Making Custom Adversaries

This document attempts to provide a proper guide for creating adversaries that fit the style and form of the official stat blocks. It aims to be used alongside the process that’s in the CRB so you can create the adversaries that fit the mood of your locations and fiction of your story.

While the tables in the playtest were divided into Weak, Average, And Strong, this document is presented per adversary type and per tier in a clean way that you can reference easily.

I also included a style guide for making adversaries, so that you can make adversaries that use language consistent with official ones.

TIP: The number of dice rolled increases with tier but the die type tends to stay the same. If you want a Bruiser or Solo to make more consistent damage, go down a die size and then add a +2 to the damage modifier.

Update: I used this guide to create Incredible Creatures, a Monster-filled manual. You can check it out Here!

Bruisers

• Attacks can hit Major usually and Severe when rolling well. They tend to use a d10-d12 damage die.

• Features include attacks that hit multiple enemies and move PCs around the battlefield

• Common Features: Ramp Up, Momentum

Hordes

• Attacks can hit Major usually and Severe when rolling very well against a non-guardian until half HP. (d6-d10)

• When splitting damage, aim for a dice pool that halves the average. (Ex. 2d10+2 becomes 1d10+1)

Leader

• Attacks do slightly lower damage than a Bruiser and use a slightly lower damage die (d8-d10)

• Common Features: Momentum, Fear abilities that spotlight 1d4 allies at half damage

Minions

• Attacks increase by tier

• Common Features: Minion(x), Group Attack

Ranged

• Attacks do slightly lower average damage than a Bruiser and use d8-d10 (usually)

• Spend Fear to attack multiple targets, mark Stress to increase damage of attacks

Skulks

• Attacks can do Minor to Major damage, but features will usually do more damage. They tend to use d6-d8 damage dice

• Features to disorient PCs (ambush features) or impart status effects are common

Solo

• Attacks have the capacity to do extremely high damage and use d10-d12 damage die, but some can use 2d6 in place of a d12 or even use a d20.

• Common Features: Relentless, Momentum, Reactions and Countdowns

• Solos that use phases should have lower HP and thresholds

• Single Adversary Encounter advice: By OneBoxyLlama Please read and heed. Solo is a deceptive name.

Standard

• Attacks can usually hit major thresholds on spell casters and typically use a d6-d8 damage die.

• Most features include a way to harry or distract a PC or augment the standard’s ATK or Damage

Support

• Attacks can do Minor to Major damage, but features can do more damage. 

• Stress varies by support but is usually higher

• Features to cause PCs to mark Stress or lose Hope are common as well as features that change the environment or help other units

Colossal Enemy

• Multiple body parts that share the same the thresholds

• Common Features can be found in the Campaign Frame

• The thresholds are higher than Solos but damage is usually comparable to Solos or Leaders until T3.

• There are strong segments and average segments. Average segments tend to be legs and tails. They have lower difficulty and HP, but damage might be higher.

• A Segment can have an average difficulty and HP and still do strong damage. (ex. Poy’s Tail)

FRAMEWORK

AVERAGE SEGMENT 

STRONG SEGMENT

NOTE: HP numbers feel absurdly low when looking through the book. I wouldn’t recommend any of the segments be 3 HP unless they are invulnerable to damage from destroying other segments. The Colossus idea is inspired, but the threshold numbers aren’t difficult to reach for tag teams which are limited only by Hope when fighting a Colossus.

Social

• A social adversary is bespoke in its features and its numbers should represent that role, so don’t be tied to these. Deviation in this space is generally expected.

• I personally would make two similar stat blocks for an adversary that has a social phase and a combat phase (complete with a phase change).

• When deciding on how you want to use a social adversary, imagine their role in the fiction and what pressure they can put on a character.

• MOST IMPORTANT! You do not need to be on-tier for social adversaries. Their tier mechanically should be tied to their place in the fiction. As an Example: there is a merchant at Tier 1 and a Merchant Baron at Tier 2. At Tier 3 you could have a Royal Exchequer. At Tier 4 you could have a Billionaire Mogul.

Building Adversaries in Daggerheart

Now that we have the numbers out of the way, let's look at the functional steps to building an adversary.

