Warfare

In the course of their adventures, a party may become involved in, or cause, a war. In these circumstances, it is up to the GM to decide how to handle the involvement of the party in such a situation; this chapter contains a handful of options.

**Strike Force**:

The simplest method for dealing with a war is to keep the players away from large battles. As the party is likely of much higher level than the average member of the populace; they are more akin to special forces teams than infantry grunts. Thus their expertise might be requested in sabotaging enemy supplies, assassinating an enemy general, or combating the strike force teams employed by the enemy. In this way, the combat and sessions will be more in keeping with a traditional RPG, and battles will only happen in the background.

**Simplified Mass Combat**:

In the event the players become involved in a large scale battle, but you do not want to roll out the whole thing, a series of percentile rolls can be substituted. This method works for battles in an open field, which are constrained in both time and place. The percentiles are rolled for each side in a combat (usually, but not always two), and whichever side gets a higher total is the victor, with the margin deciding the victory. Actions of the players and other effects can add or subtract modifiers to the rolls, which can then influence the final result.

Modifiers:

Other modifiers may be created by the GM, as every battle has unique circumstances. The above modifiers also apply more to field battles than to sieges. All modifiers given are approximations and may be altered by the GM to better reflect the reality of the current situation in their campaign.

A best-of-three approach to battle resolution is recommended; two sets of percentiles are rolled three times, and the winner of the majority is then the winner of the battle overall. The final margin of victory for the three may be found by combining the three rolls for each faction.

Victory Margin and Effects:

 0-5%
 6-15%
 16-30%
 31-50%
 51-70%
 71-90%
 91%+

Unclear conclusions:

If ties are rolled two or more times on percentiles, the battle is considered a draw. This is either a fairly boring bloodless stalemate, or a grinding bloodbath reminiscent of a Pollock painting. Generally, the higher the percentile rolls, the more violence occurred in a battle, although this can be changed to suit the needs of a campaign. Further, if the outcome of a battle is necessary to a campaign, it is within the prerogative of the GM to weigh things so heavily in favor of one side that the other has no hope, while still maintaining the illusion of giving agency to the players.

**Mass Combat in Depth**:

Sometimes it is nice to have a battle between armies more closely resemble smaller-scale combat, especially if the party is directly in control of one of the armies, serving as chessmasters on the battlefield. In this instance, an army can be divided up into units, say centuries in a legion, and each of those is treated as a creature engaged in combat with an adjacent opposed army unit. Sample units are given below, along with stats, but these can be altered or added to in order to fit the unique circumstances of a given battle. Each unit is treated as a creature with the same Stature as any other unit of the same size, and so Stature will not be listed. When a unit’s HP reaches 0 a unit is broken and begins to retreat, suffering casualties equal to 20% of their original number. They may still fight on, but take a -3 to all rolls made, and unless they are fanatically loyal, will begin a retreat. When a unit reaches 0 Health, it is considered to have been either captured, routed, or destroyed, depending upon circumstances. Units cannot perform tactical exploits, cast spells, or use class abilities. The stats given are only meant to be used for one unit fighting another, and should not be taken as a creature stat-block. Each unit is assumed to be a block, 30ft wide and 10ft deep. Each round in mass combat is assumed to last 5 minutes, which accounts for the various maneuvering, planning, communicating, and other sundry effects which can occur in real battles but which slow down the flow of gameplay.

Heavy Infantry: A force of 100 infantry, armed with polearms and heavy armor.

Special: This unit may brace against a cavalry charge as a move action, this gives them one opportunity attack on the charging cavalry at a +15 to hit which deals 3d10+10 dmg. This unit may only move in straight lines.

Light Infantry: A force of 100 infantry, armed with ranged weapons and light armor.

Special: This unit only applies half of range penalties for ranges beyond the first.

Heavy Cavalry: A force of 50 cavalry, armed with lance, sword, and heavy armor.

Special: This unit does double damage on a successful charge.

Light Cavalry: A force of 50 cavalry, armed with bows and light armor.

Special: This unit can attack at any point in their move action. They are also armed with sabers, and will fight in melee if necessary; those are the numbers in brackets on the table. They also do double damage if mounting a successful melee charge.

Aerial Cavalry: A force of 20 cavalry mounted on winged steeds, armed with lances and bows, though lightly armored.

Special: This unit does double damage on a successful charge.

