- The Field of Battle
- Strategy
- Bloodied, Defeated, Destroyed, and Disbanded Armies
- Tactics
- Victory And Aftermath
- Building Armies
- Recruiting An Army
- Equipping An Army
- Maintaining An Army
- Special Abilities
- Special Rules
Ultimate Battle
$9.99
The Field of Battle
When two or more armed forces representing opposing interests collide, you have a battle. On the field of battle, players do not draw upon the individual resources of their characters. Instead, they lead and support the armies serving under them as they clash steel to steel with the forces of their enemies. A battle plays out over several rounds, each of somewhat arbitrary length, though 1d6 hours is a reasonable approximation. Each round consists of several phases, wherein characters decide upon the actions their armies will take, hurl them into the fray with missile and melee attacks, and then determine which armies are still standing with bodies and will unbroken.
In order to better showcase the great variety of tactical options possible on the battlefield, especially a fantasy-based battlefield, we present here a large number of alternate and supplemental rules to enhance the mass combat rules presented in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. There are large amounts of additional Command Boons, Tactics, and Special Abilities for your armies, enhanced roles for commanders and leaders and an enriched abstract system of resolving battlefield combat, as well as dealing with the aftermath of war. These expanded rules give players more options not only in how to conduct a battle but also in how to plan the special training they might give their troops, the tactical exploits they might use with several armies together in coordination, and how they as a country will approach war in general.
These rules for mass combat, while more detailed than those in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, are nonetheless still an abstraction, not a highly detailed miniatures wargame. They are intended as a supplement to the ordinary careers of adventuring leaders, not a replacement for it, providing a mass combat system that can be easily played out during the course of a single game session, even with complex battle scenarios.
Battle Zones
Any battlefield has three primary zones. These zones are abstract rather than geographic, and represent where armies are in relation to one another. An army may begin a Battle phase in the Ranged zone, but if an enemy army advances and engages them, they are now considered to be in the Melee zone even if they have not actually moved. If the army attacking them is destroyed and no other army engages them, they return to the Ranged zone.
It is perhaps easiest to think of these zones as concentric circles, with the Melee zone at the center, surrounded by the Ranged zone, with the Camp zone beyond it. A line down the center of the circle divides it in half, with one army’s forces in its Melee, Ranged, and Camp zones and its enemy’s forces in theirs.
Camp Zone: This represents an army’s base of operations, which may be a temporary bivouac or a permanent fortification. Armies in the Camp zone cannot participate in a battle unless enemy armies move into the Camp zone. Generally speaking, armies cannot enter their enemy’s Camp zone as long as the enemy has active armies in the Melee or Ranged zone (but see Moving an Army).
Command Zone: This is the area where the army’s commanders direct the flow of battle. This area is generally considered part of the Camp zone and cannot be directly attacked as long as the active armies are present in the Melee and/or Ranged zones.
Ranged Zone: This represents the back lines of an army on the field, with forces either arrayed to engage in ranged combat or simply to hold in place in reserve. Armies in the Ranged zone cannot be attacked in melee.
Melee Zone: This represents the front lines of any battle, where forces meet in close and brutal combat. Armies in the Melee zone can be attacked with melee or ranged attacks.
Strategy
At the beginning of a battle, each side must decide upon its overall strategy for the battle, not in terms of the precise maneuvers that will be used but more in terms of its philosophy about how the battle is to be conducted.
Selecting a strategy applies to all armies under the general’s command While individual armies may have their own specialized tactics that define how they carry out the overall strategy, that one overall strategy guides all of their actions on the battlefield.
During each Tactical Initiative phase, the commanding general for each side can try to alter the strategy her forces pursue, adjusting it by one step in either direction without needing to make a Morale check. A general can attempt to shift strategy to a greater degree, but this is difficult for all but the most highly trained armies, requiring a Morale check with a penalty equal to the number of steps by which strategy is being shifted. If the check fails, the army’s strategy changes one step in the desired direction, but the army is thrown into disarray for the remainder of that Battle phase, resulting in a penalty to Offence Modifiers (OM) and Defensive Value (DV) equal to the number of steps the general attempted to shift their strategy.
This strategy rule replaces the standard Strategy track and rule in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Table 1: Strategy
| Type of Strategy | OM | DV | Casualties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold Firm | -4 | +4 | -2 |
| Cautious Advance | -2 | +2 | -1 |
| Standard | - | - | |
| Aggressive Attack | +2 | -2 | +1 |
| All-Out Assault | +4 | -4 | +2 |
The Casualties modifier applies to damage dealt by you and damage dealt by your enemies, including damage from failed attacks and friendly fire. This number was reduced to eliminate the doubling effect in the published rules caused by adding an additional modifier to damage when the existing modifiers to OM and DV already directly adjust damage (since damage equals 1d20 + OM - DV, plus other modifiers that apply).
Battle Phases
Each round of a battle is split into several phases, with a typical Battle phase taking a total of 1d6 hours.
Tactical Phase: Each round of combat, the overall army commander can shift the overall strategy that all forces under her command will follow. In addition, each unit commander can decide what special tactics their unit will use to implement that strategy. These choices must be made before tactical initiative is determined.
Ranged Phase: During this phase, any army or unit that is not engaged with an enemy force can make a ranged attack (assuming it has ranged weapons or other capabilities enabling ranged attacks to be made).
Melee Phase: During this phase, armies move together and engage in melee combat, using a variety of special tactics to outmaneuver and destroy their opponents.
Rout Phase: After resolving ranged and melee combat for the round, each surviving unit must succeed at a Morale check to sustain its will to fight.
Tactical Phase
The secret of success for many battlefield commanders lies in their ability to read a battlefield and gauge the intentions of their opponent, which may be by intercepting signals, gauging the importance of troop positioning and favorable or unfavorable ground, and being able to disguise their own intentions until their enemy has revealed their own. One way to reflect this in conducting a mass battle is through the use of Tactical Initiative. Each commander makes a Profession (soldier) skill check, and whichever commander rolls lowest on their check must reveal their strategy first. A commander with a higher check can change his strategy in response to his opponent’s, though moving strategy more than one step on Table 1 requires a Morale check to perform smoothly. In addition to forcing his enemy to reveal his strategy first, if one commander’s check exceeds his opponent’s by 5 or more, he can either force his enemy to reveal one tactic or he can change one of his own army’s tactics for every 5 points by which his check exceeds his opponent’s. The commander can choose which army he wishes to learn about; if that army has more than one tactic available, it must reveal the tactic it is using during this Battle phase. Regardless of the result of your check, you can reveal only one tactic per enemy army or change one tactic for each of your armies; any excess is lost. Command boons and creature special abilities are not revealed by winning tactical initiative.
Actual combat is effectively simultaneous, so going first is irrelevant and enemy armies can destroy each other in the course of a combat round. Even so, an army gains a +1 OM bonus whenever it attacks an enemy army with a lower tactical initiative check.
Ranged Phase
During the Ranged phase, two armies are arrayed near one another but have not yet advanced to commence the battle in earnest. During this phase, armies cannot attack in melee but can attack with ranged weapons or other abilities that allow them to attack at a distance. During the Ranged phase, each army can attack (provided it has the ability to attack at range), advance (move up to engage the enemy in close combat), or hold (remain in place, neither attacking nor advancing). An army that advances can then attack in the Melee phase. Armies that do not advance cannot attack in the Melee phase unless they themselves are attacked by an enemy unit that advances.
Some battlefields contains impassable barriers between armies, such as a river, cliff, or even a city wall or similar fortification. In this situation, armies may be unable to advance during the Ranged phase unless they have some means of circumventing the barrier. If you are using the simplified published rules, an army inside a Fort, Watchtower, or fortified settlement with City Walls and/or a Moat does not count as having an impassable barrier between itself and enemy armies; instead, the Defense value of the fortification is considered to represent the difficulty of approaching to attack. Armies may remain at range and attack with ranged weapons, but armies using the advance action are considered to be attempting to scale the walls or otherwise assault the fortifications in such a way as to threaten the safety of the defending army.
Resolving a ranged attack is described under Attacking and Taking Damage in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Friendly Fire: When an army makes a ranged attack against an enemy army that is engaged with one of your armies, it has a 25% chance of dealing 1d6-3 points of damage to the allied army regardless of whether its attack is successful. If your ranged attack roll is a natural 1, your allied army automatically takes 1d6-3 points of damage, while on a natural 20 your allied army never takes damage from friendly fire. An army taking damage from friendly fire loses 1 point of Morale.
Melee Phase
Once an army has advanced upon the enemy, the Melee phase begins. Each army resolves its attack as described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but unlike in the published rules after each army has attacked once the Melee phase does not repeat. Instead, after resolving all attacks each army proceeds to the Rout phase described below, and as long as at least one army on each side survives without being routed, the battle enters a new round, with a new check to determine Tactical Initiative, as described in the Tactics phase above.
Rout Phase
Once an army has advanced upon the enemy, the Melee phase begins. Each army resolves its attack as described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but unlike in the published rules after each army has attacked once the Melee phase does not repeat. Instead, after resolving all attacks each army proceeds to the Rout phase, with each surviving army making a Morale check with a DC of 10 plus 1 for each allied army that has been destroyed or routed from the field. If this check succeeds, the army may continue the fight undaunted.
If the check fails, the army’s Morale score is reduced by 1d4. If this reduces the army’s Morale to zero, you must make a Loyalty check. If successful, the army remains intact with its Morale reset to 1 and the army routs, fleeing from the battlefield. If the Loyalty check fails, the army disbands. A cumulative -5 penalty applies to each Loyalty check for this purpose after the first that each side makes during a battle.
Routed Armies: A routed army is forced to flee the battlefield and cannot attack. Any one army engaged with it can make a free Standard or Volley attack against the routing army. After this attack is resolved, the army’s commander must make an opposed Profession (soldier) check with a -4 penalty against the commander of the engaged army that made the attack, with each commander adding the forced march speed of each of his armies to this roll (making it advantageous to use cavalry or other fast armies to attack routing armies). If the fleeing army wins the check, it is able to disengage and escape from the battlefield to its Camp zone. If the enemy army’s check is higher, the routing army disengages but is forced to remain on the battlefield in the Ranged zone.
General Retreat: At the end of any Rout phase, a commander can sound a general retreat, ordering all of his armies to fall back and leave the battlefield. This functions like the Retreat tactic but can be performed even by armies that have already attacked in the Battle phase; however, retreating armies take an additional -2 penalty to their Morale check to disengage from enemy armies. In addition, when a General Retreat is ordered, any enemy army that is not engaged with one of your retreating armies can make one Volley ranged attack against any retreating army of its choice.
Mercenaries: When a mercenary army’s Morale drops to 1, or when they have lost more than half of their hit points, they must make a Morale check to avoid routing. A kingdom takes no penalties when a mercenary army disbands or is destroyed.
Bloodied, Defeated, Destroyed, and Disbanded Armies
In battle, armies almost never fight until the last soldier is killed. While iconic, this is simply not a normal reality of warfare. When one army is clearly beaten and its cause is lost, it loses the will and the ability to fight long before the point of annihilation.
Bloodied Armies: An army that is reduced below half its hit points during any battle, whether its side is ultimately victorious or not, becomes bloodied. A bloodied army has lost a substantial number of its soldiers to death or permanent injury, and no amount of rest, recovery, or even magical healing can bring the unit up to its full fighting strength. A bloodied army is treated as though its ACR is 1 less than normal for all purposes. This reduction applies each time it has been bloodied, and the effects stack for the purpose of determining the unit’s OM, DV, maximum hit points, and all other game effects except the army’s Consumption. The bloodied condition can be removed only by reforming the army (as described in the Optional Mass Combat Rules in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign) or by replenishing the army with new recruits (see Recruiting an Army).
Defeated Armies: An army reduced to 0 hit points is defeated and can take no further actions in the battle, but it can be taken prisoner or massacred by its enemies following the battle, attacked in spite of their surrender in the midst of battle, or recovered, reformed, and restored to fighting strength by its allies after the battle ends (see Victory and Aftermath). A defeated unit typically has 10% of its number dead, and 1d4 x 10% of its number wounded and unable to fight, the rest simply too physically exhausted or emotionally shaken to continue fighting.
