Party V's Army

[leiela]

Ok im Running a Long term Ad&D game loosely based in forgotten realms.

I have 5 party members who have reached 17th level, and they have recently decided to head to help defend a city from a "evil invading army"

My first question is anyone know any good places to find info on what kind/size armys city's of XXX size are likely to have.

Secondly my party seem to be under the impression that they are going to single handedly win the war, personally i think its totally unfesable to say that a city of population 29,000 population isn't gonig to have "people" in my party's level range already defending it, its also unfeasable to think that the enemy won't have allied people also in the same level range.

However i can not denie that my party especially the groups wizard can't tear though the basic foot troops with ease ... the wizard alone can slay dozens of enemy in a single spell.

anyone got any suggestions as to how to deal with the " senerio " providing a exciting gaming experience while still teaching my party that although they can make huge dent i an army they can't take one on single handedly ... yet

 

[Darklone]

Level 17.... means level 9 spells... Well.

I don't know your world; Do you play a status quo campaign or railroading with customized encounters. How strong are your NPCs usually...

I can only say that my players at around level 12-15 were able to defeat armies of level 2-10 dudes numbering in the thousands plus some extra NPCs, giants and young dragons.

 

[Quartz]

If the opposing army is all mooks, then that army is dead. Druid + Mage = dead army. However, they will have high level characters ('special operatives') who will be deployed to negate the PCs. If they know about the PCs, that is. So the PCs are going to be identified as prime targets for assassination etc. Also consider that to act, the PCs need information and they need to gather that information. Perhaps the Rogue needs to locate and sneak into the enemy camp to get the attack details. Further, the PCs can't be everywhere at once. And simple attack spells are actually remarkably small-scale or short-lived.

 

[Emirikol]

I'd have the PC's find a horde of summoning spell scrolls in the basement as part of a prophecy (or in the case of FR..a long dead mage who used to save the day, but is now..well..long dead.)

jh

 

[Tonguez]

I played a level 18 Druid who could wipe out an army of mooks by himself (elemental swarm x chain lightning + Earthquake and thats even before we mention Storm of Vengenace) and even better he could do this all from Long Range. Even without spells he could wildshape into a Tornado (Air Elemental)

Anyway the way to do it is to have high level 'hit squads' made up of enemy NPCs who are tasks with taking out strategic targets which the PCs have to defend.
The mook war happens around them its the strategic targets that make the story

One more thing either ban Scry+Teleport attacks or invoke a means of stopping them - they are not fun and messwith DnD War

 

[00Machado]

If the PC party laying waste and saving the day is a story that would be interesting to you and your players, then create an enemy army who that is a likely outcome for. Maybe all the 17th level PCs are tied up fighting the high level city residents who are in league with the army, have already been shunted to an extra dimensional prison, etc.

If you want information on other people PC's are likely to find in the city already helping (peers as it were, who can be obtacles to them, rivals, or allies who clue them in to why their cities 17th level residents haven't already taken care of the problem), then I'd start with the DMG breakdown of NPCs by level based on population, and start working up some interesting people for PCs to meet, work with, and have working against them.

If the setting is the FR North, then I know the Silver Marches book has info on army sizes of the various cities, defenses, and so on. I don't know if the other FR region books have something similar.

For ideas on who and what (and how powerful) comprise the enemy army, I think heroes of battle is an excellent treatment of the subject of fantasy battles in general, and it's chapter on sample armies will be of specific interest for addressing this question.

If you want to surprise your players, maybe the PC's quickly learn that all is not as it appears on the surface. This army is sponsored by a secret organization that is pulling the strings. Once the PCs discover this, the mysterious faction catches wind of them too, Now on the cabal's radar, they have to figure out what's really going on while this faction opposes them, thwarts them, perhaps even hunts them.

Their mission then becomes to figure out the big picture, and execute on the big missions and spy missions that help stop the underlying goals of the enemy.

Also, another reason they might have trouble mopping the floor with the army could be the reinforcements that the army can call on. Do they have secret and portable gates that let them bring in a seemingly infinite number of planar allies, for example.