Phase III - Create Battle Modifiers & Scenarios
Battle modifiers are things that you can throw into a battle to turn the tide of the fight, without resorting to DM magic or Deus Ex Machina. While the milestone events from Phase II develop over the course of the battle, battle modifiers are generally established before combat begins. They consist of small advantages accumulated by an army beforehand in order to ensure victory; things like securing supply caches, recruiting mercenaries, making battle plans, building defenses or siege weapons, calling for reinforcements, forging weapons, training conscripts, assassinating enemy commanders, and basically anything else that requires some form of preparation before the battle.
The best way to employ battle modifiers in your campaign is to allow players to be (partly) responsible for them, either by crafting mini-quests for the players to secure the battle modifier themselves, or by allowing players to creatively invent their own modifiers and figure out the logistics behind them. In this way, the players feel more like they have a stake in the battle, and such preparations help them not to feel bored or uninvolved. It is also an easy way for the DM to slip some side-quests into their campaign and to reward the players with more than just treasure and experience points.
Each battle modifier should impact the battle much in the same way a milestone event would; either directly attacking the enemy army Strength Rating, bolstering the friendly army Strength Rating, mitigating a bad event that may occur over the course of the battle, or directly helping the player characters (buffs, wards, healing, etc.). Failure to secure battle modifiers might result in consequences for the battle as well (attacks against players, damage to Strength Rating, bad events, etc.).
Examples: In the days leading up to the expected conflict, the players learn of a few combat modifiers that would potentially improve their odds of victory with the human militiamen.
- A nearby cave houses a half-mad hermit who is known to have once been a powerful Wizard. If the party can convince him to fight on their side, the human army gains 15 Strength Rating and a Wizard that lobs fireballs into the fray, causing 5 extra Strength Rating damage each round to the goblins.
- A goblin supply stash has been discovered stashed away in an old watchtower a few miles from the anticipated battlefield. If the party can kill the goblin guards and secure the supplies, then the goblin army will start the battle weakened by 30 Strength Rating points. The goblins will also not have enough supplies to utilize their siege slings and firepots, which will directly affect the outcome of that earlier-described milestone in the Phase II example.
- The local priest can tend to the wounded on the battlefield, but he needs acolytes and healing herbs to help him. If the players can recruit enough acolytes and track down the necessary herbs, then the human army can regenerate 5 Strength Rating points per round from magical healing.
- A fletcher has come to town offering quality arrows for wholesale to the militia forces. He is obviously price-gouging, but the soldiers are desperate. Players can use many means to secure the arrows; either convince him to lower his prices through shrewd negotiation or rough intimidation, steal the arrows outright from the fletcher, or buy the arrows with a rare gemstone found in the depths of a nearby crypt. If the arrows are secured, then the human army increases its ability to deal damage (+5 Strength Rating damage per round). However the fletcher might also take his business to the goblins if he is offended by the humans, in which case the goblins gain the extra damage, and also make a hail-of-arrows attack against the party every 2 rounds of battle (Dexterity save or take damage).
Phase IV - Run Combat
Combat between armies is resolved on a turn-by-turn basis. Each turn, both armies automatically hit each other, damaging their opponents’ Strength Rating for the amount of their Damage Output, as calculated by this formula:
Damage Output = ((current Strength Rating x armament score)/10) + applicable battle modifiers and milestones
In addition, players engaged in combat with the opposing army suffer automatic damage (rounded up) each turn they are within reach of their opponents’ weapons. This damage to players is calculated as follows:
Damage Output to Players = ((current Strength Rating x armament score)/100) + applicable battle modifiers and milestones
In addition to the normal damage one army does to another, players and unique NPCs can also damage the enemy army directly. The dynamics of these attacks differ from normal attacks however:
Melee attacks employed against the enemy army deals weapon damage normally against the army’s Strength Rating, however the army is considered to have Resistance against all melee attacks, even magical ones (half damage).
Ranged attacks deal only a single point of damage to the enemy army Strength Rating per attack.
All spells that affect a single target, either damaging or non-damaging, do 1 point of damage to the enemy army’s Strength Rating.
Damaging spells with an area-of-effect deal half of their normal damage to the enemy army’s Strength Rating (rounded down).
Non-damaging spells that affect multiple targets deal 1 point of damage to the Strength Rating per target affected by the spell.
Spells that help allies or heal wounds increases allied Strength Ratings using the same principles as the spells outlined above.
Spells that do not directly affect specific targets, cause damage, or otherwise inhibit combat have no negative effect against an enemy army or positive effect on an allied army.
All attacks made against an enemy army automatically hit. All saving throws made by an army automatically fail. An enemy army can Restrain characters within reach, receiving a total bonus of +10 on such checks. As a group, an army is immune to all status conditions – instead, individuals in the army are affected, with each creature affected by a status condition causing 1 point of damage to the army’s Strength Rating.
Phase V - Resolve Outcome
Outcome of the battle is resolved by comparing the army Strength Rating to the list of milestones created in Phase II. Presumably a milestone was made for each army that results in its defeat – at that point, the DM will end the battle in their own narrative, ideally by outlining what happens to remaining forces once the fighting is finished, or by giving a narrative concerning the state of the battlefield and the scene of the ensuing carnage. Specific consequences and subsequent aftermath is left to the DM to determine, but may include: fleeing soldiers who may or may not rally at a later time, bodies to pick clean and dead to bury, damage control measures like fire extinguishing and wound tending, NPC narratives and story exposition, player rewards, political implications, prisoners to manage, and whatever else fits the campaign.