Destroyed Armies: If a defeated army is attacked before the battle ends, it takes a -2 penalty to its DV. If successfully attacked by an enemy army of at least half its size, the defeated army is instead destroyed and ceases to exist as a fighting force. In a destroyed unit, the dead number 1d6 x 10% of the army’s soldiers, with 1d4 x 10% wounded, and the remainder simply surrendered or deserted.
When an army is destroyed, the country for which it fought loses 1 point of Fame. In addition, there is a 25% chance that the city where the army was recruited (with an Improvement or Recruitment Edict) has a Building Demand event during the next kingdom turn, demanding a Monument to be erected as a memorial to the fallen. This is in addition to any other kingdom events that may occur.
Disbanded Armies: When an army is reduced to 0 Morale and fails a Loyalty check, it not only routs from the battlefield but actually ceases to exist as a fighting force, disintegrating in a combination of flight and surrender. When an army disbands, 50% of its number is permanently deducted from the kingdom’s population, as those soldiers desert their country and flee for safer lands where their shame will not follow them. The other 50% of the soldiers filter back into the population of their kingdom.
When an army disbands, all allied armies take a -1 penalty to Morale checks for the remainder of the battle; this stacks if more than one army disbands. When an army disbands, the kingdom for which it fights takes a permanent -1 penalty to Fame, Loyalty, and Stability and the city where the army was recruited (with an Improvement or Recruitment Edict) takes a permanent -2 penalty to Law.
If a unit disbands while you are at war (rather than, for example, disbanding because of lack of pay or training during peacetime), your enemy gains a one-time reduction in its consumption for any one unit within one hex of the disbanded unit equal to 1/2 the disbanded unit’s ACR; if this amount exceeds your unit’s Consumption, any excess is lost. However, if you use an Improvement Edict or Recruitment Edict to create a new army in a Fort or settlement within 3 hexes of the site of the enemy army’s desertion, you gain a one-time bonus to your next Loyalty check to recruit that army as you take advantage of disaffected deserters from your enemy who have turned to your side.
Engagement
When an army attacks another in melee, the armies become engaged even if the attack fails. Engaged armies are caught up in the thick of the fighting, seething together in a mass of bodies, blades, and blood. Once armies become engaged, neither can leave the battlefield until one or both armies are defeated, destroyed, or routed from the field, or until one side performs a successful Retreat, Withdrawal, or similar tactic that allows it to disengage from its enemies and those enemies either cannot or choose not to pursue them.
Fatigue
An army that becomes fatigued takes a -1 penalty to OM and DV and cannot use the Furious Charge or Overwhelming Onslaught tactics. If an army engages in an activity that causes it to become fatigued when it is already fatigued, it becomes exhausted instead. Its penalties to OM and DV increase to -3 and its movement is halved, and it cannot use the Cavalry Sweep, False Retreat, Pincer Maneuver, Pursuit, Skirmishers, or Strafing Skirmishers maneuvers. If an army performs an action that would cause it to become fatigued when it is already exhausted, the army takes 1d4 damage.
To remove fatigue, an army must retreat or withdraw from the battlefield and remain away from the battle for at least 2 Battle phases; each Battle phase after the first that it spends resting, it may attempt a Morale check to recover from its fatigue. If a battle ceases for at least 8 consecutive hours, armies on both sides can attempt a Morale check to recover from fatigue. If a unit is exhausted, making one Morale check to recover improves its condition to fatigued. The army can attempt an additional Morale check for each Battle phase it continues to rest away from the battlefield (or each 8 hours when no battle occurs) to remove the fatigued condition.
Healing After Battle
An army that remains on the field or is able to retreat from it without being defeated (i.e., reduced to 0 hit points) can rest for 1 hour in order to regain hit points equal to 1/2 its ACR and automatically reduces the exhausted condition to fatigued. If the army can rest for 8 additional hours without interruption, it regains hit points equal to its ACR and automatically removes the fatigued condition. Thereafter, an army heals hit points equal to its ACR for every 24 hours of complete rest. Armies that are marching, guarding prisoners, or performing other light-duty tasks heal half the normal amount of hit points (rounding down). Armies that engage in a battle or that take damage from a forced march do not heal at all.
An army that has been defeated but is able to exit the battlefield regains 1 hit point after 1 hour of rest. After this time, it can again function as an army, including using the healing rules described above. An army that has been destroyed or disbanded cannot heal. The Magical Healing command boon or Healing Potions resource doubles the number of hit points regained by one army during the first hour of its rest (or allows a defeated army to regain hit points equal to half its ACR after 1 hour of rest).
Disease: One of the great killers in war throughout history has been disease. Germs have often killed far more than blades, bullets, and bombs combined. A combination of injury, exhaustion, poor sanitation and diet on the campaign trail, frequently inadequate medical supplies, abundant carrion and garbage and vermin feasting upon both with equal relish, and the simple proximity of so many people in confined spaces make battlefields an ideal medium for the growth and spread of contagion.
Whenever your armies finish a battle, whether victorious or not, make a Stability check for the kingdom with a penalty equal to the number of your armies that were bloodied plus the number of enemy units taken prisoner. You gain a +2 bonus to this check for each commander with your army that can provide Magical Healing and for each Healing Potion you expend after the battle (those consumed during the battle do not affect this check). If your armies are within 2 hexes of any of your settlements, you gain an additional +1 bonus for each Alchemist, Herbalist, and Temple, +2 for each Cathedral, and +4 for each Hospital in that settlement (or those settlements, if more than one).
If this check fails, one of your armies becomes infected. This army should be chosen at random from those who took any damage during the battle, even if that damage was later healed. Infected armies are treated as fatigued (or exhausted, if already fatigued) and become bloodied by this infection. You must repeat the Stability check with the modifiers noted above once per week. If the check succeeds, your army recovers and is no longer infected, though it is still bloodied and must be reinforced. If the check fails, another army chosen at random from those damaged in the battle becomes infected. If multiple armies are infected, each successful check cures only one army.
If all infected armies do nothing but rest and recuperate in a settlement or Fort, you gain a +2 bonus to the Stability check.
If infected armies are forced to fight, you take a -2 penalty to that week’s Stability check for each army that fights.
If you roll a natural 1 on any Stability check to avoid or alleviate infection, the contagion is carried back to the nearest of your settlements to the battlefield (or to where the infected armies are being kept during their recovery), and during your next Kingdom turn that city experiences a Plague kingdom event, as described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Parley
Once per battle, at the beginning of any Battle phase, the commander of either army may ask for parley, a meeting under a flag of truce with a spokesperson for the opposing side. You must use this maneuver before any army has attacked in the Battle phase. The commander asking for Parley must make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check opposed by the Diplomacy or Intimidate check of the opposing general. When using Diplomacy, the commander adds his nation’s Fame score to this check. When using Intimidate, the commander adds his nation’s Infamy score instead. Each commander chooses which skill to use and need not choose the same skill. A commander takes a -1 penalty for each unit under his command that has been defeated or routed, -2 for each that has been destroyed. If your check equals or exceeds the opposing general’s, you can force them (or their representative) to come forth and meet you under a temporary truce to discuss terms of surrender or withdrawal from the field, to offer a challenge of champions or other contest, to exchange hostages or negotiate ransom, or simply to taunt and bluster at one another. Armies normally do not attack during the Battle phase when a Parley occurs, though they may use command boons or disengage from enemy armies, or perform other actions that are not attacks. If a unit does attack during a Parley, the kingdom whose army it is gains +1d4 Infamy, and each unit that attacks loses 1 point of Morale. In addition, your armies gain a +1 bonus to OM and on opposed Morale checks against any army that attacks during the Parley for the remainder of the battle.
Tactics
Tactics differ from strategy in that they represent specific maneuvers that an army can perform on the battlefield focused on attack, defense, movement, or a combination of the three. Strategy dictates each side’s overall approach to what all of their armies will do, but each individual unit can adopt its own unique tactics. A unit can select one tactic each Battle phase, and maneuvers marked with an asterisk (*) are usable only once during a battle by each side as they represent either maneuvers based on limited resources or on battlefield deception. Some maneuvers require one or more kinds of specialized equipment for the unit performing it.
In order to use a tactic, a unit must be trained in it, either when it is created, through training, or through victory in battle, up to a maximum number of tactics equal to its ACR. All armies know the Full Defense, Furious Charge, Retreat, Standard, and Withdraw tactics (and an army with ranged weapons automatically has the Volley tactic); these tactics do not count against this maximum.
Cautious Combat: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Cavalry Sweep: Your unit is trained in making swift rideby attacks against infantry, dashing across the battlefield and harrying the enemy. Your unit can attack two non-mounted armies in a single Battle phase. Your unit gains -4 OM and -2 DV for the remainder of the Battle phase and your attacks deal only half damage, but you are not considered engaged after attacking a non-mounted unit. Requirement: mounts.
Covering Fire: Your unit keeps some of its soldiers back from the front lines in order to provide covering fire for you and allies and to strafe targets of opportunity trying to move around you. Once per Battle phase, when your unit or an allied unit disengages from an enemy unit, including the Retreat or Withdraw Tactic, or a unit that routs or is destroyed, you can make a ranged attack against the enemy unit from which it is trying to disengage. If your attack hits, you inflict 1d4-1 Casualties and your allied unit gains a +1 bonus to DV and to opposed Morale checks made to disengage. Requirement: ranged weapons.
Defensive Wall: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
False Retreat*: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Feint: Your unit feigns an attack to draw enemies out of position and distract them from greater threats elsewhere on the battlefield. On a successful attack, you deal half damage but do not become engaged. In addition, your unit and the unit you attack must make opposed Morale checks with a bonus equal to the unit’s ACR. If you win this opposed check, the defending unit is drawn out of position and takes a -2 penalty to DV for the rest of the Battle phase. If your attack fails, your attack does no damage and your unit becomes engaged with the defender.
Full Defense: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Furious Charge: Your unit makes a furious rush to attack a defending unit. You gain +2 OM and -2 DV for the remainder of the Battle phase. An engaged unit cannot use this tactic. If you successfully attack an enemy unit, it takes a -1 penalty to Morale checks made to try disengaging with you until the end of Battle phase.
Overwhelming Onslaught: Your unit makes a wild and reckless attack meant to overwhelm and overrun the defending unit. Your unit gains +4 OM and -4 DV, and after resolving your attack you take you take 1d6-3 Casualties if the attack succeeds, 1d6 if the attack fails (these Casualties are modified by your Strategy, as per Table 1). If your attack succeeds against a target using Full Defense, Pike Square, or Screening Defense tactics, the defending unit must succeed on a Morale check (DC 10 + Attacker’s ACR) or those tactics are negated for the remainder of the Battle phase. If the Morale check fails by 5 or more, that unit cannot use any of those tactics again for the remainder of the battle. If you successfully attack an enemy unit, it takes a -2 penalty to Morale checks made to try disengaging with you until the end of Battle phase.
Pike Square: Your unit grounds its polearms and sets them to fend off enemies, especially mounted foes, while setting a shield wall to protect against infantry. Your unit gains -2 OM but gains +2 DV against mounted armies and deals +2 damage on a successful attack against a mounted unit. In addition, your unit deals +1 damage against any unit using the Aggressive Attack strategy, +2 against armies using All- Out Attack strategy. Requirement: reach weapons, no mounts.
Pincer Maneuver: Your unit is trained to envelop a unit that is already engaged by your allies. You gain +2 OM against a unit that is already engaged by an allied army; however, because you are spread out you take a -2 penalty to your DV for the rest of the Battle phase against attacks from armies that are not already engaged with you. When you use this tactic, a unit engaged with you takes a -2 penalty to Morale checks made to disengage, flee, retreat, or withdraw for the remainder of the Battle phase.
Pursuit: When an enemy unit retreats, routs, or withdraws from the battlefield, your unit can try to chase them down, even if they are in the Camp zone. Make an opposed Morale check against the target unit, with each unit adding their forced march Movement to this check (you gain an additional +1 bonus if the target unit routed in the previous Battle phase). If your Morale check succeeds, you force the target unit back into the Ranged or Melee zone (your choice) and can make a Standard melee attack or Volley ranged attack against that unit. You cannot use this tactic if your unit is engaged.
