Stronghold - A mass combat system

[Kevin O'Reilly]

Drawmack

The idea is to only roll one dice for a unit and apply the final modifier to damage. As Ea pointed out, mass numbers of die rolling will tend towards the mean, so why roll dice.

Instead, stategy and battlefield tactics should effect the damage done by the attacking units.

A major issue that needs to be resolved is morale. In d+d roleplay monsters fight until the die; on the battlefield, outside the use of nukes, a unit generally breaks long before death. It is a mechanic needs to be incorporated.

That said, I need to change the structre so that it looks and plays like d20; ie roll dice and add modifiers; Don't forget in d20 we roll a dice, add BAB, add strength bonus (or dex if weapon finess) add magic, add buff spells..etc. The target of course is 10+armor+dex (if armor allows it)+ deflection bonus+armor bonus+sacred bonus+luck,... I think we've all become so used to the sytem we forget it is complex and it is a modifier system.

I'll take a crack at making it similiar.

 

[CCamfield]

Hmm.... here's a suggestion, regarding making things simpler: try to set things up so that (aside from situational modifiers) you can sum up a value for the attacker in advance, and a number for the defender in advance, and then just use the precalculated values in combat. I mean you're right, there's strength bonus as opposed to BAB, but in practice you calculate your melee attack values in advance, then tack on spell modifiers when they apply. Similarly small creatures get a bonus to hit and a bonus to AC, which effectively cancel when two small creatures fight, rather than being given a bonus to hit if their target is larger.

I probably shouldn't mention that AEG's Mercenaries has a morale system.

 

[Tonguez]

My system is based on giving each unit a Unit Rating and then using this to modify the base rolls of a single creature of that type

UR = Unit size/100 x(HD-1 + Lv)
HP = Size X(HD-1 + Lv)x av.HP

eg Elf Warrior with Long Sword and Longbow (av.damage 4)
1HD8, HP 4, BAb m+4 r+6, AC +5

500 level 4 Elf Warriors with Long Sword
UR = 500/100x(0+4) = +20

HP = 8000 (500x(4)x4)
BAb m 24 (4+20) r26 (6+20)
AC 35 (!0+5+20)
FacexFlank = 25X20
Damage 100x80 melee/100X80ranged (Dam = fx4)

or 300 level 2 gnoll warriors with Battle ax (av.damage 4)
Gnoll 2HD8 HP4 BAB +3 AC +7

UR = 9 (300/100x(1+2)

HP = 3600
BAb 12 (3+9)
AC 26 (10+7+9)
FacexFlank 20X15
Damage 80X60

So Elves attack Gnolls with Longbows

Roll Att d20+26 vs AC 26 (hit)
and do 100 Damage
Reducing Gnolls to 3500 HP

Gnolls retaliate with a charge

Roll D20+12 +1 (higher ground) and miss drastcally the Elves being able to defend

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

CCamfield

Yeah, AEG does have a morale system.

Regarding the bonuses being summed in advance, they are. A unit has a summary on its melee attack, its missile attacks and its defense. Likewise, the stragetgy modifiers are clearly listed as are battlefield mods. As you noted, Size is a modifier.

The situation is to make sure it is clear which modifiers do not apply in certain situations, most notably, Dexterity if surprised, Armor if hit with an artillery weapon,

It simply becomes an excercise of roll a d20, add unit modifiers, add strategy modifiers and battlefield modifers and multiply the damage done by a unit by a modifier based on how effective the attack was.

How does this look:

1. Roll d20 to attack
2. Add Modifiers
.........a. [Attackers BAB]-[Defenders Armor]
.........b. Unit Modifiers – both attacker and defender
.........c. Strategy Modifiers
.........d. Battlefield Modifiers
3. Sum the total – this is the Combat Score (CS)
4. Compare the final value of the damage modifier table
5. Determine all the eligible models in the combat and multiply the damage per model by the damage modifier
6. Remove casualties

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

Tonguez

That's essentially what I'm going for with one exception; there is no way that all the gnolls would miss. In fact, 15 would do criticals.

When I constructed this system it was around this believe; rolling a d20 in mass combat is not a "to hit" roll, but a "how effective" roll.

The all or noting approach just doesn't work.

Apart from that, the sytem deals with modifiers to combat, just like in 3e. These new modifiers are Battlefield and Strategy.

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

*bump*

I've been a way for a while