How to Set an Enemy’s Action Patterns

RPG MAKER WITH allows players to make fights in their game unpredictable by letting them set enemy behavior through the Action Pattern feature. Read on to learn where to find the Action Pattern function, as well as how to set multiple Action Patterns.

What are Action Patterns?

Sets Enemy Behavior During Battle

Action Patterns allow you to create or edit enemy behavior during battle. This is important if you want enemies to use different skills and frequency. For example, you can set the enemy to start using strong skills at low health to make the battle more challenging for players.

If you want your enemy to take specific actions during battle, setting its Action Patterns is the answer.

How to Set an Enemy’s Action Patterns

Locating Action Patterns

1	Press the ZL Button and go to "Database."
2	From the Database, move your cursor to "Enemies." and select the Enemy you want to set a behavior for. For this example, we will set three Action Patterns for the "Drone" enemy.
3	Once you selected an enemy, move your cursor to "Act. Patterns." This will allow you to set the behavior of your enemy during a battle.
4	Select "Attack" and press the A Button. This is where we can edit an enemy's Action Pattern. Before setting the Drone's Action Patterns, let's talk about the Skills and rating system.

Choosing Skills

Skills are straightforward. By pressing the A Button on the "Skills" option, you can select various Skills to give to your enemy characters.

Skill Creation Basics

Rating System

Rating Skills allow users to set how often an enemy uses a particular Skill. In RPG MAKER WITH, you can rank your Skills from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. There are also three important rules in assigning Skill ratings.

Rating System Rules
1. Skills with the highest rating will be what the enemy will most likely use in battle.
2. Skills with 1 rating point below the standard will be used 2/3rds of the time, while Skills with 2 rating points below the standard will be used 1/3rds of the time during battle.
3. Skills with 3 or more rating points below the standard will not be used, even if they are added to an enemy character's Action Patterns.

Conditions

Setting "Conditions" restrict an enemy from using Skills until specific criteria are met. For example, you can configure an enemy to use its most powerful Skill only when its HP drops to 10% or below. Setting Conditions is important when creating unique battles for players.

Always	It allows the enemy character to perform the Skill whenever possible.
Turns	Enemies can use the Skill after several turns pass. For example, a Drone can use its special attack after 3 turns have passed.
HP	Sets an HP range within which the enemy can use its Skill. For example, a Drone can use Poison when its HP is around 50% to 100%.
MP	Sets an MP range within which the enemy can use its Skill. For instance, a mage enemy will only use its special attack once its MP drops below 5%.
States	An enemy can use a Skill depending on the Status Effect inflicted on them. For instance, a berserker can use a powerful attack once it is hit with the Enraged Status Effect.
Party Level	The enemy can only use this specific Skill if the player's party is at the specified level. Let us say you set the Condition of the Demon King's most powerful spell to party level 20. This means that if a level 19 party encounters the Demon King, he will not use his most powerful spell against them.
Switches	A Skill can be used once a "Switch" is activated. For example, an enemy will use a particular Skill if you trigger an Event.

Setting One Action Pattern

1	From the Act. Patterns Menu, select the "Attack" Skill and press the A Button.
2	Select "Skills" and move your cursor to "[0021-0040]." Choose the "0027 Eye Poke" Skill. After that, press the X Button and select OK.
3	You do not have to adjust its rating because the Drone will only have this Skill.
4	Set the Condition to "Always" and you will have an enemy with a single Action Pattern.

Setting Two Action Patterns

1	From the Act. Patterns Menu, select the "+ icon" and press the A Button.
2	Select "Skills" and move your cursor to "[0061-0080]." Choose the "0071 Poison" Skill. After that, press the X Button and select OK.
3	Since Eye Poke's rating is 5, then we will set Poison to 4. The ratio will be 3:2 for Eye Poke:Poison, which means that the Drone will use Eye Poke 60% per turn, while Poison only be used 40% per turn.
4	Let us also set a Condition for the Poison Skill. Select "HP" and set it to 50% and 100%. Using this condition will alter the probability of the Poison Skill. On top of occurring 40% each turn, Poison can only be used when the Drone is within 50% - 100% HP.
5	Once done, press the X Button and select OK.

Setting Three Action Patterns

1	From the Act. Patterns Menu, select the "+ icon" and press the A Button.
2	Select "Skills" and move your cursor to "[0021-0040]." Choose the "0030 Toxic Fog" Skill. After that, press the X Button and select OK.
3	We will give Toxic Fog a rating of 3. Considering 0027 Eye Poke's rating is 5 and Poison's is 4, the probability will also change for them as well. The ratio will be 3:2:1 for Eye Poke:Poison:Toxic Fog. This means that the Drone will use Eye Poke 50% per turn, Poison is 33.33%, and Toxic Fog is 16.66%.
4	Let us also set a Condition for Toxic Fog Skill. Select "Turns" and set the first box to 1 and the second to 3. Aside from having a 16.66% chance, the Drone can only use Toxic Fog in one turn and must wait for another 3 turns before using this Skill again. This condition applies until the battle ends.
5	Once done, press the X Button and select OK. Congratulations! You created an enemy with three different Action Patterns.

Setting Enemy Action Pattern Tips

Review Enemy's Action Patterns on the Database

There are different ways to design an enemy's Action Patterns. Reviewing the enemies from the Database will give you an idea of what patterns are possible, once you create your own enemies.

For example, the "Demon King" has five Skills but only used 5 and 4 ratings. This enemy will use "Attack" and "Triple Attack" Skills 60% of the time. Since there are two Skills, each will have a probability of 30%. On the other hand, the Skills "Armor Curse" "Toxic Fog," and "Nuke I" will be used 40% of the time. Since there are three Skills, the final probability for them is 13.33%.

How to Make Enemies

Use Action Patterns to Balance Enemies

Action Patterns can be used to balance powerful enemies. If you give an enemy a powerful Skill, you can limit its use by adding Conditions. For example, the "King of Wasps" can only use "Wind II" when its HP drops between 10% to 1%. In doing so, this enemy will not spam powerful Skills, which will increase the difficulty, and might negatively affect the player's experience.

RPG MAKER WITH Related Guides

All Advanced Guide Articles

Core Guides
Advanced Guide Part 1	Advanced Guide Part 2

Supplementary Guides
How to Make a Boss Dungeon With Traps	How to Make a Puzzle
Advanced Playtesting	How to Make Enemies
How to Make Enemy Groups	How to Make Different Kinds of Monster Encounters
How to Make a Boss Battle	How to Make an Ending
How to Use Common Events	How to Use Variables
EXP Curve Explained	Status Effect Creation Basics
Animations Guide	How to Set an Enemy’s Action Patterns
Event Priorities Explained

Tips and Tricks
How to Switch Battle Views	How to Make a Debug Room
How to Make Your Characters Jump	Kinds of Games You Can Make With RPG MAKER WITH
Game Design Fundamentals	What to Do When You Can’t Make a Good Game