Help with mass combat

[WarKitty]

So I'm planning on using PF rules for mass combat, but I'd like a little better way for my PC's to make a difference. The PC's are level five, so they have some nice abilities but nothing earth-shattering yet. The trouble I'm having is the mass combat rules seem to presume that you're only using armies together, not mixing armies and individual PC's. Any ideas?

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/mass-combat

[Geddy2112]

Just have the PC's fight a smaller group, particularly if they are part of a large army. It is a representation of their individual contributions.

[Maxrim]

I had much the same issue a little while back, I ended up adapting some 5e variant rules, available through the Unearthed Arcana articles.
The article is called When Armies Clash, maybe you can do the same, or else draw inspiration.

I would've linked it, but my post count is 8, 10 is required for links.

[WarKitty]

Just have the PC's fight a smaller group, particularly if they are part of a large army. It is a representation of their individual contributions.

Well, the thing is that the PC's are technically commanding one army. So I don't feel like having them fight just a small group is something I can dictate to them in this circumstance when they want to be on the field with their army.

[dascarletm]

I ran a campaign where the PCs were national leaders, one being the general.

The character had loads of combat contributors that were not being represented in the mass combat. So for every unit a PC wasn't in, we would use the standard mass combat rules, and for ones containing players, I would stop the mass combat and "zoom in" on their fight. I'd break up both armies into multiple "swarm" like creatures and have the players fight it out.

After it was done we would return to the overall battle. Of course we'd progress it based on how long combat was, and we would only do this if the players thought the fight was important enough to "zoom in."

[Kol Korran]

Not sure if this would help, but awhile ago, while playign the second module of Wrath of The Righteous (Which features mass combat... sort of), I wanted to present tactical combat, not just strategical comabt, but in a way that might fit with the Paizo rules. It got tested in the game and went farily ok, with perhaps a glitch here and there, but on the whole quite nice. Perhaps you can take ideas from it.

Note: The project was mostly compelte, but there are a few problems. I plannedo n expandign it and fixing soem problems, but got caught up with other things. It has a list of things to work out yet. If anyoen wishes to continue exploring it, or testing it, I'd love to hear how it went.

Anyway, here it is, for what's it worth: Tactical Mass Combat Rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?378446-Tactical-Mass-Combat-rules-(Not-the-Paizo-strategic-battle)&highlight=Tactical+Mass+Combat)

[WarKitty]

Hmmm..if I zoom in, the problem is going to be figuring out how to quantify the effect on the unit afterwards.

[nedz]

One approach is to have the battle scenes as a back drop in which the PCs fight. Since you have made the PCs the battle commanders already this won't work.

Incidentally are your players any good at mass tactics, or even interested in doing this ?

Another approach is to use a very lightweight system such as Hordes of the Things. This will allow you to resolve the mass combat stuff quickly. The problem with most D&D based battle systems is that they are cludgy and the game bogs down.

[WarKitty]

One approach is to have the battle scenes as a back drop in which the PCs fight. Since you have made the PCs the battle commanders already this won't work.

Incidentally are your players any good at mass tactics, or even interested in doing this ?

Another approach is to use a very lightweight system such as Hordes of the Things. This will allow you to resolve the mass combat stuff quickly. The problem with most D&D based battle systems is that they are cludgy and the game bogs down.

Have no idea if they're any good or not, but they're definitely interested. We'll see about the any good part soon.

[atemu1234]

Have no idea if they're any good or not, but they're definitely interested. We'll see about the any good part soon.

Mass combat is a pain sometimes, but I hope your players like it. I used it when my players' stronghold/city was being attacked by an army.

[Windrammer]

I ran a campaign where the PCs were national leaders, one being the general.

The character had loads of combat contributors that were not being represented in the mass combat. So for every unit a PC wasn't in, we would use the standard mass combat rules, and for ones containing players, I would stop the mass combat and "zoom in" on their fight. I'd break up both armies into multiple "swarm" like creatures and have the players fight it out.

After it was done we would return to the overall battle. Of course we'd progress it based on how long combat was, and we would only do this if the players thought the fight was important enough to "zoom in."

Why can't I ever get in campaigns like this...