PDA

View Full Version : Building Rome in a Day



Mikeavelli
2010-12-20, 06:41 PM
So, my campaign world is a homebrew anachronistically medieval earth, with very high magic and a powerful party (currently 16th level, mid-to-high optimization, but they’ve voluntarily kept away from game-breaking stuff).

Some time ago, the Players (most of whom have fantasy-nordic backgrounds, but are currently playing in fantasy-United Kingdom) acquired an Artifact called the Eye of Odin (Yes, from the old Gargoyles Cartoon) which placed them under the effect of some artifact possession. I left it up to the player so affected to decide what exactly he’d do (“Go watch the cartoon again, and act like that”) – and he decided it was time to start conquering the country.

Naturally, the rest of the players thought this was a fantastic idea.

The party bard decided to proclaim far and wide to anyone who would hear that unifying the country was necessary because of the threat of Rome, which was going to come up and conquer them.

So now that they’re halfway through conquering a country, I’ve decided sure, let’s go with that, and decided that Rome has heard a horde of Nordic barbarians are conquering the northlands under the leadership of their divinely inspired king. It’s time to come up, destroy this threat to Rome, and bring enlightenment to the Barbarians.

For the next session, I’m planning a largely free-form adventure where, given Roman Resources, and the Players Resources, we’ll see what happens. I want to strenuously challenge them, because I’ve honestly gone too easy on them so far.

Player Resources:



Characters are:
Barbarian/Warblade
Cleric of Thor/Storm Lord (has the Eye of Odin, which gives him +4 Charisma, -4 Intelligence, and functions as a major rod of maximize)
Rogue/Assassin (who has pimped his hide/Move silent to obscene levels)
Sorcerer/Wild soul (Least optimized character, likes blasting)

Allies:
They’ve been involved with the Fey since the first adventure in this campaign world, and have helped a minor winter fey (Dresden Files style) princess become one of the most powerful members of the Unseelie court. She’s consistently been a vengeful backstabbing monster and the players still love her to death and keep helping her. As a result, they can and will call in favors to have minor fey do information gathering and skirmishing for them. It’s also causing the Fimbulwinter to begin, instigating Ragnarok, but the character don’t seem to have figured that part out yet

An entire army of Nordic warriors is at their disposal, all of them level 1-5 Fighters, Barbarians, and Clerics with a few higher-level NPCs. They regard the Cleric as the divine king chosen by Odin himself. And they’re right.

They’re on a first name basis with the Lord of all Djinni, after having, in previous adventures, freeing a member of his court from imprisonment in a mirror, won first place in games of skill and storytelling which he threw, humiliated the lord of all Efreeti (who hates them forever), and dusted a Lich who had created a utopian society for his human followers by enslaving a city’s worth of genies.

They’re currently employing a high level (10th) bard to manage a Pirate fleet that preys on all merchant traffic not flying the flag of their nation.


Roman Resources

The Emperor of Rome is not just a man, he’s Gaius Jupiter, half-man, half-god, son of the Supreme Roman Diety. An Epic-level Cleric, he stays in Rome, and won’t be entering the game as a direct player unless things go horribly wrong and the players start invading Rome itself.

The Actual army marching north consists of:

Five thousand Legionaries, similar in character levels and ability to the barbarian army.

General Claudius, a high level Lawful Good Paladin and military leader of the army, who truly believes the army will be doing good work destroying the barbarian horde and bringing the glories of Rome to the people up north.

Senator Aurumachus, civilian leader (and technically having authority even over General Claudius) of the entire army, coming north at the direct request of Gaius Jupiter. The players are aware he’s an old and well-respected senator with a fair bit of magical ability, and his duties include being the head administrator of the Roman Imperial Bank. What they don’t know, but might guess, is he’s a Wyrm Gold Dragon, who also truly believes the army will be doing good work. His job is to ensure everything goes smoothly, but to not reveal himself as a Dragon (think of the scandal!) unless it’s extremely important.

A Large number of NPC’s with character levels (Clerics, Wizards, Rogues, Bards, fighters, and Paladins, mostly) – levels 10-14, perhaps 30 individuals in total, who compose the Quick Reaction Force built specifically to react to high level threats.

The QRF will have the ability to quickly teleport (either using Scrolls or their own magic) the entire force to overwhelm any major threat to the army, and can gain reinforcements or resurrections in the players attempt to whittle them down through Attrition.


The players themselves are ridiculously famous in the world and have been bragging about their accomplishments to anyone willing to listen, so the Roman leadership is aware of all of the above.

So, with these resources, what precautions would you take, what would you do as a Character fighting this war? The Emphasis is on interesting or unique tactics, taking full advantage of a high-level, high magic army, not cheese. And, since the Roman leadership is entirely Lawful Good, one of their goals is to prevent collateral damage.

Jack_Simth
2010-12-20, 07:10 PM
You want to dispense with the invading army, with minimal collateral damage?

1) Discredit the leader among his troops. Not a particularly *Lawful* thing to do under normal circumstances (although it can be, if you're *not* making stuff up), but with peoples who are fundamentally unifying of their own volition and are allowed to 'vote with their feet' and walk away, surprisingly effective.
2) Gate grants line of Effect for spells. You can't compel a unique individual to step through the portal (I'm assuming the PC's qualify as "Unique" here), but it does open in their vicinity. Blast away, and if the PC's are looking dangerous, close the portal to cut off reprisals. Dirty pool, but the half-god emperor Cleric can lay down the hurt with Gate, Sonorous Hum, and the direct-attack spell of choice if his armies are losing. From the capital (although this can backfire a little, potentially, if the hordes start running for the portal at full tilt - make sure to have an army ready if you try this).
3) Terrain control: Repeated castings of Move Earth (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/moveEarth.htm) plus carefully placed rocks + Wall of Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/wallOfStone.htm) + Mirage Arcana (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mirageArcana.htm) = 200 foot Cliffs that weren't there yesterday, and look like normal terrain. Lethal for armies, especially if you can convince your opponents to Charge your 'open' flank.
4) What Army?: Mass Invisibility (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/invisibilityMass.htm) sure lives up to the name, doesn't it?
5) Angel Summoner: It's a little bit of dirty pool, as you don't need to roll the dice to make it happen, but Planar Binding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/planarBinding.htm) can get such things as Trumpet Archons (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/archon.htm#trumpetArchon) (Use Magic Circle Against Chaos to avoid strong objections; Paladins don't like Chaotic acts, but they can stand them in moderation). Take a look at the spell list that comes with your stock Trumpet Archon, sometime, and consider what happens when you place a Blade Barrier in the middle of an army. Greater Planar Binding can get a Planetar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/angel.htm#angelPlanetar), which is an extra cleric-17 (bind a few of those, have one open a Gate to the PC's, have the others blast the PC's through the Gate. Scry & Die, minus the Scry).

Chilingsworth
2010-12-21, 08:25 AM
What are the PCs' alignments? I'm guessing the assassin is evil, but what about the others?