How Would You Defend A Mountain Fortress?

[Crowe9107]

Re: Re: Re: How Would You Defend A Mountain Fortress?

Shouldn't that be AC 70 instead of 60? It seems you forgot the 10 base...

Oops, what was I thinking....AC: 70

It's my first attempt at an epic NPC, the number crunching can get out of hand

Thanks,

Carl Rowe

 

[Vurt]

SHARK, at some point you're going to want to dry out the weather. Get your druid force working on control weather round the clock for a month. Temperatures climb, and keep it dry. Done slowly, the enemy will simply think a change has come for the better, from slogging through mud.

Use other strategies and tactics to keep them off the fortress until the conditions are just right. When the entire forest is a tinderbox, you simply set it alight in multiple places all around their forces, and see if the Valloreans are adept at dealing with massive scale forest fires from the INSIDE.

 

[CRG]

As an added thought, how do two Druids resolve Control Weather spells? One wants it dark, cloudy, and rainy, but still hot and humid; while the other one wants it to be bright, sunny, clear, but cool. It's been awhile since I read that section of rules!

That's easy. The level 50 epic dude wins those contests with any lesser druids.

I'm not so experienced with building epic-level chars, so its hard for me to develop that.

Now, the fire giants, etc. I can get behind that...

Might I add that we will probably use a bunch of greater slaying arrows - at 2000 gp a pop to create, they are cheap.

 

[Volaran]

Well, given the last time I DMed, I probably won’t be coming up with any epic level villains for myself for a long time. Since a commander has been submitted, I’ll try my hand at one of these 30th level specialists ^_^


Lord Gareth

Male Death Knight Paladin 10/ Blackguard 20

Hit Dice: 30d12
Hit Points: 215
Initiative: +1
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
AC: 36 (10 base, +5 Natural, +13 Full Plate, +7 Shield, +1 Dex)
Attacks: Longsword: +41/+41/+36/+31/+26
Touch: +36/+31/+26/+21
Damage: Longsword: 1d8+21, +2d6 unholy vs good creatures, 1 point of Con Damage (DC 39 to negate)
Touch: 1d8+5 (DC 39 to half), 1 point of Con Damage (DC 39 to negate)
Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Abyssal Blast, Aura of Despair, Command Undead as 17th level Cleric 16/day, Fear Aura, Fiendish Summoning, Smite Good 2/day (+13 to attack, +40 to damage), Sneak Attack +7d6, Spells, Undead Followers
Special Qualities: Acid Resistance 10, Damage Reduction 15/+1, Detect Good, Poison Use, Dark Blessing, Fiendish Servant, Immunities (standard undead, cold, electricity, fire and polymorphing), Lay on Hands (self and mount only), SR 40, Sonic Resistance 10, Summon Mount, Turn Immunity, Undead Compainion, Undead traits
Saves: Fort +32 Ref +25 Will +30
Abilities: Str 26 (32) Dex 12 Con -- Int 15 Wis 22 Cha 30 (36)
Skills: Concentration +15, Diplomacy +34, Handle Animal +34, Religion +35, Intimidate +44, Ride +33
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Leadership, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-by Attack, Sunder, Trample
Epic Feats: Epic Leadership, Great Smiting, Improved Aura of Despair, Negative Energy Burst, Undead Mastery, Unholy Strike, Zone of Animation
Challenge Rating: 33
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Leadership Score: 43
Followers: 1300 1st, 130 2nd, 65 3rd, 32 4th, 16 5th, 8 6th, 4 7th, 2 8th, 1 9th
Cohorts: 1 26th
Languages Spoken: Common, Infernal

Spells: Base DC 16 (4/4/3/2)

Possessions:
+5 Keen Speed Longsword
+5 Sonic Resistance Full Plate
+5 Animated Acid Resistance Large Shield
Belt of Giant Strength +6
Cloak of Charisma +6
Helm of Teleportation
Orb of Storms


Gareth’s origins are long shrouded in mystery. Some say when Azurukin first came to serve the vampire king Mallenar, Gareth was at his side. Others claim he is a fallen Vallorean paladin, corrupted by the demi-lich as proof of his loyalty and power to the land of Galleran. Both theories have merit. Certainly none can remember a time when the demi-lich did not have this fearsome warrior at his side. Yet time and time again Gareth has proven adept enough at anticipating Vallorean tactics that one would be hard put to determine whether his battle sense comes from centuries of study, or being raised watching them.

