Odin the Ignoble
2008-05-31, 09:28 AM
I was thinking of drawing up some rules for playing out Massed Combat in D&D.
Do Any of you have suggestions?
My basic idea was to have each unit of an army function like character. Combat would (for the most part) run like a normal combat. Units would get bonuses for flanking maneuvers and other tactical advantages like having the high ground. A Unit of twenty kobolds would fight a unit of twenty orcs in the same way a single koblold and orc would fight. I was thinking that each individual battle would have a 'standard unit size.' Units with larger numbers would have stat bonuses and smaller units would have stat penalties.
There are some problems that I keep running into:
First off how would you handle moral? Would it be some derived from wis and int stats? Would the charisma of the units leader have an effect? Should a separate Morale Stat be set up?
Secondly, How would individual characters be used? Would they function like individual units with significant unit size stat penalties? What if they are part of a unit?
How should magic be handled? My first idea was to have any spell cast by a individual have a standard unit size penalties, but what about spells that effect multiple targets normally?
The last problem I have is establishing what can and cannot be included in an army. What I mean is if each player has 1,000,000 gp to hire soldiers how do you determine the relative value of a unit? Should pricing be based on the creatures chalenge rating?
Any feedback is appreciated.
Do Any of you have suggestions?
My basic idea was to have each unit of an army function like character. Combat would (for the most part) run like a normal combat. Units would get bonuses for flanking maneuvers and other tactical advantages like having the high ground. A Unit of twenty kobolds would fight a unit of twenty orcs in the same way a single koblold and orc would fight. I was thinking that each individual battle would have a 'standard unit size.' Units with larger numbers would have stat bonuses and smaller units would have stat penalties.
There are some problems that I keep running into:
First off how would you handle moral? Would it be some derived from wis and int stats? Would the charisma of the units leader have an effect? Should a separate Morale Stat be set up?
Secondly, How would individual characters be used? Would they function like individual units with significant unit size stat penalties? What if they are part of a unit?
How should magic be handled? My first idea was to have any spell cast by a individual have a standard unit size penalties, but what about spells that effect multiple targets normally?
The last problem I have is establishing what can and cannot be included in an army. What I mean is if each player has 1,000,000 gp to hire soldiers how do you determine the relative value of a unit? Should pricing be based on the creatures chalenge rating?
Any feedback is appreciated.