Step 1: Determine the Narrative Function of the Adversary

Step 2: Choose the Tier of the Adversary

Step 3: Select the Appropriate Role

Step 4: Write Down Stat Lines and Develop Experiences

Step 5: Choose Features

Determine the Narrative Function of the Adversary

This is often the most difficult step in the process. Making an adversary that fits the narrative requires you to have an idea ahead of time of what this adversary is or can do and relies on what kind of worldbuilding you’ve already done. When deciding what kind of adversary you’re making, consider the location you find them in, which should inform some of your decisions on what this adversary should be capable of. Social Adversaries are easier to identify at this step, but might require more thought when creating features.

TIP: I like to look at minis and drum up inspiration from there–visuals help me to create things that make sense in the fiction. My suggestion is to find something that inspires you to create your adversary. Sometimes the weapon they wield or the stance they take or even their base size clues you into what that adversary’s role and features might be.

Design Principle: When making adversaries, one of the things that should match up and fully describe them are the combination of its flavor test description, its motives and tactics and the evocative names of its features. These three things should be complimentary

Choose the Tier of the Adversary

This part should be relatively easy if you’re prepping for your next session, but what if you’re designing a character’s backstory villain and you’re not sure where they will meet this nefarious character? Moving an adversary up or down is simple due to the fact that the number of dice rolled typically equals the tier. Generally speaking, the game design principles assume characters face tier-appropriate threats. It’s always better to tier up/down an adversary than to leave them higher or lower and to make adversaries that are appropriate for the tier of the PCs.

Select the Appropriate Role

These are rather basic overviews of the role of an adversary

There are times when an adversary might fill a role that borders on one role or another. For example: Supports are just weak Leaders and Solos are just more complicated Bruisers. Deciding where your adversary belongs is as much a science as an art, but it comes back to Step 1 pretty often.

Write Down Stat Lines

Look through the tables above for the stats and determine, based on the fiction of your adversary, where their stats would be. If your bruiser is a stone golem, is it hard to hit? Once hit, is it hard to damage? After it’s been damaged, does it fall apart easily? Is it accurate when it hits? What senses does it use? What sort of damage do its stone fists do?

What answers did you come up with for those questions? If we were both making a Tier 2 Stone Golem, would yours look like this?

Difficulty: 16 | Thresholds: 13/24 | HP: 7 | Stress: 4

ATK: +2 | Fists: Very Close | 2d12+3 phy

Develop Experiences

You can spend a Fear to add experience to an attack, reaction roll or even increase the difficulty of the adversary. When you’re choosing experiences, consider their motives and tactics. The below table has some quick suggestions for role-based experiences.

Choose Features

The majority of things that an adversary does are found in the Features section. These are things that allow the adversary to take the spotlight and do something that is indicative of their role. When considering what features might be appropriate, look back at the narrative function of the adversary and consider the role you’ve placed it in and choose Features that are unique to the role or unique to the adversary (in the cases of Leaders, Solos, and Supports).

Some features fit the fantasy of individual roles better than others. Some are mechanically important for the role, such as Relentless for a Solo. You can take a look at the Feature Library below to see examples that you can use.

When to Use Stress

Mark a Stress to attack more than 1 target, Increase damage by a die face or the number of dice . Attack all targets in Very Close. Do something that is spell equivalent. Impart conditions that aren't Restrained or Vulnerable. Give other allies the spotlight but do reduced damage (usually no more than 5). Do a little more damage and push a target.

When to Use Fear

Spending a Fear is a bigger move. Increase die size and aoe damage. Summoning Something usually requires Fear. Giving other allies the spotlight without reducing their damage (usually no more than 5). Start countdowns on characters. AOE that is bigger than Very Close. AOE moves that do direct damage.

An Important Note on Momentum and Relentless

Momentum generates Fear when you make an attack roll. If an adversary has an Fear move that makes an attack, it becomes Fear neutral when it hits. Reserve this combination for truly difficult adversaries.

On the flip side, ensure that you have a way to ensure your adversaries are generating Fear. A bruiser with Momentum and a Leader with Relentless is a powerful combination. But you can also have other conditions for earning Fear, like Reaction Roll failures, or when a PC marks 2 HP from an attack. 

