Darmanicus said:
I've found that nets can be REALLY annoying!
I see you've actually dealt with rampaging PC's before.
Handling PC parties that go the 'Champions of Chaos' route on the grounds that 'CE is the best alignment because you can do anything you want' can be a challenge to the unprepared DM. Strictly by the book, good aligned cities are often wealthier and yet oddly more poorly defended than average dungeons, and militia squads of 1st level warriors are almost completely ineffective against PC parties of above a certain level.
1) Low level characters must horde attack bonuses vs. high level characters. Flanking thier opponent and relying on allies providing 'aid other in combat' actions is about the only chance that they have to hit the opponents with normal weapons. The most effective attacks are ranged touch attacks that ignore the PC's advantage in armor class. Nets qualify in this regard, and effectively help the low level characters horde an attack bonus. Another really effective attack is a lasso thrown by a mounted opponent. Since the opponent can use the mounts strength to oppose the PC's, and can easily ready actions to keep his distance, this can be very effective at completely taking spellcasters out of the fight and separating PC's to make them easier to flank/gang up on. Feats which reward flanking, teaming up, and so forth also tend to be more valuable for NPC's than PC's. Reach weapons are nice for increasing your ability to gang up on one target.
2) Low level characters must try to get in contests in which they can minimize the PC's advantages in BAB. Trip attacks are especially effective in this regard, because they are usually flat out STR contests and its not unreasonable at all for even average city gaurds to have STRs in the 12-14 range. Grappling attacks are also effective, but generally only if the PC's are out of AoO.
3) Low level types have to keep thier distance against high level types. Ranged attacks are important. Not only do they keep them away from dedicated melee types that will be able to attack cleave down 1-2 low level fighters/round, but they allow them to have an effective responce vs. dedicated archers and spellcasters. Mobile archers as skirmishers can provide big problems to parties with insufficient mobility and ranged weaponry. Remember, the range increments on some bows are huge (and irrelevant to an archer that probably needs a 20 to hit anyway). There is no reason to start a fight 50' from the PC's when they could start it 300' from the PC's.
4) There are several sorts of cheap non-magical equipment which can give PC's a hard time if used correctly.
Caltrops: Mobile archers can seed the area in front of them with caltrops. This potentially stops charges, reduces player mobility even further, and because caltrops ignore shields, armor, and deflection bonuses are actually pretty close to touch attacks on the player.
Alchemist fire/flaming oil: Another effective tactic for mobile skirmishers is to hit the target with alchemist fire. A player party that suffers 20 alchemist fire attacks in the same round and which doesn't have energy resistance has been as good as fireballed, or better.
Tanglefoot Bag: Although slightly less effective in general than alchemist fire, the tanglefoot bag adds another trick to the bag for low level characters. Against parties that have demonstrated fire resistance, this is the more effective option.
Warhorses: Mounts are hugely important. PC's never really want to be forced to charge low level foes because the AC penalty that they take is generally more important than the bonus to hit and they do not want to lose thier iterative attacks. Warhorses are mundane enough that they can fit into just about any campaign, have as much as 4HD, and good mobility.
5) Don't be afraid to give fantasy kingdoms fantastic abilities. This is no particular reason that militias can't be backed up by a few 4th-5th level spellcasters if the city is sufficiently threatened, and every reason that they should if wizards are merely knowledgable and warrior clerics are common. There are alot of low level spells (for example sound burst and hold person) that are moderate threats to even powerful characters. There is no reason that large cities don't keep trained fantastic beasties in their arsenals - from war-mastadons in barding carrying archers into battle with large degrees of cover, to constructs reserved for emergencies, to trained griffin cavalry dive bombing PC's with large sized alchemist fire bombs (greater splash radius). It might take a city some time to muster these resources when danger presents itself, but the longer powerful characters make trouble, the more intimidating the responce can be. Also, keep in mind that really big cities might be able to muster unusual mercenaries. For example, a tribe of neutrally leaning Hill Giants can live a much better lifestyle hiring themselves out as muscle in civilized region than they ever could living in the wild and surviving on thier own with 6 INTS. The food is better (realisticly starvation is a serious issue amongst hill giant tribes) , the fringe benefits (say alchohol and healing) are better, the accomidations are better (less damp, less fleas, less cold), and the equipment is better (say large sized masterwork great axes, and breastplates). Even a stupid giant is going to figure out eventually that fighting and robbing humans for a living just doesn't pay in the long run. Some of them little guys are HARD, and they've got all this unfathomable magic stuff like blacksmithing and fireballs. Tribe near civilized regions that can't figure that out and adapt are going to go extinct in short order (that's what adventurers do). But lift a few weenie little crates into a boat/wagon, crack a few skulls for them occassionally, and you can get a free barrel of beer and a wheel of cheese. Beats life in the cave wondering where your next meal is going to be, and trying to sneak up on all these wary little creatures like deer that always seem to know you are coming and bolt long before you can hit 'em with a rock. From the little peoples perspective, upkeep on giants may be expensive, but so is the upkeep on a crane or bulldozer (in a technological world), and a dozen or so armored hill giants can give pause to just about anything (and enjoy doing it).
Jürgen Hubert: As far as your 4th level fighters go, I think you've tricked them out about as well as melee combatants can be tricked out, and while they are going to present serious challenges to characters of the immediately higher levels (say 5th-8th), above those levels they are going to present no real obstacle. The choice of guisarmes is good, but higher level characters are simply going to have AC's in the 28-29 range and simply won't be hit often enough to matter - especially if they opt to fight defensively or use expertise which they can easily afford to do given the low AC's of thier opponents. The money you've spent on magical armor and cloaks is more or less wasted against higher level opponents. You'd be better off with something like a potion of heroism. I might consider having a few/all drop Mobility for Improved Trip, Improved Disarm, or Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net). The bonus to thier AC isn't that important against the sort of foes that they are taking on, since the difference in a 80% chance to hit and a 60% chance to hit is relatively small. Another feat that can be useful is Hold the Line. You might run some test combats to see which feats are more generally useful.
These fighters need to be backed up with:
4th level archers: Priority on precise shot and rapid shot. Equipped with caltrops, masterwork bows, and a few magic arrows. If you want to really abuse the rules, equip the archers with a couple arrows tipped with tiny ceramic jars trapped with fire traps. This gives archers a powerful area of effect weapon.
4th level mounted skirmishers: Priority on ride by attack and mounted archer. Equipped with alchemist fire, masterwork bows, and lasso.
Most of all though, I hate the name 'Special Tactical Branch' as I find it highly modern in flavor. I'd definately prefer to call any elite group in my cities the 'Loyal Order of St. Marnus', or 'The Queen's Own Nightwatch', or 'The Red Gaurd Regiment', or 'The Griffin Company' or any such similar name that values mythic force over plain pragmatism.
