AmandaBarbarian
Explorer
okay this is interesting, part of the fun in my mind is the players interacting with what you builtThe vast majority of world building is for the amusement of the world builder. The players will never see most of it.
okay this is interesting, part of the fun in my mind is the players interacting with what you builtThe vast majority of world building is for the amusement of the world builder. The players will never see most of it.
what book has a martial adept in it? is it third party or WotC?e a martial adept class focused into the school of the white raven.
WRONG..... By DND rules a world full of commoners can't take down a Dragon. Unless they all have magic weapons and even then most of them die.World Building Question 2 Army building
So I asked for general DM advise, because hello I am new to Dming. However I would like to start a series of specific posts asking about different parts of world building. This isn't a plus thread per say, but if you think I should not world build that is not very helpful.
Also Warning, I ramble when I am excited even in text.
(if you want to see part 1 https://www.enworld.org/threads/world-building-commerce-and-gold.698360/)
Okay, so wind up to question 2: Soldiers and War
When your games involve wars and kingdoms forces how do you build them?
I have seen DMs build full PCs like fighters Rangers Wizards ect. And then fill them out after that with NPC stats from the MM. I have also seen DMs just take monster or NPC stats.
My personal thought is based on something I found here online. Take the NPC or Monster stats and add 1 or 2 class like features.
However I then worry when is too much too much? Like if I take guards and knights and other NPC stats and add human or elf or dwarf to them, then give them action surge and second wind that sounds like a cool "champion" or "commander" but I would not want a legion of 100 of those (tracking those action surges would be a nightmare).
Then because for my world I am using a lot of Divine magic I started to think about spell slots. I wonder if there is a good way to limit those.
As I am typing this I wonder how much can be hand waved. Like I can call an army of paladins an army of paladins the players don't need to know if they have smite or lay on hands unless they are part of an encounter, and at least at low level those encounters need to be small or it will TPK.
Then I am wondering, do I just story point who wins if I have 2 NPC armies fight, or should I 'roll it out' in between games to be able to tell the players it was 'fair'
I also have seen many times here and elsewhere online that enough commoners can take down a dragon. How much do I need to worry about army sizes?
If I want to throw numbers around as intelligence about 1 feudal lord or another what are sane numbers? Like if someone owns 3 towns and 2 castle/keeps and a bunch of farm land and the DM told me they can field 200,000 troops I would be highly skeptical, but if they have 20,000 is that too much? What about 10,000?
How does caster change this? Like If 1 lord can field 5,000 spear men and 2,000 archers with 500 light cavalry and a dozen siege weapons, but there enemy can bring 400 spear men, 100 archers, 50 light cavalry and 60 level 5+ wizards and 100 level 3-4 wizards and that side has 30 clerics/healers it seems like the casters are a major force multiplier.
Also monsters. Like if one side has ogres and the other side has goblins that skews things too.
The danger is, this can lead to pushing your players to do something that will bring them into contact with your worldbuilding, rather than letting them make their own choices.okay this is interesting, part of the fun in my mind is the players interacting with what you built
okay calm down that is a bit aggressive. I said I heard that not that I knew it to be a fact.WRONG..... By DND rules a world full of commoners can't take down a Dragon. Unless they all have magic weapons and even then most of them die.
yeah that seems to be how I am leaningDND is'nt a combat simulator for mass battles. don't try. I have it's painful. I've even tried doing miniature combat rules and letting the parties build up thier armies and playing it out a as mini game. Booooooring and random luck can suck ass for your story. the bet way is for the hero's and what they do in the battle to "Swing the tide" or "sink the ship"
I don't know I started in 5e I really only know 5e.Don't limit magic if it's not limited in your game. That's just going to piss off your players and start arguments you can't win effectively.
Remember divine magic and arcane magic in thier current forms in 5e are very limited compared to 1e.
do battles last weeks or campaigns (war campaigns not D&D ones) like each battle really going to stretch like that?one fireball only covers a small area regardless of how much damage it does. Sure a 15th level mage can blow all thier slots and hollow out a small armies attack but then what.? Battles last hours, weeks or more.
where are you getting prices to hire or train spellcasters? are they really cheaper to build big hard to move seige engines or to train someone that could turn into a swiss army win buttonsbut yes magic is a multiplyer but not as much as you think. It's great in Gorrilla style defensive tactics but not as useful in a full scale battle. Seige Engines are cheaper, and more reliable than casters.
War doesn't change because of magic. just think of magic as you would advanced weapons. An M203 greneade launcher is just a fireball. A cleric is just a medic unless he's got 6th level or higher spells. Mages just turn into magical repair and emergency firepower. think of them as engineers.
I assume the players will make characters for inside the world I build? I have never really tried to leave the world we are playing in.The danger is, this can lead to pushing your players to do something that will bring them into contact with your worldbuilding, rather than letting them make their own choices.