My own private army [longish]

[Dirigible]

Okay, here's the sitch in one of the campaign's I'm playing in :

(apologies for waffling, as I'm basically thinking out loud (or not out loud, rather. thinking in text, then) here, brainstorming as I go).

The most powerful mage in history is back, and I have no idea what his agenda is. He (well, the GM, but you know what I mean...) has been able to anticipate almost every defence I've mounted, and those he didn't expect and counter he was powerful enough to improvise against. He smacked me down big time.

A millenia ago, when he first was around, he forged a kingdom of wizards out of the southern reaches of a very powerful northern empire. However, he either neglected or choose not to employ magic to extend his life, so his empire crumbled after his 50-year reign and subsequent death.

Although he has only struck against my character to retrieve an item that belonged to him, my character really, really wants to get back at him (as Yoda said: fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate...hate leads to etc ).

Having just read book 6 of the Wheel of Time, I was inspired by the Asha'man (and by the Slayerettes from Buffy). What I want my character to do is gather a number of potential magicians, and train them in discipline, martial combat and battle spells. This will give me a band of loyal, unique and pretty damn dangerous soldiers, which I can use as the lynchpin of a defence (local or continent-wide, if needs be) against the old archmage's resurgent forces, if and when they appear. As I said, I don't know his plans yet. On the other hand, the best defence is a good offence. Maybe I'll go trash his lair

My plan so far -
1) I already have an apprentice who's a reasonably competant mage, and several former adventuring partners who could give ample training in weapons, stealth, warcraft etc. I'll get them on side, and then I'll need to find and train a few more apprentices to help with training and recruiting, then send them out to various areas to gather potential soldiers.

2) I'm not so certain as to how to actually find recruits. One idea I had was to go to the nearby Waterdeep-esque supermetropolis and set myself up as a healer (my character is highly skilled in that field). I could get to see a wide cross section of society this way, and make contacts who could help me find the necessary potential (in this setting, magic can inborn or taught to people with the necessary talent).

The other idea is to simply put up recruiting posters. Obviously, local power figures aren't going to be pleased about me raising an army. They're always so irrational about mad wizards gathering bands of troops for some reason . The king in this area is laugably weak, but the big city is his capital, and he has some mean hombres at his disposal, in terms of elite guards and champions. If I tried the same trick in rural areas, he wouldn't even notice for months, but I'd need a bigger catchment area to find the same number of recruits.

As for the army, when it is trained, I was considering the following organization :

Divide the recruits into groups of ten, and have then draw pebbles marked 1-10 out of a bag. Each person is responsible for the one with the number below his, with #1 being responsible for #10. If your subordinate screws up, you get punished in their stead. These groups of ten will be Circles, and will be the basic unit for training, logistics and living together.

For fighting, however, they will be divided into Battle Triads consisting of two Fists and one Heart (a fist being a mage trained in attack spells, a Heart in defence and healing). Assignment to Triad will be by level of skill. However, no two members of the same Circle can be in the same Triad (ie, each Triad will have members form three circles). Unlike Circles, Traids will be shuffled and reformed depending on the changing abilities and needs and special purposes of that Triad.

Hmm. I could use some input here, especially from people in the military. Is this a sensible arrangement? Will it foster unity, competetivness, regimental spirit, anything? Can you suggest a better system? Anyone got any ideas for recuitment, training? Tactics, anyone?

Any input welcomed.

 

[arwink]

My first tactic with anything like this is to double check with the DM that it'll be possible. It could easily change the direction of the campaign, and usually if the DM doesn't want things to work they wont.

That beings said - nice tactic, and remind him that there are real upsides to player propelled game plots

 

[Softwind]

I agree with Arwink. I'd run your ideas past your DM first, before putting too much planning into this. Nothing worse than spending lots of time on a plan that never sees the light of day.

Now, two thoughts come to mind about the powers-that-be.

Even a weak king can have strong advisors (power behind the throne?) that could be threatened by someone amassing a private army. Even dukes, barons, and landed knights may take offense to a (I am assuming) commoner arming the masses. No amount of convincing would be effective if those in power get nervous.

