Designing the Army

Designing the Army

Designing an army for skirmish combat requires four steps.

1. Choose the CR and Size

2. Designing the Base Soldier

3. Assigning a Commander

4. Finalize the Army

Choose the CR and Size:

When designing an army, like any encounter, you begin with looking for a relative CR. Sometimes this limited by forces you already have (like followers from Leadership). Otherwise, it determines the likelihood of recruiting that army (like in kingdom building). Regardless of the reason, begin with a relative CR for the individual soldier. From this, you will also need a relative size of the army, being how many tens, hundreds or thousands of soldiers in that army. These two attributes determine much of the final of standard mass combat, which factors into skirmish combat.

Designing the Base Soldier:

Soldiers are individuals with their own CR. Using the chosen CR to start with, designing soldiers from scratch can be done in one of the three ways.

• Recruited Soldiers: Basic NPC attribute spread (13,12, 11, 10, 9, 8) with NPC class levels.

• Professional Soldiers: Heroic NPC attribute spread (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) with Heroic class levels.

• Monsters / Creatures: As per their entry

Regardless of which method is used, create the base soldier to the desired CR. In most cases, soldiers are assumed to have equipment appropriate for their wealth by level or any equipment listed in their treasure entry, to a maximum of the wealth be level for a heroic NPC of equal CR. Soldiers do have individual traits, but this are not factored into the detailing of an army unless every soldier in an army has the same trait(s), something that can only be done via the Extra Traits feat or via plot. For any attack or effect that has a variable degree of effectiveness (damage dealt with a weapon, the effectiveness of a Fireball or Cure Moderate Wounds spell, etc), calculate the ADV (and the appropriate critical ADV and unsuccessful ADV, as needed). Otherwise, detail a soldier as you would any other generic NPC.

Assigning a Commander:

Every army needs a commander to lead them. While this can be anyone, commanders with high Leadership Bonus are more effective than those that don't. Once a commander has been assigned to an army, that army gets the benefits of any boons that the commander has and that the individual soldiers qualify for.

Finalize the Army:

Once the soldier has been determined, determine the army size and calculate the army as per the rules from Ultimate Battle and Ultimate Combat. This is all that you need for standard mass combat.

For skirmish combat, detail the attributes of the individual soldier (HP, HD, attributes, AC, saving throws, etc). The army then gets the following attributes.

• Army Actions: The maximum number of actions the army, as a whole, can take in one turn.

  • Standard / Full Round Actions: This is equal to the Army Size.

  • Longer than Full Round: Divide the Army Size by the number of Full Round actions needed to complete the action (i.e. 3 full-round actions for some siege engines), round down.

• Average Damage Value (ADV): This is the average amount of the dice rolled, determined separately for each kind of action possible and each option with each action (i.e. melee attacks, melee attacks with Power Attack, spells, etc). A d4 is 2, 2d4 is 5, 1d6 is 3, 2d6 is 7, etc.

  • Critical ADV: This is the additional damage caused by a confirmed critical, separate from the normal ADV

• Facing: Unlike standard combat, an army's facing is important. An army always has a front face, a back face (directly opposite the front face) and two side faces.

• Total Army HP: The hit point total of all of the soldiers in an army (i.e. Army Size x individual soldier's HP).

Mixed Armies:

Should you need an army that is comprised of two or more types of soldiers (like fighters and clerics), treat this as two or more different armies simultaneously exist in each other's squares, except when applying any damage dealt to the combined army. Compare the individual army sizes against the total army size to get the ratio of each type of soldier. Use this ratio as a percentage to multiply the success percentage, rounding toward the largest army size first and to the more more melee-oriented army second, to determine the effects of actions.

Mounted Armies:

Mounted soldiers and their mounts are treated as a mixed army (i.e. soldiers and mounts separately). However, unlike a typical mixed army, some of the attributes of the mount get factored into the solder for determining the army. Unless specified otherwise, assume that all other attributes are kept separate.

• Attacks and Special Abilities: If the mount has attacks or special abilities, these are included when determining the army However, any attack or special ability that is not a constant effect requires commanding the mount to use it (via handling an animal through the Handle Animal skill).

• Movement: The mount's speed and movement rates are used instead of the soldier's.

• Size: For the purposes of the miniature used, the soldier and mount combined to the size of the mount. All other aspects of the size categories are determined separately, including whether or not the mounted soldier gets a higher ground bonus to attack.

• Solider: The term soldier applies to both the soldier and the mount. When a soldier is lost or affected, it is assumed that mount and rider are affected.

• Strength: The mount's Strength score is used to determine CMB and CMD and any actions (attacks included) taken by the mount itself. It does not apply to actions (attacks included) taken by the soldier himself.