Trophy Gold monsters really have only one stat: Endurance. Endurance is between 2 and 12, and players pool their efforts and take the two best results to equal to or beat the endurance to defeat the monster.
The problem is, I’m not really sure how to set Endurance.
From my experience, it’s hard to get a party of 4 treasure-hunters to all contribute to combat due to risk of ruin. However, if we know weaknesses or have relevant skills (usually likely in a party of 4), we’re not likely to contribute only 1 dice. So, dice numbers tend to be lower, but greater than 1.
What does this mean? Endurance of 4 or less is virtually impossible not to beat in 1 combat roll with just 1 or 2 treasure hunters participating. Endurance of 5 to 7 will require 1 or 2 combat rolls or an additional treasure hunter. An additional treasure hunter is required to see off an Endurance of 8 to 9 in 1 or 2 combat rolls. An Endurance of 10 to 12 is likely to take 5 to 9 combat rolls.
Probabilities quickly shift in favour of the treasure-hunters, if they team up: If we assume all four treasure-hunters contribute 1.5 dice each, only Endurance of 11 to 12 are a challenge, and then still with only 2 to 4 combat rolls.
Ok, so let’s translate this to something practical:
- Endurance of 2–4: Goblin-like creatures. Only dangerous in numbers. Giant rats, bandits. ~25–100 XP, 1 HD.
- Endurance of 5–6: Orc-like creatures. Sturdy and deadly foes, impossible to fight off in numbers. Warriors, dire wolves. In OSE, 100–250 XP, 4HD.
- Endurance of 7-8. Bear-like creature. Dangerous, but defeats me. Trolls, Wyverns. In OSE, ~300–800 XP, 6HD.
- Endurance of 9–10: Giant-like creature. Extremely dangerous. Spectres, fire-elementals. In OSE, ~1000–1250 XP, 8HD.
- Endurance of 11–12. Tyrannosaurus -like creatures. Do not approach. Vampires, hydras. ~1500 XP, 8 HD.
- Endurance of 13+. Dragon-like creature. Liches and death knights . Need preparation to defeat. ~2500 XP, 10 HD.
This is for my purposes; technically orcs are weaker than this but I like strong orcs so it works for me. Replace with bugbears or ogres if you wish. Most importantly, it’s a very steep curve. The only challenging creatures in TG will be boss monsters. Trophy Gold is designed for singular unique, boss-foes.
Anyway this is cool and useful.
20th May, 2023
Idle Cartulary
Playful Void 