Relentless Brutality: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Retreat: Your unit can exit the battlefield completely with this tactic. Your unit cannot attack during the Battle phase in which it uses this maneuver and takes a -1 penalty to DV and Morale. The unit must attempt opposed Morale checks against all enemy armies engaged with it; each unit adds its Forced March speed to this special Morale check. If an enemy unit’s Morale check exceeds yours, it can make a free melee attack against you, even if it has already acted this round. Enemy armies that fail to beat your Morale check do not gain this free attack. If your army survives these attacks (even if your unit takes all of its Casualties, but not if it is destroyed), it disengages from all enemy armies and leaves the battlefield.
Screening Defense: Your army may choose another army to protect on the battlefield. Melee attacks made against the army you are protecting affect your army instead. While using this tactic, your army cannot attack any army unless it first attacks you in melee. The unit you are protecting cannot be engaged by an enemy unit unless your unit is routed or destroyed. If the unit you are protecting is already engaged, it remains engaged; using this maneuver does not force the opposing unit to disengage. The unit you protect can be targeted with ranged attacks, though it gains a +2 bonus to DV against them. You take 1d6-3 points of damage if the unit you guard is hit with a ranged attack; and the unit you guard takes the same damage if your army is hit with a ranged attack.
Siegebreaker: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. In addition, a unit using this tactic can try to circumvent the protection of a unit using the Screening Defense tactic if the unit it protects is equipped with siege weapons. If your attack against the screening unit succeeds, your attack deals half damage to that unit and you can make a second attack against the protected unit and its siege weapons. This attack also deals half damage.
Skirmishers: Your unit makes a quick probing strike and then disengages. Your unit takes a -2 OM penalty and deals half damage on a successful attack, but you do not become engaged with the target unit whether or not your attack succeeds. Requirement: no medium or heavy armor.
Sniper Support: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. Requirement: ranged weapons.
Spellbreaker: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Strafing Skirmishers: Your unit keeps on the move while riddling its targets with quick volleys. Your unit takes a -2 OM penalty and deals half damage on a successful attack during the ranged combat phase, but it gains a +1 DV and once per round when attacked during the melee phase your unit can attempt a Morale check to avoid becoming engaged. Requirement: ranged weapons, no medium or heavy armor.
Taunt*: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Volley: Your unit remains stationary and makes a ranged attack against any enemy unit on the field. Requirement: ranged weapons.
Withdraw: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Victory and Aftermath
Once all armies but those belonging to one side have been eliminated, whether defeated, destroyed, disbanded, routed, or retreated from the field, that army is victorious. Fighting in the Command Zone: Once the active armies of one side have been swept from the Melee and Ranged zones, that army’s Command zone is considered overrun and the commanders of that army can be captured or killed. You can resolve the overrun of an army’s Command zone in several ways.
Combat: The leader(s) of your army can engage in direct character-to-character combat with the leader(s) of the enemy army. This plays out using the standard personal combat rules in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, but leaders from the victorious army gain a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and initiative for the duration of this combat. Your armies generally do not participate directly in this kind of confrontation, as they are assumed to be securing the area and taking junior commanders and soldiers into custody while the major PCs and NPCs fight. If an NPC leader ends a round of combat at less than half his or her hit points, there is a 50% chance per round that the leader surrenders.
Execution: If a commander or other significant leader is captured, the leaders of the triumphant army have the option to publicly execute that leader. If that leader is a player character, they should generally be allowed the chance to escape execution by playing out a normal combat encounter; however, if they have already been overcome and rendered helpless in normal combat, execution may be their fate. NPC leaders are killed automatically if the victorious leader calls for execution. Being killed in combat is not considered an execution, nor is a leader choosing to commit suicide; a leader must be slain as a helpless captive (usually by a coup de grace) for it to be treated as an execution.
Executing an enemy leader earns +1 Infamy for the kingdom whose army performs the execution if the executed character is a kingdom leader (+2 if they are the ruler). If you execute all leaders you capture in a battle, rather than just one, you earn double the Infamy modifier for the highest-ranking leader you execute. Executing ordinary military commanders that are not kingdom leaders does not affect a kingdom’s Infamy.
Ransom: Rather than being executed or kept as a captive, in many cultures it is commonplace to offer up leaders captured in battle (including those whose armies have been destroyed, even if their side later won the battle) for ransom. A usual ransom demand is 1 BP times the captive leader’s character level for a kingdom leader. This ransom demand is halved for a leader that does not have a leadership role in the kingdom (i.e., an ordinary military commander) but is doubled if the captive leader is the kingdom’s ruler.
These ransom demands typically include only the ransomed person and a noble or royal outfit of ordinary clothing, though the leader’s captors can of course return any additional items they choose. If double the normal ransom is paid, the ransomed character’s goods are returned along with them. At the GM’s option, individual items may also be ransomed separately; if the captors are unaware that an item is magical, the nature of their enchantment or its market value. For example, their ransom for the royal crown is not required to be equal to its sale price as a piece of jewelry.
Offering to return leaders that you hold captive in exchange for a ransom is considered a mark of honor and gains your kingdom +1 Fame for a kingdom leader, +2 Fame for a ruler. You gain an additional +1 Fame if you offer to ransom all leaders you capture in a battle (assuming there is more than one). If you pay a ransom to recover your leaders, you lose an amount of Fame for your own country equal to what the captor’s kingdom gains; however, you gain an equivalent bonus to Loyalty, as your subjects appreciate the lengths to which the kingdom will go to reclaim its own.
Manpower Attrition: Having soldiers captured or killed in battle (or deserting from the field) has a significant impact on the health and vitality of a kingdom. Soldiers killed or captured in battle still count against a kingdom’s available Manpower for 1 year. When an army is bloodied, 10% of its soldiers are counted as killed.
Wounded soldiers from an army that has been defeated or destroyed count against a kingdom’s available Manpower for 1 month. When an army is bloodied, 10% of its soldiers are counted as wounded.
When an army disbands, 50% of its soldiers desert the kingdom and count against its Manpower for 1 year. The other 50% survive and count against the kingdom’s Manpower for 1 month.
In addition to the effect on army recruitment itself, losing large numbers of soldiers has a detrimental effect on the livelihood of the kingdom away from the front lines. For every 500 soldiers a kingdom loses in battle to death, capture, or desertion (i.e., anything that counts against the kingdom’s Manpower for 1 year), the kingdom takes a permanent penalty of -1d4 to Economy, Loyalty, and Stability.
Fame and Infamy: The kingdom of a victorious army gains a +1 to either Fame or Infamy when all enemy armies (or armies) are defeated, destroyed, disbanded, routed, or have retreated from the field. This bonus is increased by +1 if a Fort or settlement is captured and occupied, and the bonus is doubled if the victorious army is able to triumph while losing no more than 1 army (or unit). The kingdom of an army on the losing side in a battle loses 1 point of Fame (2 points if it allowed a Fort or settlement to be captured by enemy forces), and this loss of Fame is doubled if in defeat they failed to defeat, destroy, disband, or rout more than one enemy army (or unit).
Morale: Success and failure on the battlefield obviously have a significant impact on the Morale of the surviving armies involved. What transpires in between battles likewise helps an army, defeated or triumphant, prepare for its next foray onto the battlefield. Careful preparation and training with their leaders keeps them sharp and ready, while armies languish after too long a period of inactivity.
Table 2: Army Morale Modifiers
| Modifier | Condition |
|---|---|
| +1d4 | Winning a battle (-1 per allied unit defeated or destroyed, to a minimum or 0). |
| +1 | Trains with general or significant character for 1 week. |
| +1 | Pay double consumption for 2 consecutive months. |
| -1d4 | If an army’s commander is captured and executed while the army still exists. |
| -1 | Take friendly fire damage from an allied army. |
| -1 | Per month without combat (per year for reserve unit). |
| -1 | Survives battle, but battle lost (a fortification or city captured by enemy armies, or more armies lost than the enemy in a battle in the open field). |
| -2 | Survives battle but routed from the battlefield. |
| -3 | Consumption not paid, per month (active armies only). |
Pillage and Plunder: The equipment and supplies of a defeated army or unit can be taken by the victors in a battle as spoils of war. These spoils are worth a number of BP equal to 1/4 the ACR of an army that is defeated, or 1/2 the ACR of an army that has been disbanded or destroyed.
In addition, an army of 50 or more soldiers can be sent into any hex containing terrain improvements, spending one week burning fields, slaughtering herds, tearing down buildings, and generally wreaking havoc. At the end of each week, all terrain improvements in that hex that the army’s commander wishes to destroy are destroyed unless the kingdom that owns the hex succeeds at a Stability check with a -1 penalty for every 50 soldiers engaged in pillaging their land. A successful Stability check preserves those improvements, but if the pillaging armies undertake another week of destruction this Stability check must be repeated, with an additional -5 penalty for every week after the first. Pillaging armies earn 1 BP for their kingdom for each improvement they destroy.
Finally, armies can attack buildings in a city whose defenders all have been defeated, destroyed, disbanded, or routed. This is treated as attacking an enemy army, with a building having an effective DV equal to 15 plus the building’s Defense modifier (if any) and hit points equal to its BP value. The army can attack once per Battle phase (if a battle is still going on nearby) or three times per day (if not). A building reduced to less than half its hit points (BP value) ceases providing any benefits to the kingdom that owns it. A building can be repaired on its owner’s next kingdom turn, spending BP equal to the damage the building has taken. If the building is reduced to 0 hit points (BP value), it is destroyed.
Prisoners of War: As described in the Bloodied, Defeated, Destroyed, and Disbanded section, armies on the losing side in a battle are rarely if ever completely wiped out. In most cases, the wounded and surrendered far outnumber the dead. This raises the question, of course, of what to do with enemy soldiers now in your custody. Turning them loose to rejoin their fellows in the fight against you is hardly a viable option (though officers and leaders may be ransomed). Generally speaking, a victorious army has three options: forced labor, internment, or massacre.
Civilian Prisoners: Civilian populations can be rounded up and imprisoned, put to work, or slaughtered just as captured soldiers can. Abuse of civilians is generally frowned upon. Imprisoning civilians generates +1 Infamy per 1,000 civilians placed in internment, and Infamy modifiers for forced labor and massacre are doubled. However, civilians are generally less likely (or less able) to rebel against their captors, and each civilian counts as only 1/10 of a prisoner of war for the purpose of how many guards are required.
If any portion of a civilian population of a hex or a settlement is made captive, any kingdom bonuses from buildings in that hex or settlement (except for Defense value) is halved; if 50% or more of the civilian population is eliminated, all kingdom benefits for those improvements or buildings are lost.
Forced Labor: Soldiers captured in battle can be put under guard and forced to work for the benefit of their new kingdom. For each 100 captives forced to work for a full month, you can reduce the cost of any terrain improvement by 1 BP, or you can compel them to labor on a Farm, Mine, Quarry, or Sawmill, increasing the BP output (or Consumption reduction) of that improvement by 1. Forced laborers do not increase your kingdom’s Consumption, as their unpaid labor and meager standard of living offset what little they consume. However, using prisoners for forced labor results in a -1 penalty to Stability per 100 forced laborers (or fraction thereof), and your kingdom gains +1 Infamy each month it uses prisoners for forced labor. Prisoners used for forced labor must be guarded at all times, as described under internment below.
Internment: Soldiers captured in battle can simply be locked away, kept as prisoners for the duration of the conflict. Prisoners must be kept under guard, either in temporary stockades or permanent prisons. Any army capable of fighting can guard a number of soldiers equal to 10 times their number.
If there are more prisoners than this, the kingdom holding the captives must make a Stability check each week with a cumulative -1 penalty for each multiple of the number of guards beyond x10 (e.g., an army of 20 soldiers could safely guard up to 200 prisoners; if there were 250 prisoners, a weekly Stability check would be required with a -2 penalty, since there are 12.5 times as many prisoners as guards, which exceeds the limit by 2 multiples over x10). A failed Stability check results in an uprising among the prisoners, which is treated as a Vandals (if prisoners are kept inside a settlement) or Bandit Activity (if outside a settlement) kingdom event.
