Design a siege

[Rosleaw]

Hi, I'm Dming a group of new players around the Chaos Scar path and want to make them sustain a siege in restwell keep.
They kinda live in the keep and are the coolest heroes around. So now i want to make benwick's dreams come true: a frontal siege against Restwell Kepp, managed by a few alliances betwenn the monsters of the chaos scar. I have some encounters, but i don't know ho to make the siege machjines work, any ideas? or any published material around?.
Thanks in advance (and sorry in i mispelled something, english is not my native language)

[SirWolf312]

I don't know about published materials, but in the DM's guide, on page 42, there is a table with different damage values. That may help.

[Ravian]

There's an animated dragon headed siege tower in the monster vault: Threats of nentir vale that works well for a basis of siege weapons. Basically it's a huge construct that other monsters can move about within, complete with two stories and arrow slits. The tower is rather slow is even slower when bloodied and does not have a melee basic attack, however it can shoot fireballs from its dragon head. It can also trample over any enemy that tries to block its path. It and any monsters within it are resistant to any attacks from the outside, however enemies can enter it through the doors and provided they can deal with the enemies within typically have a better time destroying the tower from within.

Also the arbalester in the MM2 is essentially an animated ballista, these two monsters srike me as the best way to get started with siege engines in mind.

[kyoryu]

I ran a siege in a game, and it seemed to go well.

The way it worked:

There was an overall 'status' number showing how the siege was going. Each side also had a "strength" stat. Each "turn", I did a roll of a d20, used the strength stats, and came up with a modifier that indicated how the overall siege went. I forget the exact math, but that's the idea.

Each "turn", the players could do something. This could be a recon mission, attacking forces, etc. If they were successful, the good guys got some type of bonus, and there was also (generally) some long term effect of their action (less controller types would come at them, etc.)

Basically, I set the players up as a kind of strike team, rather htan being front-line defenders.

It worked out pretty well - the players got very into what their strategies were going to be, much arguing ensued. The players eventually won and (helped) drive back the attacking army.

[Snowbody]

If you don't mind looking at a different website, the PbP forum at pennyarcade had a siege of Winterhaven take place during a modified Keep on the Shadowfell:

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/10130401#Comment_10130401

[Leonardo]

Make sure the army outside the keep could normally easily defeat everything in the keep (including the PCs). That way the siege will be a real threat and the players will need to rely on their fortifications and their strategic wit to survive.

Also, be sure to have a clear system for for things like what happens when fireball meets castle wall. I don't know if 4th edition has that, I normally play 3.5.

[Snowbody]

If you don't mind looking at a different website, the PbP forum at pennyarcade had a siege of Winterhaven take place during a modified Keep on the Shadowfell:

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/10130401#Comment_10130401

To add some actual content:

This is a small siege with the attacking force having only two giants, two wizards, and two siege towers, supported by a ton of minions and low-level artillery. The defenders have the PCs, a bunch of nameless NPC archers and soldiers, and one named (higher-level) NPC. The PCs got 200 XP each for beating the encounter.

It involved a LOT of rolling by the DM. In a tabletop scenario, it might be easier to just come with a printout of rolls.

[Jimbob]

Ha, before I read this post I had just finished writing up my owen siege for my group I will be Dming for in a few weeks.

*Great river voices stop reading now*

The party have been sent to help defend a small outpost that is going to be attacked by orc's. Now rather then have one massive fight which can be a problem for the DM and also you kinda lose control as its an all or nothing fight, I have spilt up the army into 4 managable waves.

This is just a small part of it.

The giants start to push the towers on there first initiative with the orc’s close behind.
The giants whilst pushing move double there speed each round until they reach the wall.
The party have roughly 20 rounds to prepare for the first wave.

Orc army – wave 1:

20 orc minions.

2 giants pushing the towers.
Siege Tower: HP 150, AC 18, Fort 16, Ref 16, Will 16 (Resist all 5)

1 orc warrior.

Orc army – wave 2:
5 rounds after wave 1 encounter the wall, wave 2 start to advance moving twice there speed.

10 orc minions.

2 orc spell casters.

Orc army – wave 3:
5 rounds after wave 2 encounter the wall, wave 3 start to advance moving twice there speed.

15 orc minions.

2 ballista’s being pushed by 5 orc’s each – will stop 20 squares away from wall.
Ballista: HP 80, AC 16, Fort 16, Ref 14, Will 14 (Resist all 5)
Attack +4 Damage 2d8+5 full round to reload take 2 orc’s to load and 1 to fire.
Ballista’s will target one section of the wall to destroy it.

1 orc warrior.

Orc army – wave 4:
5 rounds after wave 3 encounter the wall, wave 4 start to advance moving twice there speed.

10 orc minions.

2 orc warriors.

1 orc spell caster.

1 orc war leader.

So this way if the party kill off a wave quickly then they have more time to heal and ready for the next wave.

Hope this is some help as just an idea.