Weapon skills above 2 is in a very different situation where everyone has Parry 7 or higher, Weapon Skill 3, they've got an archer, and they've focused most of their Virtues and Rewards on combat prowess. And both those scenarios are possible in a starting group.

If you really want details, you could give a rough outline of your group and people (including me) could probably provide some insight, but there's no real generic formula that will fit all groups.

[Glorelendil]

Remember that if you make the fight too hard your players can spend lots of Hope. That's not sustainable but can help keep one misjudged fight from being a disaster.

[zedturtle]

Yeah, I've tried several times to make some sort of rating system to assign values to opponents and then compare them to heroes. It just doesn't work too well, there's a lot of variables.

Generally speaking, you can use Attribute Level as a very general indicator... If an adversary's AL is equal to or lower than the highest Wisdom/Valour of the group, then the combat will probably be won by the heroes (assuming there's not a hugely overwhelming number of enemies and that they behave in a realistic way.... i.e. not fighting to the last man, etc.).

Once you've run a few combats, you'll know your players and be able to judge things better. Just beware of Snow-trolls. They are brutal and an almost guaranteed TPK.

[TheMonarchGamer]

Snow trolls it is then XD

Alright, thanks all. Also, thanks for the reminder about the hope points. I'll try to work it out myself from playing, but if I still can't seem to get the hang of it over the next session or two, I'll definately give a little more detail.

On a side note, I'll probably be posting my mounted combat homebrew rules sometime soon under the homebrew section. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[poosticks7]

This is residue thinking from playing games such as DnD and the like. A fair few of us have had to overcome that way of thinking (well I did any way )

My advice is that all combats in TOR are dangerous, PCs should not go looking for it, should pick their fights when they can and treat all enemies with respect.