For those of you that don't know, I am working on a Character Codex for Pathfinder. We've completed 3 of the 12 classes going into the book (Warpriests, Magii, and Witches), Slayers is heavily into the editing process, and Arcanists is being written now. One thing in the back of my mind is the Encounter Codex that Paizo talked about towards the end of their production of PF1. The book never materialized but I know there are some people that still want it.
So I was wondering if I were to work on such a book, what would people want to see if it? Tell us your thoughts.
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Like fully designed encounters ready to insert into any campaign?
I see that the character codex offers ready to go characters of each class and level...
So an encounter codex would include ready to go encounters of each environmental setting and CR range...?
Like Jungle, CR 7 (+/-3)...
I would include a set tolerance built into each CR, in order to allow the encounter to fluidly adapt to smaller or larger than normal parties, or parties of less/more experience/optimization.
The terrain needs to not only be explained, but explained to the potential GM exactly how to use the terrain to the disadvantage of the party. Have little playbook drawings to show possible movements for enemies to take, where to put difficult terrain to shut down charging lanes, where to put the high ground...
Traps. Lots of traps. We are bringing them back. Lol. List types of traps, who uses them, how to use them, and where to use them. When the Fighter charges someone and instead falls into a mundane pit trap, it is hilarious. It's supposed to be hilarious.
Half of each encounter section should be filled with alternate possibilities covering a bunch of different ways parties can likely to screw this up... loopholes and scenarios where munchkin madness occurs. I think the old 3.x editions had guidelines for how to handle things like this... if the party manages to beat the Tarrasque below level 13, the book says that they are likely cheating AND the GM likely is doing it wrong... stuff like that.
Descriptive texts to play monsters and enemies true to their nature. Higher CR encounters should always include the possibility that the villain flees. Not every encounter has to end in death to get the reward/XP. And smarter enemies will plan for escape routes, many sttaight up have magic like D.Door to get out of there. Use these. Don't make every enemy stand and fight to the death.
Or, all of this is completely irrelevant to what you are actually looking for... if so, I apologize.
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I would organize an encounter codex by Terrain Types first. So, separate it all by Aquatic, Ocean/Sea, Underdark, Jungles, Plains, Hills, Desert, Forest, etc.
Then, separate them by CR's. And then after that, I'd make a % roll in each CR.
So,
Underdark
CR1-2:
1%: Darkmantle
2%: Swarm of Bats, or 1 Dire bat
3%: Pit trap
4%: 2 Festrogs
Etc., all the way to 100%.
CR3-4:
1%: Earth Elemental
2%: Dust Mephit
3%: Spiked Pit trap
4%: Rust Monster
Etc. all the way to CR25-30. Then do another terrain type.
Jungle
CR1-2:
1%: Dire badger
2%: 2 Gnolls
3%: 2 Krenshars
4%: Net Trap
CR3-4:
1%: 2 Poisonous Frog swarms
2%: 3 Velociraptors
3%: Werecrocodile
4%: Nightmare Ettercap (near a spider swarm)
If you're going to publish this online in a buyable PDF, you could take it a step further and provide a link to the monster. That way the GM can go to whatever terrain the party is in, and go to the applicable CR for his party, and then roll, he gets a 77%, and clicks on the link in 77%'s entry. Presto, you got an encounter.
If you're going to do written books only, then you'd probably have to reference the book number and page that they show up in the Monster Manuals.
I'm not sure of the legality side of this, but if you're allowed to copy/paste information from the Pathfinder Monster Manuals, then I'd organize it with a Table of Contents separated by terrain types and CR types (like above), and this would probably be a 10-15 page table of contents, but w/e. However, what the GM can do with a ToC listed like this is simply look in the ToC for his terrain, and then go to his CR listed under that terrain, and roll his %die right then and there. He gets a 77%, and in the Jungle CR7-8 entry for 77%, it says flip to page 208, and on page 208 it has the monster already there, with a map of the encounter with difficult terrain squares and traps already drawn out, as well as any Perc check DC's for other nonsense that might be going on in the particular encounter. Maybe even create that same encounter 2 other different ways on page 209 and 210, just in case the GM doesn't like one, or if he happens to roll a 77% on Jungle CR7-8 more than once with that particular party. Now he has multiple encounters to choose from while using the same % roll. From a GM's standpoint, this is super user-friendly.
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Like fully designed encounters ready to insert into any campaign?
I see that the character codex offers ready to go characters of each class and level...
