D&D and war

[A'koss]

As I've always said, in a "typical" D&D campaign, win the war - then send in the troops. Use HL hit squads to destroy/capture the enemy HLers and the war is effectively won. HLers can take all kinds of measures to protect themselves against mundane LL attacks and attack them in turn with impunity. Remember that HLers aren't modern military - they're more akin to gods. HL spell defenses, instant transporation, near omniscent intelligence gathering, spells of mass destruction and with death a mere inconvenience... Modern military wishes it had that kind of ability. I'd think most LLers would be cowed very quickly once their own HL front-liners fell.

Just my 2 bits.

 

[TerraDave]

If 8000 1st level warriors--with a few hundred 2-4th level officers fought a 20th level Wizard, 20th level rogue, 20th level fighter and 20th level cleric, what would happen? (and it is worth noting that the 8000 would be cheaper based on D&D economics). Do we really know. There are know a whole range of mass combat (or sorta mass combat) systems out there, but they all make big assumptions.

In RL ancient and medieval warfare, militia men, iregulars, raw recruits and etc did not have much success on the battlefield, at least not until widespread use of firearms. Relatively elite formations: cavalry, longbowman, Roman Legionaires...tended to dominante. But they where still available in the hundreds or thousands.

So, 500 3rd level Roman Legionaires takes on a party of 12th level charecters...

 

[Jdvn1]

Can anyone tell me a logical reason of fielding an army of lvl 1 warriors in a tipical D&D setting?
Due to the prevailance of mid to high lvl characters, monsters and what not, It seems like mass sacrafice to me.

Who says there's a prevalence of high level characters, monsters, etc? You're assuming something that's not necessarily true.

And, besides, while the higher level characters/monsters on either side are duking it out, the level 1 warriors can be doing damage to the other side. The more troops you have, the better, and they can vary in level greatly.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Can anyone tell me a logical reason of fielding an army of lvl 1 warriors in a tipical D&D setting?
Due to the prevailance of mid to high lvl characters, monsters and what not, It seems like mass sacrafice to me.

You go to war with the army you've got, not the army you might wish you had.

Slightly longer answer: Prevalance? By the book (DMG), the average large city might have 30 people over tenth level. That's not prevalent.

You've got all these low-level guys running around, might as well use them. Even if they'er individually barely useful, en masse they can be dangerous, and even if you use your high level PC-types to commando raid a key castle, someone has to occupy that castle while the commando types move on to the next mission.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

but they cant hold a large tract of land by themselves.

I held a large tract of land all by myself last night.

IYKWIMAITYD.

Patryn "Burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp" Ooi

 

[S'mon]

If 8000 1st level warriors--with a few hundred 2-4th level officers fought a 20th level Wizard, 20th level rogue, 20th level fighter and 20th level cleric, what would happen? (and it is worth noting that the 8000 would be cheaper based on D&D economics). Do we really know.

It varies depending on who's attacking, who's defending etc - those PCs will not likely be able to totally defeat that army in a direct clash, but in theory in regular D&D the Wiz & Clr can use magical mobility to gradually attrite the enemy army over a few days or weeks weeks until it disbands or is wiped out. Although they may take damage from spells & arrows they can generally teleport away to heal up, then attack again next day. So on infinite empty plain I'd bet on the high levellers.

 

[S'mon]

Attacking a well defended fortress held by 8000 troops and expecting to take it single-handed is suicide though, there are plenty of ways the defender can turn it into a deathtrap even without magic.

 

[S'mon]

Point re high level Fighters - in high level D&D it seems to always even out that every mook gets on average 1 blow before dying, so you can easily calculate how many mooks the Fighter will kill in melee before he has to withdraw, based on his hit points. If the mooks do average 6 damage, hit on a 20, and Fighter has 240 hp, he will kill 800 before they reduce him to 0hp.

 

[S'mon]

That's assuming you don't institute any Fatigue rule - running causes fatigue after a few rounds, I use BAB+CON for no rounds you can fight.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Can anyone tell me a logical reason of fielding an army of lvl 1 warriors in a tipical D&D setting?
Due to the prevailance of mid to high lvl characters, monsters and what not, It seems like mass sacrafice to me.

Because once you take Wizard/Sorceror magic out of the equation, things become much like they were in the real Middle Ages, and you see the futility of using magic scaled for individuals on large numbers of soldiers.