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Message: <blockquote data-quote="A'koss" data-source="post: 1940599" data-attributes="member: 840">In our low(er) magic game, this very topic got a lot of discussion. How do you believably defend a village in a D&D world (even a low magic one)? Now, I'm just going to throw some ideas out there that we've adopted but I think apply well to any setting. Location becomes very important, especially in outlying villages which don't have a larger city looking over them. The best idea is making sure you don't create any borderland villages in the first place. And if you do, making sure it's part of a larger garrison and near a defensible fortification. Next is where to build the village itself. In outlying areas - learn terraced farming, and build your village in a cliffside, atop a plateau or some other easily defended area. Nice lowland areas are great for farming but defending it is an order of magnitude more difficult. Defense is best done in layers. Watchtowers, hunters and outright spies keep tabs on your borders and potential enemies. If you know a force (that you think you can handle) is moving against you, guerilla warefare is your best bet to stop them. Destroy their supplies, sabotage their equipment, assassinate their leaders and try and demoralize them in any way possible. At the same time, communication is all important - make sure the village knows what their up against so they can prepare properly, including getting word to reinforcements from larger settlements.  The next layer of defense is controlling where enemies come from. IOC, villages often create huge surrounding fields thick with a combination of tall bramble bushes (they can grow to 8' high or more and are virtually impassible), marshy ground and "junk" trees (thin, but fairly tightly spaced). Force enemies to come down the path you choose - then trap the hell out of it. Create small crawlways in the bramble fields to position archers flanking a road throught them who can then attack from concealment and cover. Have large trees lined up just off the road in that you can chop down and set abaze. If done stealthily enough you can break up enemy lines as they come into the area. There are all sorts of things you can do if you can control where your enemies are coming from. If the enemy hasn't given up yet your village, if built properly, is in an elevated and well defended position. Everyone should learn how to use a bow and IMC, we have a couple of good feats for trained groups of warriors to use against powerful opponents - coordinated missile fire and coordinated melee attack. There are plenty of giants and giant-sized monsters IOG, and these feats are invaluable in allowing low-levellers to become a credible threat to those, that individually, they'd only be fodder for.  Moats (with oil if you can do it), spiked pit traps, criss-crossing tree spikes (slows forces down) all help. One village IOC which faces regular giant attacks has these temporary log walls they can erect in a staggered fashion in the field in front of their village - right behind their moat. They are 15' high and you can line up 4 men on 3 levels who then fire through arrow slits. That means means 12 men can attack 1 giant at close range if necessary - even with spears. The log walls are strong enough to stop regular boulder attacks for a short time after which they light them on fire and retreat to the next staggered line of walls and continue the attack.  Villages should always have an escape route. If you can build it, create a tunnel that leads out the most fortified hall to a safe area. A hidden crawl path through the bramble fields, a pass throught the mountains or to a river, etc. Hell, I could go on about the defense of the village itself, but I think that's plenty for now... Cheers!</blockquote>

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