To aid the GM in preparing fair and interesting battles, each creature in Gaianar has an Encounter Level that that represents what level the party should be at to fight against the typically encountered number of that creature. An encounter that is equal to the party’s level uses up about 25% of a party’s resources on average. Note that Encounter Levels assume a reasonably well-balanced and intelligent party of about 4 characters that has access to:
·Healing spells or potions and defensive magic appropriate to their level
·Offensive spells or magical powers appropriate to their level
·Sufficient melee capacity to “hold the line” to protect spell casters
·Ranged attack capability
A highly unbalanced party, such as one composed entirely of Priests or utterly lacking any melee characters, may fair far better or worse than expected when pitted against an encounter appropriate to their level. A GM should adjust the monsters accordingly to promote interesting adventuring parties, but he should not reward players who use their characters in illogical or poorly planned ways. Note that a fair encounter does NOT rule out the death of party members. The Number Encountered of a given type of monster is merely the recommended number of the monster per encounter - GM’s can adjust encounters as they see fit, and it is a common practice to increase the number of foes in an encounter to make weaker creature more powerful or to challenge the party, especially at higher levels or for significant battles.
Encounter Level 1 to 3: Parties at this level are extremely fragile - a few good hits can kill almost any character. They are also lacking in magical resources and wealth and often have only a few good tricks to use in battle. Enemies at this level should not require magic or wealth to defeat, nor should they be capable of dealing massive damage or wielding impressive magical powers. They should also generally lack abilities such as Death Magic damage.
Encounter Level 4 to 6: Characters at this stage are somewhat sturdier and can take a few good hits before dropping. They have numerous tools at their disposal - a few levels of spells and decent weapons and armour - and have gained some wealth and combat skills. Creatures at this level can wield some magical powers and start packing more of a punch, but they still should not be too difficult to defeat through conventional methods that do not require magical weapons or powerful spells or items.
Encounter Level 7 through 9: By this point, most characters have some magical items that they use quite often and have begun to stockpile valuables like potions, Holy Water, etc. They also should have a decent amount of wealth - enough to get them out of a few tight situations. Enemies at this level can begin to be resistant to conventional methods of attack and have a respectable array of magical or supernatural powers.
Encounter Level 10 through 15: Characters who reach this level of power are often beings of significance in their world - they are all well-armed with magical items, have some very deadly spells and powers at their disposal, and often have groups of followers, fortresses and strongholds, and a very impressive amount of accumulated wealth. By this point, the characters become start becoming quite difficult to truly defeat for good unless they are not playing in an intelligent fashion. Enemies at this level are also very powerful - they will have similar arrays of magical weapons and considerable resources and would be powerful enough to lead armies against their foes. NPC’s are a common opponent at this level of power.
Encounter Level 16 through 20: By this point, characters become nearly unstoppable by most conventional means, and thus their foes will often be NPC’s of similar levels of power or supernatural foes from beyond this world, such as Demons. Powerful Dragons also offer a tough challenge to characters in this level range. Rarely is battle a straightforward dungeon-crawl at this point: it may involve armies, trips to other Planes, and many, many weeks of planning. Similarly, the enemies are often very intelligent and have nearly limitless resources.
Encounter
Level 21+: At this point, most characters will retire, though some may wish
to remain for Epic Level campaigns. Any foes encountered by characters beyond 20th
level will be true nightmares to face and will usually be a demon, dragon, or
some other variety of powerful creatures with additional Class Levels.