One of the design goals of METTLE Core is that PCs and NPCs use the same system. This is due to my own less than satisfying experiences in “player-facing” games where the enemies felt like reactive props. Also, I actually enjoy rolling some dice in combat and making tactical decisions when running a game.
Perhaps your experience with player-facing games has been more positive, and you want to hack METTLE to your liking. You’re in luck, because for the most part it is already there. When an NPC does something, just have the players Check against their passive Attribute pool to resist it.
To be 100% clear about how to do this, we fold every such case into a general “Save” Reaction, below:
Save
Avoid or resist an Action made by an NPC. NPCs do not Check in this player-facing hack. On their Action, the Guide simply presents their Pool (plus any modifiers) as a Difficulty for the PC to beat. A successful Save means the foe’s Action did not succeed. This is a unique defensive Reaction, meaning that it does not use up an Action, allow Twists, or benefit from Raises.
Common Save Checks:
Save vs. Parley is MOTIVE vs. their NATURE.
Save vs. Sneak is MOTIVE vs. their POISE.
Save vs. Attack is POISE vs. their NATURE.
Detailed NPCs may use a relevant CONCEPT as the Difficulty instead, violating another core rule about passives never being CONCEPT-linked.
- Success: Avoid or resist NPC Action.
- Edge: none
- Failure: NPC Action succeeds. If an Attack, lower the damage by your Edge.
- Twists: none
Cover and Shield bonuses to POISE apply to Saves. Defend bonuses from weapons do not.
This only departs from standard METTLE Core much when it comes to damage:
Player-facing Damage
NPC foes under a player-facing system do a flat amount of damage, which can be reduced by any Edge on a failed Save. This is equal to NATURE + DM for fully-fleshed out NPCs or the Extra Pool + DM for Extras. Characters Soak this incoming trauma normally, but get to add any Edge on their failed Save if they are hit. This violates the usual rule about Edge not mattering on a failed Check!
The outcome of damage using this method is probably not identical to the Core default, but should be similar enough.
The Defend Action
Players can still Defend after all this is through, further lowering incoming damage. NPCs cannot Check, and should be satisfied with spending their Defend Action to simply Soak one damage plus any Defend bonus from shield weapons. For example, a buckler-wielding NPC opponent may Soak 3 damage in exchange for their Action.
Split Actions
NPCs may split Actions but this divides the Difficulty faced by players instead of the dice Pool.
Example: In the midst of some late-night intruding, Asphodel is attacked by a warehouse guard. The Warehouse Guard is a fairly average 3D+3 Extra, armed with a baton (+1D Hit, +1 DM). Their Attack thus has a Difficulty of 4 (3D + 1D to Hit bonus). If the baton hits, its DM is 7 (3D + 3 FRAME +1 Baton DM).
Asphodel gets to make a Save Reaction using his 5D POISE, versus a Difficulty of 4. His Check result is [2, 1, 5, 5, 4]. This is a failure as the Score is only 3, less than the guard’s 4 Difficulty Attack. The guard’s damage from the baton is 7, but Asphodel’s 3 Edge lowers this to only 4. Can he Soak it? Probably.
The elaboration of the bonuses makes the above example look more complex than it actually is. In the end it is just Save vs. Difficulty, lower damage by Edge if it is an Attack.