Sieges (POCT)

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Sieges are ponderous affairs that involve a lot of waiting and general inactivity. The attacker's main goal is to batter down the defending walls so they can launch an escalade or to drive the defender out through starvation or thirst. The following system allows you to simulate the effects of an extended siege, handling months of operations with a single die roll.
==Reduction==
This refers to any attempt to destroy a castle's walls. Use the table to resolve the attempt.
Attacker: The type of engine attacking the wall. This assumes one engine attacking each 30' section of wall.
Defending Wall Type: This refers to the wall types described in the Escalades section. Curtain walls are treated as hard or soft stone, depending on the materials used to construct them. Ramparts are treated as earth. Palisades are treated as thick wood. Normal buildings, mantles, and abatises are treated as thin wood. Note that ramparts are difficult to batter down but fairly easy to climb.
 Reduction
 	Defending Wall Type	Defending Wall Type	Defending Wall Type	Defending Wall Type	Defending Wall Type
Attacker 	Hard Stone 	Soft Stone 	Earth 	Thin Wood 	Thick Wood
Ballista, Medium	— 	3/Month 	— 	10/Day 	5/Day
Ballista, Heavy 	3/Month 	4/Month 	— 	11/Day 	6/Day
Bombard 	5/Week 	9/Week 	7/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	16/Day
Bombard, Great 	7/Week 	11/Week 	9/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	20/Day
Bore 	9/Hour 	11/Hour 	— 	12/Immediate 	12/Day
Cannon, Light 	5/Week 	9/Week 	7/3 Months 	20/Hour 	20/Hour
Cannon, Medium 	6/Week 	10/Week 	8/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	20/Day
Cannon, Heavy 	7/Week 	11/Week 	9/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	20/Day
Catapult, Light 	2/Month 	6/Month 	4/3 Months 	20/Day 	13/Day
Catapult, Medium	3/Month 	7/Month 	5/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	14/Day
Catapult, Heavy 	4/Month 	8/Month 	6/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	15/Day
Ram, Simple 	7/Hour 	9/Hour 	— 	20/Hour 	20/Day
Ram, Suspended 	8/Hour 	10/Hour 	— 	20/Immediate 	20/Hour
Mine 	10* 	10* 	8* 	10* 	10*
Trebuchet 	5/Month 	9/Month 	7/3 Months 	20/Immediate 	16/Day
: *Each attempt to mine is a one-time attempt. See Mines for more information.
===Reduction Procedures===
Cross reference the type of attacker with the type of defending wall. The number before the slash indicates the saving throw, rolled on 1d20, the wall needs to resist the attack. The time period after the slash indicates the amount of sustained attack there must be before the die is rolled; “immediate” indicates that the wall must save every time it is struck. For purposes of these rules, one “day” represents abut 10 hours of sustained bombardment. If the crews are relieved (and they can see their targets) it is possible to perform two shifts of bombardment every 24 hours. If more than one engine is attacking the same section of wall, roll once for each engine. The saving throw numbers assume a wall of average strength and thickness for its type. If the wall is unusually well made (a dwarven fortress with exceptional stone, for example), the DM can allow a saving throw bonus of +1 or +2. Furthermore, an exceptionally thick wall gains a saving throw bonus of +1 for every 50% of extra thickness. A curtain wall 45 feet thick, for example, would gain a +1 saving throw bonus.
===Saving Throw Failure===
If a wall section fails its saving throw once, it becomes damaged. The center 10-foot section loses 1/3 of its height and special cover such as hoardings, parapets, and splays are destroyed. The debris creates a crumbling slope that any character can attempt to climb. If a wall section fails its saving throw twice, it is destroyed. The center 10' section is breached and reduced to 1/3 of its original height. The breech becomes a rocky slope as long as the wall's original thickness. In addition, the 10' section to either side of the breech becomes damaged. If the defenders have an abatis prepared they can move it into position immediately. An abatis saves as thin wood.
For example, an attacking army brings three heavy cannons to bear against a fortress with granite curtain walls 50' thick and 45' high. The walls save as hard stone and receive a +1 saving throw bonus for their thickness. The DM assigns them an additional +1 due to superior workmanship (a gang of storm giants working under a dwarven engineer built the castle).
