Fantasy Warfare

[carborundum]

Werthead wrote:

There was an excellent DRAGON article from the late 1990s on this.

Do you know what it was called or in which issue it was?

[Hank Woon]

When playtesting Warpath, a lot of what you guys are speculating is how it turned out: Spellcasters are the WMDs of the fantasy world, but there tends to be less of them; terrain advantage can matter as much as the troops you have; siege warfare is completely different when you're dealing with magic and/or magical creatures; and high-level PC classes can really lay the hurt.

[Weylin]

Hank Woon wrote:

When playtesting Warpath, a lot of what you guys are speculating is how it turned out: Spellcasters are the WMDs of the fantasy world, but there tends to be less of them; terrain advantage can matter as much as the troops you have; siege warfare is completely different when you're dealing with magic and/or magical creatures; and high-level PC classes can really lay the hurt.

Going pure mechanics,

If you go with average Warrior 1 NPC being a CR 1/2, then even a group of level 5 or 6 party of four could slaughter dozend of them before having to withdraw to replinish resources (disposable magic, hit points, spells, healing etc). Would not even take a very high level or numerous PC classes to drastically change the field.

A 15th or higher of any class is pretty much a walking talking meat grinder for most troops. And not every high level caster or fighter is going to look like one. Some are scarily understated in their appearance. Once had a 9th level sorcerer who looked like a travelling merchant in attire with most of magical items beng inconspicous among the clothing, not a spell caster. So the caster-as-target is not always obvious until it is far far too late.

-Weylin

[Werthead]

carborundum wrote:

Werthead wrote:

There was an excellent DRAGON article from the late 1990s on this.

Do you know what it was called or in which issue it was?

* looks at the mountainous stack of old DRAGONs on the shelf *

Erm, I'll get back to you, provided I'm not buried alive under a pile of Ed Greenwood articles on socks in Faerun or get sidetracked for four hours by hilarious old Knights of the Dinner Table comics.

[Weylin]

Werthead wrote:

carborundum wrote:

Werthead wrote:

There was an excellent DRAGON article from the late 1990s on this.

Do you know what it was called or in which issue it was?

* looks at the mountainous stack of old DRAGONs on the shelf *

Erm, I'll get back to you, provided I'm not buried alive under a pile of Ed Greenwood articles on socks in Faerun or get sidetracked for four hours by hilarious old Knights of the Dinner Table comics.

damn i miss Dragon Mirth.

[Bill Lumberg]

This topic made me curious about something. Does a fireball have a parabolic arc? Can it be lobbed over a barrier like a grenade or does it continue in its path like a rocket? Is there anything in the RAW on this?

[Weylin]

Bill Lumberg wrote:

This topic made me curious about something. Does a fireball have a parabolic arc? Can it be lobbed over a barrier like a grenade or does it continue in its path like a rocket? Is there anything in the RAW on this?

Given the description of the spell says:

"You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. A glowing, pea-sized bead streaks from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body or solid barrier prior to attaining the prescribed range, blossoms into the fireball at that point. An early impact results in an early detonation. If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must "hit"? the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely."

I would say it is a direct fire spell. I have personally long thought there should be a feat for arcing a spell effect, especially the attack spells. A sort of magical curveball.

You could still use a fireball to sweep walls though by detonatnig it above crenelations. Avoids that whole ranged touch problem.

[Thraxus]

Even firing a fireball through a crowd to hit a specific area is not a big problem. The ranged touch attack would have to beat an effective AC of 9 (base area AC of 5 +4 for cover). If you rolls a 6 through 9, then the fireball hits someone in the crowd and detonates. Of course, you still need to be able to see the location you are aiming at.

[Weylin]

Cant shake this image of casters on various flying magical items and creatures dogfighting over a battlefield while trying to avoid the "anti-aircraft" fire from ground based casters and siege engines. Possibly including high speed aerial pursuits down city streets as the defenders try to stop them from making runs on the actual city fortresses. Chance for some truly heroic action there.

-Weylin

[Werthead]

Weylin wrote:

Cant shake this image of casters on various flying magical items and creatures dogfighting over a battlefield while trying to avoid the "anti-aircraft" fire from ground based casters and siege engines. Possibly including high speed aerial pursuits down city streets as the defenders try to stop them from making runs on the actual city fortresses. Chance for some truly heroic action there.

I once had a mid-level player who'd gotten cheesed off and went on a rampage through a city causing impressive destruction. The local mages guild simply went after him with improved invisibility rings and cast fly, and took him down from a hundred feet up without breaking a sweat. In a mass combat situation that would be devastating, especially combined with metamagic effects like the ones that make your spells invisible as well. Being hit by invisible fireballs cast by an invisible, flying mage from about half a mile away (fireball ranges in 3.0 were whacked) = fun!