Hi, thanks for the feedback. If you want another system that does the MH with monster powers shtick than I reccomend Wilderfeast. Its a Kickstarter game so it might be a while before you can purchase it normally, but its whole gimmick is exactly what you’re describing.
Im currently working on two projects - this and a 40k FitD game, so honestly I have no idea when I’ll do a second draft. My absolute deadline would probably be Christmas, but in all honesty it could also be next week or tommorow night, I have a very sporadic work ethic.
Ranks are a system that I’ve strongly been considering taking out completely due to the game losing its “risk as many actions as possible” feel, and it’s the primárky thing I wish to adress in the next version ( most probably I’ll make it one Big section and make it optional).
The HP value of certain monsters is very much exaggerated because they’re meant for once the Players get some broken Abilities, like dealing double damage or just stacking a lot of “+2 Flow instead of +1 Abilities” (which sometimes function identically).
When it comes to balancing them out I’ve only managed to run this once so I unfortunately don’t have enough playtesting done to give you anything concrete. The only things I noticed during that session are:
1) A group of Demons that deal just a Potency 1 Neg Status can still be dangerous if your players overdo their offense. I had a group of Goblin Demons almost kill a Player 15 minutes in (they tried to kill the Goblins before the could do anything, whiffed their roll, and their reactive roll failed because they didn’t have any Tags left to defend)
2) Stronger Demons should get stronger every round to seem like a looming threat. I had a Troll King Demon who increased the Potency of his AOE every single turn and ended up killing two Players, but the last one finished him off.
Unfortunately, I really have to get more playtesting done, but I hope this helps a Little bit.
As a general piece of advice, this system was meant to be as free as possible, so if you want a good example of how this could be run ( with the main diferences being the Safe and Risky system and initiative) I reccomend watching a video of City of mist combat (there should be one on the official channel).