AP value for monsters, An useful tool to calculate it

[gwaedin]

Since somebody on the TDE Yahoo group asked for guidelines to give an AP rating to monsters (which is not an official rule in the new edition) I'm sharing this with you.

I have an Excel spreadsheet which calculates an AP value for any opponent. This is just to have a guideline for their effectiveness in combat - you have to start from there with respect to tactical situation, magic, special abilities, and so on. Yet I find it quite useful, expecially to see how the effectiveness of men and creatures varies with equipment (i.e. how much more dangerous is the same opponent if I give him a 2H sword instead of a sword?).
Basically I averaged the stats of my player characters and then it calculates:
- the number of rounds required by the monster to kill the average PC
- the number of rounds required by the average PC to kill the monster
They are calculated considering the probability of hitting and parrying of the two combatants and the average damage for their protection.
Then it calculates the effectiveness of the monster as the ratio between the two figures and it gives out an AP value which I calculated fitting a power law calibrated using the existing AP values (in the old rules).
It seems very complicated but once it's set up (which I did) you only have to fill up the values of AT, PA, HP, VI and AR of a monster and it gives you an AP number. It also works for monsters with two attacks (never bothered to make it work also with three).
And... yes, I'm an engineer. ;D

Cheers,
gwaedin

[Vinsalt]

It would be reasonable that you got the full amount of experience of a first time encounter of a given monster in a given place, and afterwards a fraction of the same sum would be awarded. After all it does give some sort of realistic feel to it. I think it is most important to keep in mind the full meaning of experience, before going into mathematics. Sure it works and does great things for the game balance, but it's very easy to lose the big picture when using a formula. My players actually like the fact that it is mostly based on the highlord's judgment. Things like challenge rating just would take something away from this nice game. Still a rule-of-thumb is good to have, especially for the rainy day, when I find myself utterly fatigued by the week's work, and have to do my job as a highlord nevertheless.

[Grubolsch]

Sometimes I give my players some XP if they slay a really difficult monster of opponent. I only do this thought, when the battle had a big "coolness" factor.
Slaying a dragon, mamutt or demon is just cool, and you don't do it every day. It should be reward by XP in my opinnion, because it will be an experience that players will refer to for a long time. However, slaying a normal soldier or ork, even on level 1, isn't impressive and memorable at all, so I don't give XP for it.

[Kennin]

Hehe, a wooly mammoth gets me one blue bub... in EverQuest 2... in DSA? None.
I don't reward slaying at all. I reward role playing and solving the adventure.
In no single case, a character will receive AP for any killing, as hard and crucial as the fight might have been.

[gwaedin]

Actually I decided for doing the same. It also helps balancing for different characters (e.g. warriors vs. scholars).