Intelligence and Danger Threshold

The world is full of dangerous creatures, and while many of them might end up as your opponents, it should be noted that not all creatures think and act same. They each possess varying degrees of intelligence.

Their intelligence indicates general ability adapt to change, such as how they go about plans, when they'll retreat, and who they'll attack first.

All enemies have a Danger threshold that, when reached once their Health drops low enough, makes them realize who the real threat is and attack them instead. The threshold is a percentage of their maximum Health.

Degrees of Intelligence and Danger thresholds.

• Drone - Stupid and incapable of reason or tactics beyond just attacking.
  Danger threshold: 10%
  King Ants, Marionettes, Mandolas, Pumpkins.
• Instinctive - Has a sense of self-preservation and can recognize the threat of a foe by their shape, size, and movements.
  Danger threshold: 25%
  Pollywogs, Ootangs, Wabbits.
• Sapient - Possesses emotional and psychological intelligence to make risk/reward value judgements; can rationalize if what they're fighting for is worth protecting. Danger threshold: 50%
  Bubbas, Witches, Specters, Gamulians, humans.
• Wise - Can devise strategies to make the fight as easy for them as possible, weighing expended effort versus accomplished work.
  Danger threshold: 75%
  Witches, Humans in general, Bell, Duke, Psycho Master.
• Brilliant - Can actively invent new strategies, tactics, and plans, as if viewing the battle from a top-down view, intuitively reading opponents and accurately guessing their every move.
  Danger threshold: 100%
  Atenacous, Wylaf, Phantom Valen, Doll Master.

As a reminder: a creature's intelligence describes its ability to consistently and properly deviate from its own role in order to best serve the goal of its team rather than just itself. More intelligent creatures will behave more flexibly, while less intelligent creatures behave more predictably.

As the stakes rise, you'll fight many creatures - monsters and people - who are more than willing to sacrifice their lives if it means just a chance of stopping you taking what is most precious to them or others.

Monster Types

Over the years, treasure hunters have come across monsters of all shapes and sizes, some larger than others. To help categorize these differences, they coined a set of terms that just seemed to stick. The bigger they are, the stronger they'll be. But keep in mind, the bigger a monster becomes, the more likely they'll become the alpha of their group.

By default, all monsters are typed as mobs. To change its type, take the template below and apply Factor and Replace (FaR) as necessary.

• Normal
  • Vitals: Do Not Adjust.
  • Power Scores: Do Not Adjust.
  • Loot and Experience: x1.5
• Miniboss
  
  • Vitals: FaR 9
  • Power Scores: Increase by 1.
  • Loot and Experience: x2
  • Activates their Teamwork abilities as if they were two combatants.
    Activates their Solowork ability as if they were alone at all times.
  • They roll twice for initiative and get two turns.
• Boss
  
  • Vitals: FaR 11.
  • Power Scores: Increase by 2.
  • Loot and Experience: x4
  • Activates their Teamwork abilities as if they were three combatants.
    Activates their Solowork ability as if they were alone at all times.
  • They roll twice for initiative and automatically roll nat 20 and nat 10 plus the init bonuses for the results; they get two turns.
• Final Boss
  
  • Vitals: FaR 13.
  • Power Scores: Increase by 2.
  • Loot and Experience: x8
  • Activates their Teamwork abilities as if they were five combatants.
    Activates their Solowork ability as if they were alone at all times.
  • They roll twice for initiative and automatically roll nat 20 and nat 10 plus the init bonuses for the results; they get two turns.

Quirks

No two monsters are typically ever the same. In fact, most monsters possess deviations called Quirks that serve to modify their stats in one way or another.

Quirks can help define a monster's weakness or their role in a pack. Moreover, they serve to make scenarios more complicated for the players.

It's normal for every monster in a fight to have a quirk, but it's also okay if you want to make it fewer, to make it more special.

To give a monster a Quirk, roll 1d20 from below table.

1. Springloaded
   Gains +10 to Initiative.
2. Brutal
   Increase MlePwr by one level.
3. Priestly
   Increase MgcPwr by one level.
4. Clever
   Increase SklPwr by one level.
5. Oversized
   Increase Health by one level.
6. Docile
   Befriend checks gain +5.
7. Bloodthirsty
   Does not make Intelligence checks.
8. Hyper
   Increase Stamina by 10.
9. Vigilant
   Increase Focus by 10.
10. Arcane
    Increase Mana by 10.
11. Royal
    Element is Noble.
12. Protected
    Gains +5 to Evade checks.
13. Eagle Eyes
    Actions gain +1 to Range.
14. Rabid
    All attacks inflict Poison {TL}.
15. Blessed
    First {TL} checks have Advantage.
16. High Vitality
    Regains 10% max health at the beginning of each turn.
17. Wealthy
    Drops 2x loot.
18. Exertion
    +5AP for all actions. Reduce start Stamina, Mana, and Focus by 50%.
19. Higher Intelligence
    Mind self-checks checks gain +5.
20. Lucky
    +5 to all Luck checks.

