Rightsizing the Competition in SAS

Unfortunately, in Silver Age Sentinels (SAS), it can be pretty easy to toss some villains at your PCs that are far more effective -- or far less effective -- than you expected. This document is going to do its best to break down the reasons why these surprises can happen, and what you can do to avoid those surprises. With luck, we'll be able to arrive at some hard and fast rules which can be used to "right-size" your PCs' opposition.

To get to that point, however, we'll first have to walk through certain parts of how fighting plays out in SAS.

Puttin' on the Hits

The attack/defense model of combat SAS uses is an easy gotcha that folks new to the system can stumble on. Coming from other systems, it's easy to look at the chance to roll your ACV or less on a 2d10 as the sole expression of your chances to hit a target -- but you'd be wrong. Succeeding on your ACV roll means you have won the chance to hit your target. Even after an ACV success, if your opponent opts to defend, there's a chance you'll miss. (For a fuller examination of hit chances in SAS, check out the document on the hit matrix).

Since this can be a paradigm shift for folks, it may be important at this point to examine why this mechanic is a good thing.

1. It keeps the math simple.

   No subtracting a different number from your hit roll each time. The player can focus on the bonuses that affect his character, and leave the rest in the GM's hands. Since the number changes less often as a result, over time, it should speed play as well.

2. It helps the GM keep the NPCs' stats secret.

   There's no need to reveal the other guy's check value; each party in an attack only needs to state success or failure. Another speed win.

3. It keeps both parties involved.

   Most games relegate the "act" of dodging to a fixed target number, which can leave players who are playing dodge-happy acrobat characters twiddling their thumbs while their character is supposedly dancing around the battlefield. The 'double roll' of Tri-Stat, thus, gives those players the opportunity to take a more active role in their schtick. And since most players like to roll dice, that's a good thing.

But the point remains that in practical terms, if an ACV 11 (55% chance of success) is trying to hit a defending DCV 10 (45% chance of success), the blow will actually land one out of every four times. (See the table to the right for a list of probabilities.)

So let's say you've gotten past that, and you have on your hands a successful hit. How about damage, now? On a 2-5, you've done 100% of your listed damage. But those are 4 pretty unlikely numbers -- together, they'll happen 10% of the time. 6-10 gets you 75% of that damage, and happens 35% of the time. 11-16 gets you half, 45% of the time. And 17-20 gets you 25%, 10% of the time.

Looking at those probabilities should break another easy-to-come-by illusion -- the damage you can do is not the damage you will usually do. In fact, if you multiply the bits out, it turns out your average percentage of damage is slightly over 60%.

Don't Stop Until They Drop

So what does this end up telling us? Well, a few things:

1. Someone who has a good defense roll and armor is going to be difficult to hurt.

   Whether they walk away with a Get Out of Damage Free card by making their DCV check, or get hit but have enough armor to face down 60% of the maximum damage of the attack, the same result comes out of it: they stay standing.

2. One level of Special Attack (20 pts max damage) is solidly defended by one level of Armour (10 points).

   On average, only 2 points of damage will get through.

3. Defense penalties are king.

   If you need to hit a guy, really need to hit him, your best bet is to eat up his one free defense plus all his extra defenses, if possible. That first -4 can hurt his chances of dodging pretty badly, and if you and your teammates can push him past that to -8 and worse, he's almost better off just taking the blows.

These ideas will form the core of a number of our "rightsizing" rules, as we go on, so take the time to make friends with them.

Would You Like to Supersize That?

Basic rightsizing involves applying a few simple principles based on the above logic. It involves the careful consideration of check values, damage, protection, attacks, and defense. It is not an exercise in character points (though you should feel free to create point-balanced characters that fit its guidelines); it is an exercise in governing effects.

Know Your Team

The first step is to assess the effectiveness of your PCs. Here's what you should know:

• How much cumulative protection (damage resistance) do they have?

