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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6768892" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Mass combat.  Its a wonderful thing.  Its a wonderful thing by way of the 4e ruleset.  However, it is not so wonderful as a play by post venture (likely by any ruleset but especially by the 4e ruleset!).  Consequently, "The Battle for Giliad's Rest" is taking place in the real world (well...the resolution of it is at least).  I'll update things generally but I'm not going to be doing a blow by blow of it (action by action, turn by turn, round by round).  I'll recap things abstractly as they progress.  To date, it is pretty deep into things and there is quite a bit of carnage.  Things are very much in doubt.Here is a GM-side peak of the machinery at work here.vsObviousyly the xp value of the bad guys was double that of the good guys, putting the encounter budget here at a fairly ridiculous level + 21 (extra of-level standard creatures).  However, the defenders have several significant advantages that help mitigate the overwhelming odds:1 - The setup of the 20 ft walls (granting archers Cover and requiring Medium DC Athletics to climb) and the difficult-terrain-laden (about 50 % of squares) killbox between the inner and outer walls.2 - Epic PCs with full daily resources + the ability to refresh encounter resources and spend 2 surges twice (when transiting encounter zones with the Reinforcements! utility power).Reinforcements!Encounter (Special) - Martial (or other applicable)Move Action - SelfPrerequisite:  The target must be in a northern or southern boundary square of one of the encounter zones.Effect: The target makes an Athletics check (or another appropriate check if applicable).  If the check passes the High DC, the target is out of combat for only one round, arriving at a boundary square of the intended adjacent encounter zone in the round following the next.  If the check fails the High DC but passes the Medium, the target is out of combat for two rounds.  If the target only passes the Easy DC, the target is out of the combat for three rounds.  The target refreshes all encounter powers and can spend 1 or 2 healing surges.Special: You can use this power twice per mass combat.3 - The Giliad's Rest Archers (Solo) pretty much serves as a high caliber machine gun that constantly strafes the battlefield (see Blot Out the Sun - modeled off Beholder Eye Tyrant's "Random Eye Ray" w/ Minions getting a saving throw for balance in this particular encounter).  Regarding the GRA:Each archer has 41 HPs (basically two-hit minions).  20 archers total.  7 in one zone, 7 in another, 6 in a final one.  The entirety of the Solo acts on the same initiative for all 3 combats and shares one suite of actions, channelable through any one of the archers.  The Solo is "bloodied" when it looses its 10th archer.4 - Nodes of Primal Earth Fantastic Terrain on the battlefield augmenting healing surges spent in those squares with + 2d6 HPs returned.[HR][/HR]The three encounter zones are (a) the SW zone with the section of the exterior wall that is compromised (Standard Action - Medium Athletics to break those squares of wall instead of Hard and 40 HP with no resistance vs 80 w/ 5 resist all), (b) the W zone with the gate, (c) the NW zone where the wilderness outside of the exterior is fraught with frozen ice hazards and hindering terrain (Effect: A creature that enters a square of barbweed takes 9 damage and a -2 penalty to defenses [save ends]).The players set up the defense of the zones as follows:a)  Saerie (Rawr + Lucky), Dire Wolf Pack (5 Minions), Otthor, 6 of the Giliad's Rest Archers archers.b)  6 Giliad's Rest Man-At-Arms, 7 of the Giliad's Rest Archers archers.c)  Three Bird, Coldland Barbarians (5 Minions), 3 Giliad's Rest Man-At-Arms, 7 of the Giliad's Rest Archers archers.[HR][/HR]I'll update with what has transpired in a later post.</blockquote>

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