Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dirigible" data-source="post: 1090946" data-attributes="member: 12631">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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ).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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" /> . 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.</blockquote>

Verification