Prisoners can instead be escorted to permanent internment at a Barracks, Fort, Garrison, or Jail; a Barracks or Jail can hold up to 100 prisoners each while a Fort or Garrison can hold up to 200. This number can be increased by crowding prisoners into narrow quarters, up to five times the normal amount, but each additional 100 (Barracks or Jail) or 200 (Fort or Garrison) prisoners or fraction thereof beyond a building’s normal capacity generates 1 point of Unrest. Stationing a reserve army (as described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign) at the same building reduces Unrest by 1. Interning captives increases your kingdom’s Consumption by 1 per 100 prisoners. You may choose to reduce this Consumption increase by half by starving your prisoners; however, doing so causes you to gain +1 Infamy each month.
Massacre: A victorious army may decide that they lack the resources or the desire to keep its captive enemies alive, choosing instead to wipe them out, killing them to the last. Massacre of enemy forces earns +1 Infamy per army or unit put to death (regardless of size), plus an additional +1 Infamy for every 1,000 soldiers (or fraction thereof). Your kingdom earns +2 Infamy for the massacre of any number of civilians, plus an additional +1 Infamy for every 1,000 civilians (or fraction thereof).
Building Armies
The following rules deal with constructing an army, whether comprised of ordinary humanoid soldiers or something more exotic. Many of the following rules amplify or expand upon the basic mass combat rules described in Chapter 4 of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, while others offer revisions or alterations to how those rules work.
Army Size
In a system where the default army size is a unit of 100 soldiers, it becomes difficult to replicate anything like the kinds of armies provided even in most existing adventure paths. This is in part because it is hard to reflect the granularity of numbers based on what exists in a published adventure, but also in part because when the numbers are very small in comparison to that 100-soldier baseline, armies of otherwise impressive creatures become low-ACR armies with low hit points and low offense and defense.
If an army of a dozen stone giants assaults a town with several dire bears and a juvenile red dragon, with the standard rules you end up with a Tiny ACR 2 army with 9 hp (the giants), and a Fine ACR 2 army with 13 hp (the dragon). The extra two giants and the dire bears are either ignored (as their numbers don’t add up to enough to make another army) or become tiny fractional Fine armies (CR 1/2 for each solo giant, CR 1/3 for each solo dire bear). A scenario like the above, however, could be interpreted as never being meant for mass combat but as a series of combat events for a party of PCs (though it takes place as an attack against a town on a sandy point that, if PCs are involved in leading, could certainly have an army of its own). However, when the same adventure presents an entire fortress surrounded by giant armies, the otherwise impressive-sounding totals of 32 hill giants (ACR 3, 13 hp), 46 ogres (ACR 1, 4 hp), 11 stone giant maidens (ACR 2, 9 hp), and three armies of around 20 hill giants each (two ACR 4, 18 hp armies of 25, one ACR 2, 9 hp).
It’s a large number of armies, but none of them terribly effective. Any of these armies could be trivially eliminated in a single round of mass combat. That brings up the last problem: if virtually all armies end up very small in size and hit points, mass combat becomes a very swingy affair, something prone to being over in a single round. A battle should not be a tedious grind, especially in an abstract system meant to be a diversion from the primary campaign and not a replacement for it, but it also should last long enough to actually use some of the interesting tactics, combat boons, and other special rules that allow mass combat to be more interesting than just a few anticlimactic die rolls.
To adjust for this effect, the following revised army sizes can serve as an alternative to those described in the published mass combat rules. For reasons of flavor, each army size has been given a specific unit designation rather than being assigned a creature size category, though every race and culture will have its own nomenclature for armies of different sizes.
- Soldiers: The number of creatures present within the unit. For creatures whose CR is less than 1, multiply this number by the amount required to bring that CR to 1 (e.g., a unit of 1st-level human warriors (CR 1/3 individually) would have 3 times the normal number of soldiers, such as 30 soldiers in a squad or 150 in a company).
- Equipment: When purchasing equipment or other Resources for an army of this size, multiply the BP cost by this amount. This modifier replaces Table 4-16: Resource Scaling in the published rules.
- Camouflage: Larger armies have a harder time keeping themselves concealed from the eyes of enemies than do smaller armies, so this modifier applies whenever the army might be discovered by scouting (see Scouting and Camouflage).
- Army Challenge Rating (ACR): This functions as described in Chapter 4 of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
Table 3: Army Size
| Army Type | Soldiers | Equipment | Camouflage | Army Challenge Rating (ACR) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hero | 1 | n/a | +10 | CR of individual creature | -4 |
| Patrol | 5 | x.1 | +8 | CR of individual creature -2 | |
| Squad | 10 | x.25 | +6 | CR of individual creature | |
| Platoon | 20 | x.5 | +4 | CR of individual creature +2 | |
| Company | 50 | x.75 | +2 | CR of individual creature +4 | |
| Battalion | 100 | x1 | +0 | CR of individual creature +6 | |
| Regiment | 200 | x2 | -2 | CR of individual creature +8 | |
| Brigade | 500 | x5 | -5 | CR of individual creature +10 | |
| Legion | 1000 | x10 | -10 | CR of individual creature +12 |
Commanders
Leadership on the battlefield is a role that anyone can claim, but for which not everyone is equally suited. Ranks in Profession (soldier) are of key importance in understanding the ways of war and the situations likely to occur on the battlefield, as is the wisdom to know when to attack, when to hold firm, and when to retreat, as well as the raw charisma to get your soldiers to follow you once more into the breach. However, unlike the published rules in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, high ability scores are less important in command than actual battlefield experience and reputation. Command Limit: In the published rules, each leader commands a single army. A kingdom can field a maximum number of armies equal to its Loyalty modifier divided by 10 (rounded down) plus the Charisma modifier of the kingdom’s General.
If the General has the Leadership feat, this number is increased by 1 for every 10 points of his Leadership score (as described in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook). If using the Ultimate Rulership rules for Recruitment Edicts, a kingdom’s Militarism level affects the number of armies it can recruit. A Pacifist kingdom can field only 1/10 the normal number of armies and a Peaceful kingdom 1/2 the normal number. Contrariwise, an Aggressive kingdom can field 50% more armies than normal, while a Warlike nation can field double the normal number of armies.
The kingdom’s General has nominal command of all military forces of the kingdom, though in any battle the General may or may not personally lead those armies. Often, another PC or NPC is designated as the local commander, such as the Heir, Marshal, Royal Enforcer, Ruler, and Warden, and this individual leads the armies involved in the battle. In the standard published rules, the overall commander of the kingdom’s armies has no game effect on armies that she does not personally lead. If you are using the Command Limit rules presented here, you should advise.
Leadership Bonus: In the published rules, a commander’s Charisma modifier applies as a bonus to his army’s Morale checks, with an additional bonus of +1 per 5 ranks of Profession (soldier). These rules presume a larger role for commanders (especially when they are player characters), allowing them to have a greater impact on the battlefield effectiveness of troops under their command. Expert commanders deploy their forces to maximum advantage while pedestrian leaders keep their troops too long in compromising positions on the field, blunting their effectiveness in both attack and defense. This skill in command is represented by the Leadership Bonus (LB) statistic, and it applies not only to Morale checks but also to DV and OM, which you may enter into the Bonus field on the Army Sheet on the last page of Chapter 4 in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
A commander’s base LB is equal to +1 for every 5 ranks of Profession (soldier), with the caveat that soldiers recognize and respect experience and reputation as much as or more than academic knowledge of the battlefield. As a result, ranks of Profession (soldier) obtained through magical means, such as a headband of vast intellect, provide only half the normal LB. In addition, a commander’s LB is increased by 1 for each of the following: base attack bonus +6, base attack bonus +11, base attack bonus +16, Charisma modifier +3 or greater, Wisdom modifier +3 or greater, Leadership, or Skill Focus (Profession (soldier)). Ability modifiers that are magically enhanced provide this increase only if that bonus is permanent, such as through a magical headband.
Significant Characters: While each army has only one commander, it is certainly possible for more than one powerful character or creature to accompany and support an army. These special auxiliaries are called significant characters, and by embedding themselves within an army they allow that army to gain access to command boons that would not normally be available to them or their commander. A significant character can accompany only one army at a time. Each player character accompanying an army counts as a significant character. In the case of a GM-controlled army, those significant characters are typically unique NPCs, which should probably be comparable in number to the number of PCs present.
If no significant character is present with an army, it is led by an unexceptional commander that is a typical creature of the type comprising the army, with a number of ranks in Profession (soldier) equal to its Hit Dice or level, whichever is greater. The Command Zone: As described under The Field of Battle (internal link), the general in charge of the battle and any other significant characters that are not personally leading armies on the field are considered to be directing the battle from behind the lines. The Command Zone is not necessarily a fixed location but is wherever the commander and his aides may be at any given point, shuttling from place to place giving orders and providing support where it is required. Characters in the Command Zone are not part of any army and cannot be directly attacked or damaged until defending armies are eliminated, as described in Victory and Aftermath.
Command Boons
As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, boons are special advantages that a commander or significant character offers to an army. The standard rules assume that kingdom leaders possess a number of automatic boons, but you can ignore this rule if you wish for the tailoring of boons specific to each character to be a more organic process.
Likewise, the standard rules allow characters to select one boon per 5 ranks of Profession (soldier) or per 6 character levels; if you wish to restrict this number to simplify command and control or create more significant choices for PCs, you can instead allow each commander or significant character to provide only a single command boon. This boon must be chosen when the character first trains with an army, taking one kingdom turn, and it cannot be changed until the character acquires at least one additional rank in Profession (soldier), at which point the old boon can be discarded and a new boon added.
Many command boons have prerequisites based on class features, feats, or skills; usually these prerequisites depend on the commander or significant character, but some also depend on the creatures comprising the army to which the boon applies. Some boons affect all armies on a side, but some affect only a single army, usually the one led by the commander whose boon it is. However, some boons can be used to affect an allied army instead, or even shifted from army to army each Battle Phase. Unless otherwise specified, a significant character must be present at a battle (or, for some boons, with a specific army) in order to provide the benefits of a command boon.
Leaders and Losses: If a leader is killed or incapacitated, any boons he provides are lost for the remainder of the battle, except for permanent boons. If an army is destroyed or disbanded, a d% should be rolled for its commander and any significant character fighting with it to determine if they escape (01-30), are killed (31-50), or are captured (51-00). Player characters should typically escape with 25% of their hit points rather than being killed, or the GM may run an individual combat encounter to resolve their fate. In any event, characters that escape can spend one Battle Phase making their way to the Command Zone (not counting the phase in which their army was eliminated). Once there, the commanding general can reassign them to a new army and in subsequent Battle Phases they can again make use of their command boon (not including permanent boons).
Permanent Boons: Some command boons are not dependent on a specific action taken by a commander during battle, but instead reflect specialized training of the unit with their commander and with other soldiers with a similar range of skills. These permanent boons must be applied when an army is created, and the commander cannot later shift the permanent boon to a different army, though he can retire from command of the army. The leader forfeits the ability to grant a boon (or one boon, if able to grant more than one) for 2d4 months after retiring. If the commander leaves an army with a permanent boon, whether through death, retirement, or some other incapacity, and is not replaced by another significant leader that also qualifies to grant the same command boon, the army loses 1d4 points of Morale and the permanent boon is lost within 1d4 months.
The following boons can be selected by commanders, but no boon can be applied to an army more than once unless otherwise noted. Most boons apply to only one army at a time but can be shifted from unit to unit during each Battle Phase. A boon marked with an A applies to all allied armies (or includes an effect that affects all allied armies). A boon marked with P is a permanent boon that applies to only a single army and cannot be shifted to other armies.
- Advanced Tactics: An army with this boon gains a +2 bonus to its OM; however, this bonus is halved if the target army also has Advanced Tactics or Defensive Tactics. Requirement: The character granting this boon must have at least 11 ranks in 5 different skills, one of which must be Profession (soldier).
