D&D 5E Some thoughts on Warfare in DnD

[Minigiant]

The thing is
1 you dont have to nuke the entire army to defeat it - just enough of them to have the others break (there needs to be morale rules for DnD armies)
2 you dont need an army of mages to break morale - just a couple using cloudkill or chain lightning or such should be enough, not to mention create undead etc etc

That's why I defaulted back to Warhammer and old D&D frequency rules.

In a full on battle, you don't have enough mages to rout an army. You can damage a few groups but a noble wouldn't have enough mages with enough power to be more than an artillery group.

Base D&D worlds don't have that many 7th+ level casters in a given nation for hire. And with volley fire, low level combat casters would be pincushions. That's why many fantasy miniature wargames and videogames have mages as character snipers and walking buffs. You fireball the enemy leadership.

 

[Tonguez]

That's why I defaulted back to Warhammer and old D&D frequency rules.

In a full on battle, you don't have enough mages to rout an army. You can damage a few groups but a noble wouldn't have enough mages with enough power to be more than an artillery group.

Base D&D worlds don't have that many 7th+ level casters in a given nation for hire. And with volley fire, low level combat casters would be pincushions. That's why many fantasy miniature wargames and videogames have mages as character snipers and walking buffs. You fireball the enemy leadership.

Yeah, thats why I think there wouldnt be any large standing armies in a DnD world and instead it would default to small mercenary strike teams made up of ‘adventurers’. NPC forces would be small militia/town guards who are spend most of them time defending against bandits and marauding orc attacks.

 

[Fenris-77]

historical Nobles go to war with with squires, servant, cook, barber, tent.
They were not always happy to go to war, because they have their own noble business to take care too. If a wizard can go adventuring, he can go to war!

How alike nobles and wizards are would very much depend on the setting. It lots of settings they aren't that much alike.

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah, thats why I think there wouldnt be any large standing armies in a DnD world and instead it would default to small mercenary strike teams made up of ‘adventurers’. NPC forces would be small militia/town guards who are spend most of them time defending against bandits and marauding orc attacks.

There would still be large armies. Because like Warhammer, you don't have enough mid to high level adventurers to seriously dent an army. It would be small adventurer squads weakening logistics, fortifying strategic points, killing leaders, and holding/breaking siege defenses.

Until you go epic, number trump adventurers.

 

[Krachek]

It isn't about "sharing their power and knowledge" necessarily.

Do these people just shut their powers off when not at war? No? Then you've got a thousand people slinging spells between wars. That will have an impact.

I am not specifying what impact is has, but, "we have a thousand spellcasters in war, and otherwise they have no impact on our world and culture," is not very plausible.

This thousand Noble wizards, would be the lords of a kingdom of about 1 million people.
As lord, they are responsible of law enforcement, rules, taxes, security of their respective land. They also have to keep safe their political status, and struggle against the other Mages. They have to ensure their legacy, and train one of their heir. They pledge obedience to the council of archmage, and have to go to war when asked. Of course their spells make them overwhelming against to commoner they rule, but there is also the other noble Mage, fallen Noble, criminals, foreigner with high skill, so the life of a Mage is not so easy, A fight between Mage is not often deadly but sometime inevitable. The council is harsh against Mage who make too flashy duel and cause too much commoner death.

 

[Oofta]

Let's say that 1 in 1,000 people in an army are wizards. How many of those are high enough level to cast spells like fireball? Is it 1 in 2? Or is it 1 in 10? Because if it's that latter you now have only 1 wizard per 10,000 troops. You aren't going to even notice them.

But let's say they can all cast fireball. Assuming you don't use the alternate long rest rules like I do, the odds are you're still only going to have 2-3 fireballs you can cast per day.

Furthermore let's be generous and say the caster is close enough to the front lines to get full effectiveness. I'm not sure how often that would really happen, but we're talking best case or close to it.

According to the DMG TOTM rules you'd only get 4 targets so I ignored that and instead counted out on a hex grid to get 30 assuming tight formation. So every day in the best of circumstances a wizard could fireball 30-90 targets.

That's a drop in the bucket and assumes the wizard is in the right place at the right time. Remember, that wizard is not going to be able to contribute much else to the fight.

At the same time, a wizard will be a prime target for the enemy. So while they would have an effect, it would likely be less than that of other units such as heavy cavalry.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Druid can be pacifist and rarely participate in warfare.

What is this? The New Age Renaissance Fair?

Druids are not hippies.

 

[Krachek]

What is this? The New Age Renaissance Fair?

Druids are not hippies.

since you mention hippie, I can see now some link with the Circle of Dreams and Circle of the shepherd!

 

[Oofta]

What is this? The New Age Renaissance Fair?

Druids are not hippies.

You sure? Almost every time I have an NPC druid they come off as a stoner hippie. I never intend to, but when I open my mouth the first word is usually "Duuude".

 

[Tonguez]

You sure? Almost every time I have an NPC druid they come off as a stoner hippie. I never intend to, but when I open my mouth the first word is usually "Duuude".

Only if stoner hippies often turn into Velociraptors or Apes and then proceed to rip their opponents throats out...