11. Creature Compendium

People and Creatures

Creatures and NPC’s have stats based on their CV (Challenge Value). This way, it is easy to drop them into any encounter. You can take a “basic creature”, skin it, and put it right into combat. There are also tiers to an NPC, that can give bonuses and make encounters more interesting based on the NPC tier.

NPC tiers and special abilities:

TierHP ScalingDodgeParrySavesStat BoostNotes
MinionBase HPNoNoNoBaseDrops quickly; no defense actions; -1 CV
GruntBase HP50%Weapon basedYesBaseStandard encounter type; standard CV
Champion×2 HP65%Weapon basedYesBaseTough elite; +1 CV, Resistant, 1-3 Talents
Boss×3 HP75%Weapon basedYes+1–3 to key statsAdds extra special abilities ( AoE, or passive effects), Resistant; +2 CV, 2-4 Talents

Basic Creature/NPC Stats

Very Easy Creature / NPC: CV 1/2

STRCONSIZINTACUDEXSOC
848888 
  • CV: 1/2
  • Class: Being/Animal/Monster
  • Type:
  • Speed: 25
  • HP: 6
  • Damage Modifier: 0
  • Armor Value: 0
  • Attack: 45% 1d4+dm (Avg 3)
  • Skills: Dodge 45%, Main Skills 25%, Other Skills 15%
  • Special: ?
  • Weaknesses: ?
  • Horror: ? (1/1d4)
  • Treasure:

Easy Creature / NPC: CV 1

STRCONSIZINTACUDEXSOC
888888 
  • CV: 1
  • Class:
  • Type:
  • Speed: 25
  • HP: 8
  • Damage Modifier: 0
  • Armor Value: 0
  • Attack: 50% 1d6+1+dm (Avg 4)
  • Skills: Dodge 50%, Main Skills 35%, Other Skills 15%
  • Special: ?
  • Weaknesses: ?
  • Horror: ? (1/1d4)
  • Treasure:
  • Average Creature / NPC: CV 2
STRCONSIZINTACUDEXSOC
121012101010 
  • CV: 2
  • Class:
  • Type:
  • Speed: 25
  • HP: 15
  • Damage Modifier: 1d4
  • Armor Value: 2
  • Attack: 65% 1d6+2+dm (Avg 9)
  • Skills: Dodge 50%, Main Skills 50%, Other Skills 25%
  • Special: ?
  • Weaknesses: ?
  • Horror: ? (1/1d6)
  • Treasure:

Hard Creature / NPC: CV 3

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  • CV: 3
  • Class: ?
  • Type: ?
  • Speed: 25
  • HP: 26
  • Damage Modifier: 1d4
  • Armor Value: 4
  • Attack: (2) 75% 1d6+3+dm (Avg 10)
  • Skills: Dodge 65%, Other Skills 35%
  • Special: ?
  • Weaknesses: ?
  • Horror: ? (1/1d8)
  • Treasure:

Very Hard Creature / NPC: CV 4

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  • CV: 4
  • Class: ?
  • Type: ?
  • Speed: 25
  • HP: 32
  • Damage Modifier: 1d6
  • Armor Value: 6
  • Attack: (2) 80% 1d6+4+dm (Avg 12)
  • Skills: Dodge 75%, Other Skills 45%
  • Special: ?
  • Weaknesses: ?
  • Horror: ?(2/1d8+1)
  • Treasure:

Uber Creature / NPC:DV 5

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  • CV: 5
  • Class:
  • Type:
  • Speed: 25
  • HP: 40
  • Damage Modifier: 2d6
  • Armor Value: 6
  • Attack: (2-3) 85% 1d6+5+dm (Avg 16)
  • Skills: Dodge 80%, Other Skills 55%
  • Special: ?
  • Weaknesses: ?
  • Horror: ? (2/1d10+1)
  • Treasure:

Creature Features

Hit Points: Most creatures and NPCs have Hit Points Equal to their CON. Some creatures, as they become more challenging, may have HP equal to CON + SIZ or more.

Skills: the most important skills for monsters are their combat skills as well as: Dodge, Grapple, Hide, Listen, Spot, and Stealth

Special: Some creatures have special abilities. They can range from an innate ability to trip an opponent or a natural armor.

Armor: Most creatures can wear armor, although many monsters are not naturally inclined to do so. Other creatures’ hide or magical properties may give them natural armor.

Natural Attacks: A bite or claw is always 1d6+1 damage, and a slam is always 1d8 damage. Modifiers are based on Damage Modifier, CV, or magic.

Creature Special Abilities

Grab: When hit with an attack that also does grab, the attacker and defender must roll a Heroic Action. If the defender loses, they become grappled. They must succeed at a Heroic Action during their turn to free themselves.

Resistant: Some creatures are naturally resistant to magical energy. This gives them 50% automatic damage reduction to magical AoE effects (no need for Save roll) or a 10% bonus to Saves vs Spells on single-target spells.

Trip: Some creatures have a 10% bonus to tripping a target as a Heroic Action.

Wither: A supernatural decay of living creatures, wither is often caused by undead or navirites from the Void. Wither bypasses AV, unless the armor is silvered. Silvered armor blocks all effects of wither. It is treated as magical damage for all resistances and interactions.

Wither damage manifests as skin blackening, veins darkening, and flesh cracking as if drained of moisture and vitality. Often associated with void creatures and undead, this damage is not physical—it erodes life directly.

Creature Talents

These are some talents that are common on animals and monsters.

