How to calculate the Encounter Level?

[Tempestari]

I am reading the PDF Encounters: Band of Orcs. It is a great little suplement and is very useful for the game that I am mastering. In every encounter of this PDF there is an encounter level.

My question is: how to calculate the Encounter Level of a group of NPCs? Is that explained somewhere in the Castles & Crusades rules?

Thank you!

[Arduin]

My question is: how to calculate the Encounter Level of a group of NPCs? Is that explained somewhere in the Castles & Crusades rules?

Thank you!

It is "calculated" using the experience of the Castle Keeper. There is no mechanical calculation in the rules. You can roughly figure by HD vs. total levels of the PC's. But, this is never accurate in any D&D type of game as there are FAR too many variables (including the PC's).

If you are new to C&C and are running a game, start the encounters small as you gauge the party and the monsters. You can always add to an encounter easier than subtract from it while under way.

[Aramis]

I am reading the PDF Encounters: Band of Orcs. It is a great little suplement and is very useful for the game that I am mastering. In every encounter of this PDF there is an encounter level.

My question is: how to calculate the Encounter Level of a group of NPCs? Is that explained somewhere in the Castles & Crusades rules?

Thank you!

It's guesswork but 2 rough guidelines I would keep in mind are

- although an equation of monster HD equal to party HD sounds like a good idea for a standard encounter, it is actually on the tough side of standard, since it is roughly like fighting yourself. If Floyd mayweather fought himself, it would be a pretty tough fight

- whoever has the magic has an advantage. So be careful with encounters where the monsters have magic. A 1st lvl sleep spell is probably death for a first level party. And a well placed fireball might see your PCs skirting tpk at 5th level

[alcyone]

The XP values for the monsters might be the best quick measurement, since they are supposed to take into account the creatures special abilities as well.

Otherwise like Aramis says. If you have doubt and have the stats for your characters, you can run the combat out of game and see how it pans out, though the real combat will end up being much different in most cases.

Be generous with clues and escape routes and the players can balance the encounters themselves also.

[Treebore]

For straight up combat I look at hit points, BtH versus AC's in play, and then for spells I look at likelihood of saving versus various favorite spells. For challenging battles I look for an average of 20% chance to hit the AC's, and for saves I look for a 40% average chance to save on Prime based saves, so non Prime will have at least a 10% chance. From there it gets modified by spells cast, so the players can either improve their chances, or leave them as is. For battles I want to be relatively easy, I adhere to 50/50 odds as much as possible.

Notice I said I look for an average, so Fighters will have a higher chance, probably, and non Fighters may have very little chance at all to hit, saves will be better for those with higher attributes and magic items, etc...

So there is not hard core system, per se, but I imagine the Game Designers look for similar numbers.

[serleran]

Every time this question arises, I always answer with: look at the XP award. Then, you have two easy questions....

1) do I want my players to earn that much if they somehow defeat it?
2) is the amount too low that they won't care?