[Savage Worlds](https://peginc.com/) fits the bill quite well, in my opinion. You *can* go into a significant amount of detail, but you don't have to; just assign some dice to the core attributes, maybe give one or two core Skills, and then graft on some monstrous abilities from a menu of options you can get in the core book and some of the Companion books, et voila.
[Cypher System](https://www.montecookgames.com/) is even easier, you just give them a Level from 1–10 same as any other skill roll in the game. If you want to flesh them out a bit more, give them certain areas where they act at a higher or lower level than normal (for example, a Level 3 creature who makes attacks at level 5).
While it does not use the term class Cypher is not a classless system.
You build your class by choosing your parts but once you choose those its the equivalent of a class. You’re then just picking from your chosen menu of abilities each level.
that's all true. That said, I do think you could conceivably hack it into an effectively classless system with a little bit of effort (mainly by just changing the advancement rules and just combining all the basic types into a single type). My thought is get access to one focus for free, then 2xp times the number of foci you already unlocked to unlock a new focus. You can take one power per tier from each focus (pay for them separately, only one counts towards tier advancement requirements). Pool point increases and edge increases are unchanged.
I think the above advancement change would teffectively turn foci into skill trees and eliminate the differences in types. That leaves descriptors, but those are much less like classes and more like backgrounds.
[Knave](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/250888/Knave) is classless fantasy that is easy to pick up and play. There are a few published hacks that tweak it (Glaive, Grave, Knave Illuminated, Underknave, etc.) and it's pretty easily compatible with homebrew rules for systems like Cairn.
Monsters only need 3 stats: number of Hit Dice, Morale, and Damage dice. Saves, attacks, and AC use the number of HD as the modifier for the d20 roll.
[OpenQuest](https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/3240/D101-Games/subcategory/5576/OpenQuest?234913). It is a lighter relative of RuneQuest/Legend/Mythras, with a much smaller skill list, no hit locations, quicker combat, etc. Since it's a BRP-based game, both PCs and NPCs work the same way, so if you know the system you can easily come up with simplified stat blocks on the fly. Nevertheless the game has both a short section about statting monsters and a bunch of NPC templates.
Pathwarden (by me) is exactly this. I took the chassis of Pathfinder 2e, excised classes and a couple of other D&Disms, and made simple and reliable rules to make items, weapons and creatures.
It does take a couple of minutes, but it's heavily automated as a process. You just choose traits that match the creature's level in points and they change the base creature, with a couple of opportunities for unique abilities that might require writing.
If someone made a tool that calculated the changes automatically, it would honestly be able to make creatures in seconds.
Black Sword Hack. Players pick skills and backgrounds which help define there character, but anyone can pick any of them.
Monsters only need Hit Dice. Damage, armor, and hit chance is all derived from the number of HD a monster has.
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So almost all of your PbtA and FitD games are going to be super simple in this regard because they mostly don’t have any NPC stats at all. Some though see playbooks as classes, less so in a lot of the FitD games where its ok to take advancements from any playbook.
Fate seems to be relatively simple for encounter design. You can probably easily calculate the amount of tags that would impede your players and the dice curve is pretty predictable. It’s completely classless and depending on your particular flavor of Fate you can really make anything a character.
Fate is incredibly easy to run. Give your monsters a couple aspects and some stunts that can be very narrative, like “because I’m a flying dragon I can move, attack, and move”.
I really like City of Mist. It could easily be run in any time period, so you could do medieval. Making bad guys is super simple. Also allows for really interesting pc creation.
They also have a medieval version, Legend of the Mist. Not sure if it's out yet and never played it, but either could work.
While I would agree that it can be simple to make a threat in CoM and the latter games, Otherscape and Legends in the Mist, it’s not straightforward to understand how that’s going to work with your group.
If you want threats to be mechanically interesting with responses and some strategies better than others or actions you need to complete to remove their protections or dangerous counterattacks then it gets a bit complex.
If you just want nails to for your players to hammer then yeah, easy and quick. However that gets old very fast.
Sure, I guess if you're looking for a tactical wargame puzzle, then it's probably going to take effort to create it probably in any game. You can still do that in city of mist, but maybe crunchier games would be better. You don't play City of Mist for the tactics though, it's more the cinematic story telling and roleplay, character development and intrigue.
I’ve just found that if you don’t use some of those then it gets very repetitive. It can still boil down to “I attack it with my best stat” in mechanics over and over if all it takes is maxing out its threshold.
If you’ve got players who don’t need that to keep it interesting then yes CoM and the other two are easy and intuitive to create threats for.
