Siege scenario tips?
- Thread starter wittyallusion
- Start date
Quickleaf
Legend
Well, technically you're describing 30+ enemies vs. 5-6 defenders, and I'm guessing it will occur within a day. It's not a siege, it's King of the Hill. Essentially it's a complex encounter template (to use 4e speak).
About your concerns regarding overwhelming the PCs, I think you don't have to worry. If you have 20 level 5 minions (50 XP), that's a normal 5th level encounter for 5 PCs right there - add a leader and a hazard and you've got a real challenge. After all, the PCs have terrain advantage with lots of cover and (i'm guessing) higher ground.
With PCs outnumbered 4 to 1, those are pretty standard fantasy adventure odds, and you can expect the PCs to hack through them, especially if they have AoE powers.
Some things to consider...
* Do the PCs have time to set up defenses? Allow them to change some of the cover around, establish arrow slits, barricade doors, boil lamp oil to throw on attackers, cast a ritual or two, or even create quick traps (see Madmartigan in Willow).
* Do the monsters need to get to them quickly? If not, there's all kind of things they can do: Starve the PCs out then attack while they are weak. Call for reinforcements or perform a ritual. Set demolition charges. Make circle of oil + flammables around ruins then shoot flaming arrows & smoke sticks into the ruins, smoking PCs out into the now burning circle around them thus pinning them down for archers. Create simple siege weapons like a mini-mantlet, hoist, or battering ram. Throw grappling hooks to a damaged wall with the ropes attached to a team of oxen and have them topple the wall. Create a tower shield wall around the battering ram. Trebuchet goblins over the wall...
Just kidding. 
About your concerns regarding overwhelming the PCs, I think you don't have to worry. If you have 20 level 5 minions (50 XP), that's a normal 5th level encounter for 5 PCs right there - add a leader and a hazard and you've got a real challenge. After all, the PCs have terrain advantage with lots of cover and (i'm guessing) higher ground.
With PCs outnumbered 4 to 1, those are pretty standard fantasy adventure odds, and you can expect the PCs to hack through them, especially if they have AoE powers.
Some things to consider...
* Do the PCs have time to set up defenses? Allow them to change some of the cover around, establish arrow slits, barricade doors, boil lamp oil to throw on attackers, cast a ritual or two, or even create quick traps (see Madmartigan in Willow).
* Do the monsters need to get to them quickly? If not, there's all kind of things they can do: Starve the PCs out then attack while they are weak. Call for reinforcements or perform a ritual. Set demolition charges. Make circle of oil + flammables around ruins then shoot flaming arrows & smoke sticks into the ruins, smoking PCs out into the now burning circle around them thus pinning them down for archers. Create simple siege weapons like a mini-mantlet, hoist, or battering ram. Throw grappling hooks to a damaged wall with the ropes attached to a team of oxen and have them topple the wall. Create a tower shield wall around the battering ram. Trebuchet goblins over the wall...
Just kidding. wittyallusion
First Post
.... trebucheting goblins over the wall doesn't actually seem like that bad an idea now. >.>
And yeah, Quickleaf's right, this does technically fall under "king of the hill" rather than "siege" but ... with 30 monsters crowding the players, I don't think they'll mind the distinction.
But anyway. Really great ideas for spicing up the challenge. I wasn't thinking at all about doing skill challenges, but that seems like it would be a really, really good idea to keep everyone occupied. Same goes for the siege weapons!
And yeah, Quickleaf's right, this does technically fall under "king of the hill" rather than "siege" but ... with 30 monsters crowding the players, I don't think they'll mind the distinction.
But anyway. Really great ideas for spicing up the challenge. I wasn't thinking at all about doing skill challenges, but that seems like it would be a really, really good idea to keep everyone occupied. Same goes for the siege weapons!
WotC_GregB
First Post
Hmm, I just had another thought. You could make some huge or gargantuan "swarms" of enemy troops. That might speed things up a bit by reducing the amount of dice rolling. The PCs would only have to roll against one or two enemies with their AoE attacks instead of 9 or 10. In an adaptation for Fortress of the Yuan-Ti, I created a Huge swarm of dretches by giving it some of the normal creature's characteristics with a few extra powers owing to its swarmyness. Creating units in this way would also allow you to create squadrons of enemies based on role. You'd have the skirmisher swarm that comes in to flank the PCs, you'd have the brute swarm be the shock troops, the soldier swarm behind the brutes, and then the artillery swarm in the back. Of course, you probably want to make sure that the PCs have enough AoE at-will and encounter powers so that it doesn't end up being a grind.
Similar Threads