So an encounter codex would include ready to go encounters of each environmental setting and CR range...?
Like Jungle, CR 7 (+/-3)...
I would include a set tolerance built into each CR, in order to allow the encounter to fluidly adapt to smaller or larger than normal parties, or parties of less/more experience/optimization.The terrain needs to not only be explained, but explained to the potential GM exactly how to use the terrain to the disadvantage of the party. Have little playbook drawings to show possible movements for enemies to take, where to put difficult terrain to shut down charging lanes, where to put the high ground...
Traps. Lots of traps. We are bringing them back. Lol. List types of traps, who uses them, how to use them, and where to use them. When the Fighter charges someone and instead falls into a mundane pit trap, it is hilarious. It's supposed to be hilarious.
Half of each encounter section should be filled with alternate possibilities covering a bunch of different ways parties can likely to screw this up... loopholes and scenarios where munchkin madness occurs. I think the old 3.x editions had guidelines for how to handle things like this... if the party manages to beat the Tarrasque below level 13, the book says that they are likely cheating AND the GM likely is doing it wrong... stuff like that.
Descriptive texts to play monsters and enemies true to their nature. Higher CR encounters should always include the possibility that the villain flees. Not every encounter has to end in death to get the reward/XP. And smarter enemies will plan for escape routes, many sttaight up have magic like D.Door to get out of there. Use these. Don't make every enemy stand and fight to the death.
Or, all of this is completely irrelevant to what you are actually looking for... if so, I apologize.
The Voodoo Monk said it better than I could.
Have complete, interesting encounters, including not only monsters but terrain, and tactics (and traps) to make them interesting.
Organizing it by terrain type and then CR seems like a good way to handle it.
The idea here being that if I wanted to randomly run a campaign I could thumb through your book depending on where my characters were and start pulling things out of to string together the campaign.
Also keep in mind that not every encounter needs to be combat either.
It would be just as valid to have "You encounter a stone statue that seems important" as an encounter in a forest (or possibly many other places) that could have many different kinds of things happen.
Perhaps you give the GM a table with d% chances of various things happening, like treasure. Or a ghost. Or a mission from a forgotten deity.
Kind of like a semi-random choose your own adventure type book for a GM to use. I say semi-random because I would want to start of by saying "Okay, my players are in a town, what happens?"
Now such a book would be huge. But if you were to generate something like that it would be an incredibly value tool to any GM.
Perhaps you break it up into several different books, by terrain type.
Like you do one hole book for Urban/City encounters.
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I think example encounters would be useful.
But I think what would be far more useful is a breakdown of what, exactly, an encounter is. What purpose it serves within the game and within the story. And once you've established that: how to build a good one.
The Angry DM's articles on the subject are absolutely invaluable. I'd read all) of them before setting out to pen down a comprehensive encounter-anything.
Specifically, the concepts of a dramatic question, of conflict and decisions points. If you don't have a firm grasp of these, I don't think your encounters will be very good. Or maybe some of them will be. But some will be bad.
And then there's when to end an encounter. Gods above, I wish more people knew when to take a bow.
There's the balancing act between mechanics and narrative pacing and how to vary your pacing so your players stay engaged.
I mean. Maybe what I would really like is a "how to actually run games that are actually good, actually", or just "how to GM" for starters. But an "encounter codex" feels like that's pretty near the mark.
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I think there's some muddying of the waters between an encounter codex and an encounter toolkit in some of the replies to date.
To me it seems that a codex would be a series of encounters that can be dropped into any setting without much/any preparation required on the part of the GM. Whilst the toolkit would explain to the GM the features of the different types of terrain, how monsters adapted to the terrain might exploit those features and perhaps a few worked examples.
A book that combines both would be gargantuan.
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That's true.
I just feel like a "toolkit" would just be far more useful. A fish versus fishing, etc.
I'd do some example encounters and at least the bones of building them.
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I'd also find an encounter toolkit more useful than an encounter codex.
If there was to be an encounter codex, I'd like it to be as scaleable as possible e.g. "to increase to a CR 6 encounter replace the Goblin Dog mounts with Worgs, or add a Goblin sergeant (Warrior 3, see page x) on a Goblin Dog".
I'm not too interested in "encounters by terrain" unless the terrain itself is going to play a part e.g. a chase through a forest, with obstacles to jump etc.
Instead, I'd prefer encounters by "nature" e.g. an encounter with mounted archers, and encounter with creatures using pack tactics, an encounter with flying creatures etc.
