How would you represent a stampede, mechanically/

[DMwithoutPC's]

I would like to run an encounter during a stampede, but I am not sure how I could best portray it.

set up
I want to place my group in on a plains when a stampede comes there way. They get to do perception checks which get increasingly easy when they get closer, but there is a storm going on nearby so they may think its thunder until its to late.

situation
The group is camping with the caravan they are traveling with. The caravan consists of a tribe of halfling, riding rhinolike pack beasts. (World of Warcraft Kodo's) and a few leopards for their scouts.
The field around them has several large stones, small trees. The ground is made up of waist high or knee high grass, in different patches. I planned on having the stampede be chased by a big Dinosaur predator, and perhaps a some flying threat.


the goal of the encounter should be to 1. Not get trampled and 2. fight of predators that go after their packbeasts.

I think this encounter offers plenty of clever plans or tactics from my players, and is cinematic enough to be memorable, but I need to find the right mechanics to represent it!

Adding 300 bisons to the encounter seems like the wrong way to go about it. Have it be an dexterity check every round you are on the round and in the way? Have it first be a chance to get trampled and then some check to resist it?


Thoughts and ideas are appreciated

[Gnaeus]

I would like to run an encounter during a stampede, but I am not sure how I could best portray it.

set up
I want to place my group in on a plains when a stampede comes there way. They get to do perception checks which get increasingly easy when they get closer, but there is a storm going on nearby so they may think its thunder until its to late.

situation
The group is camping with the caravan they are traveling with. The caravan consists of a tribe of halfling, riding rhinolike pack beasts. (World of Warcraft Kodo's) and a few leopards for their scouts.
The field around them has several large stones, small trees. The ground is made up of waist high or knee high grass, in different patches. I planned on having the stampede be chased by a big Dinosaur predator, and perhaps a some flying threat.


the goal of the encounter should be to 1. Not get trampled and 2. fight of predators that go after their packbeasts.

I think this encounter offers plenty of clever plans or tactics from my players, and is cinematic enough to be memorable, but I need to find the right mechanics to represent it!

Adding 300 bisons to the encounter seems like the wrong way to go about it. Have it be an dexterity check every round you are on the round and in the way? Have it first be a chance to get trampled and then some check to resist it?


Thoughts and ideas are appreciated

There is a dinosaur stampede in one of the starfinder adventure paths.

Iirc every round you get to make one of several checks, like tumbling out of the way, or intimidating the animals into going around you. If you fail the check there is a D4 of random bad stuff, like being trampled or taking attacks.

[Ravens_cry]

You might want to look up the Mob rules in Cityscape. It's basically like a swarm but for larger creatures.

[heavyfuel]

Personally I'd just say that every round something like 1d10 creatures travel through your space trying to trample you.

Roll reflex and damage as usual (I'd also use average damage just for simplicity's sake)

[Eldariel]

Bisons have an explicit ability with such a name (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/bison.htm) that has some rules for this. So, basically:
Reflex DC Str Mod + ½ HD + 10 for half
1d12 damage for every 5 creatures

Can run over creatures of stampede size or smaller (though I posit even a huge creature could take a battering, but here, it might just have them change course to avoid something huge or larger). So, have the Bisons take a certain area; they are 10'/5' so for 300, 20 horizontal squares (100 feet) x 15 vertical squares (bisons are 10' each) for 30 vertical squares (150 feet) area of the stampede. They're at full hustle or potentially even run so they advance 80' or 160' per round. 300 Bisons makes for 60d12 damage at DC 18 Reflex for half if run over (per round of getting run over), but obviously only a portion of the Bisons is realistically going to run over anybody so let's divide that by 10 for 6d12 at...DC 24 (kinda "aid" for the fact that there are in fact Bisons all around) for half per turn - this presents simply trying to dodge between the legs to minimize the damage. And obviously knocked down and pinned for the duration they're under the Bison horde (breaking pin DC = Bison's grapple + 10 or DC23). Perhaps give someone being run over an Str-check instead of the Ref-save as per overrun mechanics to try and block the horde but remember that all the Bisons create a lot of momentum and it's pretty astronomical to hold even for a second.

It basically boils down to "don't get hit or you're pretty effed trying to dodge beneath the bisons". Should probably have them roll hoof-attacks for someone on the ground getting run over too; it's an untrained attack so 1d4+3 per hoof at +3 but remember that there's 15 in a row so that's...say 15x +3 for 1d4+3 against the overrun.

In short:
100' by 150' area of Bisons advancing at 80' per round (or 160' at your prerogative, depending on how far they've come) directly in the opposite direction from the hunter
If this mass hits your square:
Roll either Str-check vs DC 28 or something to just plain block a file
OR
Roll Reflex vs. DC 24 to take half damage from 6d12

Either way, if you fail you're knocked prone (if you succeed Ref you're probably still knocked prone since there's no space to avoid it) and pinned underneath the Bisons (takes 'em 10ish seconds to cross over). For every round they move, roll another Reflex or take 6d12 and additionally have 'em roll some Hoof-attacks at +3 for 1d4+3 on top of it.


Now, with the mechanics out of the way, they obviously need to either kill all the Bisons or frighten them somehow. Leave that up to them, there are lots of things potentially more fearsome than a Dinosaur predator.

[DMwithoutPC's]

Thanks for the suggestion and the help!

I am not sure why they have to kill all the Bisons or scare them away. The stampede will pass them eventually. They are not targetted by the Bisons, they are just in their way. I am all for a scare tactic, but if they manage to outlast for a few rounds, the bisons will be gone. Dangerous game however, with how much damage the stampede does

[Eldariel]

Thanks for the suggestion and the help!

I am not sure why they have to kill all the Bisons or scare them away. The stampede will pass them eventually. They are not targetted by the Bisons, they are just in their way. I am all for a scare tactic, but if they manage to outlast for a few rounds, the bisons will be gone. Dangerous game however, with how much damage the stampede does

I'm thinking their caravan is too clumsy to get out of the way and they don't want their stuff damaged, mostly. If that'd not the case, it's a different matter, of course.

[Kelb_Panthera]

If you want something a little less lethal, here's the statblock for a mob (dmg2 pg 59) of bison. It'd take 25 such mobs to comprise a herd of 300 but you only have to have the PCs interact with a portion of them if they're 3 or 4 abreast rather than all in one straight line.

Bison Mob

Gargantuan Animal
30d8+90 (225 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 40ft*
AC: 10
Attack: mob 5d6 bludgeoning
Face/ Reach: 20ft/ 0ft
Special Attacks*: Trample (2d6+9 Ref DC 31 for half)
Special Qualitiy: Mob Anatomy
Saves: Fort +20, Ref +17, Will +9
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 4
Challenge Rating: 8

I opted to leave the speed unchanged for a herding animal and to remove the expert grappler ability for a base creature that has no manipulating limbs.

Odds are pretty good that the PCs are flat going to eat that trample damage 5, 6, or 8 times unless they're fairly high level. If they -are- high enough level, that they can blast a hole in the herd with fireballs, frighten it with a wall of fire or a samurai's mass staredown, or something else you could maybe have the herd divert around them for the newly percieved threat. If not, getting cover behind those rocks or trees you mentioned to avoid being squashed becomes the priority.