  Armour, Force Field, Damage Absorbtion, Mass Increase, etc., all factor in, here. Make note of the special case (e.g., only vs. fire, Adaptation, etc, Mass Decrease) protections as well, if they're going to come into play. You should also write down their Health levels, and things that will affect that, like Healing and Regeneration.

• What's their range of damage output?

  Special Attack, Massive Damage, Superstrength, and all their pals factor in on this one. For your Superstrong types, take a look at how much scenery they can throw around in a fight and make sure to add that in. Don't forget that ACV adds to damage, too!

• What's their ACV range?

  Make sure to factor in their most commonly used attack combat skills, here. If they have attacks that are Mind or Soul based, the Mind or Soul stat as appropriate should make an appearance here, too, as an honorary ACV.

• What's their DCV range?

  Again, pay close attention to how skills come into the mix, here.

• How do their extras look?

  How many Extra Attacks do they have? How many Extra Defenses do they have?

• What hurts them most?

  Achilles Heels, Banes, and Vulnerabilities are what we're most interested, here. Weak Points, too, if they've got 'em.

Once you have these figures jotted down on your cheat sheet, you have the bulk of what you need to know in order to make informed choices about the effectiveness of the opposition you're about to heap upon their sorry little costumed heads.

Know Your Enemy

Since we're talking about effects, not points, here, your concept of the kind of enemies they're going to face is probably the most important thing. Here are a few things to think about:

• What's the quality of the challenge?

  Are they speed bumps on the way to a bigger plot point? Are they the main event? Or is it the Boss Monster, able to take on the whole team as an individual?

• What's the team-up requirement?

  How much teamwork should the PCs need to use in order to take one of them down? Should the fight break up into a set of one-on-ones? Should the opposition gang up on the PCs? Should the PCs gang up on the opposition?

• How committed is the opposition?

  Should the foes fight until the last man in their number drops? Do they believe in running away? How much punishment should they take before it is too much punishment?

Your answers to these questions should tell you what kind of big bads you should be building, in a broad-stroke sort of way. All that's left is putting the numbers down that reflect your answers most accurately.

The Numbers Game

Instead of a dry discussion of principles here, I'm instead going to write along the lines of particular villain types and tropes.

The Agent

The Agent type of opposition shows up in droves; they work for the real baddies, and fights are measured more in how many of them you knock down than how much you hurt any one of them. They are beyond a doubt the low men on the villain totem pole.

Attack ability? Ever actually see any of that stormtrooper marksmanship? Give them only the smallest chances to hit and dodge. These guys are more there to threaten the scenery and get knocked down.

Damage should be set at a level that can scratch your less protected guys if, on a lucky hit, the agent rolls a higher damage percentage -- and the damage should just roll off your group's protection hound.

Agents are measured more in numbers than in individual resilience; an average damage hit (50%) from most of your group should be able to drop one. That means a score of Armour+Health that's no higher than half your group's average damage max. If you want slightly tougher agents, boost that number by 10-20 points at most.

To determine how many agents to throw at your guys, look at the total number of attacks they can make -- one for each team member, plus the total number of extra attacks in your team. Now, look at the low end of the average ACV of your group. How often will they be scoring a hit against these guys? (See the percentage table above). Multiply the number of attacks by that percentage, and you'll have the number of agents you can expect them to drop in a combat round. Figure out how many combat rounds you want the fight to go for, multiply by that, and you've got the number of agents to put in the field.

Example:

Your team consists of ACV and DCV ranges from 10-12 (skills included), protection ranging 0-30, damage output 40-80; there are four members, one of whom has 2 Extra Attacks (the speedster).

You want to put them up against a room full of cultists to delay them from getting to the big bads while they open a dimensional portal to Hell. The heroes should take 3-4 rounds to chew through the cultists.

You set the stats at 4 all around, and leave the ACV and DCV at 4 and 2 respectively; these are cultists with magic daggers, not trained fighters.

