PDA

View Full Version : Defending a town, what options does my party have?



Gnaritas
2010-11-26, 09:03 AM
[D&D 3.5]

I will not bother you with the story, but my party will be travelling and find a small elven town. Elven Scouts have noticed a part of the large human army is coming towards the town. The elves will appreciate any help the party can offer.

The party consists of the following level 10 characters:
Goliath Warblade
Dwarven Barbarian
Human Saint with a homebrew class (which has spellcasting like a bard but cleric spells, so with select spells known)
Human Sacred Fist (also homebrew class with spellcasting as a bard but cleric spells)
Human Rogue Archer

The town itself is situated in a large clearing in a forest, with some small houses and cropfields and probably a small river. Anything you feel should be in that town (and why) please mention.

I want to put them on a time constraint so anything they do will limit other options. I could also use some reasons why the elves will not just flee into the forest, i can stick with to safe their houses and crops, but some more incentive might be usefull.

So what options does the party have? I guess they should try to use the river, perhaps giving up on one any houses on one side of the river and use the river as a natural barricade.

Will they try to build a wall to stand on (not sure how they would finish that in time)? Would it be better to build barricades to slow the advancing soldiers while they try to attack ranged? Dig a moat?

Also, how will i deal with barricades for example? Are they difficult terrain where only 5ft steps are allowed. I guess they could also be destroyed, this may take a bit of time, but after that the barricades are free to walk over.
What traps could they build?

I do not want to help them with ideas, i want to let them bring their own ideas, but if they give me an idea, i want to tell them how much time it will take to get that going and what effect it will have.

<edit> the enemy will be Level 4 Human Fighters with mixed specialties (archer, melee) and an occassional captain that has more capabilities.
The elves will be low level i think, level 2 rangers or so.
I have no real numbers in my head right now. I can imagine about 20 Elves capable of helping them fight. I guess 100 Human soldiers, but not sure if that is the right number to provide a fair challenge.

Ruinix
2010-11-26, 10:05 AM
-form a militia. expend some time (few days) giving them some tactical movement ideas and prepare an ambush.

-traps all the way. ur rogue MUST know how to craft some traps, get the elfs help for the construction of these traps. made the traps guide the enemy what u want to have them for the asault.

-snipe all the way. form small partys of snipers, the elfs must know their forest like palm of their hands and have to know how to move hiden in there.

-prepare the terrain with moats and quick sand. a few earth mold spells should adequate for this task.

-heck the simple the better, prepare explosive runes and dispels for them.

-completely forget the barricades, they consume time and they are totally useless.

-use the forest and the elf knowlege of their own terrain. don't wait for the enemy, get out there and harass them, use guerrilla tactics

Quietus
2010-11-26, 10:15 AM
On the player's side : Wall of X spells, if you have access, are good options here. Force the opponent to fight where you want them to fight. For even more lulz, throw Invisible Spell on them; Nothing messes with a person's mind like a few Invisible Walls of Stone.

On your side : Why are the Elves not leaving? Well, for one, they're Elves. Deeply rooted in tradition, long lifetimes tending toward them being slow to change their habits.. but still, most people will move faster when their ass is in the fire. Are they protecting something? Some sacred space in the forest, a font of magical power, anything really, and maybe something the players could tap into?

Saintheart
2010-11-26, 10:45 AM
The basic tactic when outnumbered is to use the terrain and try and whittle down the opposition's strength before you have to commit to a full battle. And when you do commit to battle, you fight from a position where the enemy can't bring its superior numbers to bear against you all at once - choke points, in other words.

That means, as suggested, guerrilla tactics to slow the army down before they get to the town. Once they reach the town, they'll need an idea of which direction(s) the opposing force is coming from so they can create appropriate choke points.

There should at least be a cleric or arcane magic user of some kind in the town - that's the equivalent of the town doctor. I notice nobody has full access to the gamut of arcane spells, so that's a deficiency to look into. If the elves are crop farmers (?) there'll probably be beasts of burden and cropping tools such as mattocks, spades, etc, etc.

