D&D 5E Mass Combat in 5E

[Shadeydm]

Personally, I'm willing to wait a year or two for these sub-systems to come out, but I'd like to be an important early priority rather than a late product cycle add-on. Individually, this subsystems can be very specific, but together they enable a wide range of campaign styles. As Lord of the Rings aptly demonstrates, epic fantasy battles are a staple part of the genre and should be supported by a game like D&D. Even traditional adventure-focused campaigns can benefit from allowing the PCs to participate role in the great battles.

-KS

I don't think I could say it better than this. Well done!

 

[DerekSTheRed]

As a fan of Birthright, of course I want mass combat and domain ruling subsystems. I don't think they aren't going to make rules just for one setting (no matter how awesome). If they do create a mass combat rule system, the timing will most likely depend on how fast they think players will get their characters to name level/paragon tier. That's when mass combat feels dramatically appropriate. Part of the fun of level advancement was getting a castle and/or title along with getting mixed up in realm spanning intrigue.

The Victory Point system in Heroes of Battle was great for the elite special forces type of adventuring that had an impact on the outcome of the battle. That system can be ported over pretty easily to any version of D&D. For commander level rules, they probably need to be built from scratch. The challenge would be to make it an interesting, fun, low book keeping mini game that simulates a realistic combat. And it needs to work whether the PCs are leading the charge or giving orders from the back.