Those magic daggers should be able to damage your unprotected fella a little, but that's about it; a one-level Special Attack, at 20 damage, should do the trick (yes, you can add some other stuff to it, since it should have the Melee disability on it, but don't boost the damage if you can help it).

No Armour (guys in robes); set their Health at 30, since that's half of the middle of your folks' damage output. (Their base is 40, so a 1 BP Defect of Not So Tough can handle that.)

An ACV of 11 (again, the middle of the range) hits 55% of the time; call it 50% to keep the math easy. Your folks have 6 attacks among them, so you can expect they'll drop three of these cultists a round. Given the 3-4 round goal, 10 cultists should do the trick (3 x 3, plus one for good measure).

The Thug

A Thug is not a brute, necessarily, but he is a second-rate baddie, there to capably occupy the time of one of your team members, but pretty much bound to inevitable defeat in a prolonged fight.

Taken as a whole, a Thug's sheet is not up to par with the PC's, but it should be within reach, and may even exceed their capabilities in one or two key areas, as fits the concept and theme.

Getting hit by the thug should be enough of a worry that your heroes should want to defend; his damage max should be such that a 50% hit has a chance of hurting (getting through the protection) of at least half your team. Similarly, those hits should have a chance of landing as often as not, so an effective ACV in the 10-12 (45-64%)range should provide that. Throw in an Extra Attack if your team is heavy on defenses. His job is to make them sweat.

The Thug should not so much be about dodging, but should have a shot at it, if a minority one -- a DCV no higher than 8 (28%). Still, it shouldn't be possible to one-shot drop him, either, so total protection + Health that is at least 100-200% of the average damage max of your team. Pay close attention to that protection, though; if it is much higher than a third of that average damage max, damage will tend to trickle through, if at all, leaving him standing for longer than you might intend.

Present the team with as many thugs as teammembers you want to occupy for several rounds. If your Thugs are acting in support of some bigger bads (below), make sure to reduce their numbers; if you intend for them to have a chance of really threatening your team (i.e., a less inevitable victory), make sure they outnumber your team.

Example:

Your team is the same as before. (See the Agent example.)

You want to send a group of reasonably capable second-rate villains to rob a museum and accidentally put the PC's on the trail of the real plot. There won't be any other oppositional complications, and you don't want this fight to distract too much from the story, so it should be challenging, but not overwhelming. You decide to build three Thug types; they'll be slightly outnumbered by the PC's, so you'll build them a little tougher than if you were giving them even numbers. Going for theme, you decide the thuggly trio will be called 'Krush, Slash, and Burne'.

Krush

Krush is going to be your straight-up powerhouse type; you give him Body 10, Mind 4, Soul 4, and leave his DCV at 4, since he's of the 'stand and take it' variety rather than the 'get out of the way' sort. He's used to his armor keeping him going, which you put at 2 levels, for 20 points. You could go to 30, but that would mean your lowest damage teammember (the 40) would only touch him on a 100% damage blow. Give him a level or two of Tough to take his health up to 90-110; 20+110 = 130, which definitely keeps him on his feet through a number of 50% damage attacks.

Now for the Attack part. Your speedster has some Extra Defenses, but it doesn't seem appropriate for a guy like Krush to be able to wear those down; at the same time, Krush is the battering ram of his own group, so one Extra Attack doesn't seem like too much of a stretch. He'll have Superstrength as his main source of damage, but how much? Well, your group's protection range goes up to 30 -- you decide that a 75% damage hit from Krush should be felt by all, which means a minimum damage cap of 40. You take that up to 50 for good measure, noting that with Superstrength, Krush can grab and toss scenery around for extra if needed: 5 levels of Superstrength will do the trick. You bump his general ACV from 6 up to 9, and give him Unarmed Attack (Strikes) at level 2, giving him an effective 12 for hitting people with his fists.

