Note: This post was originally published as an article on our Patreon. However, since that page is no longer accessible, we’ve decided to make it available here instead. You may also notice that the same information appears in the NPCs & Opponents section of the Game Master’s Guide.

Applying small changes to some of your Opponents can be a fun way to make your game world feel unique and inject some variety in the campaign. Of course, you can always use the rules for Generating Opponents to design a completely new creature, but sometimes the process may be too involved for your needs. Perhaps you only want to introduce a tougher (or weaker) version of an enemy the heroes have already encountered, or you want to surprise the party with something unexpected but don’t have much time to prepare. The options presented here give you a few, simple ways to customize your Opponents without having to create a whole new monster from scratch each time.

Reskinning

The quickest option is to use another creature’s stat block. Simply select an Opponent that roughly covers the role that you had in mind for your creature, drop any unnecessary or out of place Special Ability, and use its statistics. For example, a Redcap could become a low-level Orc, a Dwergar Warrior could cover for a Mannish mercenary, and a Dire Bear could become a dark monstrosity stalking the ancient ruins of an Elvish kingdom. Reskinning is perfect when you have to improvise and need to come up with a new creature quickly, but it’s also a good choice for nameless Opponents that don’t have a huge impact on the campaign, and serve mostly to set the tone of the game.

Equipment

An opponent’s armament also plays an important role in the challenge they offer. Poorly equipped enemies are obviously less threatening than better armed ones, and you can apply this principle to adjust the power level of an encounter. In general, Opponents wearing heavier armor and wielding shields are harder to deal with than more lightly armored foes, because they generally take less damage from attacks and are less likely to suffer debilitating Critical Strikes. Conversely, enemies wielding shorter weapons are normally slightly weaker than those armed with longer ones, because their attacks are resolved later in the TRS and tend to deal less damage. For example, you could equip the Orc Soldiers acting as bodyguards of a Dark Mage with a Half Plate and Full Helms, to communicate that they were specifically picked for the job and make them slightly tougher than normal Orc Soldiers. On the other hand, you could decide that the Orc Soldier watching over the Dark Mage’s prisoners wears no armor and is armed only with a Whip, to make it easier for the heroes to break out.

You can also use Superior Quality or Masterwork equipment to slightly increase an Opponent’s CMB without having to increase their Level.

Finally, important Opponents may also possess enchanted items that boost their stats or grant them unexpected special abilities. Keep in mind, however, that once these enemies are defeated, their precious items will inevitably fall into the hands of the PCs, so don’t grant your NPCs equipment you don’t want the heroes to have access to.

New Abilities

Special Abilities are one of your Opponent’s most defining elements. They help in bringing to the table the overall theme of the creature, and translating some of its most peculiar features into game mechanics, as well as providing tactical challenges. Granting a new, unusual ability to a creature, is a sure way to surprise your players and make the Opponent feel truly unique. Of course, you can’t just slap a random ability on your Opponent and call it a day, unless you want to end up with a bunch of weird, mismatched creatures. First, you’ll need to come up with a concept or a theme for your creature. In other words, you need to find a reason behind the Opponent’s unusual ability. For example, it would make sense for a Troll living in a volcanic environment to have the Flame-Hardened ability, or for the Ghost of a headless horseman to cause Fear.

Additionally, keep in mind that certain types of creatures all share a common set of Special Abilities. For example, all Undead monsters have the Unliving ability, and all Demons have the Otherworldly ability.

Finally, to avoid making your new creature too powerful, limit your selection to abilities possessed by Opponents of the same power level or lower: Common Opponents should limit their abilities only to those possessed by other Common Opponents, Elite Opponents only to those possessed by other Elite or Common Opponents, and Antagonists can gain any ability you like.

Adjusting their Level

Finally, you can adjust an Opponent’s Level to adapt it to the narrative of your campaign, or to represent a particularly tougher or weaker individual. This is a slightly more involved process than those presented previously, but it’s still quicker than creating a completely new enemy.

For a stronger Opponent, increase their Level by 1 or 2, then apply the following modifiers:

• For Common Opponents, increase their HPs and Skill Bonuses by 5 points for each additional Level until they reach Level 10, and by 2 points per Level afterwards.
• For Elite Opponents and Antagonists,  increase their HPs and Skill Bonuses by 10 points for each additional Level until they reach Level 10, and by 5 points per Level afterwards.
•  Additionally, increase the Opponent’s CMB by 10 points for each additional Level if they’re Level 5 or lower, and by 5 points for each additional Level if they’re Level 6 or higher.
• Finally, increase their Saves by 5 points per Level until they reach Level 10, then by 2 points per Level until they’re Level 20, and by 1 point per Level afterwards.

To create weaker enemies, do the same but in reverse, decreasing the creature’s bonuses by the same amount.

Example: You decide to create a stronger version of the Orc Soldier found in the Core Rules’ Bestiary, bringing the creature from Level 3 to Level 4. Since it’s a Common Opponent, you increase their HPs from 60 to 65, and all their Skill Bonuses by and Saves by 5 points. At the same time, you increase their Primary Attack CMB from +60 to  +70, and their Secondary Attack CMB from +45 to +55.

Later on, the heroes meet a weakened Spirit Beast, and you decide to reduce the creature Level from 6 to 5 to represent its current state. You reduce the Spirit Beast’s HPs and Skill Bonuses by 10 points, and their Saves and CMB by 5 points.

In any case, this method is recommended only for minor adjustments to a creature’s Level. If you need to drastically change the threat posed by an Opponent, it’s probably better if you use the Generating Opponents rules provided in the Core Rules.

Mix and Match

For a greater effect, you can also mix some of the different methods presented here. For example, you could take a Bandit, increase their level by 1, have them wear Medium Armor and wield Superior Quality weapons to create the leader of a gang of ruffians.