D&D Wargaming *ARMIES OF EVIL*

Shuffled Ghalarasser's Spell-like abilities a bit, and got rid of Unholy Aura. In the end, his CR dropped to 13, and I shuffled my creatures around a bit to change fiendish dire rats to fiendish half-orc barbarians.
However, I'm not completely sure if the math is right, so could Pyrex or somebody else please quick-check it for me?

I'll try to finish the rest of the stuff tomorrow or next weekend.
 

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The Legion of Darkness

Unit Breakdown

Above Baseline Unit:
1 Shadowlord -- CR 15 -- point value 225

Support Units:
114 Toads -- CR N/A -- Point Value 0.
22 lvl1 Clerics -- CR1 -- Point Value 22.
31 lvl1 Wizards -- CR1 -- Point Value 31.
3 lvl4 Fighters -- CR4 -- Point Value 48.
55 Shadows -- CR3,5 -- Point Value 675,75 (12,25 x 55)

Lvl 1 Cleric (Human 22)
Str 8/-1, Dex 12/+1, Con 14/+2, Int 13/+1, Wis 15/+2, Cha 10/+0. (+-Racial bonuses) Unit Speed 15. AC 17. Spells (at least one of each spell in the book, in the entire unit, mostly buffing). Feats a.o. Improved Initiative.
Equipment: Chain Shirt 100 gp, Lg steel shield 20, Heavy Mace 12, minor items 10. AC 16. Cost 142gp -100 (baseline wealth) = 42gp.

Unit Equipment (divided within the unit):
Divine Scrolls:
5x Obscuring Mist (25gp)........125gp
5x Fog Cloud (150gp)............750gp
5x Sound Burst (150gp)..........750gp
5x Invisibility Purge (375gp)..1875gp
Unit cost: 4424 gp.


Lvl1 Wizards (Human 32)
Str 8/-1, Dex 12/+1, Con 14/+2, Int 15/+2, Wis 13/+1, Cha 10/+0. Unit Speed 30. AC 11. Spells (Mostly defensive) Initiative +5 (Dex+1 Improved Initiative +4). Feats: a.o. Improved Initiative.
Equipment: Minor items 20 gp. Cost 20 -100 (baseline wealth) -80 gp

Unit Equipment (divided within the unit):
Arcane Scrolls:
5x Obscuring Mist (25gp)........125gp
5x Fog Cloud (150gp)............750gp
3x Pyrotechnics (150 gp)........450gp
10x Fireball (375gp)...........3750gp
5x Slow (375gp)................1875gp
3x Wall of Fire (700 gp).......2100gp
6x Cloudkill (1125gp)..........6720gp
4x Acid Fog (1650gp)...........6600gp
Unit Cost: 19890 gp.


lvl4 Fighter (Human)
Str 14/+2, Dex 12/+1, Con 16/+3, Int 10/+0, Wis 13/+1, Cha 8/-1. Unit Speed 20. AC 23. HD 4d10+12 = 38,5 HP. Attack +7. Damage 1d8+3 (longsword +1). Feats: Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Cleave.
Equipment: Full Plate armour+1 2200gp, Lg steel shield+1 20gp, Longsword+1 2315gp, minor items 10. Cost 5525 gp -6400 (baseline wealth) = 885 surplus.
Unit equipment: 2x Horn of Blasting 40'000gp, Drums of Panic 30'000gp. Unit Cost 66'050gp.


Shadow.
Medium Undead (Incorporeal). Hit Dice: 3d12 (19 hp). Initiative: +4. . Speed: Fly 40 ft. (good). Unit Speed Fly 40 ft. . Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +4 deflection), touch 18, flat-footed 14. . Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-. Attack: Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d6 Str). Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d6 Str). . Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. . Special Attacks: Create spawn, strength damage. . Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., incorporeal traits, +2 turn resistance, undead traits. . Saves: Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +5. . Abilities: Str -, Dex 18/+4, Con -, Int 8/-1, Wis 15/+2, Cha 18/+4. . Skills: Hide 6*, Listen 8, Search 4, Spot 8. . Feats: Blind-Fight, Flyby Attack. . Challenge Rating: 3,5.

Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow becomes a shadow under the control of its killer within 1d4 rounds.
Skills: Shadows have a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks and a +4 racial bonus on Search checks. *A shadow gains a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in areas of shadowy illumination. In brightly lit areas, it takes a -4 penalty on Hide checks.

Equipment: 0gp. Unit cost: 0 gp.

Army Cost: 90364 gp


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PC:


Stronghold:

The Pit of Despair.

Deep under The Mountain of Devil's Tooth, in the north and far away from settled lands, lies the vast and hidden dungeon complex Zatahar Krachan (Zatahar's Labyrinth), also known as the Pit of Despair (though few know of it).
Three hidden entrances mid-to-high on the slopes of the mountain lead down trough twisting passages for miles into the granite mountain. The passages are each dangerously trapped and wildly branching, dead ends and hidden pitfalls are everywhere. Long sections of the tunnels are rigged to collapse and boulder traps have been prepared to sweep clean miles of the tunnels. An underground river is put to excellent use and sections of the dungeon can be filled with water with the opening and closing of two hidden doors.
Towards the middle of the descent the intruders will be attacked by Shadows, small numbers at first to test their opponents and then scores of them at once. The Shadows will strike from inside the walls of the tunnels or make flyby attacks against their foes, always ending their round safely in full concealment. At irregular intervals towards the center of the mountain there are concealed spaces within the walls of the tunnels, only accessable from further in, from which Dominated slaves can spy on intruders and trigger traps by flipping a switch (most of those traps would be nearly impossible to disarm). Then things get really difficult for intruders.
The tunnels, which have been mostly descending for miles upon miles, now begin to ascend. Soon after that the Forbiddance effect kicks in. In all 3 Forbiddance spells have been cast in the complex, at a great expense, to block all planar travel and to inflict damage on all non CE beings entering the area. The traps continue with greater frequency further in and new killing fields and ambush zones are set up. Once the enemy has reached this far they will be faced with small groups of 1st-level Wizards and Clerics (hidden in little bolt-holes in the walls) who will use their scrolls to devastating effect in conjunction with larger numbers of attacking Shadows. Heavy sliding doors will stall the enemy approach, only to unleash a floodwave of water once broken trough to flush the enemy back down. The water will then drain off trough small cracks in the stone and the section of the dungeon won't be flooded for long once the flow has been redirected.
The traps become ever more brutal, until at last the heart of the dungeon is reached. In several large caverns mushrooms are grown by slaves to feed the living population. The slaves live here in cramped and miserable conditions. Further in, behind another ambush zone, are the quarters of Zatahar's higher ranking servants and troops. Storage facilities. A small temple to a dark and nameless God. More traps, and then the inner sanctum where Zatahar the Dark Master dwells in lightless halls, splendid in their stark simplicity.

72000gp/2 = 36000gp for components for the Forbiddance spells, 2880 gp to pay an 16th lvl Cleric to cast it.
48 60ft squares = 10'368'000 square feet covered.

Pool of Scrying, 7,500 gp
Inscriptions of Privacy, 14000 gp

(dungeon will be scaled down quite a bit because of money issues.)
 
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Dalamar said:
However, I'm not completely sure if the math is right, so could Pyrex or somebody else please quick-check it for me?

I come to 10.218 (instead of 10.31) for your captain. How'd you arrive at his CR?

Everything else looks good.
 

Serpenteye said:
The Legion of Darkness
Support Units:
103 Toads -- CR N/A -- Point Value 0.

Toads?

4 lvl4 Fighters -- CR4 -- Point Value 48.

4*4*4 = 64. Not 48.

64 Shadows -- CR3,5 -- Point Value 672 (10,5 x 64)

64*3.5*3.5 = 784. Not 672

Edit: Racial breakdowns for your Clerics & Wizards doesn't match their numbers.

Edit2: How are you going to use those scrolls without a high level wizard in your party?
 