At somewhere shy of 100 points, Krush is enough of a threat to be taken seriously, but any one team member should be able to take him down, given care and time.

Slash

Slash is your feral, skulker type; he can take folks on head-on, but works best as an ambusher, someone who gets the drop on his opponent first. You give him Body 8, Mind 8, Soul 8. He's not going to take Armour, instead relying on a level of Regeneration and a somewhat higher DCV. You bump his DCV up to a 10 from its starting 6, but leave his health at 80; since he'll be getting out of the way of 45% of the blows that land, an 80 plus even one level of regeneration is enough to make him a serious thorn in the heroes' sides.

For the Attack part, you start him off with Natural Weapons (Claws), a base of 10 damage. Slash should be less of a threat to your 30 armored toughman, so Massive Damage (Claws) at 3 levels is enough to keep him in play -- a half-damage hit at 20 points is at least enough to trouble your average protection rating of 15, but he needs to roll 100% to really bother your big guy. Taking his 8 ACV up to 12 (64%) and adding in an Extra Attack (for frenzying) should allow him to keep your heroes occupied even if they're two-on-one-ing him.

Round Slash out with a little Invisibility, Special Movement, and so on, and he'll be one ferocious furry fury.

Burne

Burne is a fire-blaster type, as much a danger to his environment and bystandards as to the heroes. Plus, he's double trouble, as one of your heroes takes extra damage from exposure to fire. You give him Body 9, Mind 9, Soul 6. He'll get a touch of Armour (1 level), which with his 75 Health should keep him standing long enough to hide behind Krush if needs be. Take his 6 DCV up to a 9 (36%) so he can at least try to avoid getting hit, and succeed one time in three.

His defenses will also be improved against your melee types by an Aura Special Attack rated at 40 points -- they'll have to take him on at range unless they're willing to get hurt. Burne operates well at range, unfortunately for them, with a 40 damage spreading Special Attack. Going above 40 seems too potent, given the defenses of your team, and the fire weakness of one of its members.

In light of that weakness, leaving Burne without an Extra Attack seems just fine, since he'll be getting the occasional "freebie" on anyone who hits him in melee combat. Bumping his ACV to 10, especially in light of the spreading aspect of his Special Attack, should be enough to trouble the heroes without being too much.

Taken together, this terrible trio has one fewer attack than your group (5 vs 6), ACV range 9-12, DCV range 4-10, protection range 0-20, damage range 40-50. Stacked up against your guys, they're a threat, but the heroes are still clearly their betters.

The Dodger

The Dodger can be a type of Thug, or he can be a main event villain. He is the one who is not there when you strike, leaving a menacing cackle hanging in the air; he is the one running along the wall just out of the range of your gunfire. He may be a trickster, a speedster, a teleporter, an acrobat; regardless, his combat emphasis is on not getting hit, and harrying you until you drop. Often, it will take the coordinated action of several of your team members to put him down.

The Locomotive

The Locomotive is a step up from the Thug-level bruiser, a non-stop hitting machine that shrugs off all but major damage. He is the lumbering giant trailing dangling heroes across the battlefield; he is the raging monster that drives your strongest hero back against the wall.

The Nemesis

The Nemesis (not to be confused with the Defect of the same name) is an exploiter of weaknesses, taking many forms. He is tailor-made to one or more of your heroes' true vulnerabilities. For the Weak Point, he is a marksman; for the Bane, Vulnerability, and Achilles Heel, he is the elemental embodiment of harm. He deprives the hero of her Special Requirement, and brings every Phobia to bear. He is the manipulator who troubles your Significant Others, Owners, and Skeletons.

The Dominator

The Dominator is that special villain who appears on the cover, gloating over the fallen bodies of the heroes, alone. He is the individual facing down the team, playing countermove to every maneuver. On his own, he can hold the team at bay; with his minions, the balance is in his favor.

(more to come -- one of these days)