Hi all. Still a newbie with newbie questions. I know that d&d has Challenge Ratings for their monsters. Is there any way to tell what a party can go up against sucessfully without having to "playtest" the situation beforehand? This will be my first time refereeing a Traveller campaign, and I haven't DM'ed since the late 70s. Any help, advice, or links to advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, xdiox
Challenge Rating in T20?
- Thread starter xdiox
- Start date
Using the rules as they stand it is difficult to come up with meaningful challenge ratings.
Both on the ground and in space, a single lucky hit from nearly anything can kill nearly anyone.
To illustrate, last night a group of my players (levels 10-12) got ambushed by a 4th level punk with a homemade .22 pistol. (d6, 20*2)
A single critical didn't quite kill one of the player characters. 11 lifeblood in a single shot, and suddenly the communication officers intestines exploded with delight.
Under 3.0, or 3.5 ed DnD it would be unimagineable that a Challenge 3 critter would even dent a group of 10th level characters.
I've taken to just playing it by ear, the players get some experience (Gm Fiat basically) and the threat is modified on the fly if need be. For example, after nearly scragging a PC, the punks then ran away, because one of the PC's had a gun.
Both on the ground and in space, a single lucky hit from nearly anything can kill nearly anyone.
To illustrate, last night a group of my players (levels 10-12) got ambushed by a 4th level punk with a homemade .22 pistol. (d6, 20*2)
A single critical didn't quite kill one of the player characters. 11 lifeblood in a single shot, and suddenly the communication officers intestines exploded with delight.
Under 3.0, or 3.5 ed DnD it would be unimagineable that a Challenge 3 critter would even dent a group of 10th level characters.
I've taken to just playing it by ear, the players get some experience (Gm Fiat basically) and the threat is modified on the fly if need be. For example, after nearly scragging a PC, the punks then ran away, because one of the PC's had a gun.
Shadowdancer
SOC-14 1K
For sophonts, As long as the challenge has comparable armor and weapons, you should be OK. Don't worry about levels too much.
For alien, non-intelligent creatures, try one or two at first to see how the party handles them. If they deal with them pretty easily, send in more. If they give the PCs a difficult challenge, don't add any more. Yet.
For alien, non-intelligent creatures, try one or two at first to see how the party handles them. If they deal with them pretty easily, send in more. If they give the PCs a difficult challenge, don't add any more. Yet.