The attackers aim all three of their cannons at one section of wall. At the end of one week, the defender rolls three saving throws. The rolls are 5, 9, and 20. All the rolls are successes and the attackers make no headway the first week. Assuming that the defenders do not sally forth to knock out the cannons, they continue their bombardment for another week.
At the end of the second week, the defender rolls three more saving throws. The rolls are 3, 4, and 11; two of the rolls are failures. The center of the 30' section of wall is reduced to a rocky slope 15' high, 10' wide, and 50' long. In addition, the 10' sections of wall to either side of the breech are damaged and reduced to sloping walls 30' high. Any special features on the damaged sections, such as hoardings, are destroyed.
==Mines==
Attackers who found a castle's walls too difficult to batter down often attempted to undermine them by digging a tunnel underneath the walls and collapsing it, either by burning out the supports or filling the mine with powder and blowing it up. The main factor in mining is the amount of time required to dig. The following table gives the volume, in cubic feet, that a team of 10 miners can excavate in a single eight-hour shift:
Race of Miner 	Earth	Soft Stone	Hard Stone
Gnoll, halfling, human 	150 	100 	50
Gnome, kobold 	160 	120 	60
Goblin, orc 	170 	130 	60
Dwarf, hobgoblin 	180 	140 	70
Ogre 	300 	200 	100
Hill giant 	600 	400 	200
Fire giant, frost giant	600 	400 	200
Stone giant 	1,000	700 	350
If a creature is not listed, pick the most appropriate type from the table. For example, elves mine at the human rate. The mine tunnel must be a minimum of 5' square plus an additional 5' for each size class beyond Small. For example, humans, orcs, and dwarves require a shaft 10' square. Stone giants require a tunnel 20' square.
When the mine reaches the wall, a gallery must be dug out underneath. The galley must be as long as the wall is thick, at least 10' wide, and at least 5' deep (more if the miners require a larger tunnel). Once the gallery is dug the supports can be fired and the 10' section of wall above the gallery must roll the listed saving throw or be destroyed; if the save fails, the adjoining 10' wall sections become damaged.
The gallery can be more than 10' wide, and an additional section of wall must make a saving throw for every extra 10' of gallery width. Smoke powder or gunpowder placed in the mine can reduce the wall's saving throw. Twenty charges of powder reduce one section's saving throw roll by –1.
===Counter Mining===
If the defenders suspect the attackers have begun a mine, they can attempt to dig their own tunnel and attack the miners. Given general knowledge of an approaching mine's position (such as which wall the mine is aimed at) a counter mine is successful on a roll of 10 or better on 1d20. This chance can fall to nothing (if the defenders are completely fooled about the mine's location) or be an automatic success (if the defenders know where the mine is through divination magic or reconnaissance). When a counter mine succeeds, the two parties must fight a melee to see who controls the tunnels. Miners usually wear no armor and can carry only small weapons, but troops sent in to guard the miners or launch a counterattack can be armed and armored normally.
==Investment==
Another and generally more reliable method for capturing a castle or fort is to simply surround it and wait for the garrison to starve (assuming that the castle does not have resident priests who can keep the troops fed). The DM must decide in advance how much food is stored inside the castle. Generally, castles have no more than a year's worth of supplies on hand, and they usually have much less, perhaps several weeks' to a few months' worth.
A garrison's morale rating drops by 1 when it runs out of food. Each week thereafter, roll 1d4 for every 10 creatures in the garrison; on a roll of 4, single-Hit-Die creatures in the group expire and other creatures lose 25% of their hit points. Do not roll for player characters and important NPCs; instead, they are allowed a saving throw vs. wands with a –5 penalty to avoid the hit point loss.
The garrison also checks morale each week without food. Failure indicates that the troops open the gates to the attackers. If prevented from opening the gates, the troops attempt to leave the castle any way they can. If the morale check succeeds, the garrison holds out another week. Repeat the procedure until all the defenders starve, their morale breaks, or relief arrives.
Most castles have adequate sources of water, usually a well inside the walls. If a garrison is deprived of water, use the procedure given above for food but check for casualties, hit point losses, and morale every three days.