How do I improvise an adversary mid-scene with tier templates?

Players kick open a door I did not stock, and someone needs a body in the scene right now. I do not freeze to build a full stat block. I grab a tier, an adversary type, a Difficulty and one feature, and I go. I reskin something that already exists before I invent anything.

The minimum viable adversary

I need the tier the party is in and the adversary type the fiction calls for, whether that is a Minion, Standard, Ranged, Skulk, Support, Horde, Leader, Bruiser, Social or Solo. I need a Difficulty that fits the tier, one attack line, and one feature if the fiction needs a button to press. If the scene stretches, I can work out Battle Points later. That is enough for something that arrives mid-scene.

Tier templates in one breath

The rules say plainly that adversaries can be invented or improvised by modifying another adversary’s stat block, and that is exactly what I do. I match the party’s tier, pick the type the fiction demands and borrow the numbers from a similar printed adversary. If nothing is in reach, the benchmarks carry me. A Tier 1 adversary sits around a Difficulty of 11 and a +1 attack, and a Tier 2 adversary around 14 and +2. Writing Fear features that get spent will get its own post. I do not design a masterpiece while the Duality Dice are waiting.

Reskin first

A Standard dock thug is a Standard street remnant with different nouns. It is the same habit I use for converting a 5e one-shot without converting monsters 1:1, where the job and the type come first and the paint comes second.

Two improvisations from our Motherboard campaign

In the third session, my notes listed a chase through the streets of Mother’s Embrace as only a maybe, and then the party took the street anyway. I had five players and nothing prepped, so I grabbed a printed Tier 1 Minion, called it a pack of remnants with the green scorch on their plating, and set the Difficulty in the Tier 1 band. There was no Fear feature. I spent Fear on spotlights instead, and the scene kept moving.

At Scholea, with three players by then, the party climbed toward the ice face above the dam, and I decided something up there should be shooting at them. I made it a Tier 2 Ranged adversary, a remnant sniper on the ice with a Far attack and one feature that pinned a target down without costing Fear. Izzy’s Tak spent the scene in a sniper duel with it. Between sessions I wrote it up properly, because the table wanted it back.

When to pause

I pause for a climax Solo I will reuse, for a Leader whose summoning maths has to be fair, and for anything I will print later. Even then, I finish the scene with the viable version and write the proper one afterwards. Mid-scene is for viable, not final.

What I would do tonight

Put the tier Difficulties and one Minion, one Standard and one Ranged attack line on a sticky note. When the fiction demands a body, fill in the type and go. Pause the scene only if fairness truly needs a check in the book.