Who Are the Generals in D&D?

[Drakmar]

So... the way I read it.. and the way I would play it is..

A General in D&D, much like in Earth history, would be somebody who had the power/resources/influence, to raise or buy an Army and chose to lead it (a merchant might buy a merc army = dangerous but heck why not)

So.. the General would be any of the following.

Any Heroic Class, who wanted an army and found a way to get one.

Any NPC Class, who wanted an army and found a way to get one.



Sooo... That means that anybody could be the General.... now...
on the other hand.. who would be the "Career" Generals.

I reckon.. they would be anybody who wanted to be... but.. in general (te he) they would be

Aristocrat - Because they have that Nobility thing in their favour
Warrior - Probably a Career Soldier - I.E.. maybe a Tribune in the Roman Army just from long service
Adept - Possibly a "Religous" reason for having an army - or spiritual.
Expert - A Career strategist.. who is part of a Merc army - specialising in the more "history" method of strat (you know studying old manuscripts of past battles etc)
**
Any of the Heroic Classes.. pretty much for the same reasons.. But.. most likely..
Fighters/Paladins - Career Soldiers.
Clerics - Religious reasons for being a career soldier of the church
etc.. I don't really need to keep expanding.

Now.. as for how they do it..

It really depends on each one of them.. Some would lead by Charisma.. and have a loyal following based on a Cult of Personality.. Others would lead by Intelligence, because of their superior knowledge of war, and it's ability to help win the day..
And other would be wise.. able to take advantage because they just have good sense.

Now.. a truley Great General.. would have all of the above..
A Good one would have At least either the Intelligence or the Wisdom.
A lucky one, could get away with just Charisma... and really good loyal/fanatical warriors..

So... the skill that you would use?

hmm.. Knowledge - Tactics/Strategy... for you intelligence dude.
um.. Diplomacy/Intimidate for your Charisma dude...
and well. .stuffed if I know what the wisdom guys uses..

So.. when I had a Cleric of a War God.. who was aiming to be a General (he was going to raise an army of Dwarves to rescue his homeland)... he had a little Charisma.. and he new that.. So he studied hard.. and learnt the Knowledge - Tact/Strat, and hoped that his natural Wisdom would help win the day.

thats my take on it.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I would throw in my £0.02 and say that the best class for an <b>NPC</b> general would be aristocrat. Although I'm not sure how many skill points and so on they get...could someone look it up for me? Would it work?

 

[Darkness]

I would throw in my £0.02 and say that the best class for an <b>NPC</b> general would be aristocrat. Although I'm not sure how many skill points and so on they get...could someone look it up for me? Would it work?

4 skill points. They also get all Knowledge skills as class skills.

And I agree that most generals should at least start out as aristocrats (see my post above).

 

[hong]

A general is just someone who commands an army. Anyone could potentially do this; history is replete with incompetent generals who obtained their positions due to political or other considerations.

Now in terms of being a career soldier, I have a _captain_ prestige class on my D&D page:

The knight commander

 

[GuardianLurker]

Well, it's a same the Leadership feat is that expensive; I hadn't examined it in detail for a LONG time.

Of course, you could always take it to be the Leader's Lieutenant and his Inner Guard (or some such) and then apply a (house-ruled) secondary requirement for larger units. Or even just use the pyramidal Leadership structure, which may be more common than we typically think.

The point about nobility (or at least wealth) is well-made, and probably is the single most important part for a general.

And as much as I would like to support the rational view that the "best" fighter would be the general (or at least have input), I'm afraid I can't. In any large organization (and a general is in charge of such), it is not the most "technically" skilled in the field that rise to the top, but the most politically skilled.

The same (depressing) principle applies whether we are discussing armies, wizard's guilds, or temples. And is probably the cause of much internal friction.

As a final point, I think *all* of the Core Classes were shafted when it comes to skill points and skill lists, but then I've always enjoyed more skill-heavy games.

 

[Raesene Andu]

Sounds like what you need is the Birthright Campaign Setting, it will have rules for leading troops, warfare, running realms, that sort of thing. Of course, they are designed for the world of Aebrynis, but easy to convert I believe. Of course, they haven't been finished yet, so you will have to wait for a while...

Anyway, effectivly what the BRCS does for great leaders/generals is to introduce a skill called Warcraft. This take all the strategy and knowledge of a general and converts it into one skill. If two armies face off, then their leaders can gain a advantage over the other by succeeding with an opposed skill check against the other general. The winner gets to move his troops first, and can also, possible gain a bonus to one of their attack value. The skill also has some benefit when dealing with sieges and storming castles.

I can't really say much more than that at the moment, as the warfare rules are still in the process of being written.

 

[Kilmore]

My two copper bits...

What kind of people become a general, and what he is required to know mostly depends on what kind of army he leads and who for. The actual skill that would be the most useful for most generals would be something like Profession: Military Officer. The profession involves a knowledge of strategy and tactics and a whole lot more. It also involves building personal and orginizational discipline, composing youself above the standards of your society, and some experience in dealing with politics within and beyond the character's military orginization.

PC's being exceptional, ANY character of any class who spends time in a military orginization (I'd say several years in peace, one campaign season in war) should be allowed to take the Profession: Military Officer skill. This may not necessarily mean that the character becomes an officer, just that he has the skill to hack it if he gets put into the position.

 

[NoOneofConsequence]

Two of the greatest generals of history, Napoleon Bonaparte and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were both short, unattractive and uninspiring men - until you put them on a battlefield.

About Napoleon it was said: "When he put on his [general's] hat, he was six feet tall."

About Toyotomi: "He looked like a monkey, but on his horse he was a veritable war god!"

Which leads me to this feat:

Born General
Prereq's: None

A character who takes this feat receives a +2 bonus (free stacking) to all Knowledge (Strategy & Tactics) checks. The bonus also applies to all WIS & CHA based skills in a battlefield context.

This feat cannot be used in any non-martial contexts.

 

[Drakmar]

the other thing about little of Nap.. was that he was original in the Siege Dudes.. with the cannons and so on.. and was the first general to ever effectively utilise um.. I think it was bombards? basically the first person to realise.. that a cannon ball that goes up.. must come down.. and you just have to figure out where.

 

[Masked]

Romans and Single-Classing

First up, Romans ... and when they didn't listen to their underlings they did things like "general today, not general tomorrow, general today, not ..." with the other consul. Needless to say, the worst slaughter of Roman troops happened this way.

I would say Fighter/Expert is the route most legendary generals will take. They start out as soldiers ... brave fighting machines. As time goes on, they start to pick up tactical skills, but are still primarily focussed on individual combat.

Eventually they make a shift to where they're suddenly not worrying about singlehanded combat and now command "from the hill." They're not practicing the sword daily, they're instead looking over maps and pulling out old books for any inspiration that could give them the edge and save the lives of their men. They're still a formidable combatant, but have plateued in that sort of advancement.

That sound right?

However, you can also have your "officer school" graduate. You know, the one that the grunts all resent? Easy ... rogue/fighter. He's going to have more skills than the grunt, but resented for not being "as tough" (lower bab), even though the officer might still be able to take him (sneak attack).