Combat: Blind Fight, Cleave, Crippling Strike, Death From Above, Evasion, Fast Movement, Feint, Grappler, Heroic Surge, Knock Down, Nimble, Powerful Attack, Rage, Relentless Cleave, Riposte, Sneak Attack, Stunning Strike, Take a Hit, Weapon Expertise, Whirlwind Attack

Magic: Disburse Magic, Disruption

Creature Type Traits:

Constructs: Constructs can not heal naturally, but can be repaired magically or through special abilities.

Teranoid: Living creatures that are from or resemble those of Uteria. They eat, drink, and breathe.

Undead: Most undead creatures do not have intelligence, spirit, or constitution. In rare cases, such as liches or mummies, their spirit has stayed attached to their undead form, so they have their living intelligence and spirit.

Horror:

Creature Horror Effects by CV

Creature CVHorror
<10/1
11/1d4
21/1d6
31/1d8
42/1d8+1
52/2d6+1
62/2d8+1
7+Add 1/1d6

Creature Types

There are three types of creatures; animals, monsters, and beings. Animals are creatures who have a very low intelligence and are guided by instinct. Animals can have empathy, but it is guided by instinct. Monsters are creatures who lack empathy, they can be intelligent or not, but monsters can be destructive, violent, and selfish. Beings are creatures that possess the intelligence to understand the world they are a part of and may have empathy. Beings, due to their complex intelligence, can be as varied as you can imagine.

Treasure Ratings

None, Poor, Average, and Rich.

Understanding NPC CV

Combat Value (CV) is a measure of a creature’s overall danger in combat. It helps StoryGuides build balanced encounters by assigning each monster a point value based on its damage output, survivability, and special abilities. The total enemy CV is compared to the party’s CV (based on Talent Point Levels) to determine encounter difficulty.

Each CV rank is tied to a base creature profile:

CVExample Power Level
1/2Minions, weak vermin
1Goblins, small wolves
2Guards, basic beasts
3Elite soldiers, monstrous threats
4Champions, magical beasts
5Bosses, demons, dragons

These ranks assume standard stats, HP, AV, and 1–2 attacks.

When designing or evaluating a creature, use these modifiers to increase or decrease its CV:

Stat CategoryConditionCV Adjustment
Base CVStart with creature’s intended tier (CV 1–5)Baseline
HP+1 CV for every 40 HP above typical for its tier+1 per 40 HP
Armor ValueArmor Value over 10+1
Damage OutputMultiattack, average damage 12+ per round+1
Damage over TimeLingering damage (acid, poison, burning, etc.)+0.5
Debuff EffectsReduces stats, AV, or imposes stun, fear, or other status effects+0.25
MobilityExceptional movement (fly, climb, teleport)+0.25
Action EconomyMore than 2 attacks or combo of AoE and melee per round+1
ImmunitiesImmune to magic, weapons, or elemental damage+0.5
WeaknessHas a major exploitable weakness (e.g. cold, tritium, sunlight)–0.5
Minion TierHalf HP, no Dodge/Parry, no saves–1
Champion TierDouble HP, 65% Dodge, Resistant to AoE spells+0.5
Boss TierTriple HP, 75% Dodge, Resistant, unique specials+1
Solo Threat?Designed to fight alone vs party ( scales with complexity )+1 to +3

Boss Tier Creature CV Chart (CV 6–30)

When a monster goes beyond standard templates (CV 1–5), use this chart to help assign CV levels accurately. Boss-tier creatures are solo or near-solo threats designed to challenge entire parties.

Each CV tier assumes an encounter against 4 players of matching PCV (equal to combined Talent Point Level of the group).

CVSuggested HPAVAvg DPR (Damage per Round)Traits / Notes
6606–818–22Minor AoE or passive defense
8808–1020–25Strong AV or moderate AoE + moderate damage
101001025–30Good AV + Breath/AoE or terrain control
1212010–1230+High AoE, some immunities, battlefield control
1515012–1435–40Immunities, strong AoE, passive defense, high AV
1818014–1540–45Boss-level damage + aura, summon, or environment effects
202001545–50Extremely deadly — no weaknesses, sustained pressure
2424015–1650+True solo fight vs advanced party (PCV 24)
30~300+16+60+Mythic god-tier threats or final arc villains

Building a Balanced Encounter

To build a balanced encounter in SagaBorn BRP, begin by estimating the party’s Combat Value (CV) — a measure of how dangerous the group is in a fight. The easiest way to calculate this is by using Talent Point Level (TPL). Each character starts with 3 Talent Points and gains 1 point at the end of each story arc (roughly every 2–3 sessions). For encounter balancing, treat each character’s CV as equal to their TPL.

Once you know each character’s TPL, add them together to get the Party Combat Value (PCV). For example, a group of four adventurers with 5 Talent Points each would have a PCV of 20. This number becomes your benchmark for scaling encounters.

To match this with enemy threats, build encounters using monsters whose total CV adds up to a percentage of the party’s. A balanced encounter usually matches the party CV (1:1 ratio). An easy encounter should use 50–75% of the PCV, while a challenging or boss fight might range from 125–150% or higher. Then, mix creature tiers — Minions for swarm tactics, Grunts for standard threats, and Champions or Bosses for drama and danger. Terrain and story goals should round out the scene, not just raw numbers.

While Combat Value (CV) is a helpful tool for building encounters, it isn’t a perfect measurement of a creature or hero’s true effectiveness. Special abilities, powerful spells, unique talents, and clever tactics can dramatically shift the outcome of a battle. A creature with a stun aura or regeneration might perform far above its CV rating, just as a hero with multiple attacks, evasion talents, or strong magic can punch well above their level. CV is meant to give StoryGuides a solid baseline — a fast, intuitive way to gauge the general difficulty of a fight — but the flow of combat will always be shaped by player choices, terrain, and story context. Treat CV as a compass, not a contract.