Morale in d20 Modern

[Gomez]

Is there any rules on Morale for d20 Modern? Not for PC's but for villians and low level opponents. Or do you just handle it on the fly as a GM.

Some Examples.

-Tony and Raven are surrounded by about a dozen gang members. Tony and Raven stand back to back to keep any of the thugs from getting in a cheap shot. After a couple of rounds, 4 of the thugs are down on the ground moaning and bleeding. Do the gang bangers flee or stay to fight.


-The Zulu charged the British position and volley after volley from the red coats brings down the first couple rows of Zulu. Does this break the charge or do the Zulu reach the British line?

It would seem that some sort of Morale mechanic would really be nice in a instance like this. Otherwise it would just be up to the GM's discretion.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Controlling NPC actions solely through die rolls are usually a bad idea...

For the first example, I would use Intimidate. (I wouldn't let the skill make the thugs back down right at the beginning, however.)

In the second example, the Zulu wouldn't reach the British, and will break when their commander tells them to (or if they decide they can't win, or if they decide it's not worth dying, etc).

 

[takyris]

In an otherwise non-FX game, morale is a great opportunity to utilize the poor underused Will save -- with the appropriate modifiers, of course. I think that there was a Bullet Points article that dealt with this.

I'd have the gang members roll Will saves, easy ones -- say, 14, base 10 + 4 gang members down. If, of the remaining 8, 3 fail the save and run, then the next time there's a chance in the GM's mind for them to need to make another save, the DC is increased by 3 to 17 -- since 7 gang members are down or running.

For the Zulu, I'd again have it be Will saves, done for units or for some easy mass of people (rather than rolling dozens of them, unless you can do it on computer with a handy squib-tracker). Eliminating the front rank would qualify as "Necessitates a Will save for morale", as would other events like "British make surprise flanking maneuver" or "Zulu commander killed". The British forces would need to make Will saves when the enormous massive Zulu force finally did sweep over them, and when their forces were reduced to 3/4, then again at 1/2, then again at 1/4...

Will saves are hard enough that low-DC saves at appropriate times can still shake things. Even if failure just means "Shaken", and it takes a failure by 5+ to result in "Panicked".

 

[The Shaman]

For my Modern military PbP game I'm using Cool checks, adapted from Rich Redman’s article Cool under Fire from the “Notes from the Bunker” series on WotC's website.

So far it's worked out quite well, IMO, at simulating what happens to the NPCs on the battlefield - some get stunned or shaken, others bolt or cower.

I could simply decide which NPCs react certain ways, but I like the random element to it as well - it's played a significant and somewhat surprising role in both of the combat encounters so far. That's not to say that I leave it all to chance - one of the legionnaires has yet to fire his rifle due to nervousness, something I determined was part of his personality before the paratroopers ever jumped out the door. The commander of the fellaghas (insurgents) will base his decisions on how willing he is to press the attack based on my read of the combat, not dice rolls - on the other hand, the rank-and-file fellaghas may run, hide, or advance boldly depending on the roll of the dice.

I feel that if I decide everything that happens then why have the heroes roll for anything? I might as well be writing a story and sharing it with the players instead of letting the story play out and simply describing the action. The Cool checks work well with the latter approach so far.

 

[MonsterMash]

I prefer to use a randomised element to the NPC's behaviour as it can otherwise be too predictible if it just goes on what I think.

 

[Peterson]

Interesting thoughts...

My example is from D&D, though it could work just as well for D20 Modern. It also works far more effectively in small groups, than mass combat, in my opinion.

Simply put, if the opponent rolled a Natural One during any D20 roll, that opponent required a Willpower roll vs Panick/Fear (normally a DC 18, just cause it sounded good and most were above 4th level). Failure meant the opponent dropped his weapon and ran from the battle in fear. Success meant he was merely Shaken for one round. I also used this "house rule" when a Massive Damage Save was needed, as a secondary effect from taking a large amount of sudden damage. I believe, in all the time the house rule was in effect, it got used a total of 15 times (partly due to myself forgetting to use the house rule at times) in over a year of gaming (three times a month). I think only two opponents failed their saves, but it made combat more interesting and created some memorable NPCs.

To use the idea for D20 Modern, I would think that dropping the Will save DC to 14 would be more than fair, seeing as how the base saves are lower throughout D20 Modern than 3.5 D&D. Of course, to be fair, I'd probably just come up with something different, with more modifiers and the such. Mine was just a simple, off the cuff ruling to make combat a bit more chaotic - and trying to keep the number of die rolls down.

Peterson

 

[DragonSword]

I always use my discretion when dealing with morale issues in any gaming system. My general rule is that -- unless an NPC has a particular reason not to -- if they realise that the battle is going grossly against them, they will peg it. A lone antagonist who's seen all his comrades slain isn't likely to want to hang around any longer. The players in my games are generally (a) good enough role-players and (b) attached enough to their characters, to also want to run away if combat is going against them.

I don't need definite rules for morale to take effect. I have a quick system for determining if NPCs flee in a battle, using a will save, that I sometimes use in situations where it is uncertain whether an NPC will flee or not, but generally I make the decision myself.

That's my two cents. In terms of balance, your rules look ok - but I wouldn't use them myself.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

IMO it shouldn't be a Will save to run away, but a Will save to avoid being shaken. It's not mind control. Of course, shaken NPCs can decide to run away.