GM Techniques

The GM describes the world, portrays its inhabitants, and judges uncertain outcomes. These techniques help answer unexpected questions, prepare opponents, and guide a campaign as the characters grow stronger.

Questions about the World

A player asks whether an inn has a stable, a warehouse contains rope, or a village has a healer. Answer from what is already established. When the answer is uncertain, use a prescribed chance roll.

Player: Does this inn have a stable with horses? GM: One chance in two. Roll 1 on a d2 and it does.

Use the surroundings and the player's reasoning to set the odds. Horses tied outside make a stable more likely. An inn already described as a coaching house needs no roll. Announce the chance before rolling, then record the answer as part of the setting.

A failed roll answers the question: there is no stable. It adds no unrelated trouble, such as making the innkeeper suspicious.

Social Interactions

Play conversations through what the characters say and do. Their attributes, backgrounds, and behavior influence how NPCs respond. Use a prescribed chance roll when the outcome is uncertain; Cerberus has no separate Diplomacy, Bluff, or other social skills. Perception and Stealth covers physical disguises.

A barbarian with +8 Strength looks imposing before speaking. A scholar may receive a more detailed explanation, while a local recognizes the host's customs. Use the following reactions as examples, adapted to the NPC and the situation.

Attribute	Response to a High Value	Response to a Low Value
Strength	respect, requests for demonstrations	underestimated physical ability
Dexterity	admiration, delicate tasks entrusted	concern about tasks requiring precision
Constitution	endurance respected, physical challenges offered	offers of rest, concern for health
Intelligence	detailed explanations, opinions sought	simpler explanations, extra patience
Wisdom	advice and judgment sought	hesitation to entrust important decisions
Charisma	attention, openness, readiness to trust	more effort needed to gain confidence

Background also changes a reception:

Background	Possible Response
Noble	titles respected, conduct expected, access to influential circles
Humble	kinship with commoners, distrust from elites
Military	shared language and respect among soldiers
Religious	reverence from believers, skepticism from others
Criminal	underworld contacts, suspicion from authorities
Foreign	curiosity, suspicion, or misunderstood customs
Local	easy introductions, familiar customs, expectations of loyalty

Show these differences through the NPC's tone, vocabulary, posture, what they reveal, and what they offer or request. Keep reactions consistent and explain this approach to the players. Give each character opportunities to contribute, including those whose low attributes make some encounters harder.

Building Martial NPCs

Give the opponent a role in the encounter, then build a sheet that supports it:

1. Choose class and level for HP progression, Saves, Speed, and action reserves.
2. Assign attributes that fit their body and history. An aging swordmaster and a giant can have comparable experience with very different Strength.
3. Choose equipment from their wealth, culture, rank, and employer. Give an enchanted weapon an origin.
4. Choose two or three useful techniques. A shield guard, mounted hunter, grappler, and assassin should offer different fights.
5. Represent weapon training with a fighting style when appropriate. Basic Fighting Style supplies damage progression for a trained combatant who lacks a stronger named style.

Record Basic Fighting Style as a feat when chosen. Players can earn it through training, and casters can learn it when their history includes weapon practice. Use its entry for class grades and interaction with named styles.

Compare an ordinary attack with the party's DR. A poorly equipped soldier may be unable to hurt an armored hero. For an opponent intended to threaten that hero, choose a fitting means: greater Strength, better equipment, a fighting style, grappling, or control of the terrain.

Building an Encounter

Start with who is present and what they want. Choose their equipment, positions, and response to danger before estimating the encounter's difficulty.

A few details are enough:

• an objective: rob, kill, capture, delay, or frighten;
• equipment and fighting style;
• two or three useful battlefield positions;
• discipline and the point at which the opponents flee;
• a memorable face, voice, or habit.

Highwaymen with horses create a different encounter from thieves firing crossbows out of windows. Easy fights also have their place: old enemies overcome quickly show how much the characters have grown.

Estimating Power

Compare damage, DR, action reserves, Reflex, spells, and terrain. Level alone gives an incomplete estimate, especially when characters have gained unusual powers through play.

Six Level 1 bandits may challenge three Level 2 or 3 characters. Prepared positions and scattered players favor the bandits; one well-placed area spell may defeat them. After the fight, note what decided it and use that experience when preparing the next.

Counting Damage Upward

When an opponent's HP total is difficult to estimate, the GM can add damage taken instead of subtracting it from a fixed maximum: 38, then 71, then 119. After seeing a few representative attacks, choose the threshold at which the opponent dies.

For comparable creatures, the first defeated opponent establishes the threshold for the others. Once set, keep it, including when a critical hit reaches it sooner than expected.

For a boss, observe a few exchanges before settling the total. Descriptions such as “gravely wounded” or “nearly fallen” should agree with the damage still required to defeat them.

Bandits

A numerous group of low-level opponents gives players opportunities to use multiple attacks and area spells. It lets the GM play tactically, using numbers, positions, and coordinated attacks. Resolve detection when needed, play any threats or negotiation, establish positions, then begin combat. Flight, surrender, or capture can turn the fight into a new scene.

Ordinary bandits usually have no magic. Experienced ones may still spread out, shoot from cover, use smoke, interrupt casters, or rush them in melee. Organize coordinated groups by position: archers, close fighters, and flankers can act as separate groups.

A Boss

A boss is stronger than any individual party member. Together, the players can surround them, spend their defenses, and create openings for one another.

A martial boss is a useful first example: a charge, parry, grapple, or heavy blow makes their intentions easy to follow. Add more complex opponents as the table becomes comfortable managing their abilities.

Keep portraying the opponent during combat. They can taunt, bargain, react to a technique, or reveal something when defeated.

Counterparts

An opposing party has distinct classes, feats, spells, and roles. A Barbarian, Rogue, and Wizard might face a Fighter, Cleric, and Inquisitor.

These encounters need more preparation, especially at high levels. Two approaches help set their difficulty:

• Give weaker opponents effective tactics and use their abilities fully.
• Give opponents power close to the heroes', with limited information, hesitation, or competing objectives that affect their decisions.

An enemy may protect an ally, save a spell for later, panic, or misread the party's plan. Let their behavior follow their knowledge and motives.

An Ambush

An ambush begins with a hidden threat. If noticing it is uncertain, prescribe the chance that someone detects the danger. Detection can lead to maneuvering, negotiation, or an ordinary fight.

On failure, use Attacking from Hiding to resolve the opening attacks. If several characters are equally exposed, the GM may choose the first target at random. Give attention to nearby cover, escape routes, and positions the survivors can use to recover from the first blows.

Guiding Character Growth

Advance characters through their experiences under Character Creation and Progression. Levels can rise slowly while training, discoveries, and rewards develop individual abilities.

For a caster, distinguish three kinds of progress:

Progress	Effect
Character level	Advances the class's HP progression, action reserves, Saves, and other features
Caster level	Strengthens known spells and meets power requirements for higher spell levels
Study	Teaches a new spell or a higher-level version

Increasing CL strengthens known spells without teaching new ones. It can still change encounters substantially through damage, range, or duration; consider which spells the character already uses.

Use Learning Magic to set study time. One month is typical for learning a spell, with shorter or longer periods according to the spell, experience, and available instruction. Researching a new epic spell can take years.

Related Rules

Topic	Chapter
Prescribed chance rolls	Base Resolution
Environmental hazards	Environment and Physical Hazards
Rest and recovery	Rest and Recovery
Magic-item rewards and commissions	Enchanting Magic Items
Detection and surprise	Perception and Stealth