A well rounded mook army?

[silverwolfer]

So lets say, I have thousands of level ones, hundreds of level 2's and 3's, and I try to give many of them as I can survival skill so they can feed each other with less food upkeep cost. That leaves me with planning them out.


Level one mooks, are a toss up, I have heard some say the NPC warrior class is actually better then the fighters, even as archers, fighters seem better due to those bloody good low level feats maybe even some dragon shamans.


Level two seems to open up to some marshals and scattering of low level clerics filled in once more with fighters and such.


Then tops out with level three, finally leaving the fighters, and moving towards outward classes that give area buffs like bards and the like.


Anything I may be going wrong with this?

[Coidzor]

Several level 3 kobold/spellscale bards with dragonfire inspiration and draconic heritage and war drums or alphorns so that they can give +Xd6 fire, cold, acid, electric, and sonic damage in addition to +X to hit and damage to the entire force they're deployed with. I think they'd even be able to get song of the heart too, especially with flaws.

Crusaders and Warblades with white raven maneuvers as a focus would be good for the level 3s as well.

Dragonfire Adepts would be potentially interesting as well, IIRC.

[JaronK]

My favorite way to have low level guys be useful in combat is to give them Greatbows and then use the volley fire combat option from Complete Warrior (which doesn't require proficiency) along with a set of Bards. Give one bard regular War Drums and the rest Masterwork War Drums (both can be heard from a very long way away, the latter gives +1 damage bonus with Inspire Courage at a cost of one lower bonus to saves against fear). The regular drum guy just uses Inspire Courage, as does one of the Masterwork War Drum guys. The rest each use a different Dragonfire Inspiration (they need to be Kobolds or something else that can chose its draconic heritage)... so that's one acid, one fire, one cold, one sonic, one electricity. Now your entire army gets +2+10d6 damage to all their shots. With the volley rules, you can force DC 15 saves to avoid that damage as far as 1300' out... which is outside the range of most spells and such, so they're a lot safer. Even if they're only failing on a 1, that's still going to cause some kills each round. Note that it doesn't matter what class these archers are... they can be pretty much anything. Consider using illusion spells to hide their positions.

Also consider using binders with Malphas. They make for great communications types. Just have one bird from each unit hang out at the command post, and a bird from a binder at the command post hang out near each unit. That gives completely secure communications (well, nearly so). And they scout wonderfully without risk.

Infantry blocks should be made up of Crusaders... usually a unit should have two with Leading the Charge, two with that one that boosts area will saves, and half the rest have Martial Spirit while the other half have Iron Guard's Glare. That way the unit can heal itself very well and can defend adequately. Throw in a couple Marshals for flavor as well. Pump their AC and chance to hit, as the Bards will make sure that their damage is plenty high.

JaronK

[avr]

If you could swing it, warblades or barbarians would make excellent level 1 shock troops. Some level 1 druids would be worth it for entangle as battlefield control. Fighters would make the best archers at level 1 tho'.

[Chilingsworth]

well, for level 3s, I'd suggest adding some druids:

Not only do they add animal companions (which is a good argument for having your enitre force composed of druids), Not only can they heal, Not only can they provide food (both by means of the survival skill and by means of the 1st level spell goodberry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/goodberry.htm) they also have a second level spell called Mass Snake's Swiftness (Spell Compendium Pg 193.) This spell gives all allies within a 20ft radius burst an immediate extra attack. The burst can be centered anywhere within medium range.

Actually, now that I think of it, just go with a bunch of druids, maybe back them up with a few 3rd level bards (at 3rd level, bards can take the Song of the Heart Feat from the Ebberon Campaign Setting to increase their inspire courage by +1, they can also take the 1st level spell Inspirational Boost (SpC) to add an additional +1 to the ability. This gives them a total of +3 from inspire courage (although only as many times per day as they have 1st level spells at maximum.)

[Juntao112]

Druids and Bards for levels 2 and 3 are good.

Might I suggest on top of that an army of level 1 Warlocks with Eldritch Spear? It lessons the logistics of the army even further, since you just have them shoot at things far away with their laser beams! Pew Pew!

[SilverLeaf167]

Druids and Bards for levels 2 and 3 are good.

Might I suggest on top of that an army of level 1 Warlocks with Eldritch Spear? It lessons the logistics of the army even further, since you just have them shoot at things far away with their laser beams! Pew Pew!
While I agree that Druids, Bards and Warlocks make a cool army, the part about Warlocks needing less logistics is sort of silly. Eldritch Spear only has a range of 250 feet, which is easily outranged by pretty much any bow. In the end, especially if you have a huge bunch of Bards, it's better to fill the level 1 slot with some sort of archers. (see the volley attack idea above)

[Chilingsworth]

While I agree that Druids, Bards and Warlocks make a cool army, the part about Warlocks needing less logistics is sort of silly. Eldritch Spear only has a range of 250 feet, which is easily outranged by pretty much any bow. In the end, especially if you have a huge bunch of Bards, it's better to fill the level 1 slot with some sort of archers. (see the volley attack idea above)

I'm guessing Juntao was referring to the fact that warlocks have no need for amunition supplies. One less supply needed = easier logistics.

That said, archers are likely sufficently superior to make them worth the extra effort. On the other hand, if the volley rules don't require weapon proficency and make attack bonus irrelevant, you could just arm your warlocks with bows and get both. Even if profficency is required, you could just make them elves.

On another note, a couple questions, OP:

First, how much is this a thought experiment as opposed to something you actually intend to use? Second, what alignment would you expect your army to be? That could affect some options, notably words of creation for bards. Lastly, how much leaway do you have in customizing this army?

Of course, the latter two questions assume you actually plan on using our advice.