Balancing monsters and battles

Alright, I have been working on an RPG for a few months now and have filled out most of my items, all my characters, some monsters, and have done a few maps.  My main problem is balancing the power of the monsters with the characters. For example I will find that the characters are dodging the monsters a lot even though their agility is low, and I will also find that if they don't dodge a lot then they often die quickly.  I have been messing around with this for a while trying to even them out.
Any pointers on this matter would be appreciated

I remember there being a tool meant for balancing just that. Battlers and Enemies.
I look for it. I cant believe I didnt download it myself. xP

I am interested in this in which you speak of. Please share for all to enjoy.

dang i have the same problem you have the calculator thing?

I remember reading a script that kinda dealt with this.
The monsters encountered would either be a couple of lvl's above or below the character's level.
It's either on this forum or on hbgames.org
sorry wasn't too interested in it at the time.

I had a problem with this on the RPG Maker for the PSone.
I really don't want to have to go through all that trouble again
if there's a simpler way of working it out.

yea sometimes that's a problem.
agility is for speed(and evasion?)
there's options in monsters for critical hit and attack that often miss
same for your characters, there's options pretty much everywhere(in stats, in items-weapon) which you can definy a little bit more about the accuracy/evasion.
test play often your battles.

If you don't want to use a calculator kinda thing you could do what I do. I got my little brother and all his friends testing my game everytime I do something new. They test the hell out of it and do everything, try all the little tricks, and fight a lot. IT takes some more time than a calculator I'd imagine but it sure helps balancing things to fit the way different people play.

make some people play your game and just make the average of it

(btw, there is a topic exactly like this in this forum already)

Anways, that doesn't matter much. Now, the problem....

Here is how I make balanced monsters:

Balancing Monsters and Characters

The first thing we should know is that monsters should be based off the strength of the characters, ad the characters should not be based of the monsters. That being said, our first issue is finding a good power for your characters.

Characters

--First thing first is to determine which characters are filling in which roles. A good way to define this is with "Front, Mid, Back" which addresses to in which area of the field you would imagine the character.

Front: Fighters, Berserkers. Heavy Damage, Defense, or both. Also is coupled with many Hit Points  and lesser Magic Points.

Mid: Archers, Mixed Classes. These characters will be overall average in almost everything, used primarily to fill in party-gaps.

Back: Mages, Clerics.  These characters have many Magic Points to feed their extremely strong spells. They do not strike often and when they get hit, it hurts hard.

--Now that we decided who is doing what, Lets continue to step 2 of character development. In this step, we discern what numerical value we will place for each of our character's stats. This is done with this simple little table which balances our characters easily:

Where "Min" is the value at level 1 and "Max" is the value at level 99.
Front:

• Hit Points:

Min=75      Max=7500

• Magic Points:

Min=25     Max= 2500

• Strength:

Min=7.5      Max=750

• Dexterity:

Min=5     Max= 500

• Intelligence:

Min=2.5     Max=250

• Agility:

Min=5     Max= 500
[/list]

Back:

• Hit Points:

  Min=25     Max= 2500

• Magic Points:

Min=75      Max=7500

• Strength:

Min=2.5     Max=250

• Dexterity:

Min=5     Max= 500

• Intelligence:

Min=7.5      Max=750

• Agility:

Min=5     Max= 500
[/list]

Mid:

• Hit Points:

Min=50      Max=5000

• Magic Points:

Min=50      Max=5000

• Strength:

Min=5     Max= 500

• Dexterity:

Min=5     Max= 500

• Intelligence:

Min=5     Max= 500

• Agility:

Min=5     Max= 500
[/list]

Now, I am not saying this is the only balanced combination (I have done this table with 3333/6666/9999 and also with 1500/3000/4500/6000/7500 but this one I like the best)  but it is the one I use and like the best, so It will be the example.

Why I know this is balanced:: Imagine the values of {2.5 and 25} both have a score of "1" (the lowest). Imagine the values of {5 and 50} both have a score of "2" (the average). Imagine the values of {7.5 and 75} both have a score of "3" (the highest). We will see each build has a total value of... 12!!! All three have a score of 12, essentially making it balanced.

Now, not to scare you away from customizing your characters, these pre-determined  roles of "Front", "Back" , and "Middle" are not the only options. So long as you do not break the "12 Score" (meaning the total score of a character's stats do not surpass a 12 value) then you are balanced. Other options you could use are:

Middle-Back: (I use this for my Blue Mage)

• Hit Points:

  Min=25     Max= 2500

• Magic Points:

Min=50      Max=5000

• Strength:

Min=2.5     Max=250

• Dexterity:

Min=7.5      Max=750

• Intelligence:

Min=5      Max=500

• Agility:

Min=7.5      Max=750
[/list]


Middle-Front: (I use this for my Archer)

• Hit Points:

  Min=50     Max= 5000

• Magic Points:

Min=25      Max=2500

• Strength:

Min=5    Max=500

• Dexterity:

Min=7.5      Max=750

• Intelligence:

Min=2.5      Max=250

• Agility:

Min=7.5      Max=750
[/list]

Now your characters are balanced and are easily adapted to determine monster strength.



Monsters

Now, with monsters, compare what level the stats of your characters are at to the monster. Example.

I need a monster for a level 4 character to fight.

Level 4 "front" character has:

300hp
75mp
30Str
10Int
20Dex
20Agi

To make a monster for a solo fight, you might copy/paste those stats to the monster. However, when there are 3-4 party members, you might wat to boost it up a bit. As a rule of thumb I create my monsters with the "value of 12" Rule used with characters.

So, here it is, some challenge ratings for encounters (This is assuming a party of 3-4):

Very Easy Battle: Value of 8 or less

Easy Battle: Value of 9-11

Moderate Battle: Value of 11-13

Hard Battle (mini-boss): Value of 14-16

Major Boss: Value of 16-18

That should be rule of thumb enough...









(I'll finish this later, I have to get to work. Trust me, it should help you out nicely)

Yeah, as Savarast says. I set the stats and power levels for all my characters first, then make the monsters stats.  You don't want to have your characters shaped around the monsters when the game is about your characters, so shape the monsters to suit.

For instance, you have a guy at lvl8 with high strength and defence.  Now, hypothetically, you've got a monster you want to be hitting him really fast to counter this, so get your charactesr agility and make the monsters higher. How high above it will be based on how often you want him getting hit.  Get the monster, put him in the group and test it out.  If it doesn't pan out, chage the agility to what's needed, then repeat.
That's the nice, simple way 

See if you can use my formula. It does work, you just may need to understand it first.

It guess that would work for standard battles, but i like everything having a more individual feel to it, each monster with their own abilities, each boss with their own weaknesses and the like, rather than a simple generic difficulty rating.

But, i'll grant that it still gives a simple railroad to work off of.