Which brings us to this wizard (undead I assume? Or with powerful clerics?). If he's trying to get back that which is his, how probable is it that he would wait around while you construct an army? Or even a few triads? He may not even attack directly - a few words in the right ears, and you find yourself coming under the attention of the rulers/leaders/mob bosses/what have you.


Getting to your main question...

If you train with 9 other people, and aren't grouped with them, but are indeed "competing" with them, you will usually see one of two results. Friendly competition against those you trained with, or out-and-out animosity towards them, resulting in disention in the ranks.

I believe that the army and other military branches builds that "brother-feeling" into it's trainees - cooperation with your team, while using them as a gauge of your own personal abilities. There is competition built into this, but teamwork is always stressed.

Head cadets are always responsible for the actions of any under them, and I think the US military also does the buddy system... not sure how the revolving responcibility would work out. Could either bind them tight or set them against each other...

As for training, sleeping, eating with the same group, but fighting with 2 new people each time... um. How does the teamwork come into play? Guess I'm rather confused on that one. I would think that if you trained with someone, you'd be a better match for them, knowing their skills, strengths and weaknesses, to compensate with your own. I think it would be better to have 3 groups of three from each 10, with one man out as backup/replacement. Let there be competition between the three triads in the Ten, and against other Triads, like in squads in the Army. My $0.02 worth.

Hope this helps. I've never been in the military, but have friends in, and have watched many many History channel shows on this kind of stuff.

 

[VictorSim]

Here is a classic Victor Sim army-of-loyal-spellcasters creation technique (always guaranteed to make your DM groan in pain). Launch a sneak raid on a high-level spellcasting NPC (or several) in this case I would recommend your arch-nemesis. Your objective is to steal some hair, fingernail clippings, blood or other piece of the target.

Use Simulacrum spell to create simulacrum of your uber-powerful enemy. The simulacrum is only 50% of your enemies level but if you have stolen enough pieces then you can make multiple simulacrums. Continue this exercise until you run out of gold or XP for that level. Then using your simulacrums as non-XP earning assistants go defeat some foes for XP and loot to continue the process until you have enough spellcasters to form your army.

Victor Sim

 

[Dirigible]

OK, for ease of use, I'm gonna add names.
My character is Ryhem. The badass archmage of history is Aulundor Rage. Kingdom I'm in is Relstaa. Big city is the City of Lights.

Arwink : Yeah, I already posed the idea to him. He loves when I do this kind of stuff

Albeit, the last time I did something that he liked and that changed the course of the campaign, I surrendered the magical item Rage was seeking to him without a fight. Then another wizard came along and killed me for being a weak coward I got better, though.

Softwind : That's true. In previous campaigns, I've come across the Mayor of the City of Lights (a high level assassin), and the princess of Relstaa (queen of manipulation). Hell, one of my other characters is now working as her spymaster That could be a cool crossover. She's currently embarking on a campaign of reunification, starting to try to bring the disparate provinces of Restaa back together. I guess I'll end up as a threat or a tool in her eyes.

I'm pretty sure I'm beneath Rage's attention, for now. Since he got his super-powerful Wand back form me, he seems to have no more interest in me. An no, he seems to be alive as opposed to undead, and priests in this setting don't do much in the way of ressurection. I suspect some contingency on his part, perhaps a duplicate or he put himself in suspended animation.

If you train with 9 other people, and aren't grouped with them, but are indeed "competing" with them, you will usually see one of two results. Friendly competition against those you trained with, or out-and-out animosity towards them, resulting in disention in the ranks.

So, it's either a good idea or a bad idea? Cheers

I think you're right, about making the Triads within the Circle. Teamwork on the field should be even more important than off, so they'll need to train together as much as possible.

Perhaps I should redesign it with the battlefield unit as the core of the system. Stick the recruits into Triads first, them assign three Triads to a Circle...

VictorSim : You have a sick, sick mind. Keep it up, old bean

 

[Dirigible]

Waht the heck? I composed a mighty, noble responce, Shakespearean in it's tone and use use of language, and it just disappeared?!!!?

*gouges own eyes out in frustration*

I'll rewrite and post it later...

 

[Dirigible]

Oh, it's back.

I'll keep my manic ranting to myself from now on, then.

*whistles innocently*