Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Group and Swarm Attacks
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Chris_Nightwing" data-source="post: 5946193" data-attributes="member: 882"><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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):</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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).</p><p></p><p>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?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chris_Nightwing, post: 5946193, member: 882"] 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? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Group and Swarm Attacks
Top