- Bloodied but Unbroken: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
- Bonus Tactic: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
- Cavalry Experts: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but moved to being a command boon rather than a Tactic, as command boons better represent the concept of training to develop expertise in a particular style of combat vs. tactics being a particular action or maneuver performed during a battle.
- Combined Tactics: An army with this boon deploys screening infantry to defend its ranged attackers. The army cannot attack in the Melee Phase but gains a +1 bonus to its DV until the beginning of the next Battle Phase and can make ranged attacks even if engaged. Requirement: The character granting this boon and the creatures comprising the army must have ranged weapons and a Dexterity of 13 or higher.
- Daring Maneuvers: An army with this boon can overextend itself to press home an advantage, though this leaves its flanks exposed. The army gains a +4 OM (or AV) bonus but takes a -2 penalty to DV until it acts in the next Battle Phase.
- Death Before Dishonor: An army with this boon reduces Morale penalties or reductions, regardless of their source. All effects that would cause a -1 penalty to Morale have no effect, while larger Morale penalties or reductions are reduced by 1. Requirement: The character granting this boon and the soldiers in the army must all have the aura of courage, bravery, rage, or resolve class feature or the Iron Will feat.
- Defensive Tactics: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
- Expert Flankers: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but moved to being a command boon rather than a Tactic, as command boons better represent the concept of training to develop expertise in a particular style of combat vs. tactics being a particular action or maneuver performed during a battle.
- Flexible Tactics: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
- Hit and RunP: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. In addition, if an army with this boon attacks an army with which it is not engaged, it can attempt to disengage immediately after its attack by making a Morale check. Requirement: The character granting this boon and soldiers must have the Flyby Attack, Improved Overrun, Ride-by Attack, or Spring Attack feat or the trample, vortex, or whirlwind special attack.
- Hold the Line: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. Requirement: The character granting this boon must have the aura of courage, bravery, inspire courage, or resolve class feature or the ability to cast remove fear.
- Implacable Advance: Each Melee phase, this boon grants one army a +1 bonus to OM, damage, and Morale until the end of the current Melee Phase. Any army it attacks takes a -1 penalty to Morale until the beginning of the next Battle Phase. Requirement: The character granting this boon must have a base attack bonus of +11 or greater.
- Last StandP: A unit with this boon can stave off elimination when on the brink of destruction. If the army is reduced to 0 hit points or below, it is not defeated or destroyed if it receives a Magical Healing boon or uses Healing Potions before the end of the current Battle Phase sufficient to restore it to at least 1 hit point. Even if it does not receive this healing, it remains engaged with any enemy armies until the end of the next Melee phase, and it can make an attack in that phase against an army engaged with it, though it cannot move, retreat, disengage, or attack armies not engaged with it. Requirement: The character granting this boon and the creatures comprising the army must have the rage or resolve class feature, ferocity or orc ferocity special quality, or Diehard feat.
- Live off the Land: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
- LoyaltyA: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. In addition, as long as a commander with this boon and his army are active on the field, all allied armies gain a +1 bonus to Morale checks made to avoid routing or disbanding during the Rout phase. Requirement: The character providing this boon must have a Charisma score of 15 or higher.
- Magical AdvantageA: All allied armies gain a +1 bonus on damage rolls and gain a +1 bonus to Morale checks if the army they attack does not also have Magical Advantage or Magical Protection. Requirement: The character providing this boon must be able to cast at least one spell of 6th level or higher.
- Magical Barrage: An army with this boon can attack during the Ranged Phase with a bonus to OM (for ranged attacks only) equal to 1/2 the level of the highest-level spell that the character granting the boon is able to cast. Requirement: The character granting the boon must have the channel negative energy ability or be capable of casting at least one area-effect offensive spell of 3rd level or higher.
- Magical Healing: Immediately before the end of each Battle phase, this unit can remove 2d4 hp of damage from any one allied army. If the target army is fatigued, that condition is removed but the damage healed is halved. If the target army is exhausted, that condition is reduced to fatigued and the damage healed is halved. Requirement: The character granting this boon must have the channel positive energy ability or be able to cast at least one mass cure wounds spell.
- Magical Protection: An army with this boon gains a +1 bonus to its DV and reduces damage from all attacks by 1 point. In addition, modifiers from enemies using Magical Advantage, Magical Barrage, and Magical Trickery are negated for an army with this boon. Requirement: The character granting this boon must be capable of casting abjuration spells of 4th level or higher.
- Magical Trickery: At the beginning of each Battle Phase, this army may select one enemy army to confound with illusions, mind-affecting effects, and magical barriers to sight and movement. The target army takes a penalty equal to 1/2 the highest-level spell that the character providing this boon is able to cast, and that character may choose to affect the target army’s OM, DV, Morale, Movement, or Scouting, or as a bonus to an allied army’s Camouflage. If the target army’s speed is reduced to 0, it cannot disengage or use any tactic, boon, or special ability requiring movement. Each round, you may target a different enemy army, or you may continue targeting the same army with a different penalty or repeating the same penalty. The effects of Magical Trickery end at the beginning of the next Battle Phase unless you renew them. Requirement: The character granting this boon must be able to cast at least one area-effect illusion or mind-affecting spell or spell that impedes movement (e.g., solid fog, wall of thorns) of 3rd level or higher.
- Master RecruiterA: The maximum number of armies the kingdom may support is increased by 2. If this boon is lost, the army with the lowest Morale immediately disbands and flees the battlefield. If multiple armies have identical Morale scores, determine randomly). Requirement: The character granting this boon must have the Leadership feat. Special: This boon can be selected more than once, and its effects stack.
- Merciless: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. In addition, if you reduce an enemy army to 0 hit points, it is automatically destroyed rather than merely defeated. Requirement: The character granting this boon must have at least 6 ranks in Intimidate, the Combat Reflexes feat, or an evil alignment.
- Quick Repairs: An army inside a fortification can conduct emergency repairs while a battle still rages, repairing 1d6 points of damage to a fortification at the end of each Rout Phase (assuming the army has not been routed itself). An army on board one or more ships, or a naval squadron with this command boon, can likewise use this ability to repair ships that have not been sunk. Requirement: The character granting this boon must be able to cast at least one 4th-level or higher conjuration (creation) spell.
- Ready for Battle: An army with this boon gains a +4 bonus to skill checks made to determine tactical initiative during the Tactics Phase. Requirement: None.
- Screaming for VengeanceA: The first time during a battle that any army is defeated, destroyed, or routed (but not if it is disbanded), all allied armies gain a +1 bonus to OM and Morale checks for the remainder of that Battle phase (doubled to +2 if attacking or engaged with the army that defeated, destroyed, or routed their allied army). Requirement: None.
- SharpshooterP: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign. In addition, the army never deals friendly fire damage to allied armies. Requirement: The character granting this boon and the creatures comprising the army must have the Precise Shot feat.
- Swift RidersP: An army with this boon gains a +2 bonus to Morale checks to disengage (doubled to +4 against enemy armies that are not mounted). Requirement: mounts. Cannot use medium or heavy armor. Significant character and soldiers must have Mounted Combat or Skill Focus (Ride) feat.
- Triage: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
- Wolves in the FoldP: An army with this boon uses disguise and deception to infiltrate enemy lines and throw them into chaos. On the first Melee Phase of a battle, this army gains a +1d6 bonus to its OM (or AV), and on a successful attack the target army takes a -1 penalty to its own OM (or AV), DV, and Morale until the beginning of the next Battle Phase. Requirement: The character granting the boon and the soldiers must have the sneak attack special attack, shapechanger subtype, change shape or disguise self ability, or a Disguise or Stealth bonus of +10 or greater.
Recruiting an Army
The standard rules in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign provide a simple system for creating armies. Army creation is simply an option to be taken in lieu of founding a settlement during the Improvement Phase. Use the action, pay the creation cost, and you are done. Your army is created immediately (with the abstracted assumption that you’ve been spending the month when you take the kingdom action).”
However, there are many unanswered or ambiguous questions about army creation, such as the relative costs involved in mustering an army versus simply maintaining it. What follows here are more elaborate rules involving army recruitment, whether using the standard rules or the expanded rules (including Recruitment Edicts and Manpower) described in the Ultimate Rulership supplement from Legendary Games.
Standard Rules: Creating an army as part of your Improvement Edict requires a Loyalty check, with a penalty equal to the ACR of the army you intend to create. If successful, you must spend BP equal to twice the army’s ACR in order to create the new army. The army must be created in one of your Forts or in a settlement with a Barracks (for armies of up to 100 soldiers) or in a settlement with a Garrison (for armies of 100 or more). The army is not successfully created if the Loyalty check is unsuccessful, and your efforts at recruitment still cost your kingdom a number of BP equal to 1/2 the ACR of the army you intended to create (rounding up). However, your efforts are not wholly wasted, as you gain a +5 bonus to your Loyalty check to recruit an army during your following kingdom turn if you try to create one at the same Fort or settlement.
You can also use an Improvement Edict to make adjustments to an existing army, which does not require a Loyalty check. You can add equipment to an existing army by using your Improvement Edict (as described below in Equipping an Army). You can also expand an army to the next larger army size (see Table 3: Army Size) by spending BP equal to the new, larger unit’s ACR. An army gaining new soldiers or equipment gains no benefits from them until the end of the month in which the Improvement Edict was issued, as the army must spend that time training with its new additions.
Ultimate Rulership Rules: Using the Recruitment Edict rules from Ultimate Rulership, you can achieve a more granular and more realistic pattern of recruitment than boiling down the act of recruitment to army formation in specific cities. Instead, you can have your kingdom engage in nationwide recruitment, making one Loyalty check per day, adding its Infamy modifier and an additional bonus equal to the number of BP it spends on recruitment. Your kingdom must spend at least 1 BP each day it recruits, but it is not required to recruit every day of a month in which it issues a Recruitment Edict. Each day that you succeed on your Loyalty check, you attract 1d6 soldiers per BP spent, plus an additional 2d6 soldiers per Barracks and Fort and 4d6 soldiers per Castle or Garrison. If you roll a natural 20 on your Loyalty check, you attract the maximum number of soldiers that day. A failed check means that the minimum number of soldiers arrive (or none, if you roll a natural 1 on this check). You may choose to recruit Elites rather than ordinary soldiers, assuming you have any prerequisite buildings available in your kingdom (such buildings must be in the same city district as a Barracks, Castle, or Garrison); however, each check brings only 1/4 the normal number of soldiers (rounding down).
Recruits: Once people are recruited, they are considered recruits but are not yet an army. The kingdom’s Consumption increases by 1 for every 100 recruits (or fraction thereof) it supports, and recruits count against the kingdom’s Manpower limit. Recruits that will not be used as reinforcements to an existing unit or used to form a new unit can be kept at the improvement where they were recruited in anticipation of adding further recruits in the future or they can be sent home to avoid paying Consumption or to decrease the kingdom’s Manpower load.
Reinforcements: Recruits can be added to an existing army that has been bloodied. As described above, they can also be added to an existing unit to increase it to the next larger army size (see Table 3: Army Size). Whether replenishing a bloodied army or expanding a healthy army, the new recruits provide no benefit to the army until the end of the month in which the recruits were added.
Training: Once a sufficient number of soldiers has been attracted, you can begin forming them into one or more armies or units, spending a number of BP equal to twice the ACR of each unit (plus any modifiers for equipment) to create the unit. At this point, the army or unit must train until the end of the next kingdom turn after the Recruitment Edict was issued, at which point another Loyalty check is required with a penalty equal to the new army or unit’s ACR. If the check succeeds, the army is ready for duty. If it fails, the unit’s training is incomplete; it must wait until the following kingdom turn to attempt another Loyalty check (with a cumulative +2 bonus for each check after the first), spending BP equal to its ACR each month. Once the Loyalty check is successful, the unit is ready for battle.
