Question about encounter design in Mutants & Masterminds.

[Green Knight]

Namely: How do you do it? Is there any set method other than "eyeballing it"? The encounter set-up in 4E, for instance, is pretty simplistic. A party of five 7th-level character can fight up to 1,500 XP worth of monsters. So they can fight five Level 7 Standard Monsters. Or one Level 5 Solo and and Level 6 Elite. Or three Level 4 Elites, two Level 3 Standard Monsters, and three Level 5 Minions. And so on.

So is there any similar method in Mutants & Masterminds for determining how many PL 8 opponents a party of five PL 10 characters can face? How many PL 6 opponents you can mix with PL 4 opponents to fight that same party? If there is, I'd appreciate it if someone could point me to where I can read about that. Thanks.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

It's only going to be guidelines, so don't hold your breathe, but I think it's in the Mastermind's Manual.

I can't remember exactly where because I memorized it:
* Opponents of equal PL can face off 1-to-1.
* For each PL an opponent is above a lower PL opponent they can take on one extra of that lower PL. (I.e. PL 10 character can face off against 3 PL 8 opponents.)

Like I said, it's not going to be exact. But better than nothing.

 

[Relique du Madde]

This thread over at the atomic thinktank had one guy's personal set of encounter guidelines.

 

[Elric]

It's only going to be guidelines, so don't hold your breathe, but I think it's in the Mastermind's Manual.

I can't remember exactly where because I memorized it:
* Opponents of equal PL can face off 1-to-1.
* For each PL an opponent is above a lower PL opponent they can take on one extra of that lower PL. (I.e. PL 10 character can face off against 3 PL 8 opponents.)

Like I said, it's not going to be exact. But better than nothing.

This thread over at the atomic thinktank had one guy's personal set of encounter guidelines.

I find this second guideline much better than the one in the Mastermind's Manual, but then again, I contributed to it

There's a summary of that thread, and a discussion of other issues that can arise, here

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

I find this second guideline much better than the one in the Mastermind's Manual, but then again, I contributed to it

I read it over and couldn't see how it was any different. What am I missing?

 

[Elric]

* For each PL an opponent is above a lower PL opponent they can take on one extra of that lower PL. (I.e. PL 10 character can face off against 3 PL 8 opponents.)

I read it over and couldn't see how it was any different. What am I missing?

Besides the attempt to provide different "challenge ratings", the math behind "how many PLs gained= what increase in power" is completely different.

In your above example, one PL 10 character can face off against 3 PL 8 opponents, but in the Atomic Think Tank thread, one PL 10 character is the equivalent of 2 PL 8 characters.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Ah, okay.

Though it's funny: I could swear now that the calculations should be the same. Am I remembering the Mastermind's Manual rule wrong?

 

[Elric]

Ah, okay.

Though it's funny: I could swear now that the calculations should be the same. Am I remembering the Mastermind's Manual rule wrong?

You're remembering the rule fine. ATT thread's baseline is +2 PLs= doubling of combat power.

The Mastermind's Manual's rule is less transitive. However, when comparing characters one PL apart, +1 PL = doubling of combat power, since 1 PL 10 should be able to take on two PL 9s.

 

[Green Knight]

Ok, so accoring to the Masterminds Manual, a group of four PL10 characters can fight the following encounters?

ENCOUNTER 1
- 1 PL10 opponent
- 2 PL9 opponents
- 3 PL8 opponents
- 6 PL5 opponents

ENCOUNTER 2
- 4 PL 10 opponents

ENCOUNTER 3
- 8 PL9 opponents

ENCOUNTER 4
- 1 PL13 opponent

Sound about right? And thanks for the link. I'll check it out in a bit.

 

[Elric]

ENCOUNTER 2
- 4 PL 10 opponents

ENCOUNTER 3
- 8 PL9 opponents

Yes, according to the Mastermind's Manual these are both reasonable and similar challenges for 4 PL 10 characters. However, I find this to be wrong; Encounter 3 is going to be much harder than Encounter 2.