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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ashockney" data-source="post: 317284" data-attributes="member: 1363">WowOk, this is the coolest thread ever.   I've often thought of what our modern "advanced" tech world would be like in an "advanced" magic world.  I agree with the whole setup, and think it's cool as hell, and would kill to help or participate in it!Ok, having said all that, here's some recommendations:First, taking drawing from the US army's modern-day challenges, I think the issues here are very similar.  Our Mallenar forces are outgunned, outmanned, and pinned in a corner.  Judging from the breakdown, thus far we have very few advantages, among them, they include:  the element of home territory, the element of deeper supplies/reserves, the element of surprise (to a lesser extent), and it would appear that our "specialists" have the upper hand in brute strength (giants, ogres, etc.) and versatility (werewolves, vampires, and Wang-Liang).  Elements that are up in the air include: the weather, other environmental factors, arcane magic, and magic items.  I'm unclear and would be interested in more information on any of these areas for further exploration as a means to enhance our chances.On the weaknesses side they have an extremely potent "leadership" (the PC's), we are definitely outnumbered, their rank and file make ours look like a joke, their specialists are dedicated to eliminating ours, and they clearly have the upper hand in divine magic. So, if you assume these things to be true, then I would suggest going the following direction:1) Home-field advantage:  I believe this is the primary advantage of our forces...we must choose when and where to fight.  Without this, we are certainly cleric fodder.  Under all circumstances, we must seek to outgun the opposing force (you really won't be able to outnumber them) and leverage the strength of our specialists.  Examples of this include, ambushes from range in the dark, in forests, using surprise, leveraging magic (particularly) arcane, and loading down these strike forces with as much magical items, as well as undead or summoned support, as can easily be made available.  The key will be to get in as much damage as possible and get as many of our forces out alive.  Another example would be to hold a HIGHLY defensible position with powerful weapons and specialists (anti-magic and brute strength - such as cannon-ball throwing giants, I love that idea).  We will have to use cover, conealment, and magical defense as much as possible for this to have an impact.2) Misdirection: We seem to have a great deal of specialist forces with the ability to offer differing degrees of misdirection.  The Wang-Liang, Vampires, and Werewolves through summoning, skills, and spells can keep the opposing forces guessing.  I think this will have to be leveraged extensively to keep the opposing forces moving in the direction WE want them to.  We must walk them down the path of GREATEST resistance, and they've got to THINK they're making the right choices all along the way.  The primary disadvantage to this tactic will be the specialist forces of our opponents.  I think pre-emptive strikes on the Vallorean's "rangers" and "communications" might also be worthwhile targets for our specialist forces to aid in the efforts of misdirection.  A significant hit in any of these areas could greatly enhance our chances for success.  3) Supplies:  I assume we have to get some kind of advantage for our supplies being local.  As a result, we must attack their resources.  If the food is coming magically, what can we do or create to screw with their magical food creation!  I would also argue that a powerful enough disease infestation could have a significant impact to their forces, particularly if it costs us little resources to inflict the attack, and it costs them significant resources to defend against the attack (both in time and spell use).  I agree we must definitely attack their supply lines in any other way possible to slow, hinder, or impede the "whole" army's progress, or we will always be outnumbered and outgunned.  Magic items can be overcome, and it sounds to me like their entire armies rations are dependent upon this magical supply, we could conceivably do more damage to the army by marshalling our entire resources to attacking their food supply instead of  trying to attack them directly.4) Efficiency: Sacrificial mission anyone?  There were jokes above about landing a one-shot imprisonment...but, what would stop a high level rogue from getting that touch spell off of a scroll (16th - 20th level) and potentially taking out one of the opponent's primary leaders (the PC's - lvl 30+).  Also see other no-save, you're dead spells like Harm, Power Word, Otto's and so on, that rogues could use.  I think this would be worth it, in spades.  Plus, take out anything else he can get while he's there!  What if a strike forces successfully got a kill at night while sleeping, and the PC Leader was replaced by a disguised high-level Wang-Liang (30th), who could get access to the party, and take out as many of the high-level spellcasters as possible with surprise.  I think the same types of missions would have to be run at lower levels.  Sending sacrificial Hobgoblins or Undead into the heart of the attack force with a handful of "necklace of missiles"  or forcebombs to drop.  Any exchange where we have one 4th level smutz or undead taking out 3 or more 8th level guys is a good exchange in our book.  How about some low-level arcane trigger spells that detonate fireballs, lightning bolts, and the like when a low level putz is killed (or destroyed by turning).5) Allies:  In all seriousness, we are massively outgunned here.  I don't think it would be uncalled for to have a little "tactical" surprise for the PC's in the form of some "really bad-ass" EPIC spell effects (ie, nuclear or bio-chem effects) or unforseen allies (ie, drow, beholder, illithid, dragons...all of the above) that might make the combat otherwise a little more intriguing.How we'll definitely lose:1) Fighting any war in the open field.2) Fighting in any kind of "fair" fight.3) Their specialists outhink our specialists and beat ours.4) Their leaders use magic to get past our defenses first and use their powerful spells and abilities to clear the path for their army to advance (rinse and repeat).5) Victory conditions change and the Valloreans are willing to take significant losses in order to finalize this mission.  Most of the above assumes that the Valloreans will give up far sooner than we will because they are an "invading force" and can't afford to do enough damage to their army that they would  jeopardize their homeland defense.  We can't be the only enemy in the world, can we?Good luck!</blockquote>

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