Recruiting Mercenaries: Rather than conscripting or recruiting its own citizens to fight, a kingdom can hire mercenaries to fight its battles on its behalf. Mercenary armies come ready-trained and usually have their own equipment, though smaller mercenary bands may be seeking employment in the hope of making enough money to truly establish themselves. The BP cost of recruiting a mercenary army is reduced by half compared to recruiting a citizen army, and mercenary armies do not count against the kingdom’s Manpower limit or its command limit on how many armies it can field. However, mercenaries demand to be paid in cash for the duration of their employment. A typical fee is 100 gp times the army’s ACR every week; this fee is in addition to the kingdom paying the BP cost for their consumption.
Mercenaries can be recruited unequipped, arming as the kingdom wishes and at their expense. They may also be hired with their own equipment, but in which case they will charge a fee of 100 gp times the BP value of their equipment each month (each year if a reserve army). Healing potions for a mercenary army must be bought with BP.
Recruiting a mercenary army functions much like recruiting a normal army; however, the kingdom also must make an Economy check against the same DC any time it makes a Loyalty check as part of the recruitment process.
Equipping an Army
Girding an army for battle is an expensive endeavor. At the time an army is created, as a default it is assumed to possess simple melee weapons and light armor, often homemade or improvised from equipment normally used in farming, crafts, or trades. Gear can be upgraded at any time after the unit is created, assuming the army is in the same hex as a settlement containing a building of the appropriate type (see Table 4: Equipping an Army). However, each time gear is changed for an army after creation, the army must undergo training with their new gear. This takes one month, and until training is completed the army gains no benefit from its new equipment.
Table 4: Equipping an Army
| Army Equipment | Cost | Melee | Ranged | DV | Movement | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armor, Heavy | 8 BP | - | - | +2 | -1 | Smith, Tannery |
| Armor, Magic | 16 BP | - | - | +11 | - | Smith, Magic Shop |
| Armor, Medium | 2 BP | - | - | +1 | -1 | Smith, Tannery |
| Chariots, HeavyM,2 | 15 BP | +2 | +0 | +1 | as mount -1 | Smith, Stable |
| Chariots, LightM,2 | 9 BP | +1 | +0 | - | as mount | Smith, Stable |
| Firearms2 | 16 BP | - | +1 | - | Exotic Artisan, Smith | |
| Howdahs, HeavyM,2 | 20 BP | - | +1 | +2 | as mount -1 | Exotic Artisan, Stable |
| Howdahs, LightM,2 | 12 BP | - | +0 | +1 | as mount | Exotic Artisan, Stable |
| Mounts, HeavyM | 10 BP | +2 | - | - | as mount | Stable |
| Mounts, LightM | 6 BP | +1 | - | - | as mount | Stable |
| Potions, Healing | 4 BP | - | - | - | - | Alchemist or Temple |
| Potions, Magic | 8 BP | - | - | - | - | Alchemist, Caster’s Tower, Sacred Grove, or Temple |
| Shields | 1 BP | - | - | +1 | - | Smith or Tannery |
| Shields, Magic | 16 BP | - | - | +11 | - | Smith, Magic Shop |
| Siege Weapons, Light2 | 5 BP | - | +1 | - | -1 | Exotic Artisan |
| Siege Weapons, Heavy2 | 15 BP | - | +2 | - | -2 | Exotic Artisan |
| Siege Weapons, Close | 10 BP | +1 | - | +1 | -2 | Exotic Artisan |
| Weapons, Magic | 24 BP | +2 | +2 | - | - | Smith, Magic Shop |
| Weapons, Ranged2 | 1 BP | - | +0 | - | - | - |
| Weapons, Reach | 1 BP | - | - | +13 | - | - |
| Weapons, Superior | 4 BP | +1 | +1 | - | - | Smith |
M An army with mounts has double the normal Consumption cost (triple normal for chariots and howdahs), as the mounts must also be provisioned. In addition, the cost to equip an army with mounts with Medium or Heavy Armor is increased by 50% to provide barding for the mounts.
1 The DV bonus for magic armor can be applied to ordinary armor but also stacks with Medium and Heavy Armor. The bonus for Magic Shields also stacks but requires Shields.
2 An army with Ranged Weapons increases its Consumption by 1 (by 1d4 if using Firearms or Heavy Siege Weapons) during any week in which it participates in a battle.
3 This DV bonus applies only against armies with mounts or armies that are not already engaged with you. An army cannot use Reach Weapons during any Battle Phase in which it uses Ranged Weapons or Shields.
- Cost: This listed BP cost on Table 4 should be multiplied by the Equipment modifier on Table 3 above for the army type.
Chariots: These wheeled conveyances are driven into combat, drawn by war-trained beasts of burden and bearing one or more warriors into battle.
Chariots, Heavy: These combat vehicles are stout and sturdy, drawn by a team of two heavy or four light mounts. Heavy chariots are usually armor-plated to give cover to a pair of armed passengers. The chariots themselves are typically spiked and bladed for scything through enemy formations.
Chariots, Light: These combat vehicles are lightweight and fast, each drawn by a single heavy mount or a pair of light mounts, usually with a single driver and a bow-armed rider. Bladed hubs cut a bloody path though creatures approaching a moving chariot’s flanks.
Healing Potions: Armies with healing potions can use the Magical Healing command boon on themselves on a one-time basis. Unlike most equipment, training time is not required to use healing potions. Once used, they must be replaced before being usable again.
Howdah: Howdahs are special saddles and battle platforms used by smaller creatures to ride much larger creatures (more than one size category larger) into combat. The base army is considered to be the unit on which the howdahs are mounted, and its CR is used to determine the ACR of the army in Melee situations. A unit with howdahs can make ranged attacks; however, the larger and generally much stronger creature bearing the howdah is not the creature making those ranged attacks, so its base CR is not used to determined the howdah army’s ranged OM (unless the base creature is a dragon, manticore, or similar creature with its own powerful ranged attack).
Instead, its OM for ranged attacks is based on the CR of the creatures riding in the howdah, which is treated for this purpose (and for the purpose of recruiting, manpower, and effects on the kingdom if these soldiers are killed) as a separate army of smaller creatures. It does not have its own separate Consumption, nor does it count against the kingdom’s Command Limit. If the mount army is bloodied, defeated, destroyed, disbanded, or routed, the rider army suffers the same fate.
Howdah, Grand: Grand howdahs are mounted on creatures three size categories larger than the howdah’s riders. A grand howdah carries 10 soldiers, so its OM is determined as an army three size categories larger than the mount army.
Howdah, Light: Light howdahs are mounted on creatures two size categories larger than the howdah’s riders (such as humans and elephants). A light howdah carries 4-5 soldiers, so the ranged OM of the howdah army is determined as an army two size categories larger than the mount army.
Magic Potions: Armies with magic potions can choose any one of the following effects that they can use as a single-use special ability that lasts for the duration of one Battle phase: elemental resistance 10 (choose one type of energy), magic weapons, aligned weapons (overcome superior damage reduction), climb (Speed 1), defense (+2 DV), flight (Speed 5), invisibility (+4 Morale check to disengage, +2 Camouflage).
Magic Weapons: This equipment benefit applies to both melee and ranged weapons. It overlaps and does not stack with superior weapons (and can be upgraded from superior weapons).
Siege Weapons: These function as described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but with the following adjustments based on their category.
Siege Weapons, Close: These heavy rams, picks, tumbling flails, and battle-wagons can attack only in Melee, and generally are deployed in conjunction with movable mantlets and galleries or even full-blown siege towers.
Siege Weapons, Light: These light weapons, including smaller ballistae, catapults, springals, cannons, and mortars, must attack from the Ranged zone.
Siege Weapons, Heavy: These massive siege engines, like large mangonels, trebuchets, and bombards, can be placed within the Camp zone and still be able to make ranged attacks against enemy forces. They cannot be attacked in return except by other heavy siege weapons or by an army with the Magical Bombardment command boon.
Maintaining An Army
The published rules in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign predicate the Consumption score of an army upon its ACR, which makes a certain sense in that it reflects the proportional size of larger or smaller armies. However, that logic breaks down when the Consumption required by one army of 100 human 7th-level human fighters is vastly different from the Consumption required by an army of 100 1st-level human warriors. True, BP are an abstract concept and can include higher monetary rewards for more skilled soldiers, but if you prefer for Consumption to reflect more the physical upkeep and needs of your armies, you can consider the following alternate rules.
Abstract Armed Forces: While not directly represented in the mass combat rules, the monthly Stability checks the kingdom makes to keep the kingdom functioning smoothly assume the existence of ordinary local watch, town guard, city police, and militia patrols throughout the kingdom. These abstract armies have no statistics as such but allow the kingdom to deal with local threats arising from kingdom events and other small-scale disturbances. Abstract armed forces do not affect your Consumption.
Active Armies: Most kingdoms do not maintain large standing armies, ready to march into battle at a moment’s notice. This is due both to the direct cost to outfit the troops, house them, feed them, and train them, but also because every soldier kept under active arms is a worker not tending to their shops or their crops. Still, a wise kingdom will keep at least some armies ready to fight.
As described under Command Limit, a kingdom can maintain a maximum number of active armies equal to its Loyalty modifier divided by 10, adjusted by the Charisma modifier (and Leadership feat, if applicable) of the kingdom’s general. The total number of soldiers in the kingdom’s active armies (plus its reserve armies) is determined by its Manpower limit. Active armies can be stationed in any hex your kingdom has claimed (or sent into an unclaimed hex if you wish). Each active army increases your kingdom’s Consumption by 1 for every 25 soldiers or fraction thereof, which must be paid once per week.
Reserve Armies: In addition to keeping active armies in the field, a kingdom can maintain any number of reserve armies. Reserve armies do not count against the kingdom’s command limit, and soldiers in a reserve army count as only 50% of their actual number in terms of the kingdom’s Manpower limit. Once formed, reserve armies must be stationed in a specific improvement, as described in Table 5 below.
Any building used to house a reserve army must have a Granary in the same city district. In addition, if a unit has mounts, there must be a Stable in the same city district. Reserve armies are described under Optional Mass Combat Rules in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign.
In addition, since reserve armies spend most of their time going about their daily life and work, they usually spend less than a week each month on drill and training. They can be put on active duty at any time; this does not require a kingdom action but does cost BP equal to 1/2 the army’s ACR, and Consumption must be paid on a weekly rather than monthly basis. In addition, the army takes a -1 penalty to its OM, DV, and Morale until your next kingdom turn or until it survives its first battle, whichever comes first.
Reserve armies do not increase your Consumption based on the number of armies. Instead, total the number of soldiers in all reserve armies in your kingdom; your kingdom’s Consumption increases by 1 for every 100 soldiers or fraction thereof, and this Consumption is paid per month as part of your normal kingdom turn. If you move a reserve army from one base of operations to another, this incurs an additional Consumption increase of 1 per 100 soldiers or fraction thereof in that unit for each week or portion of a week in which the reserve army travels.
Table 5: Reserve Armies
| Improvement Name | Maximum Soldiers | Special |
|---|---|---|
| Bardic College | 50 | Bards only |
| Barracks | 50 | - |
| Caster’s Tower | 20 | Alchemists, sorcerers, summoners, witches, wizards only |
| Castle | 200 | - |
| Cathedral | 50 | Antipaladins, clerics, inquisitors, oracles, paladins only |
| Fort | 100 | - |
| Garrison | 500 | - |
| Magical Academy | 50 | Alchemists, sorcerers, summoners, witches, wizards only |
| Military Academy | 100 | - |
| Monastery | 20 | Monks only |
| Sacred Grove | 20 | Druids, rangers, witches only |
| Temple | 20 | Antipaladins, clerics, inquisitors, oracles, paladins only |
| Watchtower | 20 | - |
Retiring an Army: You can retire a reserve army in any city where it is stationed. You recover a number of BP equal to 1/2 the army’s ACR from the sale of its equipment and increased productivity in that city as workers return to their jobs. You can retire an active army in any city with a Barracks or Garrison, generating BP equal to the army’s ACR. A retired army generates no Consumption and its former soldiers no longer count against your kingdom’s Manpower limit.
Supply Lines: It takes more resources to supply an army when it is away from your supply network. Any time an active army is 10 or more hexes away from your nearest settlement or Fort, its Consumption is increased by 25% per 10 hexes, up to a maximum increase of 100%.