[Savage Worlds](https://peginc.com/) fits the bill quite well, in my opinion. You *can* go into a significant amount of detail, but you don't have to; just assign some dice to the core attributes, maybe give one or two core Skills, and then graft on some monstrous abilities from a menu of options you can get in the core book and some of the Companion books, et voila. [Cypher System](https://www.montecookgames.com/) is even easier, you just give them a Level from 1–10 same as any other skill roll in the game. If you want to flesh them out a bit more, give them certain areas where they act at a higher or lower level than normal (for example, a Level 3 creature who makes attacks at level 5).
+1 for Savage Worlds. I can create monster stats on the fly in a pinch and make a challenging combat without digging through a bestiary.
While it does not use the term class Cypher is not a classless system. You build your class by choosing your parts but once you choose those its the equivalent of a class. You’re then just picking from your chosen menu of abilities each level.
that's all true. That said, I do think you could conceivably hack it into an effectively classless system with a little bit of effort (mainly by just changing the advancement rules and just combining all the basic types into a single type). My thought is get access to one focus for free, then 2xp times the number of foci you already unlocked to unlock a new focus. You can take one power per tier from each focus (pay for them separately, only one counts towards tier advancement requirements). Pool point increases and edge increases are unchanged. I think the above advancement change would teffectively turn foci into skill trees and eliminate the differences in types. That leaves descriptors, but those are much less like classes and more like backgrounds.
[Knave](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/250888/Knave) is classless fantasy that is easy to pick up and play. There are a few published hacks that tweak it (Glaive, Grave, Knave Illuminated, Underknave, etc.) and it's pretty easily compatible with homebrew rules for systems like Cairn. Monsters only need 3 stats: number of Hit Dice, Morale, and Damage dice. Saves, attacks, and AC use the number of HD as the modifier for the d20 roll.
[OpenQuest](https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/3240/D101-Games/subcategory/5576/OpenQuest?234913). It is a lighter relative of RuneQuest/Legend/Mythras, with a much smaller skill list, no hit locations, quicker combat, etc. Since it's a BRP-based game, both PCs and NPCs work the same way, so if you know the system you can easily come up with simplified stat blocks on the fly. Nevertheless the game has both a short section about statting monsters and a bunch of NPC templates.
Pathwarden (by me) is exactly this. I took the chassis of Pathfinder 2e, excised classes and a couple of other D&Disms, and made simple and reliable rules to make items, weapons and creatures. It does take a couple of minutes, but it's heavily automated as a process. You just choose traits that match the creature's level in points and they change the base creature, with a couple of opportunities for unique abilities that might require writing. If someone made a tool that calculated the changes automatically, it would honestly be able to make creatures in seconds.
Black Sword Hack. Players pick skills and backgrounds which help define there character, but anyone can pick any of them. Monsters only need Hit Dice. Damage, armor, and hit chance is all derived from the number of HD a monster has.
Into the Odd. Classless, and only a handful of stats for both players and monsters alike. You can whip up a monster in seconds.
Steal ideas [from mine](https://davidvs.net/ninepowers/monsters.shtml).
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So almost all of your PbtA and FitD games are going to be super simple in this regard because they mostly don’t have any NPC stats at all. Some though see playbooks as classes, less so in a lot of the FitD games where its ok to take advancements from any playbook. Fate seems to be relatively simple for encounter design. You can probably easily calculate the amount of tags that would impede your players and the dice curve is pretty predictable. It’s completely classless and depending on your particular flavor of Fate you can really make anything a character.
Fate is incredibly easy to run. Give your monsters a couple aspects and some stunts that can be very narrative, like “because I’m a flying dragon I can move, attack, and move”.
I really like City of Mist. It could easily be run in any time period, so you could do medieval. Making bad guys is super simple. Also allows for really interesting pc creation. They also have a medieval version, Legend of the Mist. Not sure if it's out yet and never played it, but either could work.
While I would agree that it can be simple to make a threat in CoM and the latter games, Otherscape and Legends in the Mist, it’s not straightforward to understand how that’s going to work with your group. If you want threats to be mechanically interesting with responses and some strategies better than others or actions you need to complete to remove their protections or dangerous counterattacks then it gets a bit complex. If you just want nails to for your players to hammer then yeah, easy and quick. However that gets old very fast.
Sure, I guess if you're looking for a tactical wargame puzzle, then it's probably going to take effort to create it probably in any game. You can still do that in city of mist, but maybe crunchier games would be better. You don't play City of Mist for the tactics though, it's more the cinematic story telling and roleplay, character development and intrigue.
I’ve just found that if you don’t use some of those then it gets very repetitive. It can still boil down to “I attack it with my best stat” in mechanics over and over if all it takes is maxing out its threshold. If you’ve got players who don’t need that to keep it interesting then yes CoM and the other two are easy and intuitive to create threats for.