The Death Knight Gareth is a demoralizing force on the battlefield. Deep within plate armor that might have been forged in the underworld for the vile images carved into it, two red eyes burn with a passion few living can match. Mounted on his Nightmare, Gareth is a truly frightening Galleran leader.

His presence on the field of battle is often preceded by storms appearing from nowhere and battering an army. Then, in the confusion, he appears. Gareth is known to lead from the front where his natural powers are at their most effective, and strike quickly at key targets. His natural immunity to turning had allowed him to crush clerical forces that Galleran’s vampires and weaker undead so often find themselves at the mercy of. His forces are easily and quickly replenished, as crushed foes rise up almost instantly to fill holes in his own numbers. In addition, foes near Gareth often feel weakened and shaken, giving his troops a slight advantage against the legendary Vallorean resolve that has been so effective against Mallenar’s nation.


Well, had some time to kill, so I hope you like him….granted I’m not sure he’s in with SHARK world power levels. ^_^

 

[Numion]

Possessions:
+5 Keen Speed Longsword
+5 Animated Acid Resistance Large Shield

If the shield is animated, couldn't he swing the longsword with both hands? That would add 5 points to the damage...

 

[Volaran]

If the shield is animated, couldn't he swing the longsword with both hands? That would add 5 points to the damage...

Too true. I'll amend that ^_^

 

[Astragoth]

this will be very messy indeed... don't think anyone wants to be there when the going get's tough.


Thinking of that, is it possible to demoralize the rank and file enough to get them to go AWOL?

Various tactics to do hat have been proposed already but I would like to add a twist:

systematically assasinate the medium officer core (the sergeants and the lieutanants) that are the officers who are most resposible for morale, and also a absolute necessity to make any tactical idea possible. I don't know if you have the means to do it, but it would achieve two goals:

a) make defecting for rank and file troops a lot more easier and attractive

b) seriously hamper the tactial effectivness of the force.

 

[Numion]

In Staligrad, the Russiand were outnumbered and outclassed, and yet, they too emerged victorious.

Outclassed? Probably yes.
Outnumbered? Are you sure?

At least they had enough men to execute a divisions worth of their own men during the defense of Stalingrad.

 

[Maldur]

The weather is a factor. ( like stalingrad)
In what part of the year are the legions assaulting? And what is the prevalent weather( druids can influence upto a certain degree)?

Spring: flooded rivers, monsoon
Summer: blazing sun, dried fields, low rivers/waterways
Autumn: Rain, swelling rivers, more rain (mud)
Winter: Snow, ice, frozen waterways, more snow

Terrain:

Cliffs/steep hills
Dense forests
Wide rivers
Swamps
What are the natural defenses? Can natural diseases or predators make a difference?

Natural casualties:
When moving large amounts of men and equipment, there gonna be some accidents. How much resources are tied in these accidents? (Medical/funerals/etc) What is the natural wear and tear on legion equipment and how does it effect the march?
How big is the supply line? How many non-combatants? How big a baggage train? If reinforcements are needed how fast will they be here?

Other questions:
How long do we need to maintain this position? till next winter? a few months? a year? What is the recovery/recruitment speed, when we do get losses?

Can we change the terrain to suit our needs? (like a cliff ridge of about 30ft along the border?) How long a preparation time do we have? Years? months? days?

What are the effects of gristly displays? (like crucified scouts/civilians, piles of bones/skulls, etc)

 

[mmadsen]

Try a +1 Distant Shot Mighty Composite Longbow (+4 Str bonus) -- just under 100,000 gp -- with 50 +1 Unholy arrows -- another 18,000 gp. It can shoot any target within line of sight at no penalty, doing an extra 2d6 damage to Good targets. That's 1d8+2d6+6 damage, averaging 17 points -- but from miles away. Get some elite mounted archers on something that can fly, and take Parthian tactics to an epic level!

Another obvious use for Distant Shot bows (or archers with the Distant Shot feat) is sniping. Killing a handful of enemies doesn't sound like much, but you can turn into a serious morale problem. US Marine scout-snipers in Vietnam, for instance, made a habit of shooting whoever was carrying the mortar platform. Pretty soon, no one wanted to be that guy.

Certainly we could make a habit of shooting air cavalry out of the sky. Or we could take to the sky, and shoot all the specialists on the ground -- Templars, Inquisitors, Witch Hunters, etc.

Enchanted arrows are fairly cheap (as far as magic weapons go), and you can leverage them quite a bit. A batch of Unholy Power arrows may be expensive, but a dozen Distant-Shot archers can take out a high-level Champion from a mile away in one round.