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Pyrex said:

It was either that or shriekers ;). I would have preferred to make my entire force incorporeal undead and shadowy outsiders, but that's impossible with the current rules so I had to use some filler. Some people use rats or kobold zombies, I use toads.

Toads have a strong traditional connection to the arcane, to the darkest and most sinister practices of witchcraft... eh, right... the toad symbolises foulness and degradation and...

Anything can be justified.

I would have liked to create a new custom-variant of undead. A Broken Soul, a barely sapient incorporeal spirit, completely unable to affect the world of the living in any way, with terrible stats. They would be spiritual remnants of my character's torture victims forced to serve him for all eternity in hellish agony and complete powerlesness. It would be very appropriate, very cinematic. But they would cost too much, so toads it is.
Code:
Broken Soul.

Mindless Undead: CR -1,1
Incorporeal: +1,3 
1 HD: +0,45

no con
no int
no str
-8 to dex: -0,8
-8 to cha: -0,8
-9 to wis: -0,9

-1,85: CR: 1/7 Cost: ?, >0


Pyrex said:
4*4*4 = 64. Not 48.

Look at Fierari's first post in the ooc-recruitment-thread. CR 4 costs 12 points, not 16.

Pyrex said:
64*3.5*3.5 = 784. Not 672

Once again, see the first post. 3 is worth 9, 4 is worth 12. 10,5 is the median. 3,5 is worth 10,5 points.

Where do you get your numbers from?
Pyrex said:
Edit: Racial breakdowns for your Clerics & Wizards doesn't match their numbers.
No they don't, but that's largely irrelevant, the differences are too small to matter. I included different races for flavour, if I will be required to put any more work into them I'll simply make them all human.
Pyrex said:
Edit2: How are you going to use those scrolls without a high level wizard in your party?

Lower level casters can use higher level scrolls, albeit at a risk for mishap. They will have an amazing firepower for a short time, and be able to decimate most armies on their own. With the support of my Shadows I imagine there are not many forces in this game that could stand against them in a pitched battle.
 
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Serpenteye said:
Look at Fierari's first post in the ooc-recruitment-thread. CR 4 costs 12 points, not 16.

Once again, see the first post. 3 is worth 9, 4 is worth 12. 10,5 is the median. 3,5 is worth 10,5 points.

Where do you get your numbers from?

There's a typo in his quick reference table. If you read the text directly above the table it states that the point value of a creature is its CR squared.

4^2=16 (the 12 in the table is a typo).

3.5^2=12.25

Fieari you might want to clear up that typo. :)

Lower level casters can use higher level scrolls, albeit at a risk for mishap. They will have an amazing firepower for a short time, and be able to decimate most armies on their own. With the support of my Shadows I imagine there are not many forces in this game that could stand against them in a pitched battle.

Oops, I wasn't exactly clear. The miss chance for the scrolls you've assigned to your wizard unit is reasonable, but who is going to use the Disjunction scrolls? A 1st level wizard has a 80% failure chance using a 17th level scroll.
 


My math shows you've only spent 150,744 of your 250,000.

Did I miss something or have you just not decided how to spend it yet?

Suggestions:
-Swap some of your wizard scrolls for wands (especially Fireball).
-Pick up a clerical wand or two (Mass Inflict Light Wounds for example).
-Support equipment for your general.
 
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I have my expenditures spread out in two posts. My total costs (including only one Forbiddance on the stronghold) is 237714gp, and that does not include however much my (reduced) stronghold is going to cost.

The problem with wands is that they have to have 50 charges when new and I would have to buy a lot of them to get the same firepower I get with scrolls. They would cost far too much.
 

I'm not really seeing the problem.

Low-level scrolls are not going to be useful against generals or their captains. You need them for their hordes of baseline troops. Given that wands are both significantly cheaper per charge and have no failure chance wands are dramatically more effective. (I realize you can't replace all of the scrolls with wands, but in a few places it makes sense)

(random concept ahead)
If you were to, say, reduce the size of your wizard corp to 16 and give them 3rd level equipment (2700gp) you could easily outfit them with both a better selection of scrolls as well as a few 2nd & 3rd level wands, making them more effective in the long run.
 

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