Trying to make Boros Legion Faction

[Reprimand]

I recently started playing magic the gathering and was enamored by the boros legion lore and i wanted to make a faction of npcs similar to the red/white boros faction in magic. From what I gather they're a lot like the romans in that you either serve and agree with them or you die under their heel. I was trying to come up with some neat uniform feats to give to the rank and file soldiers representing their similar training. for example I have a faction of dwarves that all took the Short-haft and mounted combat feats and use reach weapons.

I wanted to come up with a similar gimmick for my 'Boros' units. In magic a lot of them have the battlation key word so i was thinking some sort of teamwork unit fighting feats that since they would all have it, they would all benefit from it as long as someone else from the boros faction was around..

I'm using pathfinder but I would also welcome 3.5 sources feats since I could port them over to pathfinder easily enough

I was thinking fighters for basic units but is there a Fervorous/Zealous fighter archetype or prc from 3.5?

I also want to make these guys a pretty big force to be reckoned with so some standard magical potions or equipment ideas would be great to.

[gooddragon1]

I recently started playing magic the gathering and was enamored by the boros legion lore and i wanted to make a faction of npcs similar to the red/white boros faction in magic. From what I gather they're a lot like the romans in that you either serve and agree with them or you die under their heel. I was trying to come up with some neat uniform feats to give to the rank and file soldiers representing their similar training. for example I have a faction of dwarves that all took the Short-haft and mounted combat feats and use reach weapons.

I wanted to come up with a similar gimmick for my 'Boros' units. In magic a lot of them have the battlation key word so i was thinking some sort of teamwork unit fighting feats that since they would all have it, they would all benefit from it as long as someone else from the boros faction was around..

I'm using pathfinder but I would also welcome 3.5 sources feats since I could port them over to pathfinder easily enough

I was thinking fighters for basic units but is there a Fervorous/Zealous fighter archetype or prc from 3.5?

I also want to make these guy a pretty big force to be reckoned with so some standard magical potions or equipment ideas would be great to.

There's a feat that involves a shield buddy. That's right in line with the Romans.

[Reprimand]

Do you remember the name of the feat?

[Name1]

Do you remember the name of the feat?

He seems to be talking about Shieldmate and Improved Shieldmate.

[Reprimand]

Does the shield bonus stack if the unit next to them also has a shield?

[Fizban]

There are several versions of group shield fighting feats, my preferred version is Shield Wall from Miniatures Handbook Heroes of Batle. Several of them can be stacked though.
Edit: D'oh Thanks for the catch Zombimode.

[Zombimode]

From the top of my head there are:

Shildmate/improved Shieldmate (Miniatures Handbook): This feat lets someone extend their shield bonus to adjacent allies. That means this feat does not represent a unit of shield-bearing soldiers fighting in closed formation, but more of a combined arms approach. Say, a mix of archers and shield-bearers.

Shield Wall (Heroes of Battle, NOT Miniatures Handbook): A passive feat looking for the following condition: an adjacent ally with a shield (type of shield is irrelevant, ally doesn't also have to have this feat). If the condition is fulfilled, YOUR shield bonus increases. If a whole unit has this feat, their collective protection provided by their shields will increase, neatly representing the improved protection of a shield wall.

Phalanx Fighter (Complete Warrior): This confusingly named feat has nothing to do with greek/macedonian phalanx or their late medieval equivalents. In fact it requires the use of a heavy shield and a light weapon (http://img00.deviantart.net/3e67/i/2015/180/b/6/imperial_roman_legionary_by_pegasusandco-d8z8lsw.jpg). If you do, you get a bonus to AC. IF there is an adjacent ally who both has this feat AND is also equipped with a heavy shield and a light weapon the bonus increase and you also get a small bonus to reflex saves.

Since Shield Wall increases your shield bonus but Phalanx Fighter just gives an untyped bonus to AC both feats can stack.

[DedWards]

I've been playing Magic for a while now and all the guilds from Ravnica are very flavourful. Boros, in particular, feel like the militaristic police on Ravnica (with Azorius [White Blue] being the lawyers / diplomats). As for rankings in the Boros, I'd imagine them as such:

On the bottom, the Rank and File: Fighter class specialising in Shield and Sword (your classic BSF). These will also have Profession: Soldier.

One level up, your Zealots (platoon leaders?): Cleric / Warpriest with Law and War domains. Possibly a Fire domain, if there's a Lawful God that grants it.

Next level, your company leaders: Paladin / Holy Vindicator following Mitra or a similar God.

Higher ranks are held by divine beings, such as Angels, which don't necessarily have classes like us mortals.