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If anything, you could simply take all the printed encounters from AP's that do not utilize unique monsters/gear/rules, and just organize them by CR (or whatever)... that would be an encounter codex of all the printed Paizo encounters.
However, I think the tool kit would be far more useful.
Broken up into setting/terrain types (think: Ranger's Favored Terrain list), you could explain how to use the setting to your advantage/the disavantage of the party. No special monster adaptation is necessary... no monsters are even mentioned by name... just "X's" and "O's" in a playbook.
You could have recommended monsters in footnotes, like "flying enemies here, here, and here will raise the difficulty of this encounter", or "it would behoove you to place archers in these locations"... but, honestly, you could just mark the locations in the playbook with "flight", "brace", "bow", "grapple"... the actual monster/person is largely irrelevant to overall tactics as long as they can do the job that position requires.
After a relatively thorough explanation of how to use the terrain, seeing that they are saying the enemy hiding in the bushes should use a "brace" weapon should intuitively now make more sense. Like, oh yeah, I'm definitely putting flying enemies here, here, and here... or whatever.
Same with traps. Explaining how to properly rig the terrain with traps in a way that makes sense, and is actually somewhat effective, would be nice. Notes about replacing enemy locations with certain types of traps, or adding certain traps around other enemy locations to make them better.
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I hate to be "this guy", but it's not like it's ever stopped me before, so:
Combat is NOT an encounter. It is one way to resolve the conflict that an encounter presents.
I know it feels pretty nit-picky, but I feel like it's an important distinction. Especially for new GM's who don't have the same instincts or understanding of the game/storytelling.
If you can explain this to them early on in their development as a GM, you'll avoid all sorts of pitfalls and make it much easier for them to grow.
Obviously, combat is almost always a major part of any ttrpg, and is especially central to ones like Pathfinder.
...but I honestly feel like the encounters that are resolved without combat are the harder ones to design and run for most people. Combat is inherently exciting and diverse. But making a climactic scene involving an ethical debate or a climb down a mountain or a chase through the city? That takes a serious, deep understanding of what an encounter and a scene is, what their purpose is and how to design them to achieve said purpose.
A book that combines both would be gargantuan.
Any encounter codex will be pretty big. Just take A variation on what Ryze Kuja asked for above. CR 1/4-25 would cover 27 lists (28 if CR 1/3) for one terrain type. As a d20 roll would be 570 encounters that all need described. Combine some up (tactics for 1 giant spider and 1 young giant spider is going to be similar to 1 giant spider and 2 young giant spiders, etc) will reduce this some. But I'd have to reduce this to 10/page to make it a 64-ish page book. Doable but this also means that the level of detail people are asking for isn't very likely.
I'm not complaining just puzzling through the logistics.
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A book that combines both would be gargantuan.Any encounter codex will be pretty big. Just take A variation on what Ryze Kuja asked for above. CR 1/4-25 would cover 27 lists (28 if CR 1/3) for one terrain type. As a d20 roll would be 570 encounters that all need described. Combine some up (tactics for 1 giant spider and 1 young giant spider is going to be similar to 1 giant spider and 2 young giant spiders, etc) will reduce this some. But I'd have to reduce this to 10/page to make it a 64-ish page book. Doable but this also means that the level of detail people are asking for isn't very likely.
I'm not complaining just puzzling through the logistics.
The Book of Lairs (I think that was the name) was an encounter codex at 64 pages length so it is doable, but not comprehensive.
If you did 10 maps, 1/2 a page each for a low, medium and high level encounter. 1/2 a page to scale each up or down a bit and a page to describe the encounter gives you 40 pages and plenty of room to overflow. You could even do two maps per encounter write-up so the GM has two similar but not identical encounters in the codex and still have 14 pages to spare.
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A book that combines both would be gargantuan.Any encounter codex will be pretty big. Just take A variation on what Ryze Kuja asked for above. CR 1/4-25 would cover 27 lists (28 if CR 1/3) for one terrain type. As a d20 roll would be 570 encounters that all need described. Combine some up (tactics for 1 giant spider and 1 young giant spider is going to be similar to 1 giant spider and 2 young giant spiders, etc) will reduce this some. But I'd have to reduce this to 10/page to make it a 64-ish page book. Doable but this also means that the level of detail people are asking for isn't very likely.
I'm not complaining just puzzling through the logistics.
Something I want to point out is, I don't think you need to cover every monster in the bestiary.
In fact as a GM that's not what I want.
