Setting a Trap for a Horde of Orcs

[Draco_Lord]

So something very annoying has happened in my game. The party split up. It was for fun reasons, so I don't really mind, the problem is that my character and one other are about to fight a large group of orcs with only some help from the local guard. The horde of orcs and the guards will mostly cancel each other out, leaving the leader and some elite troops for my character (9th level cleric) and the bloodrager (Also 9th level).

But here is the thing. The orcs are coming to us, and we have a few hours to prepare. The NPCs are suggesting we mvoe to intercept and attack them before they are ready, but I prefer the idea of setting a trap and taking out the leader that way. Preferably I want to keep the leader alive, got some things I want to do with him. Any ideas on how best to do this?

The missing party members are a gunslinger and a witch, they might end up coming back, but it is unclear at the moment.

[Psyren]

A 9th-level cleric has a number of options. You could pull a Durkon (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/meld-into-stone) and ambush the leader at the back while your bloodrager friend engages his minions.

Are there any terrain features that might be relevant? A mountain pass where you could cause a rockslide? A bridge you can take out while they're crossing it? A copse you can set on fire?

Remember also that Orcs have Light Sensitivity if you want to give the human defenders an edge.

[Draco_Lord]

So the town itself is set in a mountain pass, the one side is a massive set of walls, designed to stop pretty much any army trying to march from that side, unfortunately the orcs are on the wrong side, basically hey are wondering bandits.

The terrian is mostly forrest outside of the town, though we do have some mountain we could use.

I have two undead minions at the moment, but I think they are getting close to their end of usefulness, having made them about 3-4 levels ago.

[Snow-blind]

Firstly, more details would be nice. Number of orcs, number of guards, troop compositions, common equipment used or available, that sort of thing.

However, I have a suggestion that might work. It depends on one thing...

Are you able to Planar Ally up a Yeth Hound?

[Draco_Lord]

Firstly, more details would be nice. Number of orcs, number of guards, troop compositions, common equipment used or available, that sort of thing.

However, I have a suggestion that might work. It depends on one thing...

Are you able to Planar Ally up a Yeth Hound?

I could have sworn I had the number of orcs. But there are 200 orcs plus the leader and elite guard, exact number of guard has not been stated. Possibly has spell casters in the guard, but the leader is most likely a barbarian (though given the DM he could have extra abilities).

The guard captain claims his troops can handle the bulk of the troops, but did not give details onto the composition of his troops, but I believe the DM is going to have us fight the elites and leader while the battle takes place around us, so composition was probably not on his mind, so I can ask for certain things if they are needed.

And I can totally Planar Ally a Yeth Hound. I am a neutral Evil Cleric (being a necromancer does that to the soul after all).

[Hamste]

If the opponent isn't expecting it and your allies are they can stuff their ears with something and have the Yeth Hound bay (or they can be exposed to it before hand). The normal cr 1/3 orcs have a -1 to will saves so most fail and 5 rounds average with more than half the army fleeing will result in a massacre unless the orcs are tactical geniuses.

[denthor]

Since you are a NE cleric my favorite trick was to summon some sort of demon hound thing that howled the howl caused a saving throw vs fear 4th level this can be summoned most treads will miss a couple elites will miss lower numbers confusion will help.

Do it away from town this doesn't seem like much except it causes the fleeing to make constitution checks some will not come back CE after always looks out for itself first.

[Psyren]

If the opponent isn't expecting it and your allies are they can stuff their ears with something and have the Yeth Hound bay (or they can be exposed to it before hand). The normal cr 1/3 orcs have a -1 to will saves so most fail and 5 rounds average with more than half the army fleeing will result in a massacre unless the orcs are tactical geniuses.

Better yet, position the hound(s) so that any baying doesn't affect the human defenders at all. With a +9 stealth and a fly speed, it/they should have little problem circling around behind the orcish army and panicking their back ranks. This is particularly useful against any archers they might have, because panic will cause them to throw their bows away.

[Snow-blind]

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with fancy tricks to mitigate the bay's effects. Have the entire contingent of guards hit with the bay beforehand, so you can deploy it indiscriminately against the orcs. This way you don't have to warp your battle planning around it too much.

Why is warping your planning around it a bad thing?

Let me put it this way. When have you stacked the deck in your favor enough?
When it is no longer economical to stack the deck even further.

Are we there yet?

I don't think we are.

The hound could easily win the battle on its own.

If you do your job right and enough goes as planned, it should be complete overkill. If enough doesn't go as planned, then that's why you conjured a canine fear nuke to back up your other half dozen trump cards. Don't assume the canine will win you the battle. Assume you are using the canine because all the other ways you should have won the battle haven't

If the canine doesn't work out, then that's why you should have another handful of trump cards waiting in the wings.

If you can't get to the point where you are winning the battle a dozen different ways at once, then you should stack the deck even further if you can figure out a way of doing that. That's where further suggestions come in.

By the way, do you know if the guards have a respectable number of horses. They don't need to be amazing combat horses. I just need to know if you can pull a Conan and have the guards whittle the orcs down with long range archery based attrition while keeping out of serious danger by riding away when they try to retaliate against the arrow volleys.

EDIT: Oh, and its worth pointing out that if they are bringing capable enough people to seriously threaten level 9 characters, then they may have some trump cards of their own. Don't assume that your opposition is just going to take it until they lay down and die.