Scaling Adversaries

When scaling an adversary, there is no direct formula, but these work generally across the spectrum. The tiers are all calculated from the tier prior. To drop a tier, subtract the prior tier’s numbers rather than add as implied. To move between multiple tiers, add the tier before. Refer back to the damage baselines for the role and tier. Generally you can increase damage by a die and use tier*2 for the damage modifier. (This calculation might be high for T3)

Ex. Bladed Guard Tier 1
Difficulty: 12 | Thresholds: 5/9 | HP: 5 | Stress: 2

ATK: +1 | Longsword: Melee | 1d6+1 phy

Tier 2

Difficulty: 14 | Thresholds: 8/17 | HP: 5 | Stress: 2

ATK: +2 | Longsword: Melee | 2d6+2 phy

Tier 3

Difficulty: 16 | Thresholds: 15/32 | HP: 6 | Stress: 3

ATK: +3 | Longsword: Melee | 3d6+6 phy

Tier 4

Difficulty: 18 | Thresholds: 25/47 | HP: 6 | Stress: 4

ATK: +4 | Longsword: Melee | 4d6+8 phy 

Bruiser

Hordes

Leader

Minions

Ranged

Skulk

Solo

Standard

Support

When increasing the tier of an adversary, consider giving them another feature if you are bumping them up 2 tiers.

Feature Library

The intent of this section is to put features that fit the fantasy of a role into groups so you can grab them quickly or riff off the ones presented. There are many features pulled from the SRD and where appropriate, those are marked with a *. The others listed are of my own creation, and you can feel free to use them!

Author’s Note: While there’s nothing saying you can’t give a Standard the Relentless feature, there should be a reason in the fiction for doing so.

Bruiser

*Momentum - Reaction: When the <Adversary> makes a successful attack against a PC, you gain a Fear.

*Ramp Up - Passive: You must spend a Fear to spotlight the <Adversary>. While spotlighted, they can make their standard attack against all targets within range.

*Slow - Passive: When you spotlight the <Adversary>and they don’t have a token on their stat block, they can’t act yet. Place a token on their stat block and describe what they’re preparing to do. When you spotlight the <adversary> and they have a token on their stat block, clear the token and they can act.

*Terrifying - Passive: When the <Adversary> makes a successful attack, all PCs within Far range lose a Hope and you gain a Fear.

Hordes

*Horde (<damage>) - Passive: When the <Adversaries> have marked half or more of their HP, their standard attack deals <damage> physical damage instead.

Leader

*Terrifying - Passive: When the <Adversary> makes a successful attack, all PCs within Far range lose a Hope and you gain a Fear.

*Relentless (X) - Passive: The <Adversary> can be spotlighted up to X times per GM turn. Spend Fear as usual to spotlight them.

*Activate Allies - Action: Spend X Fear to spotlight 1d4 allies. Attacks they make while spotlighted in this way deal half damage.1

Direct Damage - Action: If the target or the adversary has a Condition damage dealt by the <Adversary> does direct damage.

Call Reinforcements - Action: Once per scene, mark a Stress to summon a <A different adversary>, which appears at <Range> range.

Merciless (1) - Passive:  When the <Adversary> is spotlighted, spotlight one additional ally without requiring a Fear to be spent to do so.

Tactician - Action: When you spotlight the <Adversary>, mark a Stress to also spotlight two allies within Close range.

Minion

*Minion (X) - Passive: The <Adversary> is defeated when they take any damage. For every X damage a PC deals to the <Adversary>, defeat an additional Minion within range the attack would succeed against.

*Group Attack - Action: Spend a Fear to choose a target and spotlight all <Adversaries> within Close range of them. Those Minions move into Melee range of the target and make one shared attack roll. On a success, they deal <standard damage> physical damage each. Combine this damage.

Ranged

*Opportunity Shot - Reaction: When another adversary deals damage to a target within Far range of the <Adversary>, you can mark a Stress to add the <extra damage> to the damage roll. 

*Opportunist - Passive: When two or more adversaries are within Very Close range of a creature, all damage the <Adversary> deals to that creature is doubled.

