How many soldiers should protect a capital city?

[psychic mind flayer]

Okay, then... Darkness says it's 25,001 and NimrodvanHall says its 250,001. Which is it????!!!!!

Thanks.

 

[dcollins]

In core D&D it's 25,001+. Notice that NimrodvanHall said "planar metropolis" which is presumably some extradimensional alien thing, not part of the D&D core rules.

My historical information is that in medieval times (13th century, per Gies, "Life in a Medieval City"), the largest European city was no more than 100,000 inhabitants (Venice, Genoa, Milan). Paris and similar northern cities had up to 50,000 at most. Those are the figures D&D is trying simulate.

 

[kjenks]

Just one. And you don't have to pay him. He just shows up.

Nobody has attacked the capital city in over a hundred years. Not since the Night of Ten Thousand Orcs. Oh, some say they got scared and ran away, and some say they got all orc-y and fought each other, but everyone knows that there are bones that farmers still find coming to the surface, all this time later, out by Orc Hill.

Some say The Defender is part of an ancient religious order, sworn to defend the city throughout the ages. They say that when duty calls, one man rises and does what needs to be done. Some say it's a Temple of this god or a Church of that god, but nobody really knows, now do they?

There have been some who claimed to be The Defender. Some of them have made a good living at it, getting chartity from the people of the town, sometimes for years. But none of them look exactly like the old brass statue in the main square. And in the end, none of them were for real.

Just look at that statue. He's not very tall, not very muscular, and, frankly, not much to look at. He doesn't wear armor or have a pointy hat, just clothes like you and me. But in that statue you can see that there's something in his eyes, something you just don't want to mess with. There's something hard in those eyes. Hard and unrelenting.

But it seems that The Defender appears every time an enemy gets an army together, even just THINKING about attacking the city. And then, suddenly, where there were once hundreds of men and beasts of war, there's only blood and bodies, scattered about the camps. Just ask around in the neighboring kingdoms. They'll set you straight. Don't attack the capital, they say. Just don't.

Maybe it's just a legend, mind you, but the city elders must know something about it all. After all, look at this place. There are no walls, no barracks, no towers. None of that.

So, you ask, how many men do you need to defend the capital city?

Just one. And the legend that goes with him.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

*applause*

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

First, something no one's asked. Are you afraid of a coup?

If you are, and think the military will be involved, you should keep your army as far away from the capitol as possible.

Use only very, very loyal troops to guard your center (in this case, your capitol). And be sure; the Praetorians, whose job it was to guard Rome itself and the Emperor, unseated many emperors.

Either way, you should probably have the bulk of your active army in maneuver units. Make sure they're in positions to react to invasions. This means providing for an excellent transportation system, anything from paved roads to portal networks.

Also, you may want to invest in a secret police or two to keep an eye out for manipulation. They don't have to be leather trenchcoat-wearing thugs who disappear people in the night (though you'll want to keep an eye on them just so you can make sure they don't become that). Why? Two of your three opponents are good at infiltrating or suborning their opponents. Even one unit commander being influenced at a critical point could destroy your realm and doom your subjects to a life of misery, slavery, and being food.

Brad

 

[Lela]

Also, you may want to invest in a secret police or two to keep an eye out for manipulation. They don't have to be leather trenchcoat-wearing thugs who disappear people in the night (though you'll want to keep an eye on them just so you can make sure they don't become that). Why? Two of your three opponents are good at infiltrating or suborning their opponents. Even one unit commander being influenced at a critical point could destroy your realm and doom your subjects to a life of misery, slavery, and being food.

Brad

I second that. Check with some of the local clergy of relevant faiths. Many would be happy to aid in setting up the system. Keep inquisitor PrCs around--those that tend to specialize in anti-domination tactics are a help. Members of the order should have little that could cause them conflicts of interest--such as families or businesses. Orphans raised by the crown are often a good choice, especially those who went through a school system (see below).

Don't be afraid to toss out a random Protection from Evil or Magic Circle Against Evil every once in a while. See who pipes up saying they've been under mental control. Also, consider also including psionic classes in that mix. Mind reading can really speed things up (strict code of conduct of course). Be careful here though. I'm having Babylon 5 come to mind.

Start schools, subsidized by the government, for those who want to learn specific skills. Keep extremely high standards of behavior, push patriotic propaganda, and keep an Inquisitor on staff at each location. If someone is to be thrown out, which shouldn't be difficult, the Inquisitor handles it--making sure he's guilty and deserving of expulsion of course. In the long term, this should give you a group of very loyal and well trained individuals willing to defend you later and support you now. In the short term you'll have some increased debt and some very happy people. This shouldn't be limited to children, though they should be encouraged; everyone could conceivably find a role here.

For those not interested in training, consider some larger projects that might allow you to hire up your people for pay. Walls, forts, monuments, etc. Stuff that could get a lot of people working for you. If you pay them well they will be far more loyal.

All this has the increased benefit of separating the malcontents from those that are already loyal or have no issues with you. Then the newly formed Inquisition steps in, identifies the problem areas, and moves to solve them with the aid of local authorities.

If you do this in a happy, helpful, way you're people are likely to accept and embrace you. Ruling by fear will invite subversion, which you're enemies are all too good at.

 

[psychic mind flayer]

Thanks, Everyone. Also, I just got the DMG v. 3.0, and although it does talk about defending and about payment, its section on war and invasion is pretty cheap. If I'm invaded, I doubt if I would have to control EVERY soldier separately, but if not, how would I do it? Is there like a supplement for this kind of stuff?

Thanks.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Is there like a supplement for this kind of stuff?

There is. In fact, there's a lot of them.

The basic idea is this:

There are two fundamental ways to run a battle:

1) You can control things on an individual unit basis, with multiple armies meeting on the field and each side rolling all of its attacks vs. the others, repeat until the whole thing is done. This system usually uses what are called "Mass Combat Rules" to simplify the hundreds - if not thousands - of attack rolls going on. PCs in this system usually take the role of battlefield commanders.

2) You can say, "Yep, there's going to be a battle. If nothing else happens, side X will win with Y% causualties and the total destruction of the other side." You then make a flow chart that describes how this is going to come about: a certain bridge will be taken at such and such a time because of the presence of siege engines, resulting in a new front opened, etc. You then, from this, design missions that the PCs might be engaged to perform in order to either cause or prevent the above situations. PCs in this system usally take the role of an elite, behind-the-lines strike team.

Heroes of Battle, by WotC, takes the second view, and goes into some detail on how to design and run such a campaign.

Numerous other books - Fields of Blood, Cry Havoc, etc. - take the first view.

It all comes down, really, to how you envision your PCs acting in a particular battle.

 

[shmoo2]

This article- "Medieval Demographics Made Easy- Numbers for Fantasy Worlds" by S. John Ross is a really helpful and well written intro to demographics for medieval type fantasy worlds.

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm

 

[psychic mind flayer]

Thanks, Everyone. Shmoo, the article was very helpful, as was your response, Patryn of Elvenshae. What are the Mass Combat Rules? Are you legally able to give them out? If you are, could you explain what they are? Thanks.