Officers In A Military Company

[mattcolville]

I'm running a game in which the PCs are officers in what is essentially The Black Company.

We've played several games and one thing that's come up (my fault, entirely) is that the players don't know what being an officer means. Can they give orders? Are they expected to take command of troops? I should have answers to these things. I should have had them before we started playing.

This is a complex question. There's a collision here between the reality of real-world armies, and the needs of the gaming group. This is a game in which there will be lower-ranking soldiers to command. Wars to fight.

Some of the players have made characters specifically to lead. But this is not the same, really, as Command, if you get my meaning. Someone who wants to determine the direction and fate of the Company is different from someone who wants to plan a battle, is different from someone who wants to lead a company of men into fighting.

In other words, some players want to be Eisenhower in WWII and some want to be Patton and some want to be R. Lee Emery from Full Metal Jacket.

And some players want to be snipers and medics.

So I've been thinking in terms of Feats. Special feats you're awarded for service. So you don't purchase them, I don't want to tell the players "You must take one of these feats" since there isn't really a narrative option, currently, in the game to NOT be an officer in the company. A different game, where some players could do that and others could, maybe it would be a normal feat a player buys. But in this game, which we're already several sessions into, I don't want to take a feat away from the players after character creation.

I'm calling them Commissions, and here are the kinds of Commissions I'm thinking of.

----
Officer: Commander

You have the high-level goals of the Company in mind. You represent the Company to those who seek to hire you. You are the public face of the Company, and determine the direction in which the Company moves. You often consult other officers but you, ultimately, decide what commissions the Company accepts.

Officer: Strategist

Once the Commander decides what you're going to do, you decide how you're going to do it. Maybe you're an expert in logistics; you know how to keep the army moving and fed. Maybe you're an expert strategist; you know when to attack and how.

Officer: Specialist

You're a medic, or a spy, or a sniper (?). You're still an officer, people salute you, you command respect. But if you suddenly decided to take a squad of troops away from their sergeant and go fight a war, the soldiers would think something was wrong. You're not that guy, and they know it. Generally, you don't want to be that guy.
----


Now, the problem here is; I want there to be mechanical benefits to this. What are they? I dunno. Maybe the only way there can be mechanical benefits is if there are mechanics for armies and whatnot. But it'd be real nice if picking one of these somehow made you better at it.

 

[SteelDraco]

How do you see your typical game going? If the PCs are actually going to be leading groups of NPC troops into large-scale battles, the various command levels might give different types of bonuses to those troops. Morale bonuses to attack, saves, or skill checks would be appropriate, depending on who's leading them. I don't think all PCs should necessarily grant bonuses to normal troops, but it makes sense for some.

Command could give a morale bonus to attack rolls, based on the inspiration that he grants his followers.

A master strategist could give a bonus to initiative, or perhaps skill checks appropriate to the plan (Hide for ambushes, Prof (Siege Engineer) for siege weapons, that kind of thing).

Not sure what a sniper officer would grant, simply because I can't picture them commanding a large group of troops - maybe a bonus to Hide and Move Silently for a small group, or perhaps a die of Sudden Strike damage? I'm not sure.

A medic might grant a bonus on saves, or an additional chance to stablilize. Something involving healing or survival.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC I let the Commander character add their class level to the rolls made by his troops as a kind of 'Morale bonus'.

So a Medic could add their class level to any company heal checks
a Strategist would add their class level to any company initiative checks
a Feild Commander would add their class level to any company attack rolls etc

I also allow Commanders to take a modified Aristocrat class which gives them Leadership at Level 1. All followers are under the direct control of the Commander who can either use them as direct enhancements to his own abilites or can send them out on their own.

 

[Quartz]

How about taking levels in a Prestige Class, like the Legendary Commander (?) in DLA?

I mean, your characters are all gestalt Fighter // whatever, aren't they?

 

[3catcircus]

I'm running a game in which the PCs are officers in what is essentially The Black Company.

We've played several games and one thing that's come up (my fault, entirely) is that the players don't know what being an officer means. Can they give orders? Are they expected to take command of troops? I should have answers to these things. I should have had them before we started playing.

This is a complex question. There's a collision here between the reality of real-world armies, and the needs of the gaming group. This is a game in which there will be lower-ranking soldiers to command. Wars to fight.

Some of the players have made characters specifically to lead. But this is not the same, really, as Command, if you get my meaning. Someone who wants to determine the direction and fate of the Company is different from someone who wants to plan a battle, is different from someone who wants to lead a company of men into fighting.

In other words, some players want to be Eisenhower in WWII and some want to be Patton and some want to be R. Lee Emery from Full Metal Jacket.

And some players want to be snipers and medics.

So I've been thinking in terms of Feats. Special feats you're awarded for service. So you don't purchase them, I don't want to tell the players "You must take one of these feats" since there isn't really a narrative option, currently, in the game to NOT be an officer in the company. A different game, where some players could do that and others could, maybe it would be a normal feat a player buys. But in this game, which we're already several sessions into, I don't want to take a feat away from the players after character creation.

I'm calling them Commissions, and here are the kinds of Commissions I'm thinking of.

----
Officer: Commander

You have the high-level goals of the Company in mind. You represent the Company to those who seek to hire you. You are the public face of the Company, and determine the direction in which the Company moves. You often consult other officers but you, ultimately, decide what commissions the Company accepts.

Officer: Strategist

Once the Commander decides what you're going to do, you decide how you're going to do it. Maybe you're an expert in logistics; you know how to keep the army moving and fed. Maybe you're an expert strategist; you know when to attack and how.

Officer: Specialist

You're a medic, or a spy, or a sniper (?). You're still an officer, people salute you, you command respect. But if you suddenly decided to take a squad of troops away from their sergeant and go fight a war, the soldiers would think something was wrong. You're not that guy, and they know it. Generally, you don't want to be that guy.
----


Now, the problem here is; I want there to be mechanical benefits to this. What are they? I dunno. Maybe the only way there can be mechanical benefits is if there are mechanics for armies and whatnot. But it'd be real nice if picking one of these somehow made you better at it.

I highly recommend taking a look at Heroes of Battle, other 3rd party military supplements, and "The Military Forces of Cormyr" article on Candlekeep.com, written by Jerry Davis.

 

[Notmousse]

Heroes of Battle is what you're looking for. It gives rules for Commander Rank and is easy to extrapolate from.

It is best known for the Dread Commando PrC.