D&D 4E [4E] Thoughts on Mass Combat: Templating

[James McMurray]

I'm looking at running the parts of the Bloodstone series we never finished in our 3.x campaign, and parts of it deal with mass combat. Rather than do what I did with that game (update Battlesystem to 3.5) I thought about simplifying, and handling it with templates. Here's what I came up with (in brief because I haven't had a chance to really crunch any numbers): templates.

Mob template: take enough creatures of one size to fill the space of a larger creature. Give them X levels per size jump and apply the "standard" swarm rules: resistance to targeted stuff and some sort of aura where they hit you when you're nearby.

Squad template: applies to a mob. Makes it Elite and adds some sort of reach mechanic. I'm thinking it can choose one square of itself to increase reach from by one. A unit would be able to make one attack per turn person side of it's square, and one of those would be members darting in and out of formation to get +1 reach.

Platoon template: Makes a squad a solo, increases it's size by another step, increases level more, and adds some other abilities such as making ranged attacks without provoking (because the outer wall protects the archers), make both ranged and melee attacks out of each side, or something along those lines.

Sorry I can't give more details, but it's just in the thought phase right now. The goal is to make a mob a scary thing, and an army really scary. But a high level character would still be able to tackle a mob of normal humans, and higher level groups could even take on an army (several platoons with a leader to guide them).

Comments, ideas, flames?

 

[James McMurray]

I may end up using something like this as a basis, and creating templates for several steps along the way. The template would increase the size, to the appropriate amount, and specify that the size increase involves having more members, not one really big dude.

Another random thought:

Break Formation: Recharge [?]
The unit / squad / mob spreads itself thin, increasing it's space at the expense of reach (if it had any). It would be more vulnerable to massed enemies because it could be attacked by more at once, but would gain Resist x vs. area attacks.

 

[James McMurray]

Anybody else had a need for mass combat? If so, how did you resolve it?

 

[Tzeentch]

4e is already so similar to miniatures wargames I'd probably do as you say and abstract multiple combatants into a single "swarm" creature. Probably use the exact same rules but say the scale of each square and time per turn is larger for this purpose, and there you have a shake-and-bake mass combat system

Troop Quality: Creature Type
Rabble/Conscripts: Minions
Green: Normal
Veterans: Elite
Elite: Solo

 

[MarauderX]

I'm a fan of Fields of Blood by Eden Studios. For the transition to 4E, the swarm rules sound pretty solid for yielding results fast. I'm also looking into derivations based on the creature type for creating armies and specialized units. Thus far the level, xp award and number of powers (as encounter or recharging) are the biggest factors. By comparison some powers, such as the hobgoblin resilience and phalanx soldier, give a much greater edge over others that is harder to compensate.

What is more difficult is how to depict how the different types interact. An army of goblins is easy to rip down, but if you throw in some controllers, skirmishers, etc. the goblins just became a more considerable force. I may simply look at a simplified Fields of Blood scenario for the 4E creatures and use a new formula for the attacks & hit points.

 

[James McMurray]

Here's what I've got so far.

I think it might need to have a power added or swapped out that allows for hal damage on a miss. That way any level of army can be at least a minor threat to any level of opponent. Maybe add a threshold. for instance, "if they miss by 10 or less, the attack deals half damage."