Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
For mass combat, I was thinking of treating each "army" a massive creature, with each HP representing one minion in it. When an army hits bloodied, it becomes succeptable to surrender/retreat by intimidation by the enemy army.
Replace the army's minion attack with five attacks, each one doing damage equal to the # creatures in the army / 50. For large enough armies, it might be handy to pre-calculate the points at which the army's damage goes down. On a crit, the attack does double damage. These attacks are only to be used against other armies(but see Epic below).
Replace the minion's size with: Battlefield. Meaning, the army occupies a whole area larger than a single encounter area.
For example, an army of 100 guys would have the exact same stats of the minions composing it, except it would have 100hp and a space of: Battlefield. It would have five attacks, each doing 2 damage. Two such armies facing off against each other would kill 0-10 of each other's troops per round. Two equal-sized armies will take 10-20 or more rounds to defeat each other, enough time for the PCs to make a difference on the outcome.
Now, for PCs interacting with them:
The PCs have a big fight somewhere against the creatures that compose the enemy army. Presumably they will be on one side or the other of the conflict, not facing the army on their own(though if they have some choke point or the like, they might!).
An encounter map is set up as usual and one side/area is the enemy army's "spawn area" as appropriate. Enemy minions "spawn" (arrive at the battlefield) at the beginning of every round and attack the players, quantity depending on the DM's dramatic/tactical preference/how well the PCs are doing, etc. When in doubt, roll a dice to see how many arrive.
Every minion killed reduces the enemy army's hp by 1. At the end of each round of combat, the two armies make attacks against each other with their five vs army attacks. Also, any buff a character can give to "ally or allies" can be granted to their army, giving its effect on one of the army's attacks or buffing the army, excepting healing. For example, an attack might give an ally +2 to hit on its next attack, which instead goes to one of the PC's army's next attacks.
A few allied minions might be with the PCs, but most of the NPC vs NPC fighting takes place off-screen with the army's attack rolls against each other.
Then, you can add in enemy "heroes" that aren't part of their armies hp pool and are individually statted like normal monsters. These are likely targets for the PCs to face down and eliminate, due to their significant threat to the PC's own side and are probably likely to challenge the PCs themselves.
At Epic levels, the PCs may face such armies on their own. The battle is abstracted, so the battle map might be a whole city or plain or whatever the battlefield is, rather than a small piece of it. Ex: "My fighter fights his way to the center of the enemy army here, closer to the enemy Warlord's Dias"
The army gets five attacks on each Epic PC. The army's attacks are simultaneous with 1 round's worth of PC actions. Burst and blast attacks by the PCs multiply their damage by the 1 + the size of the burst or blast. For example, a close burst 1 that does 20 damage would do 20 * (1 + 1) = 40. A ranged burst 5 that does 40 damage would instead do 40 * (1 + 5) = 240.
For example, an army of 1000 goblins attacking a 25th level wizard would get 5 attacks, each doing 20 damage. If 2 hit, the wizard takes 20 damage. If the wizard unleashes a power that's a blast 3 that does 35 damage would kill 35 * (1 + 3) = 140 dead goblins. A 25th level fighter unleashing a close burst 1 that does 32 damage would kill 32 * (1 + 1) = 64 dead goblins.
If they encounter suitable Epic-level foes, the fight goes to an encounter-level fight, with big hordes of minions/bodguards etc, likely nearby as well.
This is my house-rule for battlefield combat I'm planning on using in my campaign.
Replace the army's minion attack with five attacks, each one doing damage equal to the # creatures in the army / 50. For large enough armies, it might be handy to pre-calculate the points at which the army's damage goes down. On a crit, the attack does double damage. These attacks are only to be used against other armies(but see Epic below).
Replace the minion's size with: Battlefield. Meaning, the army occupies a whole area larger than a single encounter area.
For example, an army of 100 guys would have the exact same stats of the minions composing it, except it would have 100hp and a space of: Battlefield. It would have five attacks, each doing 2 damage. Two such armies facing off against each other would kill 0-10 of each other's troops per round. Two equal-sized armies will take 10-20 or more rounds to defeat each other, enough time for the PCs to make a difference on the outcome.
Now, for PCs interacting with them:
The PCs have a big fight somewhere against the creatures that compose the enemy army. Presumably they will be on one side or the other of the conflict, not facing the army on their own(though if they have some choke point or the like, they might!).
An encounter map is set up as usual and one side/area is the enemy army's "spawn area" as appropriate. Enemy minions "spawn" (arrive at the battlefield) at the beginning of every round and attack the players, quantity depending on the DM's dramatic/tactical preference/how well the PCs are doing, etc. When in doubt, roll a dice to see how many arrive.
Every minion killed reduces the enemy army's hp by 1. At the end of each round of combat, the two armies make attacks against each other with their five vs army attacks. Also, any buff a character can give to "ally or allies" can be granted to their army, giving its effect on one of the army's attacks or buffing the army, excepting healing. For example, an attack might give an ally +2 to hit on its next attack, which instead goes to one of the PC's army's next attacks.
A few allied minions might be with the PCs, but most of the NPC vs NPC fighting takes place off-screen with the army's attack rolls against each other.
Then, you can add in enemy "heroes" that aren't part of their armies hp pool and are individually statted like normal monsters. These are likely targets for the PCs to face down and eliminate, due to their significant threat to the PC's own side and are probably likely to challenge the PCs themselves.
At Epic levels, the PCs may face such armies on their own. The battle is abstracted, so the battle map might be a whole city or plain or whatever the battlefield is, rather than a small piece of it. Ex: "My fighter fights his way to the center of the enemy army here, closer to the enemy Warlord's Dias"
The army gets five attacks on each Epic PC. The army's attacks are simultaneous with 1 round's worth of PC actions. Burst and blast attacks by the PCs multiply their damage by the 1 + the size of the burst or blast. For example, a close burst 1 that does 20 damage would do 20 * (1 + 1) = 40. A ranged burst 5 that does 40 damage would instead do 40 * (1 + 5) = 240.
For example, an army of 1000 goblins attacking a 25th level wizard would get 5 attacks, each doing 20 damage. If 2 hit, the wizard takes 20 damage. If the wizard unleashes a power that's a blast 3 that does 35 damage would kill 35 * (1 + 3) = 140 dead goblins. A 25th level fighter unleashing a close burst 1 that does 32 damage would kill 32 * (1 + 1) = 64 dead goblins.
If they encounter suitable Epic-level foes, the fight goes to an encounter-level fight, with big hordes of minions/bodguards etc, likely nearby as well.
This is my house-rule for battlefield combat I'm planning on using in my campaign.
