Chris_Nightwing
First Post
I was engaged in playtest session number 3 with a group yesterday, via IRC. They were adamant on committing genocide to every species in the caves, and were working on doing so to the goblins. So, they enter the common area cave, swarming with goblins who knew they were coming due to an escapee from an earlier encounter.
Now, partly to save me a lot of bother, and partly to reduce the likelihood of everyone dying, I tried to treat a group of 20 goblins with shortbows as a group and made up a 'volley' mechanic to do so. I've had a bit of time to reflect on it and propose the following shorthand for a chaotic, en masse attack (such as a volley of arrows, or swarm of rats):
There must be at least 3 attackers per target. Targets make a reflex save, with a DC equal to 10 + the normal attack modifier of the group + 1 for each attacker beyond the third per target. Damage is normal damage for a single attack, save for half.
The reflex save might be modified by Armour/Shield - I suggest +1 per armour tier, + shield bonus - the chaotic nature of the attack reducing the usefulness of armour but not negating it.
Now, I know the probabilities of 20 attacks on a party of 5 do not stack up the same as for this rule, but it's impossible to reduce a binomial to a uniform distribution in any reasonable way. I also know this is slightly complex. For my example, the DC would have been 14 and saves would vary between +1 and +4 (I think).
Has anyone else come up with a way to streamline many, many attacks all at once like this? I'd be interested to know if people think a rule like this would be useful or not, and what parameters are of most importance (attack bonus, number of attacks, AC?). Maybe this could be a special attack by certain humanoid monsters?
Now, partly to save me a lot of bother, and partly to reduce the likelihood of everyone dying, I tried to treat a group of 20 goblins with shortbows as a group and made up a 'volley' mechanic to do so. I've had a bit of time to reflect on it and propose the following shorthand for a chaotic, en masse attack (such as a volley of arrows, or swarm of rats):
There must be at least 3 attackers per target. Targets make a reflex save, with a DC equal to 10 + the normal attack modifier of the group + 1 for each attacker beyond the third per target. Damage is normal damage for a single attack, save for half.
The reflex save might be modified by Armour/Shield - I suggest +1 per armour tier, + shield bonus - the chaotic nature of the attack reducing the usefulness of armour but not negating it.
Now, I know the probabilities of 20 attacks on a party of 5 do not stack up the same as for this rule, but it's impossible to reduce a binomial to a uniform distribution in any reasonable way. I also know this is slightly complex. For my example, the DC would have been 14 and saves would vary between +1 and +4 (I think).
Has anyone else come up with a way to streamline many, many attacks all at once like this? I'd be interested to know if people think a rule like this would be useful or not, and what parameters are of most importance (attack bonus, number of attacks, AC?). Maybe this could be a special attack by certain humanoid monsters?