Loot and Experience

By the time combat ends and you stand victorious, every enemy that initially challenged you is considered defeated and you are rewarded an amount of experience points.

The same applies for loot. Any materials, equipment, gil, and other goodies dropped either upon defeat - either when they die, are knocked out, or while they run away.

Loot doesn't technically exist to be collected until after the battle has ended. At that point, loot (and experience, somehow) is gathered into a pile. By default, experience is instantly divided equally (as possible) among the players of the party. From there, players can divide the loot among themselves as they see fit - hopefully in a peaceful, rational manner.

Leveling-up Monsters

If you want to fight stronger monsters, you can level them up. This works in a manner similar to how your characters level up.

To do this, you only need a bit of multiplication. First find the base class of the monster and multiply its affected scores (vitals, power, dropped experience) by the level you want it to become. Make sure when multiplying vitals, that you finally divide its stamina, mana, and focus by 5.

For leveling-down a monster, you can use the same process described above, but stopping at a lower level than the one listed in the Monster Guide.

Upscaling for Parties

Though monsters grow stronger from their type and level, they do not normally grow stronger in the face of more opponents. This is why it is good to upscale your monsters according to the size of your party. This keeps encounters interesting, being not too easy nor too hard, while making sure players receive the proper rewards.

To upscale your monsters, take their final Health after accounting for level and type and increase it by 50% for every additional party member.

Consider the following example...

Likewise, you can also increase the amount of acquired gil from the end of each battle, so that players don't have to split it too thinly between each other.

Consider the following example...

Custom Monsters

If you want to create your own monsters, you can follow a simple process. However, it should be warned that this is a tricky process, where if you're not careful, you might create a beast that's either too powerful or too weak, or just generally unfun. In consideration, all monsters have classes that players are also able to take, mix-and-match with - so don't give your custom monster something that you wouldn't potentially want the rest of your party having.

To begin, at this point, you as the GM will be familiar with monsters enough that you understand the core principles of their design, such as balance, focus, and strengths and weaknesses.

1. Conceptualize
   Conceive an idea for the monster you wish to create. Consider their theme, how they complement the other monsters, how they challenge the players, their strengths, their weaknesses; which classes would be strongest against them and which would have the hardest time.

   Where do your custom monsters come from? Where can they be found? Are they Grunts or clever? What loot do they drop upon defeat?

   Once you've come up with a concept, write as much of it as you can before going onto the next step.

2. Vitals
   Write down the level-1 Vital scores of the monster. Keep in mind that the average base health for any mob is 45, meaning it takes exactly 3 hits with an average-grade weapon to defeat it.

   For Focus, Stamina, and Mana, the average starting value is 15. These numbers tend to fluctuate depending on the class's design, whither they're heavily dependent on a particular vital, and how long you want them to be able to last in a fight.

3. Scores
   The most important thing you should think about for a monster's Scores is its element. The monster's element indicates where it essentially lies in the critical food-chain. If it's a non-standard element like light, metal, or noble, then that means there will be fewer classes around that can potentially critically harm it.

   Next, consider its Movement score. The average is 4, which is scaled to most battlefields such that it can move across an average-sized battlefield from one side to the other in 2 rounds.

   Its carry score isn't as normally important as a monster, but when a player takes its class, it'll determine how much they can carry on their person. This is where you might want to consider if a monster would be too dependent on things or not.

   Primary and Secondary Damages aren't immediately determined until you know their Stats and which weapons they're equipped with.

4. Stats
   The monster's Stats are going to be the meat of its build - its punch, if you would. It determines how quickly it can neutralize an opponent, while also determining how long it might take to neutralize it.

   The average Power score is 3, while the average Evasion score is 10.

   A Power score of 4 is considered heavy, and 5 is very heavy - it's rare that a monster should start with anything above 4, and unheard of it for it to start at 6+.

   Imagine its Evasion scores as a health multiplier for certain attacks. Since 10 is half of 20, then naturally, it means only half of the attacks will hit, thereby doubling your health. Increasing that to 15 means only one in four attacks are likely to hit, while anything higher is unheard of.

5. Talents
   Unlike adventurers, monsters don't develop talents, but instead grow into their talents, as befitting their natural abilities. Based on the parts they were born with, they'll better at certain tasks than others.
   • -2 to -1 is poor.
   • 0-2 is okay.
   • 3-4 is good.
   • 5-6 is great.
6. Equipment
   Monsters typically don't have weapons - but they can have natural weapons, such as claws, teeth, spines, tails, and thick skulls. Choose two to be their primary and secondary weapons.

   A monster's natural gifts might also count as tools, and can substitute for a tool that could be purchased by the players at the store.

   Few monsters have consumables, and fewer still have anything significant they can use, like a revival coin.

7. Loot and Experience
   All mobs drop 100xp, multiplied by their level. Loot, however, is static.

   What a monster drops as far as loot is concerned isn't always relevant to what the monster what, with the exception of materials.

   Typically, monsters drop materials, which can be used for creating items later on.

   Generally, minibosses and bosses will drop quest-items necessary for advancement in the dungeon or campaign.