Monster building rules

rulebook/src/worldspeakers/encounters.md

@@ -79,20 +79,30 @@ Also consider current narrative arc, quests and goals players have.
    8. Triggered events that change the fight over time.
       1. Design a clear trigger and clear effect.
 
-## Monster Building
+## Selecting monsters
 
-1. Select a total number of turns: should be within 1 of the players.
-   1. Divide these turns across the monsters in the combat.
-2. Set life totals: 25 * turns per round.
-3. Set proficiency bonus to within 1 of the players.
-4. Set attributes: total should be 5 + 2 * proficiency bonus.
-   1. Total pool is increased
-5. Build or choose base arms and armor.
-   1. One set of arms, one set of armor.
-6. Choose affixes such that enchantment point total is equal to 2 * proficiency bonus.
-   1. These can be discovered by the players if they win!
-   2. Consider drawing from font's pool of affixes.
-   3. Some affixes are monster-only: they don't make sense or are broken on players and are excluded from the pool players can gain.
-7. Build or choose 3 powers. Can replace one power for an extra set of arms.
-   1. Same balance as player powers: 1 essence = 1 AP.
-   2. Try to avoid spending more than 3 essence per turn on average to limit burst.
+Select a group of monsters for the players to fight.
+For rules on how to make your own monsters, see [monster building](monster-building.md).
+
+Choose your monsters based on the narrative experience you want to create, freely reflavoring premade monsters to match your needs.
+Then, set the difficulty of the fight by selecting both the tier of each monster and the total number of turns of the enemy group.
+
+Groups of monsters scale in two ways:
+
+1. Tier: increased complexity and power
+2. Turns: improved action economy and base life
+
+The tier of the monsters should generally increase as the players level up: a tier equal to the players' proficiency bonus is considered fair.
+The number of turns that a monster has should generally increase as the party size: turns equal to the number of players is considered fair.
+
+Remember that powerful monsters can take more than one turn per round: this is a great way to handle leaders and boss monsters.
+
+Note that a "genuinely fair" fight is very hard by the standards of TTRPGs!
+If the worldspeaker is playing to win, the party should expect to be defeated about half of the time.
+While a defeat does not and should not always mean a full party wipe, this level of intensity can be too high for many parties.
+Work with your table to find a level of difficulty that matches what they're looking for!
+In some campaigns, a "realistic" approach to combat encounter difficulty can be great for immersion and encourage problem solving:
+sure that eldritch god would kill your level 1 party immediately, I hope you have a better plan that to hit it.
+
+While you generally want to be within a point or two of the party for both tier and number of turns,
+reducing tier while increasing the number of turns (or vice versa) can make for a memorable combat experience once in a while.

rulebook/src/worldspeakers/monster-building.md

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# Building Monsters
+
+## Monster Attributes
+
+Like players, monsters have the following attributes:
+
+1. Life
+2. Essence
+3. Attributes
+4. Skill proficiency (3)
+5. Proficiency bonus
+6. Basic attack and special attack bonus
+7. Basic defense and special defense
+
+They are primarily defined by:
+
+1. Features
+2. Powers
+3. Arms and armor
+4. Motivation
+5. Spell card
+
+However monsters do not have:
+
+1. Exhaustion
+2. Access to the Essence Tap feature
+3. Death's door(?)
+4. Exploration-focused powers or features
+5. Ideals
+
+## Scaling monsters
+
+Each monster can scale in two ways:
+
+1. Turns per round (scales with number of players to produce a balanced action economy)
+2. Tier (scales with player proficiency bonus to keep parity in features and statistics)
+
+Scaling turns per round increases:
+
+1. The number of turns taken in each round
+2. Max life (?)
+3. The number of powers known (2 + 1/2 turns per round)
+
+It may also unlock a spell card!
+
+Scaling tier is somewhat more complex, increasing:
+
+1. Attributes (5 + tier)
+2. Proficiency bonus (tier)
+3. Number of features (tier)
+4. Gear point total on arms and armor (2 * tier)
+
+## Spell Cards
+
+Spell cards are powerful, once-per-fight effects.
+Each monster has an associated spell-card: it unlocks only if the number of turns per round is greater than half the number of players.
+
+## Monstrous Features
+
+Montstrous features work just like player features, and are intended to be equivalent power to feats and non-capstone class features.
+
+Many simple options exist, and when designing a monster, you should generally be quite mindful of the complexity budget.
+Stick to one or two interesting and self-synergistic ideas about how a monster will fight.
+
+Unlike for players, monster have access to negative features.
+When a negative feature is taken, the monster may take an additional feature to compensate.
+
+## Monstrous Powers
+
+These work just like players.