A note on Inquisitors. I feel they fit the Azorius better, with them teaming up with the Boros to bring criminals to justice. But this doesn't mean that the Boros won't have inquisitors of their own, and they probably won't be part of a "normal" Platoon.

Almost all the Combat Teamwork Feats in Pathfinder fit what you're trying to do. I like Coordinated Charge for higher level characters, with Lookout and Outflank for lower levels. Shake it off becomes quite powerful in groups, allowing everyone with it more resilient to any saving throw.

[DarkSoul]

The Boros are very orderly and focus on the common good, both within the organization and for the people they're protecting (white). However, they're also very passionate about their duties, often to the point of zealotry (red). Overall, they're very much a "my way or the highway" kind of group.

A lot of the teamwork and shielding feats people have mentioned will work well but they're also very focused on charging, with some pretty heavy-hitting shock troops. A lot of their magic is tuned to only affect certain people (the Radiance ability from the original Ravnica block was a Boros keyword). Something like this could be represented by the ability of the Spellguard of Silverymoon PrC to choose a creature type or types to be either affected or immune to a spell when they cast it. They're very focused on angels, as those were the primary leadership of the guild, so any summoning done by the Boros is likely celestial in nature. Any elementals they utilize will be exclusively fire-based, and they even have an elemental race that you could work up as a PC race (the flame-kin)

This should give you some more ideas. (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&mark=+[boros]&block=|[%22Ravnica%20Block%22]|[%22Return%20to%20Ravnica%22])

[DedWards]

...they're also very focused on charging...

Coordinated Charge and Distracting Charge (both Teamwork Feats) would cover this nicely.

[Buufreak]

From what I gather they're a lot like the romans in that you either serve and agree with them or you die under their heel.

That isn't exactly the Boros that I remember. Yes, they were the policing and military force of the plane, but they weren't totalitarian about it. They employ goblins, for crying out loud.

[Vogie]

That isn't exactly the Boros that I remember. Yes, they were the policing and military force of the plane, but they weren't totalitarian about it. They employ goblins, for crying out loud.

That's correct - In American terms, they were a blend of the outward-facing police force units (Beat cops, Vice, Homicide, SWAT, et cetera) with the Marines. Although they got much closer to "private military contractor"-y in Return to Ravinica. The Azorious arresters & knights filled in the "law & order" types, including jailers, lawyers, IA, Fraud and the overall court system.

They have the look of Romans, sure, but in practice they're more like Bad Boys / Luther / NCIS's Gibbs. They show up on the TV Tropes page for "Cowboy Cop", if you're looking for more info.

As for equipment, there are lots of fun things you could work with.

Iron Rope & stunstones for handcuff and flashbang equivalents.

Obviously flaming swords are a thing. You can incorporate any amount of celestial or angelic themed would also work well, as they're governed by Angels. Most likely characters would be Law clerics and variations of Fighters.

The Boros' signature weapon in the original Ravnica block is a Sunforger (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83618), which you could flavor as a returning weapon, any type of rod with an appropriate spell effect, a hammer with a wand slot, or the like.

I could totally see Wojek officers using Folding Plate armor or Rings of Arming so they're not "wearing" it as they patrol, but have it handy.

[Geddy2112]

From what I gather they're a lot like the romans in that you either serve and agree with them or you die under their heel.


That isn't exactly the Boros that I remember. Yes, they were the policing and military force of the plane, but they weren't totalitarian about it.


That's correct - In American terms, they were a blend of the outward-facing police force units (Beat cops, Vice, Homicide, SWAT, et cetera) with the Marines. Although they got much closer to "private military contractor"-y in Return to Ravinica. The Azorious arresters & knights filled in the "law & order" types, including jailers, lawyers, IA, Fraud and the overall court system.

They have the look of Romans, sure, but in practice they're more like Bad Boys / Luther / NCIS's Gibbs. They show up on the TV Tropes page for "Cowboy Cop", if you're looking for more info.
Second all of this. They were far from "agree or die", they were more about ensuring everyone coexisted in some sembelance of harmony, and were not afraid to use force to eliminate threats to order. Their leaders and founder are angels; they won't kill innocent people or those who disagree, but if somebody causes trouble they are likely going to default to force over bureaucracy or diplomacy to resolve the situation.

Lots of evocation(fire) spells and healing magic- one of the cards I remember from boros that was very strong and iconic was lightning helix (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205361) that does fire damage and heals. Although the boros is a legion and has leigon tactics, they are sometimes a lot more rough and tumble when it comes down to enforcing the law and actual beat cop work.

Read up on this (http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Boros_Legion) as it covers the general structure of the legion.