Peasant Levee: A force of 100 poorly armed and armored peasants, pressed into service.

Special: Peasants will not take prisoners from nobility or professional soldiers unless a ransom is promised, or closely supervised by superior officers, and will instead slaughter them.

Support Casting: A force of 20 casters, lightly armed and armored.

Special: This unit may heal an adjacent friendly unit for 3d10 health 1/turn.

Offensive Casting: A force of 20 casters, lightly armed and armored.

Special: This unit may cast damaging spells at units within 30ft, these spells do 3d10 points of damage.

Light Artillery: A force or four light siege weapons (ballistas, light catapults, light cannons, onagers).

Special: This unit takes one full round to reload after each shot, and takes a full round to prepare before or after moving.

Heavy Artillery: A force of three heavy siege weapons (Trebuchets, heavy catapults, cannons).

Special: This unit takes two rounds to reload, and takes two full rounds to prepare before or after moving.

These units are anthropocentric, and assume all creatures in the units have Stature scores between 9 and 15. Units composed entirely from very large or very small species, such as ogres or halflings, may well have different values for many of the given numbers. If that seems like more math than you would prefer doing, it is permissible to simply use the values given on the table.

The ranges for ranged units is based on the kinds of weapons they are armed with, be they slings, bows, javelins, or some other sort.

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all possible combat units, but to serve as a quick reference and guide to creating a battle scenario. The artillery here is field artillery, and while the same pieces are used in sieges; that is described in a later section. These unit lists also assume a world that is either low-power or low-fantasy, as the presence of high-level spellcasters on the field makes armies almost obsolete. If a level 20 caster can obliterate an army with one spell, then war is waged very differently.

These units may be scaled if the battle would be otherwise unmanageable. The battles using these units would have a few thousand people involved in total. If each army numbers in the tens of thousands, then scale up the number of individuals in each unit, while keeping the rest of the numbers the same; so an infantry unit might represent 500 troops, or 1000, instead of 100.

**Sieges and Siege Engines**:

Sieges are traditionally one of the more boring aspects of warfare, and it is recommended that historical accuracy be avoided. Indeed, the presence of casters makes the primary causes of a siege ending; lack of food and disease, unlikely events in a fantasy world. Therefore, sieges in a campaign will most likely end in a wall breach and quick battle, or with negotiation if the party is particularly adept at diplomacy. While the battle rules given above can be used in this instance, the presence of defensive fortifications adds a new element, which gives one side a large advantage. Indeed, a numerical advantage of 3:1 attackers to defenders was generally considered necessary for the success of a siege. While in the realm of fantasy the numbers can be made up by powerful characters or other means, it is still suggested that the besiegers outnumber the besieged by a fair margin.

The number of units directly involved in a siege is also likely to be lower, so it is possible to run things on a smaller scale, or to run one section of the siege directly, with the rest being managed using one of the methods presented above.

Siege Weapons:

The rate of fire column indicates the number of rounds required to load and fire one projectile, so a trebuchet may make one attack every four rounds. Rams and siege towers, which strike walls or gates directly, may attack every round.

During a siege, siege weapons deal damage directly to the health of the walls. Trebuchets and catapults may be used to fire alternative ammunition over the walls. This ammunition includes but is not limited to: plague-ridden corpses, incendiaries, heads, and jars filled with snakes. Siege towers usually include a ram, and are also used to place troops directly on level with a defending wall, so as to gain control of the defenses. Cannons can only be fired into the walls to damage them, and do not possess the necessary trajectory to launch projectiles over defensive walls.

Attempting to use a siege engine with less than minimum crew doubles the reloading time. The health of various fortifications is discussed in the section on fortifications.

The other option for entering a castle during a siege is tunnelling, which takes 1 day/10ft of tunnel excavated through soft stone, 2 days through hard stone. Tunnelling through dirt can be done at a rate of 30ft per day. The tunnel should be properly supported and ventilated to prevent unfortunate consequences, and should be deep enough to avoid countermeasures.

Aiming a siege weapon at a creature rather than a building requires using it as a weapon with a SM of 40-70. Appropriate penalties are applied if the creature is unable to wield a weapon of this size. A ballista would have a SM of 40, while a heavy cannon would have one of 65, and a trebuchet one of 70, as it is quite unwieldy.

