Setting up a Group Fight

Team Size

Rank Points

Balance

1. Warriors are those classes which rely primarily on their weapons to do damage. These classes all cast, by default, on 12 or higher. Fighters, Paladins, Anti-Paladins, Rangers, Thieves, and Martial Artists are all Warriors.
2. Pure Casters rely on their spells to do damage. They naturally cast on a 5 or 6. Clerics, Druids, Illusionists, and Mages are Pure Casters.
3. Part Casters are the most common category, and comprise the other classes: those who cast on an 8 or 9. Examples include Ranger/Druids, Fighter/Illusionists, and Paladin/Mages.

In order for a group fight to be well-balanced, both teams should have an equal number of the above categories, whose members are of similar rank or stats. For example, a 76/31 Ranger/Druid and a 63/54 Paladin/Mage are both Part Casters, and they both have approximately the same stats. As a rule of thumb, consider "approximately close" to be 5 hp or sp per rank.

Be sure to account for pluses to hit. Remember that while a 70/0 Fighter with a 5 to hit is going to deal more damage in 10 rounds than a 110/0 Fighter with a 9 to hit, an opponent Mage might make short work of the 70/0 character, where the 110/0 one is relatively safe.

Even more difficult is the subject of tourney powers. These vary from enchanted weapons, which a high-ranking Warrior might use each round to a large advantage, to a fast initiative that can't even be used, due to team INITs. If a tourney power isn't going to be used, you can ignore it for the purposes of the fight. Try to decide what impact it might have on the fight. Is it something that might only add a few points of damage before the character falls, or is it a spell that might drop 3 of the opponents in the same number rounds? Or is it something that might do hundreds of points of damage to a high-ranking opponent character if it succeeds? The best rule of thumb is to put tourney winners on opposite teams. However, do examine the specific powers involved, first.

If you are interested in balancing the teams further, you may consider the approximate hit point values of all team members, and the types of attacks each person is likely to make. While a Fighter must eventually advance and attack somebody, once his missiles are used, a Ranger might stay at missile range and fire indefinitely, possibly while protecting a spellcaster. If you have a lot of people who will be advancing and attacking on one team and a lot who will be staying back and firing on another, perhaps two of them around the same rank should be traded.

Luck is the final factor, of course, and nobody can really account for it until the fight is over. However, it's not unreasonable to put someone who lost last time, or someone who is in the middle of a slump, on a team you think has a slight advantage. If the host doesn't think it's needed, he can always switch it, later.