*Hit Multiple Targets - Reaction: Spend a Fear to make an attack against # targets within Far range. Targets the <Adversary> succeeds against take <reduced damage>

Skulks

Ambush - Action: While Hidden, make an attack against a target within <Range> range. On a success, deal <increased damage> physical damage.

*Cloaked - Action: Become Hidden until after the <Adversary>’s next attack. Attacks made while Hidden from this feature have advantage. 

Solo

*Relentless (X) - Passive: The <Adversary> can be spotlighted up to two times per GM turn. Spend Fear as usual to spotlight them.

Countdown to Something Bad - Reaction: Countdown (Loop 1d6). When the <countdown activation condition>, activate the countdown. When it triggers, the <Adversary> <does something powerful (make an attack, force a Reaction Roll>. All targets that <It succeeds against/fail> Have a negative outcome.

Standard

Too Many to Handle - Passive: When the <Adversary> is within Melee range of a creature and at least one other <Adversary> is within Close range, all attacks against that creature have advantage.

Pack Tactics - Passive: If the <Adversary> makes a successful standard attack and another <Adversary> is within Melee range of the target, deal <extra damage> physical damage instead of their standard damage and you gain a Fear.

Support

AOE Condition - Action: Spend a Fear to make an attack against all targets within Very Close range. Targets the <Adversary> succeeds against become Restrained and Vulnerable  <because of a thing that happened in the fiction>. A target can break free, ending both conditions, with a successful Trait Roll.

Common

Armor-Shredding Move - Action: Make a standard attack. On a success, the target must mark an Armor Slot without receiving its benefits (they can still use armor to reduce the damage). If they can’t mark an Armor Slot, they must mark an additional HP.

Conditional Extra Damage - Passive: When the <Adversary> succeeds on a standard attack <because of a reason or Condition>, they deal <higher damage> physical damage instead of their standard damage.

Cause Condition - Action: <Do something that would cause a temporary condition>. The target has the <Condition> condition. Targets with the <Condition> <What the Condition does>, <Timeframe or means of clearing the Condition>.

Undead

*Ghost - Passive: The <Adversary> has resistance to physical damage. Mark a Stress to move up to Close range through solid objects.

*Horrifying - Passive: Targets who mark HP from the <Adversary>’s attacks must also mark a Stress.

Unsettling - Passive: PCs that roll with Fear when attacking the <Adversary> mark a Stress.

Flying

*Flying - Passive: While flying, the <Adversary> gains a +3 bonus to their Difficulty.

Soft Moves

When the PCs roll a Success with Fear or a Failure with Hope, consider using one of these soft moves instead of one of the moves on the stat block. These moves are broken up by role and are suggestions that don’t involve directly attacking the PCs.

Bruiser Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> roars in anger, preparing for its next strike. The next time the <Adversary> attacks, it gains an additional 1d4 to its attack roll.

Horde Soft Move - Action: The <Adversaries> rally together, gaining strength. They clear 1 HP or 1 Stress.

Leader Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> encourages one of their allies, giving them advantage on their next attack roll.

Minion Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> moves into a better position, surrounding the target.

Ranged Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> focuses for their next attack, adding +X to the damage of their next attack if it hits.

Skulk Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> retreats to a better position, disengaging from the PCs.

Solo Soft Move - Action: This is dependent on the adversary.

Standard Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> braces for the next attack. Their difficulty increases by 1 until the next GM Turn. 

Support Soft Move - Action: The <Adversary> clears a condition on themselves or someone else.

Daggerheart Adversary Style Guide

Sentences are in the present tense.

Capitalization: the following game terms are capitalized

• Stress

• Fear

• Hope

• Ranges (Close, Melee)

• Conditions (Hidden, Vulnerable, Restrained) which are also italicized. This includes temporary conditions

• Traits, (Instinct Roll, Knowledge Reaction Roll)

• References to the Adversary (Vampire, Rat)

• Armor Slot(s)

• Evasion

• Experience

• Countdown types (Countdown, Decreasing) 

• Damage thresholds (Minor, Major, Severe)

• Adversary Names. 

  • If the name has two or more words, choose the one that most represents the character (ex. Rat for a Giant Rat) unless it would not make sense

• When referencing an adversary or environment feature (usually in an Environment), it is in Quotes

Do not spell out numbers unless it is in the Relentless Feature (which is weird right?)