**Naval Warfare**:

Naval warfare follows many of the same rules as mass combat on land, but with a few twists added due to the differing capabilities of ships. Ships may join in either mass naval combat, or ship to ship combat. The capabilities and prices of various ships are given in the following table:

Notes and Descriptions:

The rating of the ship is used when determining which side has a numerical advantage in mass combat. The total ratings of all the ships on each side are added, and this is used to determine which side has the numerical advantage. This may be used to make percentile rolls instead of rolling out the entire combat. A force of five brigs, two cutters, and a frigate would be equal to a force of one dreadnaught and one battleship.

The crew refers to the number of crew required to successfully run the ship. A number of marines may be carried on the ship equal to 20% of the crew. A merchant ship may carry a force of marines equal to 200% of the crew, with a merchant marine managing 150%. If the number of crew on the ship is more than 10% below indicated, the ship takes a -5 penalty to actions in combat.

Guns refers to the number of cannons mounted on the ship. Triremes, quinqueremes, and decaremes do not carry cannons, but instead attack their opponents through ramming and onboard catapults and marines. The damage given is for their ramming attack. Due to their size, they are the only ships to carry metal armor, usually thin sheets of beaten bronze plating. All other ships carry light cannons, with the exception of gunboats which carry a smaller number of heavy cannons.

HP and Health matter if the GM desires to run naval combat in-depth, with each ship being treated as a single unit. In this instance, a larger ship may select multiple targets. Rating 3 and 4 ships may target two ships per side, while rating 5 ships may target three ships per side, or one ship three times. A ship’s to-hit bonus is equal to double its rating. If a ship is reduced to 0 HP, it is considered disabled, but not destroyed. At 0 health, a ship is either destroyed or captured. A disabled ship has suffered casualties equal to 20% of crew wounded or dead, and loses half its speed. Further, it may only fire every other round, as opposed to every round.

The price of a ship does not account for crew, who must be hired or otherwise made to serve separately.

Triremes, quinqueremes, and decaremes are pre-gunpowder vessels. Pre-gunpowder sloops, cutters, merchants, and merchant-marine ships also existed. These ships either rammed each other, fired ballistas and catapults at each other, or pulled close and performed boarding actions. While boarding actions still occurred in the age of gunpowder warfare, they were less prevalent. Other designs and styles of ships may be added at the GM’s discretion, or the given ships may be renamed to better suit the particular setting envisioned by the GM.

**Aerial Warfare:**

While aerial cavalry was mentioned previously, it is possible for entire battles to be fought in the air, as the presence of both flying beasts and airships allows for a new dimension in combat. Air superiority gives an enormous advantage in combat, but requires a large amount of labor and upkeep to manage. Only the largest, most technologically advanced, and wealthiest kingdoms will field airships. The capabilities of the various airships are given in the following table:

Notes and Descriptions:

Ratings work the same as with naval ships in determining numerical advantage. Airships may be used to attack ground units, but ground units are generally unable to attack airships.

Airships are held aloft via envelopes filled with buoyant gases, primarily aetherium, which must be harvested from the aether. If these envelopes are ruptured, the airship will fall back to earth. Hot air balloons instead are held aloft by heating normal air, usually by magic, although sometimes by burning naphtha. Hot air balloons have poor maneuverability and must be tethered to the ground. They are normally used for scouting purposes.

Corvettes, raiders, airships, zeppelins, and capital ships are all variations on the same theme, and all attack their enemies through either cannon fire or the dropping of bombs. Airships with a rating of 1 may choose to be equipped either with cannons or bombs, while larger airships may split their focus. All of these airships have a maneuverability of poor, save for raiders which have a maneuverability of poor.

An air-launcher is used for the carrying and launching of ornithopters, has poor maneuverability, and rarely engages in battle directly. Each air-launcher is capable of carrying 10 ornithopters.

Ornithopters are light craft, which propel themselves forward by using clockwork contrivances to flap their wings. They are incapable of taking off from the ground, but must be launched from a height in order to gain sufficient airspeed to fly. The minimum launch altitude is 400ft, which requires either a tall tower dedicated to the purpose, magic, or an air-launcher aircraft. They are capable of a high rate of speed and have poor maneuverability. They only mount one gun, which faces forward, and which functions as a rail gun, rather than a cannon. They are used to dart in and destroy the envelopes of larger and slower ships.