PROPER ENEMY DESIGN II OF V

Preamble

Everyone who's played RPGs in the last decade should be familiar with the rubric of Fighter, Mage, Rogue, Cleric. It's been ingrained in our minds since the beginning of RPGing since the forging of the genre; most RM* users could tell you that the four core standard stats are Attack, Magic, Speed, and Defense. The idea is that each of these standard roles fills a niche in-battle - hit things, hitting things harder but inconsistently, hitting things more consistently but not as hard, and undoing the hits you take. It's simple, solid foundation that has survived several decades of tweaking and experimentation.

The idea of "nothing should be able to do everything" is a fairly simple one, and essentially boils down to this: everything in an RPG - friend or foe - should have a weakness. This is not limited to elemental properties or stats; the inability to do something or hurt certain combatants can also be a weakness.


The Roles of the Enemy

Enemies should come in all types, varieties, classifications, breeds, ilks, sort, molds, orders, and persuasions. Diversifying your enemy sets virtually never has a drawback except in the most extreme cases; and assuming the slightest hint of common sense in the part of the developer, a diverse bestiary of foes will almost always add much more to the depth than it will detract.

As much as mechanics vary from game to game, there are some time-tested and oft-recurring roles for your enemies that are worth considering, if for nothing more than players' familiarity with them! Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, you should be familiar with:

The Berserker
The standard berserker in an RPG will have the sole option of Attack; but will be very adept at its use. It often boasts an outstanding physical offense, accuracy, and critical hit rate when applicable, with corresponding loses in defenses. Often, they will be vulnerable to accuracy or attack debuffs that render them rather simple to dispose of, but if left unchecked they can cause massive problems for the team.

The Utility Attacker
Utility attackers are berserkers with spice; they usually lack the punch of a pure berserker, but added effects often make them an equally dangerous foe. They might use priority attacks to ensure they go first, inflict Poison (or worse) on contact, or drain the damage they deal to restore themselves. Sometimes, utility attackers will use skills that announce these effects (e. g. Venom Tackle); other times these effects can only be observed when they trigger. Be careful with the latter - springing a surprise 10% death chance on contact will often confuse the player as to why they died, to use an example.

The Mono-Nuker
A run-of-the-mill mono-nuker is a caster of a single elemental-damage spell, or multiple elemental-damage spells of the same element. It often has a flipped version of the berserker's stat spread, running high MP and Magic offense, with a similar lack in the defensive department. They're often even more skewed towards offense, being vulnerable to free physical attacks while being far more damaging. They are usually completely shut down by draining their MP or by silencing them.

The Multi-Nuker
An upgrade of the Mono-Nuker, Multi-Nukers carry multiple elemental attacks that make prediction more difficult. Some may have a set pattern or cycle of elements, others might fire off elements at random, rendering them mostly unpredictable. A sub-set of this type of enemy might carry a "main" element along with the weakness of the PC that resists its main attack, allowing the enemy to dispose of its foil with ease.

The Enfeebler
The other offensive breed, Enfeeblers eschew direct damage for crippling status effects. Enfeeblers' status conditions tend to be more powerful than those that are attached to the attacks of Berserkers or Nukers; a Berserker's attack might carry Poison, while an Enfeebler would cast Sleep, Charm, or Petrification spells.

The All-Round Wall
Rarer than more offensively-minded adversaries, the standard Wall is just plain difficult to kill. This often stems from a hefty HP value, although having high defenses on both sides of the spectrum (if applicable) isn't unusual. Walls often have support and status moves befitting their weak offensive stats; if a Wall is offensively capable it's usually more of a mini-boss than a defensive mob.

The Dedicated Wall
A sub-set of the above, the Dedicated Wall favors one defense over the other -whether this means it trades Defense for Special Defense or HP for Evasion will vary from game to game. This means that this particular enemy will be vastly easier to kill with certain characters over others. A creature doesn't have to rely on stats to be a dedicated wall - a silencing enemy can be considered a type of dedicated defensive enemy.

The Offensive Supporter
These enemies will enhance their allies or weaken the player in ways that result in more damage dealt by the other enemies in the troop. Attack buffs, defense debuffs, negation of elemental resistance, and casting berserk spells on allies all counts as offensive support.

The Defensive Supporter
The exact inverse of the above, these enemies serve to reduce the damage that the troop takes from the party. Defense buffs, Attack debuffs, Blind status, and elemental shields all serve this purpose.

The Healerbitch
These are guaranteed to be the player's first target in any enemy formation - Healerbitches, well, heal things. HP restoration, status recovery, regeneration, or - god forbid - revival are the most common forms, although more creative forms of healing, such as HP transfer or HP/MP swap, are certainly possible.

These roles are generally balanced without concerns like EXP and gold payout, rarity, troop size, and the like taken into account. By using these and other variables, you can create wandering minibosses, Metal Slimes, or whatever you feel is fair. As stated at the top, this is by no means an exhaustive list and mainly serves to lay out some terms for later articles. This could serve as a quick-reference for inspiration when designing encounters if you feel it helpful enough. Observant readers will notice that synergy is not discussed - this is to be touched upon by a later article.


TL;DR

Enemies should have clear advantages and disadvantages; not only does this include resistances and weaknesses, but also what it can and can't do, who it can and can't hurt, among other things. Making enemies from a single mold is too restrictive, while making each one utterly unique destroys pattern recognition and turns each fight into a coin-toss guessing game. Diverse, but recognizable roles are one of the key aspects of a engaging, strategically deep troop of enemies.