Banding

[Cicciograna]

Wishing to turn 1-vs-many battles dangerous again, without resorting to mob templates or the like, I was thinking about a new rule.

If someone is attacked by more than an enemy, each attacker after the first receives a cumulative +2 bonus to hit for every other comrade attacking the same target. The bonus is gained both for melee and ranged attacks.

Example: 5 goblin (To Hit +3) are banding aganist a Fighter (AC 20). They're arranged in this way

{table]G2|G4|G3
|F|G1
G5| | [/table]

Numbers indicate their turn in round.
G1 hasn't particular boni and rolls simply To Hit;
G2 has a +2 bonus because G1 attacked before him;
G3 has a +4 bonus for the two previous attacks, plus a +2 for flanking, for a net bonus of +6;
G4 has a +6 bonus for the three previous attacks;
G5 has a +8 bonus for the two previous attacks, plus a +2 for flanking, for a net bonus of +10.

Is it complete crap, is it good but needs some improvement or is it great?

[Salanmander]

It seems like that's way to big a bonus, with no drawback. I would look for something that is going to only be beneficial to people much weaker than the people they're fighting, so that it impacts the rest of the game much less.

Probably the simplest thing would be essentially allowing assists on attack rolls. I can "attack" you, needing to hit AC 10 (or maybe your touch AC? or something even weaker than that, but still related to your skills?) in order to grant one of my allies +2 to-hit for their entire next turn.

[Zaydos]

It seems like that's way to big a bonus, with no drawback. I would look for something that is going to only be beneficial to people much weaker than the people they're fighting, so that it impacts the rest of the game much less.

Probably the simplest thing would be essentially allowing assists on attack rolls. I can "attack" you, needing to hit AC 10 (or maybe your touch AC? or something even weaker than that, but still related to your skills?) in order to grant one of my allies +2 to-hit for their entire next turn.

So just make Aid Another apply to all Attacks for 1 round instead of just their next attack?


Aid Another
In melee combat, you can help a friend attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an opponent. If you’re in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action. You make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, your friend gains either a +2 bonus on his next attack roll against that opponent or a +2 bonus to AC against that opponent’s next attack (your choice), as long as that attack comes before the beginning of your next turn. Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and similar bonuses stack.

As to how it's presented now it's too strong. Maybe if you halved the bonus it MIGHT be more reasonable.

[AngelisBlack]

Aid another is your best bet for turning 1 vs many battles in your favor.

Another thing you could use is the vexing flanker feat in combination with that.

The wolfpack tactical feat is also very nice for both flanking and aid another actions.

[Jude_H]

This looks kind of overwhelming, especially when it gets into the players' hands.

Trailblazer introduces a different approach that might be useful here.

In it, all characters get a certain number of "Combat Reactions" per round. These can be spent outside a character's turn to do specific things without using an action, specifically Attacks of Opportunity and Aid Another (without the roll).

Under those rules, mobbing a PC would give mooks the ability to turn each other into slightly more credible threats or difficult targets, at the cost of their round's attack of opportunity. It also gives warrior-types some extra choices in close combat, which is generally a good thing. It sounds like it could help, without becoming this overwhelming.

It might be worth a thought, anyway.

[subject42]

You might want to look at the teamwork feats (http://www.pathfindersrd.com/feats/teamwork-feats) from Pathfinder. If you just grant every creature in the opposing party the same teamwork feat, things rapidly get ugly.

A group of Goblins with high crit-range weapons, precise strikes, and outflank can rapidly turn into a tiny green meat grinder.

[gbprime]

Yeah, back it off a bit.

In your example, everyone gains +2 to hit for an implied Aid Another, and G3 and G5 gain +4 instead because they have flanking going too.

Remember, if you give Aid Another as a free action like this, the PC's can use it too and will be getting bonuses to hit against your baddies. And that's why you REALLY don't want the cumulative +2 system you were considering. If the party caster summons 1d4+1 Dire Gnats and has them go first, then the party fighter with 5 attacks could get a +10 on every hit...

[Cicciograna]

I tried to intentionally keep it rough: 1-vs-many should be a dangerous situation even for hardened warriors, and this is why I chose a +2 bonus.

However, I admit that it could be TOO rough. I like the idea of Aid Another action that gives a bonus to every attack made subsequently.

Alternatively, I made up another system that allows the defender a little bit of flexibility and prevents the situation where even low level summons give a massive +10 to hit.
The defender can choose to "ignore" an attacker: said attacker doesn't provide his comrades with the cumulative +2 to hit, but the defender is flat-footed against him. This system requires much more tactical thought from the defender, who has to weight the relative danger posed by his antagonists.

Example: 2 vicious-looking hobgoblins armed to the teeth and 2 barely armed goblins are banding aganist a Fighter. They're arranged in this way

{table]H1| |H4
|F|
G3|G2| [/table]

Numbers indicate their turn in round.
H1 hasn't particular boni and rolls simply To Hit;
G2 has a +2 bonus because H1 attacked before him; knowing that the hobgoblins are way more dangerous than the goblins, the Fighter decides to ignore the attack of this goblin, relying only on his armor to protect him: he's considered flat footed against G2, but this attack won't give the cumulative +2 bonus to subsequent attackers.
G3 has a +2 bonus for the attack from H1, plus a +2 for flanking, for a net bonus of +4; again, since the Fighter doesn't fear the goblins, he decides to ignore G3 and is flat footed against him. Again, no bonus to subsequent attacks.
H4 has a +2 bonus for the attack from H1, plus a +2 for flanking, for a net bonus of +4.

Hadn't the Fighter ignored G2 and G3, H4 would have gained a +6 from previous attacks plus a +2 from flanking.