User:HUGE/MassCombat

Written up for EI but any campaign-specific modifications will be marked somehow.

Unit Traits

• Magnitude

  Effective size of the unit. Calculated according to table on p159. If the unit members have more than 3 HLs, divide that number by 3, round up, and multiply by the number of those members to determine the Magnitude. Acts as the minimum damage a unit can inflict. Larger units gain and smaller units lose automatic successes to attack rolls from relative Magnitude (maximum +-3). Magnitude also acts as a penalty to various rolls offset by Drill.

• Drill

  How well-disciplined the unit is. 0 to 5.

• Endurance

  Starts as (Drill + average Stamina) or, for solo units, (Stamina + Resistance). Decreases due to various actions such as attacking. If it reaches 0, the unit takes a -2 internal penalty to all actions from exhaustion.

• Might

  Calculated according to table on p161, determined by the overwhelming majority of unit members' equipment. Adds automatic successes to the commander's attack rolls. Also adds to the commander's Essence rating for Charm targeting and defense purposes.

• Close Combat Rating

  Calculated from the average (Dexterity + Ability + Specialty + Weapon Accuracy) pool of the unit members, divided by two and rounded down. Adds automatic successes to the commander's CC attack rolls. Half of the CCR is added to the commander's Parry DV.

• Close Combat Damage

  Calculated from the average (Strength + Weapon Damage) pool of the unit members, divided by three and rounded up. Adds dice of raw damage to the commander's rolls.

• Ranged Attack Rating

  Calculated from the average (Dexterity + Ability + Specialty + Weapon Accuracy) pool of the unit members, divided by two and rounded down. Adds automatic successes to the commander's ranged attack rolls.

• Ranged Attack Damage

  Calculated from the average (Strength + Weapon Damage) pool of the unit members, divided by three and rounded up. Adds dice of raw damage to the commander's rolls.

• Armor

  Calculated from the average full lethal soak of the unit members, divided by three and rounded up. Adds to the commander's soak, A/L/B. Mobility penalty is the average of all unit members. Hardness is the minimum possessed on by any unit members.

• Morale

  Calculated as the lower of the average unit members' Valor, or the unit commander's Valor. May be perfect with automaton troops or magical effects.

• Special Characters

  Two slots per Magnitude. Units with Magnitude 3+ need one Relay special character per dot of Magnitude or they suffer communication failure.

• Formation

  One of the following:

  • Unordered (Requires no Drill)

    No bonuses. Adds two to the difficulty of rout checks. Speed multiplier x30.

  • Relaxed (Requires Drill 1)

    Doubles bonuses from shields and cover against ranged attacks. Speed multiplier x70.

  • Skirmish (Requires Drill 1)

    Doubles bonuses from shields and cover against all attacks. Adds +3DV against ranged attacks. Units attacking a unit in Skirmish formation using Close Combat are treated as having double Magnitude, or triple if the attacker is in Close formation. Adds two to the difficulty of rout checks. Speed multiplier x100.

  • Close (Requires Drill 2)

    Doubles Close Combat Rating. Doubles bonuses from shields and cover against close combat attacks. Units attacking a unit in Closeformation using Ranged Attacks are treated as having double Magnitude. Subtracts two from the difficulty of rout checks. Speed multiplier x40

Other unit traits are those of the unit commander: HLs and so forth.

Units do not suffer wound penalties. Grappling cannot be accomplished in mass combat.

All bonuses from unit Ratings, as well as all Abilities, are capped at the unit commander's War.

Voluntary actions

• Reflexive charms can be used at any time, no matter what Charms have been used before.
• Use Sorcery (Simple, Speed 5, DV -2): Fully cast any one spell with casting time of 5 minutes or less.
• Attack: Use the unit commander's normal attack roll, adding automatic successes from relative Magnitude, relevant unit Rating, and unit Might. Add relevant unit Damage to raw damage of attacks that hit.
• Defense: Use the unit commander's DV as normal, adding half her unit's Close Combat Rating to her Parry DV. Add the unit's Armor to the commander's soak. Minimum damage is the attacking unit's effective Magnitude instead of Essence. Normally damage is applied to the unit's health track, not its commander. If a unit's health track is filled, it loses a dot of Magnitude in casualties and deserters and the health track is refilled. If the levels of damage overflow the health track, this may repeat.

Most other combat actions simply scale up to long ticks and are applied to entire units.

Attacking a unit commander or special character directly suffers an external penalty equal to half of either the unit's Drill or Magnitude, rounded up; Sorcerer special characters double their unit's Magnitude in this calculation. Unordered units use the lower of Drill or Magnitude, other formations use the higher.

Involuntary actions

• Rout check or hesitation check

  Roll Morale, internal penalty (Magnitude - Drill), difficulty 1 plus any applicable penalties from the table on p169, +2 difficulty if the unit is in Skirmish or Unordered formation, -2 difficulty if Close formation. On success, nothing happens. On failure, the unit cannot move until its next action, and loses one dot of Magnitude to desertion for each success by which it failed to meet the difficulty. Losing Magnitude in this manner resets the unit's health track to full.

• Endurance loss

  Each time a unit attacks or is attacked, its commander or best relay rolls (Charisma + War) difficulty (Fatigue value of members' armor), with modifiers from the table on p169. On failure, the unit loses 1 Endurance in Step 10. If Endurance reaches 0, the unit suffers a -2 internal penalty on all actions from exhaustion.