I want encounters based on terrain and level that make sense. It doesn't need to have every kind of monster available. But I also want it to be more interesting than just a list of monster appropriate for that terrain and level (range, I feel I should mention that any CR encounter can be appropriate for a range of CRs, depending on how much you wish to challenge the party). I want terrain, I want tactics. I want traps when appropriate. I want non-combat encounters.
I would rather see a book that does 10 different monsters per CR rating with all the other stuff I mentioned than a book that covers all possible monster options.
The Book of Lairs (I think that was the name) was an encounter codex at 64 pages length so it is doable, but not comprehensive.
If you did 10 maps, 1/2 a page each for a low, medium and high level encounter. 1/2 a page to scale each up or down a bit and a page to describe the encounter gives you 40 pages and plenty of room to overflow. You could even do two maps per encounter write-up so the GM has two similar but not identical encounters in the codex and still have 14 pages to spare.
What you're describing is something not dissimilar to AAW's Mini Dungeons, but with more scaling, yes? That's doable. Even series-able and then compendium-able.
So if it was essentially a map with:
Setup: The Greenear goblin tribe took the MacGuffin. The adventurers have been hired to get it back.
Room 1: The guards here fell asleep. Stealthing past this area is at –5 penalty because of all the twigs scattered across the area. The guards are light sleepers and take only a –5 penalty to Perception checks while asleep. The Goblin Dog (if any) likes to play fetch. If the adventurers succeed an Animal Handling check (DC 11) within 1 round of it waking up, an alarm won't be raised.
CR 1/3: One Goblin
CR 2: One Goblin and one Goblin Dog
CR 3: Three Goblins and one Goblin Dog
Room 2: The goblins here are rotating a commoner they kidnapped over a fire. The commoner is still alive, very frightened and has an apple in his mouth. The goblins left their weapons behind their barrier at the other end of the room that they can run to and use for cover. The trap (if any) is between the door and the cover barrier.
CR 1: Three Goblins
CR 3: Three Goblins and a Pit Trap
CR 4: Three Goblins and a Camouflaged Pit Trap
Room 3: And so on.
This would be something you'd be interested in?
This would be something you'd be interested in?
Personally, I wouldn't be interested in either a codex, a toolkit or a mini-adventure compendium. I've GMed the same campaign at least 4 times for 30+ years and have quite a compendium of encounters.
But what I imagine a codex to be is a series of ready-made wandering monster encounters. The party is travelling through the [insert terrain type] and the GM needs to throw a [pick a CR] encounter at them. The GM picks up the codex, opens it at the appropriate terrain and reads the entry for the closest CR. Makes a couple of adjustments, as recommended in the codex, to match the intended CR and then selects a map. The GM lays out the encounter as described, with the indicated starting pieces on the map.
I imagine an Encounter Toolkit to talk through the intended encounter difficulties, the action economy and the XP Budget method of selecting creatures in one chapter. To have a section about different types of monster and how they are likely to engage a party and typical tactics. A section on the different terrain types and how the different types of monster are likely to operate in the terrain. E.g in a swamp, where movement is difficult, predators will tend to sit and wait in hiding. they will only attack a target that moves into range. If they encounter difficulties they will retreat to water for cover.
...if new GMs need to know the mechanics...those individual topics are all well documented. What I often find lacking in my own games or friends' games anecdotally are how to stretch BEYOND the stat block or even the environmental mechanic to make a combat really dynamic.
Agreed.
I would even go beyond that and say that the actual process of gamemastering--what skills are involved, what purpose each task has, what your objectives are as you go through it all--is something that is largely untouched by most systems. D&D doesn't talk about it. Pathfinder doesn't. They offer some examples and talk about the general task as a whole, but not *how to actually do it*.I've run games in this system for years but I don't know how to organically add traps to a scene or strategically weaponize the environment to the advantage of the villains/foes beyond using Cover or Higher Ground bonuses.
I'd be up for a new thread on this stuff. This is the kind of thing that really interests me about this hobby; breaking down the structure of a game or story and understanding the why's before the how's. I believe it's the only real way to improve the craft. But until they're a thread of its own:
Traps- https://theangrygm.com/traps-suck/
Encounters- https://theangrygm.com/how-to-build-awesome-encounters/
Combat- https://theangrygm.com/series/run-better-battles/
I'm looking for battlefield maps as well as encounters to go with them. Something like Heroes of Battle with that one map of a fight across a large town and its surroundings. The scale was like 300 ft.per square.