D&D 5E Question on Mass Combat Comparison

[SkidAce]

I actually prefer the general ideas behind Exalted's mass combat: the leader of the unit is the baseline, the unit then essentially modifies them and allows them to participate at scale. So a unit led by a fighter would have the fighter's attack bonus +/- a mod based on how well equipped the unit is, and dmage that starts witht he fighter's damage +f(x) based on the size of the unit. It should look like Dynasty Warriors (one big hero mowing down crowds of mooks, while followed by their own crowd of mooks) rather than anything realistic.

Why is this good? Because it keeps the story about the main characters, and lets the players use their pc's rather than brand-new statblocks that work differently. It makes mass combat an extension of the game, rather than a whole new game tangential to the regular mechanics.

Downsides: obviously "realism" is not a priority here, so this will simply not work for some people. Also it doesn't really account for two pcs in the same unit, though I'd just not do that rather than try to figure out how to make it work.

Thats a decent angle I hadn't thought of.

 

[SkidAce]

I think I may have gotten to point where my thoughts are usable. Hoping to keep all the rules on one index card.

My current brainblock is if a unit of 200 soldiers (1/2 cr) worth BR 100 fought devils (cr 5) that were resistant to nonmagical weapons (either a small unit of 40 /BR 200 or a large unit of 80 /BR 400) is the difference in CR/BR which theoretically includes the resistance, enough to model the battle, or should clear cases like this have disadvantage on the opposed roll?

It is supposed to be narrative with just enough stats for the outcome to be semi-realistic, so I'm leaning to towards letting the BR determine, after all that unit of 80 cr 5 devils will probably wipe the floor with the soldiers anyway. Save advantage or disadvantage for things like terrain of fortifications.

 

[Ancalagon]

I've kept this one (exploder wizard's post) in my back pocket for need - but I've hadn't had the need for it yet:

D&D 5E - Tools for Running Larger Battles Efficiently

I've been DMing for about 8 months with very little tabletop experience outside of it. Its been generally enjoyable, and I've managed to keep a relatively stable group throughout those months. There definitely have been some hiccups along the way, usually when I get ambitious and try something...

www.enworld.org

 

[Stalker0]

If you want to go for a new system, moer power to you. But if your main beef is that dramatically weaker armies can never hurt superior armies, there is a very very easy way to fix that.

Critical Succes: On a natural 20, the army always damages the enemy force regardless of final result.

or something like that.

 

[SkidAce]

I've kept this one (exploder wizard's post) in my back pocket for need - but I've hadn't had the need for it yet:

D&D 5E - Tools for Running Larger Battles Efficiently

I've been DMing for about 8 months with very little tabletop experience outside of it. Its been generally enjoyable, and I've managed to keep a relatively stable group throughout those months. There definitely have been some hiccups along the way, usually when I get ambitious and try something...

www.enworld.org

I've been thinking of smooshing Thule's and Exploder Wizard's together for a while.

Used @ExploderWizard 's several times, to GREAT SUCCESS. My only problem was gauging the allies versus enemies in the zones, and was hoping Thule's use of CR might help indicate who gets the up to +/- 4 in the zone.

 

[SkidAce]

If you want to go for a new system, moer power to you. But if your main beef is that dramatically weaker armies can never hurt superior armies, there is a very very easy way to fix that.

Critical Succes: On a natural 20, the army always damages the enemy force regardless of final result.

or something like that.

Valid and simple, I will look into it.

 

[Ancalagon]

I've been thinking of smooshing Thule's and Exploder Wizard's together for a while.

Used @ExploderWizard 's several times, to GREAT SUCCESS. My only problem was gauging the allies versus enemies in the zones, and was hoping Thule's use of CR might help indicate who gets the up to +/- 4 in the zone.

Very interesting, I'm glad to hear this.

I found his method so important than I created a blog entry about it... not 100% sure on the ethics of it but...

Easy mass combat system.

The following is an excellent system for narrative mass combat, where the GM can "eyeball" relative strengths of the groups involved, and qu...

slugsandsilver.blogspot.com

 

[SkidAce]

Very interesting, I'm glad to hear this.

I found his method so important than I created a blog entry about it... not 100% sure on the ethics of it but...

Easy mass combat system.

The following is an excellent system for narrative mass combat, where the GM can "eyeball" relative strengths of the groups involved, and qu...

slugsandsilver.blogspot.com

Norton says your site is a known malicious site....I'm not saying it is, just letting you know.

 

[Ancalagon]

Norton says your site is a known malicious site....I'm not saying it is, just letting you know.

well that's not good :O It's just a blogger page, so I'm not quite sure how it could be "malicious". Do you have any extra information for me?

 

[SkidAce]

Seems to be a false positive when a site's php is set up oddly. I googled Norton, warning, and known dangerous site.