Need help balancing an enemy group (Players stay out)

[vonpenguin]

Hello so for my first story arch in a game I'm planning on having the group deal with a pack of Lycanthropes causing problems in Boston. The Leader and his lieutenants are going to be smarter than most so it's not going to be a pure combat plot. The PCs are at chest deep and here are the basics of them:

A champion of God ex supernatural killer for the yakuza
A Kinetomancer Apprentice Ex-con artist
A troll Changeling
An emissary of the Archive, essentially a hereditary kincad that reawakened a rejected family power and responsibility.
A Master Mechanic Mortal
A black sheep White Court Vampire of house skavis that breaks up human trafficking rings and eats the victims despair to try and help them heal.

I'm thinking the Lycanthrope Gang is Run by a one armed gent who calls himself Garm. He's brighter and more methodical than most of his ilk and will be stated as submerged.

I'm thinking 3 Chest deep Lieutenants running varies operations, Protection, Chop chop, Smuggling, etc.

Maybe a dozen generic punching bags and one or two feet in the waters with potential.

Does this sound decent? This isn't something I want wrapped up in one or two sessions and even after the main trouble is solved if they prove effective foils I'll keep them around. The party will probably never meet all of these guys at once either. Just need some input. Maybe some good  ideas for the LTs.

[Ophidimancer]

Well if you want this antagonist sticking around, have them play a long game, aka social.  I see lycanthropes as being rather heavy handed at the social game, but it can still work if Garm is a bit more polished than the pack leader in the books.  The police force, gangs, and labor unions; I see all those as social groups that a very masculine and possibly Intimidation laced social game could still work very well, maybe Garm has a finger in all those pies and uses his pack to back up his threats as well as providing enforcers as backup to sweeten deals.

Let's say he's a cop and manages to secure himself a decent position of power.  Then he makes deals with the local gangs and gains control of them, which only helps secure his position in the police.  Meanwhile he gets some of his lieutenants into the local labor unions and they start to work their way upwards toward positions of power.

If you really want a formidable and long term opponent, I suggest avoiding actual engagement for as long as possible.  chasing the trail of the lycanthropes leads to booby traps that only super strength and Craftsmanship (unions workers) could put together as the pack runs to avoid confrontation.  When confrontation seems inevitable, expend mortal gang members as cannon fodder.  If the PC's finally do catch up to the pack, have it be only the lower level members, but have them be eerily silent and coordinated (Pack Awareness) by a lieutenant.  Take advantage of their heightened senses (Echoes of the Beast) to have them perform hit-and-run ambushes from the darkness using teamwork to apply multiple Maneuvers on your PC's so that even a lower Refresh lycanthrope can possible Take Out a member at a time with tags.

Playing smart can be scary.

[Mr. Death]

In general terms, I'd say the best way to balance it is with skills, or effective skills. Look at what kind of conflicts you expect the players to meet these characters in, what the characters should naturally be good at, and balance the skills accordingly.

If they're meant to be an even challenge, make their skills within a point of the PCs' corresponding skills (if you want a Lycanthrope brawler to challenge the champion of God, give him a Fists rating equal or within a point of the Champion's attack and defense ratings).

If they're meant to be something the PCs will have a lot of trouble with, make the effective skill ratings 2-3 points higher. If you want them to be recurring enemies, then remember concessions.

[Addicted2aa]

Seconded. Also while it's fun to show off your bad guys, anytime you put on NPC "on camera" it means they are fair game and the PC's can kill them. So if this is the campaign bad guy and he's not strong enough to take the whole party in a straight up physical fight keep him hidden.
A trick I like doing is hiding the bad guy in plain sight. If the players have a place they hang out alot, have the bad guy be an NPC that they interact with alot on a friendly level. If Garm is a one armed gent, make it him an older guy, who gives them fatherly advice. A mentor. OR have them save him from some other group. Make a connection with him so they might be less willing to kill him when they finally find out he's the BBEG.

Also, use compels combined with the locations and face's you've created to throw Monster of the Week type challenges to keep the group from pursuing the gang at every turn.

As to balancing them mechanically, well we'd need to see your PC's stats. Some LT idea's though. A recent red court vamp in hiding because he angered a really powerful noble. If he pops his head out at all he's liable to lose it so he needs to stay on the DL. A dispasionate alchemist (focused practioner) making drugs for the gang so he can study the effects. A bad boy thug, either lycan or pure mortal. Was the star athlete in high school, couldn't play pro for whatever reason. He is the muscle enforcer. A retired or active cop, who's on the payroll, because his daughter is a werewolf, Red court infected, wizard, changeling, ect and they know and are either helping him conceal it and deal with it, or are simply blackmailing him. Maybe a bit of both. The pyromancer/maniac fire immune explosives expert. Sometimes his bomb's go off early, but he doesn't care, long as something exploded.

[vonpenguin]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to this thread. Been alternately busy or without electric. Great advice so far. I'll try to get the PC stats up soon alongside some of my finished NPCs.