diff --git a/Sources/DHModels/DifficultyBudget.swift b/Sources/DHModels/DifficultyBudget.swift
index 26fda18..f67eecb 100644
--- a/Sources/DHModels/DifficultyBudget.swift
+++ b/Sources/DHModels/DifficultyBudget.swift
@@ -66,6 +66,20 @@ nonisolated public enum DifficultyBudget {
 
   /// A snapshot of the encounter's difficulty budget analysis.
   nonisolated public struct Rating: Sendable, Equatable, Hashable {
+
+    /// Categorical difficulty level derived from ``remaining``.
+    public enum Category: String, Sendable {
+      case tooEasy = "Too Easy"
+      case wellMatched = "Well Matched"
+      case onBudget = "On Budget"
+      case challenging = "Challenging"
+      case dangerous = "Dangerous"
+      case likelyTPK = "Likely TPK"
+
+      /// The human-readable name for this category.
+      public var displayName: String { rawValue }
+    }
+
     /// Total Battle Points available (base budget + adjustment).
     public let budget: Int
     /// Total Battle Points spent on the adversary roster.
@@ -78,6 +92,31 @@ nonisolated public enum DifficultyBudget {
       self.cost = cost
       self.remaining = remaining
     }
+
+    /// The difficulty category for this rating, derived from `remaining` (budget − cost).
+    ///
+    /// | `remaining` | Category       |
+    /// |-------------|----------------|
+    /// | ≥ 4         | `.tooEasy`     |
+    /// | 1...3       | `.wellMatched` |
+    /// | 0           | `.onBudget`    |
+    /// | −1...−3     | `.challenging` |
+    /// | −4...−6     | `.dangerous`   |
+    /// | ≤ −7        | `.likelyTPK`   |
+    public var category: Category {
+      switch remaining {
+      case 4...: return .tooEasy
+      case 1...3: return .wellMatched
+      case 0: return .onBudget
+      case -3...(-1): return .challenging
+      case -6...(-4): return .dangerous
+      default: return .likelyTPK
+      }
+    }
+
+    /// Human-readable difficulty label for this rating.
+    /// Equivalent to `category.displayName`.
+    public var displayName: String { category.displayName }
   }
 
   /// Compute the difficulty rating for an adversary roster against a player count.
@@ -86,12 +125,19 @@ nonisolated public enum DifficultyBudget {
   ///   - adversaryTypes: The types of all adversaries in the encounter.
   ///   - playerCount: Number of player characters.
   ///   - budgetAdjustment: Manual adjustment to the base budget (from ``Adjustment`` point values).
-  /// - Returns: A ``Rating`` with budget, cost, and remaining points.
+  /// - Returns: A ``Rating``, or `nil` if `playerCount` is 0 or negative.
+  ///   Callers should handle `nil` to indicate that no meaningful difficulty
+  ///   can be computed without a party.
+  ///
+  /// - Note: Changing this return type from `Rating` to `Rating?` is a
+  ///   source-breaking change. A semver major version bump is required on
+  ///   the next release.
   public static func rating(
     adversaryTypes: [AdversaryType],
     playerCount: Int,
     budgetAdjustment: Int = 0
-  ) -> Rating {
+  ) -> Rating? {
+    guard playerCount > 0 else { return nil }
     let budget = baseBudget(playerCount: playerCount) + budgetAdjustment
     let cost = totalCost(for: adversaryTypes)
     return Rating(budget: budget, cost: cost, remaining: budget - cost)
diff --git a/Tests/DHModelsTests/ModelTests.swift b/Tests/DHModelsTests/ModelTests.swift
index 730bad1..df27312 100644
--- a/Tests/DHModelsTests/ModelTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/DHModelsTests/ModelTests.swift
@@ -385,37 +385,87 @@ struct DifficultyBudgetTests {
 
   // MARK: Rating
 
-  @Test func ratingWithinBudgetIsBalanced() {
-    let rating = DifficultyBudget.rating(
-      adversaryTypes: [.standard, .standard, .minion],
-      playerCount: 4
-    )
+  @Test func ratingWithinBudgetIsBalanced() throws {
+    let rating = try #require(
+      DifficultyBudget.rating(
+        adversaryTypes: [.standard, .standard, .minion],
+        playerCount: 4
+      ))
     #expect(rating.cost == 5)
     #expect(rating.budget == 14)
     #expect(rating.remaining == 9)
   }
 
-  @Test func ratingOverBudgetShowsNegativeRemaining() {
-    let rating = DifficultyBudget.rating(
-      adversaryTypes: [.solo, .solo, .bruiser],
-      playerCount: 3
-    )
+  @Test func ratingOverBudgetShowsNegativeRemaining() throws {
+    let rating = try #require(
+      DifficultyBudget.rating(
+        adversaryTypes: [.solo, .solo, .bruiser],
+        playerCount: 3
+      ))
     #expect(rating.cost == 14)
     #expect(rating.budget == 11)
     #expect(rating.remaining == -3)
   }
 
-  @Test func ratingWithBudgetAdjustment() {
-    let rating = DifficultyBudget.rating(
-      adversaryTypes: [.standard],
-      playerCount: 4,
-      budgetAdjustment: -2
-    )
+  @Test func ratingWithBudgetAdjustment() throws {
+    let rating = try #require(
+      DifficultyBudget.rating(
+        adversaryTypes: [.standard],
+        playerCount: 4,
+        budgetAdjustment: -2
+      ))
     #expect(rating.budget == 12)
     #expect(rating.cost == 2)
     #expect(rating.remaining == 10)
   }
 
+  @Test func ratingReturnsNilForZeroPlayers() {
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.rating(adversaryTypes: [.standard], playerCount: 0) == nil)
+  }
+
+  @Test func ratingReturnsNilForNegativePlayers() {
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.rating(adversaryTypes: [], playerCount: -1) == nil)
+  }
+
+  // MARK: Rating.category / displayName
+
+  @Test func categoryTooEasy() {
+    // lower boundary (4) and a value well above
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 10, remaining: 4).category == .tooEasy)
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 4, remaining: 10).category == .tooEasy)
+  }
+
+  @Test func categoryWellMatched() {
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 11, remaining: 3).category == .wellMatched)
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 13, remaining: 1).category == .wellMatched)
+  }
+
+  @Test func categoryOnBudget() {
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 14, remaining: 0).category == .onBudget)
+  }
+
+  @Test func categoryChallenging() {
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 15, remaining: -1).category == .challenging)
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 17, remaining: -3).category == .challenging)
+  }
+
+  @Test func categoryDangerous() {
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 18, remaining: -4).category == .dangerous)
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 20, remaining: -6).category == .dangerous)
+  }
+
+  @Test func categoryLikelyTPK() {
+    // boundary (-7) and a value well below
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 21, remaining: -7).category == .likelyTPK)
+    #expect(DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 24, remaining: -10).category == .likelyTPK)
+  }
+
+  @Test func displayNameMatchesCategoryRawValue() {
+    let rating = DifficultyBudget.Rating(budget: 14, cost: 14, remaining: 0)
+    #expect(rating.displayName == rating.category.rawValue)
+    #expect(rating.displayName == "On Budget")
+  }
+
   // MARK: Adjustment Suggestions
 
   @Test func adjustmentForMultipleSolos() {