Special Abilities
While the mass combat rules in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign provide rules for a great many special abilities for creatures and characters alike, that list is far from exhaustive. The list of abilities that could be translated into mass combat equivalents is essentially endless, and this product cannot contain them all, but the following are offered as additional rules to expand the range of possibilities for customizing your armies so that their combat statistics reflect the creatures that comprise them more fully.
Ability Modifier: When an army is comprised of a humanoid race with a modifier to its physical ability scores, it affects the combat statistics of the armies they comprise:
- Strength: The army gains a +1 bonus to OM if its soldiers gain a bonus to Strength, -1 if they have a penalty.
- Dexterity: The army gains a +1 bonus to OM if its soldiers gain a bonus to Dexterity, -1 if they have a penalty.
- Constitution: The army gains 1 additional hit point and a +1 bonus to Morale checks to avoid fatigue if its soldiers have a bonus to Constitution, -1 if they have a penalty.
Ability Damage or Drain (alternate): When you successfully attack in melee, the defending unit takes a -1d4 penalty to OM and DV for the remainder of the battle.
Amorphous: This unit is immune to critical hits in mass combat; when an attacking unit rolls a natural 20 on its attack, they deal normal damage.
Bane (Inquisitor 5): Once per day, an army with this ability can gain a +1 bonus to OM, and if the attack succeeds the attack deals an extra 1d3 points of damage. This ability affects only a single attack, even if this army would be eligible to make an extra attack later in the Battle phase, such as against a retreating army.
Banner (Cavalier 5, Samurai 5): An army with this ability gains a +1 bonus to Morale checks to avoid routing, and it gains a +1 bonus to OM (or AV) when using any of the following Tactics: Cavalry Experts, Furious Charge, Overwhelming Onslaught, Pursuit.
Brawlers: An army whose members possess the augmented critical, rake, or rend abilities gains +1 OM for each ability it possesses when attacking an army with which it is already engaged.
Breath Weapon: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but the bonus is +1 per 3 dice of damage (rounding down) that your breath weapon deals.
Charger: An army whose members possess the pounce, powerful charge, or trample abilities gains +1 OM for each ability it possesses when attacking an army with which it is not already engaged.
Climb: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but in addition an army with a climb speed can make melee attacks against armies inside a fortification, becoming engaged with that army with a successful attack (though they take a -1 penalty to DV when engaged in this way). If they successfully attack an army inside a fortification in consecutive Battle phases, they can subsequently attempt to disengage inside the fortification, ignoring its Defense value for the remainder of the battle (but losing the ability to use the Retreat tactic for the remainder of the battle).
Construct: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but in addition constructs never rout or become fatigued.
Create Spawn: If an army with the energy drain ability destroys a living humanoid army of equal or greater size, it may add a new unit of its own type to itself; an army with 5 units already cannot create spawn.
Damage Reduction (Greater): An army gains a +2 bonus to DV per 5 points of DR/chaotic, evil, good, or lawful, or DR/-. magic. Attacking armies cannot ignore this bonus unless they have appropriately aligned weapons or natural attacks or if they are attacking with magical abilities that bypass damage reduction.
Damage Reduction (Improved): An army gains a +2 bonus to DV per 5 points of DR/bludgeoning, cold iron, piercing, silver, or slashing. Armies with superior weapons or magic weapons ignore this bonus. Attacking armies that have magical weapons or have damage reduction (magic) themselves ignore this, as do magical abilities that bypass damage reduction.
Damage Reduction (Magic): This army gains a +2 bonus to DV per 5 points of DR/magic. Attacking armies that have magical weapons or have damage reduction (magic) themselves ignore this, as do magical abilities that bypass damage reduction.
Divine Bond (Paladin 5): This army gains either Magical Weapons or Heavy Mounts for one Battle Phase per day. This does not affect the army’s Consumption.
Dwarven Resilience: An army of dwarves does not have its movement rate reduced when wearing Medium Armor or Heavy Armor and gains a +1 bonus to DV and Morale checks to resist poison and magical effects. The army also gains a +2 DV bonus against armies comprised of creatures with the giant subtype.
Elven Grace: An army of elves gains a +1 bonus to Morale checks to resist Magical Trickery and a +1 bonus to scouting checks.
Endurance (Ranger 3): An army with this ability gains a +2 bonus to Morale checks to avoid fatigue or endure the effects of extreme climates.
Energy Drain: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but in addition the attacking army removes 2 points of damage (or Casualties) each time it damages a living army.
Energy Immunity: An army with this ability takes no damage from attacks of the energy type to which it is immune.
Energy Resistance: An army with this ability gains a +1 DV bonus for each 10 points of resistance. This bonus affects only Breath Weapons, Burn, Magical Artillergy, Magical Barrage, and special siege weapon attacks using that energy type.
Favored Terrain (Ranger 3): As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but an army with this ability also gains a +1 bonus to both Scouting and Camouflage and can use the Living off the Land command boon whenever they are in their favored terrain.
Ferocity: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but an army with this ability can also attack even when it has taken all of its Casualties (though not if it is destroyed). Creatures with the orc ferocity racial trait or its equivalent also gain this ability.
Fiendish Boon (Antipaladin 5): This army gains either Magical Weapons or Heavy Mounts for one Battle Phase per day. This does not affect the army’s Consumption.
Greater Animal Companion (Druid 4, Ranger 7): The army’s animal companions allow the army to attack climbing, flying, or swimming armies in melee, with a -4 penalty to OM. When fighting an army on the ground, the animal companions can serve as Light Mounts without increasing the army’s Consumption.
Greater Favored Enemy (Ranger 5): This army increases its OM by 2 against an army comprised of one creature type and by +1 against a second creature type. If attacking a mounted army, if this bonus applies against either the mount or the rider’s creature type, it applies against that army.
Greater Inspire Courage (Bard 7): This army gains a +2 bonus to OM and a +3 bonus to Morale checks to avoid routing. In addition, when they are engaged with an enemy army, any allied army engaged with the same enemy army gains the same bonuses. They also share these bonuses with any allied army using the Screening Defense tactic to protect them (or vice versa).
Halfling Luck: An army of halflings gains a +1 bonus to all Morale checks.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Barbarian 5, Rogue 8): An army with this ability negates any bonuses an attacking army would gain from any of the following Tactics: Expert Flankers, False Retreat, Pincer Maneuver.
Light Blindness: An army of creatures with this special quality take penalties in bright light (see Visibility) as other creatures would take in darkness.
Light Sensitivity: An army of creatures with this special quality takes penalties in bright light (see Visibility) as other creatures would take in dim light.
Marksmanship (Gunslinger 7, Ranger 6 (with Improved Precise Shot), Fighter 4 (with Precise Shot and Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization with a ranged weapon)): An army with this ability ignores up to 2 points of Defense bonus that a defending army gains from terrain or fortifications. If shooting at an enemy army engaged with a friendly army, you never inflict friendly fire damage.
Mercy (Paladin 3): An army with this ability can remove fatigue from itself when it heals itself with lay on hands.
Orcish Ferocity: An army of half-orcs or orcs gains the Ferocity special ability and gains a +1 bonus to opposed Morale checks when fighting an unit that has taken more casualties than they have.
Paralysis: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but it also reduces the Movement of the target army by 1. If movement reaches 0, the target army can continue to fight but cannot move, disengage, retreat, or withdraw, nor can it prevent enemy armies from disengaging or attack them when they do. The effects of paralysis can be removed by the Magical Healing ability. In addition, an army can attempt a Morale check at the beginning of the next Rout phase to reduce the penalties caused by paralysis by 1.
Petrification: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, and as the Paralysis ability above, but this effect cannot be removed by Magical Healing.
Resolve (Samurai 2): Once per battle, an army with this ability can remove the fatigued condition from itself or can reroll any Morale check.
Smite Evil (Paladin 1): As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but in addition when this ability is used this army’s Melee attack ignores any damage reduction if the defending army is evil. This ability can be used in only one Melee phase per day.
Smite Good (Antipaladin 1): This functions identically to Smite Evil, as described both here and in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but with an enhanced effect against good creatures.
Sneak Attack (Ninja 1, Rogue 1): As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but this army can also use this ability in conjunction with the Pincer Maneuver Tactic and the Wolves in the Fold Command Boon. In addition, on a successful attack when using this ability, the attack deals an additional +1 point of damage for every 2 levels of the ninjas or rogues in the army over 1st.
Spell Resistance: This army gains +1 DV and a +1 bonus to Morale per 5 points of spell resistance, but these bonuses apply only when an attacking army uses the Magical Advantage, Magical Barrage, or Magical Trickery command boons.
Spellcasting: An army comprised of spellcasters or creatures with spell-like abilities can make use of the Magical Advantage, Magical Barrage, Magical Healing, Magical Protection, or Magical Trickery command boons, provided its members have spells or spell-like abilities of the appropriate type to qualify for each boon; they do not need a leader to grant those boons.
Touch Attack (Gunslinger 1, most spellcasting classes 1): An army able to make melee or ranged touch attacks ignores any DV bonuses provided by Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, or Shields.
Track (Ranger 1): An army with this ability gains a +1 bonus to its Scouting score.
Trackless Step (Druid 3): An army with this ability gains a +1 bonus to its Camouflage score.
Trip: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but the defending army also takes a -1 Movement penalty until the end of the current Battle phase.
Uncanny Dodge (Barbarian 2, Rogue 4): If an army with this ability is ambushed, the attacking army must resolve the attack as a normal attack. An army with this ability is unaffected by Feint tactics.
Vortex: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but this ability functions as Paralysis only if the attacking army chooses to remain engaged with the defending army. An army with this ability gains +1 OM against swimming or shipboard armies and can automatically disengage from them after attacking in melee, and automatically succeeds at opposed checks to retreat or withdraw. An army with vortex can also attack two swimming or shipboard armies in the same Battle phase, making separate Melee attacks against each and dealing half damage with each attack. The Screening Defense tactic is ineffective against an army with the vortex ability.
Whirlwind: As described in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but this ability functions as Paralysis only if the attacking army chooses to remain engaged with the defending army. An army with this ability gains +1 OM against flying armies and can automatically disengage from any army after attacking in melee, automatically succeeding at opposed checks to retreat or withdraw. An army with the whirlwind ability can also attack two armies in the same Battle phase, making separate Melee attacks against each and dealing half damage with each attack. The Screening Defense tactic is ineffective against an army with the whirlwind ability.
Wild Empathy (Druid 1, Ranger 1): An army with this ability gains a +1 DV bonus against armies that include animals, including animals with mounts.
Woodland Stride (Druid 2, Ranger 7): An army with this ability ignores penalties from rough terrain (see Terrain) comprised of plants, undergrowth, and trees.
Special Rules
Warfare involves more than what happens when swords are drawn on the field of blood and the deadly results of such an encounter. There are also logistical realities to deal with in getting armies from place to place, and special and unusual rules for battles that take place far from level ground and open fields.
On the March
Armies are slow-moving beasts at the best of times, and moving one cross-country is an exercise in patience; however, care must be taken as an army (or a group of armies) can be quite vulnerable if attacked while strung out along the road. Leadership Bonus (LB): In addition to a commander’s standard Leadership Bonus, which applies to conventional warfare on the field of battle, a commander can also have specialized Leadership Bonuses for several other common situations in warfare. Many commanders specialize in one kind of warfare, but true warmasters try to be competent in all.
LB (Scout): Determine LB (scout) as described above, substituting Knowledge (geography) for Profession (soldier), and allowing a bonus for an Intelligence modifier of +3 or greater rather than Wisdom.
Speed: Every army has a base Speed, which indicates how many 12-mile hexes it can cross in a day of typical marching. If several armies are moving together, they must travel at the speed of the slowest army or else separate into faster and slower-moving groups.
Forced March: When moving overland, an army can be compelled to continue marching past the point of exhaustion. A typical forced march is for 12 hours instead of only 8, allowing an army to move 1 additional hex beyond its normal movement. However, an army is automatically fatigued for 1 day after a forced march. An army that force marches again when already fatigued becomes exhausted and takes 1d4 points of damage.
