I've been DMing 4E for more than a year now, we've been playing throgh the published adventures (H1-3, P1-3, soon to start E1-3), in a homebrew campaign. We've enjoyed some good old Dungeon Crawling so far, but I'd like to offer my player something different, so I came up with a different kind of "encounters".
Basically, I want to put them in a big battlefield, where they will face wave after wave of opponents. The XP for each encounter will be equivalent to 2 or 3 encounters of their level, but half of the XP will come from minions. The opponents will also come in waves so that the players are not overwhelmed.
Being a long time Eberron fan, I thought the last war would be the best "scenario" for this set-up.
Each battle will give enough XP to pass a level, and each battle will be in a different "field". The campaign will span level 1 to 10. Players are creating characters as an elite unit of an army (still don't know if they'll just be mercs, or affiliated with a Nation). They're getting inspiration from the "Bridgeburners" of the Malazan books, for which I'm extremely glad.
What I'm looking for is some suggestions for some important battles I can have the players fight. I will need 10 fields of battle in total. I seem to remember there was a 3.5 book with a very detailed description of the Last War.
Is there maybe a wiki where I could find this kind of info?
Also, suggestions for how to spice up the battles are very welcome.
The 3.5E book you want is "The Forge of War" I don't have it handy at the moment , so I can't help you with the list of battles.
You can combine complex skill challenges to determine the outcome of a battle (where each combat encounter donate one success to the challenge outcome).
and the new terrain powers introduced in DMG2 (which I only know it from the excerpts) to make the battleground more interesting.
Examples for a Last War terrain powers can be:
House Jorasco healer
Multi-Use Terrain
A Jorasco healer moves among the wounded
Minor Action
Check: Diplomacy (easy DC) and 10g payment
Success: you use a healing surge and return double the hp amount.
Target: self
Arcane Ballista
Single-Use Terrain
you find a damaged Arcane Ballista
Standard Action x2 (requires two operators one does the skill check, one the attack roll)
Check: Arcane/Thievery (DC hard) to activate; 14 vs. Reflex, close blast 1
On hit: 4d6 force damage
This makes me think. Are there rules for close combat as in two allies fight from the same square, or two enemies battle each other but they are in the same square. Or teamwork powers, like sheild formations or something similar?
Rekko
This makes me think. Are there rules for close combat as in two allies fight from the same square, or two enemies battle each other but they are in the same square. Or teamwork powers, like sheild formations or something similar?
It falls under skill challenges, Dragon #168: gave an example: Life During Wartime Skill Challenges on the Battlefield
But like computer games sometimes do: you can zoom-in on the player corner of the battlefield and do a combat encounter that effect the greater battlefield skill challenge success/failure balance.
I'd also stress that The Lord of the Rings provides an excellent example of how to handle PCs during wartime. Consider, for example, the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers. Sticking, for this example, to the Jackson movie, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli all get involved in determining the outcome of the battle.
PCs can make a BIG difference in a battle, especially a siege (on either side), by running various missions, fighting off (or being) the infiltration group at a small gate (or the main entrance) and the like. Some of the best movies for inspirational purposes:
- The Two Towers
- Return of the King
- The Thirteenth Warrior
- Kingdom of Heaven
- Horatio Hornblower
- The Four Musketeers (1974)
That last one covers part of the siege of La Rochelle from the Musketeer's perspective. For the most part, they're mixing with the regular army, and not getting much done, but there's a couple scenes where they make a major impact. And in A&E's Hornblower, he's often running off on "special missions" with a small group. Sometimes, modern movies that detail the actions of a special forces team (like The Guns of Navarrone) can be real helpful.
And there's always the Star Wars movies, many of which feature the heroes playing a crucial part in a big battle.