Battlefield d20: rules for large combats

[angramainyu]

I've been working on this:

http://members.rogers.com/wilson0246/DnD/Battlefield_d20_sneak_peek.pdf

It's not quite done yet (nor is it polished, so I apologise for the rough spelling, typos, and grammar), but it's at a stage where those looking for such rules might find it interesting. My plan is to make this freely available once it is complete.

It is a little math-heavy, epsecially in the set-up, but I think it's a pretty good approximation of 3e combat as fought by large forces.

Any questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome.

 

[KarinsDad]

Very nice.

I think you need a computer program to generate all of the charts and stat blocks.

But, it basically is a clean extension and extrapolation of the core rules.

 

[angramainyu]

Thanks, KD.

I'll probably include a little Excel spreadsheet so it's easy to punch in the numbers an get the combat table. I might also generate a series of combat tables with fill-in-the-blanks for the ACs so you can just copy one that has the right damage.

I hate having to make it so math-intensive, but I tried modelling the the units with just a single attack and defense number and couldn't get anywhere.

 

[angramainyu]

Hmm... I just realised I'd been over-calulating the hit-points (I was taking the max for level-1 classes instead of the average for my examples)... and the lower hitpoints makes combat more lethal. I think I'll increasr the damage divisor from 5 to 6, or maybe to 7.

I also think that the attacker still has a pretty big advantage. I think I might make defensive attacks do regular (instead of half) damage, but give the orginal attacker a small bonus to their AC against the defensive damage.

 

[angramainyu]

For anyone interested, the original link now poing to a newer file. Version 2 of the sneak-peek fixes the damage calculation problem, and has a few more sections filled in. I'm about halfway thorugh the magic section now.

 

[Shalewind]

Wow. This is really incredible. I tried to do something like this a while back but gave up. You seem to have managed a wonderful scaling mechanic. I like it.

Question: Are there going to be additional rules for combined forces, as far as archers mixed with spearmen? I only ask because such instances of large scale battle (like I have seen in my campaigns) have come up before.

Question: Are you going to break down magic as you did the feats section (which BTW the feat conversion to stats is amazing).

Question: Are there going to be any leadership or experience (well I guess experience is just covered in level of the warriors, huh...) modifers for the unit? If you have some great strategy or commander present can it change your roles?

Again, awesome system. I can't wait to see what you add next. Now if only I had rules for running a kingdom and I could do that Kingdoms Conquest RPG d20 I wanted to run...

 

[angramainyu]

Thanks Shalewind, glad you like it so far.

The Mixed Forces section was originally supposed to include mixing ranged and melee forces, but I think I kinda forgot it when I was moving stuff around. The mechanic is pretty simple, you just need to have two attack tables for such a force, one for melee and one for ranged... it's a bit of a pain, but in a situation where you have smaller forces having a tiny lone archer force doesn't always make sense.

I hadn't thought about magic feats, but I might end up doing a table to show the approximate effects for some feats. I think the way magic will work (like in the case of a fireball) is finding out how many creatures are affected, and from there finding out how many make their saves (if it matters). This probably means multiplying the percentages on the fly, which is bit clunkier than the table system like for melee and ranged combat damage, but it's the best I've got so far. I'm gonna play around a bit to see if there is a way to use simplier system, but I'm not sure if there is one.

Leadership and experience may come into effect for morale-type rules that I'm considering... I haven't had a chance to think about those too much yet, though, so I'm not sure what will happen.

 

[mikebr99]

Excellent work so far!

Very interested to see how this progresses.

 

[mikebr99]

Opps!

I *bump*ed my knee!

 

[FullTinCan]

Make sure to update Section 15 of the Open Gaming License to reflect your copyright. Otherwise, intriguing.