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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8362739" data-attributes="member: 58197">One other thing to note: Morale is largely ignored in D&amp;D combat. But in mass combat, morale is everything.In principle, a couple of thousand commoners can shoot an ancient red dragon out of the sky without a single casualty--give them longbows, ready an attack as soon as the dragon is within 150 feet, and down it goes*. But how many commoners have the courage to stare down a hundred-foot dragon plummeting toward them with fire boiling out of its throat, holding their arrows for the signal? And if they break, or even hesitate, the dragon gets close enough to use Frightful Presence or its breath weapon, and destruction ensues.Two thousand commoners versus an ancient red results in fiery death. Two thousand commoners, plus one really good bard, results in flawless victory. A good mass combat system should reflect this. (Conveniently, this gives the system a reason to care--a lot!--about PC battlefield heroics.)*150 feet is short range for a longbow, but too far for the dragon to use any of its abilities. 5% of them will roll natural 20s and crit for 2d8 damage apiece. It takes 1214 commoners to average more damage this way than an ancient red's hit point total; 2000 gives you plenty of buffer in case they roll badly.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 8362739, member: 58197"] One other thing to note: Morale is largely ignored in D&D combat. But in mass combat, morale is everything. In principle, a couple of thousand commoners can shoot an ancient red dragon out of the sky without a single casualty--give them longbows, ready an attack as soon as the dragon is within 150 feet, and down it goes*. But how many commoners have the courage to stare down a hundred-foot dragon plummeting toward them with fire boiling out of its throat, holding their arrows for the signal? And if they break, or even hesitate, the dragon gets close enough to use Frightful Presence or its breath weapon, and destruction ensues. Two thousand commoners versus an ancient red results in fiery death. Two thousand commoners, [I]plus one really good bard,[/I] results in flawless victory. A good mass combat system should reflect this. (Conveniently, this gives the system a reason to care--a lot!--about PC battlefield heroics.) [SIZE=3]*150 feet is short range for a longbow, but too far for the dragon to use any of its abilities. 5% of them will roll natural 20s and crit for 2d8 damage apiece. It takes 1214 commoners to average more damage this way than an ancient red's hit point total; 2000 gives you plenty of buffer in case they roll badly.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

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