One tactic I'd try were I in the players' shoes: if the elves aren't that attached to the forest, wait until the human army reaches the woods. Then wait for nightfall and set the forest on fire around the humans' encampment and burn the buggers out. Throw pebbles with light spells into the camp (DC 5 to hit a particular mark, remember) and the players' archers will have their targets lit up regardless of range. And while there'll still be a concealment chance for smoke, the human army will have to roll twice: once for smoke concealment, once for darkness concealment.

In terms of traps: these are basically useless unless the party has a very good idea where the army's going to go. There's no point trapping the entire perimeter of the village on the off chance one squad of soldiers falls into it. Quickest traps I can think of are pit traps, covered with leaves.

Jornophelanthas
2010-11-26, 11:06 AM
If the elves are aware of an enemy army made up of human soliders coming to get them, why would they trust the PCs, if the majority of them are also humans (and none of them are elves)?

Perhaps the PCs should gain the elves' trust first? Perhaps this could also cost time? While the elves' leaders are very ineffective at using this time for war preparations?

grimbold
2010-11-26, 11:06 AM
peasant railgun
or train the peasants and craft them weapons similar to magnificent 7
use the mas cannon fodder and build misc traps
also
why have you got no arcane casters?

Gnaritas
2010-11-26, 11:28 AM
There are some things i can work with, i will work the mechanics of those ideas out as best as i can and see which ones the party comes up with.


If the elves are aware of an enemy army made up of human soliders coming to get them, why would they trust the PCs, if the majority of them are also humans (and none of them are elves)?

Perhaps the PCs should gain the elves' trust first? Perhaps this could also cost time? While the elves' leaders are very ineffective at using this time for war preparations?

This is something i already had in mind. But i could make it harder for them to earn their trust than i had planned.


peasant railgun
or train the peasants and craft them weapons similar to magnificent 7
use the mas cannon fodder and build misc traps
also
why have you got no arcane casters?

Because apparently there was no arcane caster that joined the party....

gbprime
2010-11-26, 11:42 AM
Yeah, trust issues. Personally I'd have the elves lie to the party. Send the PC's out with a few elves for guerilla/skirmish actions to buy time while the elves prepare defenses.

In reality, the elves with the PC's are there mostly to observe them and make SURE they leave the village. The villagers then evacuate, leaving behind only traps and perhaps a monster or two they corral into the area.

Gnaritas
2010-11-26, 11:51 AM
Yeah, trust issues. Personally I'd have the elves lie to the party. Send the PC's out with a few elves for guerilla/skirmish actions to buy time while the elves prepare defenses.

In reality, the elves with the PC's are there mostly to observe them and make SURE they leave the village. The villagers then evacuate, leaving behind only traps and perhaps a monster or two they corral into the area.

Uhm, nope, unlikely, sorry.

Psyx
2010-11-26, 12:36 PM
Delaying action will be crucial. It will give time to prepare decent defences.

Elves should be able to go out and make life hell for 100 men via arrows (complete with debilitating natural poison or excrement, of course) and traps. A perfect guerilla force. I'd suggest a forest fire, but the elves might not go for that one...

Anyone going off scouting ahead: Dead.
Anyone going for a call of nature in the night: Dead.
Anyone foraging: Dead.
You get the idea.

Burn their tents with fire arrows, injure horses to slow them logistically, snipe important people, kidnap scouts and sentries and leave their dismembered corpses staked out for others to find. the army will be unable to forage, so will have to rely on their own rations... so sneaking in their camp and poisoning those would help, too.
By the time that they arrive, morale will be in tatters. There's nothing worse than an enemy that you can't fight effectively AND being stressed, tired and hungry... with diarrhoea.

By the time the army arrives, brush could have been used to very quickly build palisades. A kill-zone cleared to deprive attackers with cover, and the kill-zone laced with caltrops or similar. The logs from clearing the are will make more sturdy barriers. The village fletcher and blacksmith will be working full-time to prepare munitions.
A ditch would take a long while to dig, but may be viable.

Is the village on a hill? If so, why not roll down some flaming facines when the foe advances? Rig a shallow fire-pit too, perhaps.