Adversaries can attack Targets, Creatures, and PCs

• Targets are chosen by the attacker

• Creatures are everything in range

• PCs are the player characters (usually involves Hope manipulation). Occasionally this will reference things done by PCs that affect the adversary or Environment (See below)

• (Single Target) Make a standard attack against a target. On a success…

• (Multiple Targets) Make a standard attack against all targets within Close range. Targets the Sorcerer succeeds against…

If a character is referenced as doing something to the adversary, they are referenced as a PC (this one is again, tenuous)

• Ex. For every 3 damage a PC deals to the Rat

An adversary will mark a Stress

If an adversary makes a target mark a Stress or lose Hope, you don’t bold the words

In most cases, you spend a Fear to make something happen

• Spend a Fear to force an attacker to make an Instinct Reaction Roll

• Spend a Fear to choose a target

The plural and singular of HP is HP. Don’t spell out Hit Points.

If an adversary requires a duality roll different that than their difficulty

• A Knowledge Roll (16)

• A Knowledge Reaction Roll (16)

Damage dice in features are bolded

Types of damage

• physical

• magic (not magical)

Direct (physical/magic) damage

You reduce damage by an amount

A Countdown triggers

Rolls that don’t specify a trait are referred to as action rolls (I believe this should be capitalized, but it’s not)

Targets are within a range (within Close range, within Far range)

Passives first, then Actions, then Reactions

When forcing Reaction Rolls, if there is a failure state and success state use ‘must make’

If there is only a failure state use ‘must succeed on’

Ex 1. All targets within that area must make an Agility Reaction Roll (14). Targets who fail take 2d10 physical damage and are thrown out of the area. Targets who succeed take half damage and aren’t moved.

Ex 2. All targets within Close range must succeed on an Agility Reaction Roll (14) or take 2d10 physical damage.

Encounter Guide

When building encounters, keep the following in mind:

• The BP guide in the book is the time between short rests. (This has been confirmed by its author multiple times).

• Encounters should be a mix of roles.

• If you use a Leader, you’ll need to see if it summons things by name.

• Solos aren’t Legendary Action creatures from D&D. They are a tough fight on their own. Refer to the notes on Solos above.

• Fear expenditure is going to dial things up in terms of damage.

• There is no calculation for an adventuring day. Partly because some abilities are per-session recharge.

• There is no calculation for using higher tier creatures. The expectation is that they shouldn’t be used.

  • A higher tier standard is similar to a bruiser at lower tier in terms of stats. Just subtract 1 from their Difficulty.

• Mono-typed encounters (i.e. encounters with just skulks or ranged) don’t function well. 

• Your Fear expenditure is what causes encounters to be more deadly that the BP calculation would suggest.

If your party runs into an unexpected combat, here’s a good mix of adversaries to throw out to make a satisfying fight during the course of the party’s adventuring day.

• A Leader with a group of minions equal to double the number of PCs and a couple of ranged.

• A bruiser, a support and two standards

• A solo with a damaging event environment

• A leader with a support and three skulks

Making an Environment

There's only four features you'll find in an environment. They might look different or use different words, but they distill down to four things:

1. Something the PCs can engage with

2. Summoning Someone or Doing Some Damage

3. Shift the Environment

4. A Defining Trait.

Each of these is important so let's go over them. 

• Something the PCs can Engage With
  In an exploration, this might be those Knowledge or Presence rolls to find things out about the environment or NPCs to chat with. If it's a traversal, maybe it's a piece of the scenery like a tree to tie a rope to. 

• Summoning Someone or Doing Some Damage
  This one's pretty easy. Look at your potential adversaries and pick a few. Or have an explosion from the volcano cause stress.

• Shift the Environment
  This is creating a slight change in circumstances. These could be reactions to the PCs actions, showing how the world reacts, signaling an off-screen threat, splitting up the party, or taking away opportunities. 

• A Defining Trait
  All the others are easy to make, but the defining trait should give the vibe for the environment. It doesn't just have to be one feature, but it should be what the environment exists to do. And a lot of times, these are unique but fall into one of the sections above. When you're planning an environment, this should be your main course.

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