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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yair" data-source="post: 2309068" data-attributes="member: 10913">In the d20 fantasy milieu, the bulk of the army is usually made up by 1st level warriors, led by low (say 3rd or 5th) level sergeants and higher (say 7th or 9th) level captains. The army's race (goblin, hobgoblin, human, etc.) may change, but the army is largely composed of low-level and low-CR warriors led by slightly higher level combat-oriented character (mostly fighters). Rouges, rangers, paladins, barbarians, and to some extent clerics may also be relatively common, but wizards, sorcerers, and druids are rarely prevalent. Occasionally, this force is augmented by mounts (warhorses, worgs), gigantic beasts or brutes (ogres, war elephants), or similar support. What all these forces share in common is that their abilities are largely confined to simple fighting with melee and ranged weapons. As such, they all operate on the same level and in mass combat can be dealt with reasonably by assessing their EL. Such an analysis will quickly reveal that it is the massive bulk that forms the spine of the army's strength: what they lack in ability, they make for in sheer numbers. Take 1000 first level warriors and pit them in a simple fight against even a 20th level barbarian, and the barbarian will lose. The mass of low-level and low-CR soldiers is the core of the army's strength._When special abilities are considered, however, the picture changed considerably. Let us term dreadnought a creature (or character) that is immune to being whittled down by the masses of the bulk. These are typically creatures with high DR (such as golems, or treants), or ones immune to the bulk's attacks (e.g. swarms), or ones that can operate without the bulk hitting it (an invisible flying sorcerer with a wand of fireballs, or just any aerial unit when facing foes with inferior ranged weapons). These are the army-killers, beings that can take down enemies far their superior in cold EL math with little or no casualties or expense. _The dreadnoughts erode and destroy the bulk of the armies. To combat them, armies can equip their bulk with unique tactics and equipment to combat particular dreadnoughts (e.g. alchemist fire to combat treants, trolls, or swarms),  concentrate the more powerful members of the bulk on the dreadnoughts to offset DR, or deploy high-level strike teams to eliminate them. The high-level strike teams is a good place to put PCs in: even though their direct power is small compared to the army's EL, they are the only part of the army that can defeat these particular threats._Of course, characters (PCs or NPCs) can also act as dreadnoughts themselves. This is harder than it would seem, as most characters are still vulnerable to the masses even at high levels. Conjuring dreadnoughts such as greater earth elementals or demons, use of high-level spells to conceal their presence, and similar tactics can, however, make effective dreadnoughts. Such an action should encounter resistance in the form of the opposing army's own strike-teams._An army's bulk can be held at bay with strong fortifications. Siege engines and siege warfare can erode such defenses, but only with great difficulty. Arcane magic allows for diverse anti-fortification tactics. Armies equipped with sufficient arcane support can penetrate fortifications with ease - utilizing spells such as spider climb or levitate, gaseous form, dimension door, and of course stone shape or similar effects. While some of these effects can be supplied by druids or the proper clerics, generally speaking none matches the versatility of assault tactics offered by sorcerers and, primarily, wizards. Fortifications would usually be breached by a small unit that will open the gate or create an opening for the rest of the bulk to enter, as spells for such an operation are simply easier and lower-level. Aerial or burowing units can attack and transport troops behind the fortifications as well._The result is that fortifications will need to be layered, with several lines of defense requiring the expenditure of significant resources to breach each. Underground fortifications also have their advantages. Ultimately, however, an enemy equipped with proper magical support or creatures will be able to bring his bulk to bear on the defenders despite the fortifications. Fortification is designed and meant to cost the attacker more resources, not to stop him.  _Other strategic advantages can also have the same basic effect of fortifications. Untouchable aerial units are, effectively, fortified. Undead enemies shooting from within a fog poisonous to the living have a similar advantage. In general, strategic advantages limit the capabilities of the opponents to effectively engage you by restricting their movement or attack options. Often they limit both sides, but one side more than the other.To adjudicate warefare, determine the bulk's EL. Identify the dreadnoughts that can wade through it unscathed, and the strike-teams of both sides. Consider fortifications or other strategic advantages. Then, when describing the combat, focus on the dreadnoughts and strike-teams. Describe how magic is used to circumvent or create strategic advantages, how the dreadnoughts wade through the bulk or are intercepted by strike teams or brutes or tactics. Your characters will surely try to do or arrange for all those things, so you should expect to react with strike-teams and counter-tactics against them.   _Dreadnoughts that are left unchecked should slowly reduce the bulk (determine the rate by how many the dreadnought kills each round). The effect of changing the strategic advantages is simply to allow a change in the engagement. Determine engagement between bulk segments based on their EL, modified to take into account the strategic situation. (Not all situations completely block engagement by one side, some may just hinder it.) Again, it takes time to whittle down the EL, determine a reasonable damage output and apply it to decide the rate of EL reduction. Losses should slowly reduce the EL of bulk segments; consider that losing half the bulk implies losing -2 in EL.  _Thinking in terms of bulk EL, dreadnoughts, strategic advantages, and strike-teams should allow for a richer and more interesting depiction of mass combat. At least, I hope it will.Yair</blockquote>

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