Camouflage and Scouting: In most cases, armies travel in the open, with little effort at stealth. As a result, detection of enemy armies is considered to be automatic for any enemy armies that are in the same hex. However, armies can bivouac under cover to hide their presence, and by moving at half speed they can remain largely out of sight. Note that if an army would already be moving at only 1 hex per day, it must use a forced march (see below) to continue moving at 1 hex per day while using camouflage.
An army’s Scouting modifier is equal to the Perception modifier of the creatures in the unit divided by 4, plus the LB (scout) lf its commander. To notice another moving army that is using camouflage, an army rolls 1d20 and adds its Scouting modifier against a DC equal to the enemy army’s Camouflage score, which is equal to 10 plus the Stealth modifier of the creatures comprising the unit divided by 4, adding the commander’s LB (scout) bonus and applying the Camouflage modifier noted in Table 3: Army Size. If a unit has Mounts, it uses the worse Stealth modifier of the riders or mounts. Since the size of an individual creature is already reflected in its Stealth score, it is not separately applied as a modifier to a unit’s Camouflage score. If no Stealth skill modifier is listed for a creature in its Bestiary entry, that modifier is equal to the creature’s Dexterity modifier, modified for its armor and by -4 per size category larger than Medium, +4 per size category smaller than Medium.
When two armies enter adjacent hexes, each makes a Scouting check with a -5 penalty. If both succeed, both are aware of the other. If neither succeeds, neither is aware of the other, and the two armies may continue moving and could blunder into one another. If one army succeeds and the other fails, it can set an ambush for the other, lying in wait until the enemy army moves into its hex.
Ambushes: When one army is aware of another but has not been noticed itself, it is in position for an ambush. An army waiting in ambush gains a +5 bonus to its Camouflage score against an army that has already failed once to notice it. If the enemy army enters its square, it can trigger the ambush, allowing it to make a melee or ranged attack (their choice) against the enemy army. For the duration of the ambush, the attacker gains the benefit of the Advanced Tactics command boon (gaining an additional +2 bonus to OM if it already has that boon) for the duration of the ambush. There is a 50% chance that high ground (see Terrain) is present at the ambush site; if so, the ambusher can occupy the high ground before the ambush begins. This initial attack is followed by a Rout phase, and if the army being ambushed survives and does not rout, the battle proceeds to the Tactics phase and initiative is rolled normally.
If the army it wishes to ambush fails to enter its hex, the ambushing army can hold its position and wait for the enemy army to spring the trap, or it can move to an adjacent hex and reset the ambush. Having to shift its position makes it easier to be discovered, and an ambushing army gains only a +2 bonus to Camouflage if it has to move. then usually all armies on one side of the battle must remain undetected in order for the ambush to be fully effective. At the GM’s option, however, it is possible for one or more armies to remain hidden while some of their allied armies engage in battle in the open. At the beginning of every Rout phase that occurs, however, all enemy armies present can make a Scouting check to notice these armies hiding in preparation to ambush. Hidden armies gain a +2 bonus to their Camouflage score as long as they remain stationary; they get no bonus to Camouflage if they had to move from their original position to reset their ambush. If any unit is detected, enemy armies sound an alarm and their opportunity for ambush is lost. Armies that are undetected cannot be attacked by the enemy. When they launch their ambush, it occurs after all other attacks have been resolved, immediately before the Rout phase.
Living Off the Land: Armies with the Living Off the Land command boon are highly skilled at surviving in the wild. Any army can attempt to supply itself by foraging and hunting, reducing its Consumption by half for one week. This requires a DC 10 Morale check, though the DC increases by 1 for every 100 soldiers in the army. Each time an army attempts to live off the land in the same hex, the DC increases by 1. Once a check is failed, that hex is exhausted in terms of available game.
Armies can choose to commandeer resources from people living in the hex, or simply rob them and pillage their supplies. This adds a bonus of +1d6 to the Morale check, +2d6 in a hex with farms, but each hex you pillage results in -1 Loyalty and +1 Infamy.
Supply Train: Most armies travel with supply trains to take care of ordinary physical needs of the troops and to transport their materiel. Any army that is more than 4 hexes from your nearest city or Fort must have a supply train traveling with it to keep it supplied. A supply train is typically comprised of two armies, one of 2nd-level commoners and one of 2nd-level experts. If they are supporting a single army, each unit is one size category smaller than that army. If the supply train is supporting multiple armies, each is the same size as the largest army in the group. These armies are typically noncombatant, remaining in the Camp Zone, but at the GM’s discretion may be forced into combat by a relentless opponent or may be captured or killed by a victorious enemy. Armies in the supply train do not count against a kingdom’s command limit or Manpower limit, but supply train armies lost in battle do stack with soldiers lost in terms of affecting their kingdom’s Economy, Loyalty, and Stability, as described in Victory and Aftermath, and they must be dealt with as prisoners of war if captured after a battle.
Terrain
In warfare, the topography and terrain of a battle can have a huge impact. The standard rules assume a fairly even playing field for both armies and little in the way of impeding terrain. The following rules (and Table 6: Terrain) describe how to adapt a battlefield for greater variety.
Table 6: Terrain
| Terrain | Melee | Ranged | DV | Scout | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliff or ravine | X | - | - | - | X (climbing or flying possible) |
| Dangerous terrain | - | - | - | - | -1 |
| Open water | X | - | - | - | X (swimming or flying possible) |
| Rough terrain | - | - | +1 | -1 | -1 |
| High ground (holding) | +1 | +1 | - | +1 | +1 |
| High ground (attacking) | -1 | - | -1 | - | -1 |
| Treacherous terrain | - | - | -2 | -1 | -1 |
Barriers: A cliff or ravine provides an impassable barrier, as does any substantial body of open water too wide or too deep to wade across. Neither prevents ranged attacks, but both prevent movement or melee attack across the barrier unless it is circumvented in some way.
Dangerous Terrain: This includes thorn brambles, hot springs or geothermally active areas, a forest fire or brushfire, toxic vapors, or magically treated areas of spike growth and the like. If being used tactically to target specific enemy armies, use the Magical Trickery command boon. If the entire battlefield has been treated with such magic, then all armies (except those inside fortifications) take 1 point of damage at the beginning of every Rout phase unless they have the Magical Protection command boon.
High Ground: Typical battlefields are relatively even when it comes to topography, but if the GM wishes the general winning Tactical Initiative during the first Battle Phase of a battle may claim the high ground, placing one army atop that slope. It enjoys the bonuses listed above, while armies trying to attack it have the listed penalties.
The army forfeits the benefits of the high ground if it is forced to leave the battlefield or if it leaves its position to use any of the following Tactics: Furious Charge, Overwhelming Onslaught, Pincer Maneuver, Pursuit. If an army vacates the high ground, other armies can try to claim it, though an engaged army must try to disengage in order to do so. If more than one army tries to claim the high ground, the two armies must fight; each of them takes the penalties for attacking the high ground and neither gains the bonuses of holding the high ground. If one army succeeds in its attack and the other does not, the successful army claims the high ground after both attacks are resolved.
Generally speaking, if a fortification (including a fortified settlement) is present on the battlefield, that fortification will always be built upon the high ground unless otherwise noted. At the GM’s option, spells like move earth could be used to reshape the battlefield and alter the position of the high ground.
Rough Terrain: This includes dense rubble, heavy undergrowth, shallow bogs or water (such as a ford or beach), or trees, including any area prepared with plant growth or similar magic. Such terrain often offers cover and concealment. Treacherous Terrain: This includes snow, ice, mud, deep bogs, shifting sand or snow, or fast-moving water. This terrain rarely offers much in the way of cover, and footing in this terrain is very unstable.
Visibility
In warfare, simply identifying friend from foe is not always easy, and this is especially true when some creatures have perceptual abilities far beyond those available in the real world. Creatures able to see in the dark have a great advantage in battles at night, while those sensitive to bright light avoid fighting by day if they can. Weather effects are described in the subsequent section, but the table below describes the effect of various illumination levels on general combat effectiveness on offense and defense, as well as the ability of armies to spot one another or even to move effectively. Creatures able to see normally in darkness take no penalties for fighting in it, while those sensitive to bright light take penalties in such conditions. Otherwise, all creatures present in a battle take the same penalties from poor visibility unless they have some special means of negating them.The Movement modifier below can never reduce an army’s movement below 1.
Table 7: Visibility
| Visibility | Melee | Ranged | DV | Scout | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Light | - | - | - | +2 | - |
| Normal Light | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dim Light | -1 | -2 | - | -2 | -1 |
| Darkness | -2 | -4 | -1 | -4 | -2 |
| Smoke, light1 | -1 | -2 | - | -2 | - |
| Smoke, thick2 | -2 | -4 | - | -4 | -1 |
1 An army that has attacked with firearms or cannon during the current Battle phase is covered in light smoke, as is an army that has been attacked with a Magical Barrage, Special Bombardment, or similar attack using fire. Light smoke can also be created by intentionally setting fires or (at the GM’s option) by repeated casting of spells like control weather, fog cloud, obscuring mist, and pyrotechnics. If spells are used, they should generally apply their effects to both sides; for specifically targeted tactical battlefield use of obscuring magic, a commander within the army should use the Magical Trickery command boon.
2 An army that has attacked with multiple fire attacks (such as those described in the above footnote) may at the GM’s option be shrouded in thick smoke. A settlement with an uncontrolled fire may also be covered in thick smoke.
Fog of War: Whenever an army takes a penalty to its OM due to poor visibility, its chance of shooting awry increases. When attacking an army that is engaged with an allied army during the Ranged phase, the chance of dealing friendly fire damage (see Ranged Phase) is increased to 50%. In addition, even attacks during the Melee phase against an army engaged with an ally have a 25% of dealing damage as friendly fire to your allied army.
If you attack an army that is not engaged with any other army (including yours) using one of the following tactics, the attacking army has a 25% chance of inflicting friendly fire damage on itself due to the fog of war: Cavalry Sweep, False Retreat, Furious Charge, Feint, Overwhelming Onslaught, Pincer Maneuver, Pursuit, Skirmishers.
Weather
Weather also can play a major role in a battle. There are general guidelines for factoring this into a battle in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Campaign, but presented below is a table for your reference translating the standard adventuring rules in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook into battlefield terms, along with special rules for how weather can interact with armies in the field.
Extreme Conditions: High altitude, extreme heat, and extreme cold force armies to make a Morale check at the end of each Rout phase to avoid becoming fatigued, with a -1 penalty for armies wearing Medium Armor, -2 for those wearing Heavy Armor.
Precipitation: Light rain and snow have a 10% cumulative chance for each Battle phase they continue of causing the battlefield to turn into treacherous terrain (see Terrain) due to the accumulation of snow or the liquefaction of the ground into mud. A rainstorm or snowstorm double this chance. This should be checked at the end of every Rout phase.
Wind: With very high winds, normal ranged attacks become impossible (indicated by the X below); however, siege weapons can still be used, as can magical attacks such as breath weapons or a Magical Barrage command boon. In addition, flying creatures and creatures on board wind-powered ships take double the listed penalties to OM.
Table 8: Weather
| Weather | Melee | Ranged | DV | Scout | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extreme Cold | -1 | -1 | - | - | -1 |
| Extreme Heat | -1 | -1 | - | - | -1 |
| Fog | -2 | -4 | - | -4 | -1 |
| High Altitude | -1 | -1 | -1 | +1 | -1 (climb or fly speed is unaffected) |
| Mist | -1 | -2 | - | -2 | - |
| Rain | - | -1 | - | -1 | - |
| Rainstorm | -1 | -2 | -1 | -2 | - |
| Snow | - | -1 | - | -2 | - |
| Snowstorm | -1 | -2 | -1 | -4 | -2 |
| Wind, strong | - | -2 | - | - | - |
| Wind, severe | -1 | -4 | - | - | -1 (Medium or larger creatures can move normally) |
| Windstorm | -2 | X/-2 | -2 | - | -2 (Large or larger creatures can move normally) |
| Hurricane | -4 | X/-4 | -4 | - | -3 (Huge or larger creatures can move normally) |