Battlefield Combat

[phindar]

I also agree with Ranger REG's suggestion, but I'll throw out a counter-point.

There's something poignant about having the pcs triumph against their own particular challenge and then look around and see most of their army vanquished, or the the city they're defending gutted and burned. Its all down to the needs of the individual campaign or story, and I say if you're going to handwave a story, handwave an interesting one. Having the pcs win the day makes a great bang-up ending, but having them win the battle and lose the war sets up a lot of challenges down the line.

 

[green slime]

Its relatively simple to setup various scenarios;

1/ The PC's may choose to fight as a team or seperately.
2/ The PC's may choose who they wish to engage on the battlefield, with varying degrees of "success".

For instance, design a few different scenarios on the battlefield, that force them to make tough choices:

Do they show their hand and get involved early? This will lead to the enemy leaders being able to see their capabilities, and modify his battleplan, (withdraw, engage with his heroes/heavy cavalry). It also means they may be too heavily involved in one part of the battle to make a difference where it really matters.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Thanks guys, this will help a lot with our upcoming campaign which will be much less dungeon crawling and much more political intrigue, battlefield and skirmish combat, and city fighting.

Thanks much and keep the ideas coming.

 

[frankthedm]

Once the enemy starts firing on the PCs in units and they need 20's to hit ithe PC, 1 hit for each 20 shots. with every 20th hit being a confirmed crit.

 

[jontherev]

I don't know about a game mechanic, except how they pull it off in Red Hand of Doom. Part of this adventure is a battle of armies. The pcs have different encounters, each a separate combat with different creatures to mix it up. The pcs are on a time crunch, as they are defending a city against the bad guys, so they can't use all resources in 1 battle and go rest. PCs get freebie potions of healing and also access to some clerical healing (while the clerics are alive). Great adventure.

So, you can just decide how many encounters you'd like the party to go through "to win" (as others have mentioned).

 

[AnonymousOne]

I don't know about a game mechanic, except how they pull it off in Red Hand of Doom. Part of this adventure is a battle of armies. The pcs have different encounters, each a separate combat with different creatures to mix it up. The pcs are on a time crunch, as they are defending a city against the bad guys, so they can't use all resources in 1 battle and go rest. PCs get freebie potions of healing and also access to some clerical healing (while the clerics are alive). Great adventure.

So, you can just decide how many encounters you'd like the party to go through "to win" (as others have mentioned).

So you suggest a type of scenario where the PCs have to rush from one breaking point to another in order to "hold the line" as it were. I like this model. Simply drop the hook where once the PCs succeed in a fight or signal a need for withdrawal (indicating failure) they get pulled back to the base camp to chug potions and get teleported somewhere else to aid a different part of the line. This puts them in the hot and heavy throughout a battle and yu could even give them access to buffer spells from the teleporting wizard.

"you've done well, I'll reward you: Mass Bull's Strength" or "You've failed to hold the line, now I must do it myself, go assure that the clerics at X location remain safe, or next time I'll let the opposition overwhelm you."

 

[jontherev]

So you suggest a type of scenario where the PCs have to rush from one breaking point to another in order to "hold the line" as it were. I like this model. Simply drop the hook where once the PCs succeed in a fight or signal a need for withdrawal (indicating failure) they get pulled back to the base camp to chug potions and get teleported somewhere else to aid a different part of the line. This puts them in the hot and heavy throughout a battle and yu could even give them access to buffer spells from the teleporting wizard.

"you've done well, I'll reward you: Mass Bull's Strength" or "You've failed to hold the line, now I must do it myself, go assure that the clerics at X location remain safe, or next time I'll let the opposition overwhelm you."

SPOILER ALERT for Red Hand of Doom:

Yes, that's how RHoD does it. Basically, you have to accomplish tasks or goals to stem the tide of battle. For example, you defeat the group of hill giants that are throwing rocks and trying to break down the city walls. If you fail, then they break through the wall, the enemy advances inside the city, and your army is forced to move back and fortify elsewhere. I think that's one of the examples from RHoD. So, you can make up other scenarios where maybe the town leaders are sending the heroes to where the largest threat is coming from. Then you don't need any other rules.

Use varied creatures and at least 3 or 4 separate combats. Beware if you save the bbeg for last, as the pcs could be out of all spells. Give pcs time between battles to heal up, but not enough time for much else.

 

[Ranger REG]

SPOILER ALERT for Red Hand of Doom:

Wait a minute. RHOD is the first adventure module to use material from Heroes of Battle? Are there more adventures using HoB?

 

[jontherev]

Wait a minute. RHOD is the first adventure module to use material from Heroes of Battle? Are there more adventures using HoB?

I don't have HoB, so I don't know if it's the same mechanic. They did a bang-up job imo on this adventure. I also don't know if there are more adventures like this one, or using the mechanic from HoB.

 

[Flynn]

While it is not WOTC/D&D, I have found the best Mass Combat system to be the Grim Tales Mass Combat system, which you can pick up here:
http://rpgobjects.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4037

This system works with any D20 system that uses CR/EL. It provides a bird's eye view of the overall combat, and there's a section on the impact that heroes can have on combat. It may be a little higher level than what you are looking for, but my players really enjoy it.

Hope This Helps,
Flynn