Squads
by Michael HanelineSo, inspired by "Gargantuan", I made another monster modifier called "Squad". It is meant to simplify small groups of monsters or retainers to act as a single "creature" in battle, so instead of throwing 25 orcs at a party, you could throw 5 squads of orcs at them instead.
I'm curious what you guys think?:
SQUAD rules:
A group of 3-5 NPCs can enter into a formation called a "squad" if they are all using identical weapons (all spears, all longbows, etc.) A squad acts as a single creature in battle.
SIZE: Squads take up about twice as much space as an individual NPC. If the NPCs were smaller than man-sized, the squad is considered a man-sized creature. If the NPCs are man-sized, the squad is considered large. (A man-sized squad takes up two 5-foot squares or one 10-foot square on a battle mat.)
HP: The squad adds together the HP of all NPCs. If the squad takes enough damage for one of the NPCs to die, its bonus to attacks is reduced by 2. (Remove lowest HP NPC first, and so on.)
Area attacks deal triple damage to a squad.
AC and SAVING THROWS: Use the worst AC and saving throws of the NPCs in the squad.
ATTACKS: Use the attack bonus and THAC0 of the NPC with the lowest THAC0, with a +2 bonus to attack rolls for every other NPC in the group. Damage bonus is the average, rounded up. There are 3 possible attacks that a squad can make:
- Mass melee: (hand-to-hand weapons only) a single attack (one attack roll) is used against every enemy within reach. A hit does half damage, unless it succeeded by a margin of 5 or better.
- Barrage: (missile weapons only) a single attack (one attack roll) is used against every creature (including allies) in a 10ft radius area within range. A hit does half damage, unless it succeeded by a margin of 5 or better.
- Coordinated Strike: (any weapon) a single attack (one attack roll) is made against one enemy within range/reach. If the attack succeeds by a margin of 5 or better, it does double damage. If the attack succeeds by a margin of 10 or better, it does triple damage.
EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that Squad Rules already exist in module M5 - Talons of Night, in Part 1 on page 6.
So, conceptually, this is similar to the swarms from newer editions.
The 5 orcs in a troop of orcs group into basically one monster, squeezing into a 5'x10' formation instead of each taking up 5'. When a PC wants to attack the orcs, he doesn't select an individual orc, he just goes up and attacks the squad as if it were one monster. Every time enough damage is done to the squad to kill an orc, the attack bonus he provided to the squad goes away. If an area attack is used on the squad, it takes triple damage to represent that it is a group of enemies acting as one instead of one big enemy. If each orc has 10 hp and the PC did 11 damage, conceptually they downed one orc and then also followed through a bit with their strike to another close orc.
It might be too much of an abstraction for some in a game that is already an abstractions, but I figured some might like it. I know my group will.