For reasons that I will explain in a moment, my group is about to attempt to destroy a goblinoid military outpost while outnumbered 20 to 1. What follows is the background that led to this point, a description of the known enemy forces, and our plan to deal with them.
What I am looking for is constructive criticism of the plan and suggestions to improve our odds of surviving and pulling off this improbable feat.
If all you can do is point out how unrealistic the whole thing is, how bad the DM must be, or how munchkinish the players are, please do not post.
Thank you.
BACKGROUND:
A planar anomoly has opened a rift between planes near a city that is a large trade hub. Formian (extra-planar ant-centaurs) have come through the rift and established a colony and are setting about expanding and conquering everything in reach. The PCs have been recruited by the city to serve in the militia to help protect the city and, ultimately, deal the extra-planar threat.
The city has enjoyed hundreds of years of peace and prosperity as a major trade hub and has relatively few defenses. They are in the process of building a wall around the city, but that will take months and months to complete.
Small raids have been made against the city and caravans have gone missing recently.
The Formian have goblinoid allies (most likely thier first conquest on our plane) as well as other races. All attempts to parlay have been met with violence.
The party rogue, while out on patrol one day, discovered a large goblinoid encampment several hours away from the city. During his observation, he noticed a large group (200+) of goblinoids with lots of siege weapons and more under construction. With no wall around the city, they could easily destroy it with this size force. Thus, the need to eliminate it with a pre-emptive strike.
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Party and Associated Resources
Saeryn - 6th Elf Wizard (Conjuror) with Sûl - Air Elemental familiar
Nomad - 5th Goliath Barbarian
Narien - 6th Elf Druid with wolf companion
Sahr - 6th Human Rogue
Lem - 6th Human Summoner - Rides dragon-shaped Eidolon and uses Lance
NPCs under our command for this mission
7 5th lvl Halfling Paladins on ponies
5 5th lvl Wizards
10 3rd lvl Rangers (archer)
1 7th lvl Fighter (2nd son of local noble)
1 5th lvl Cleric (local cleric of Abadar)
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Known enemy forces
65 Goblin archers
50 Hobgoblins
35 Orcs
15 Bugbears
18 Ballistae
12 Catapults
1 Battering Ram
1 Siege Tower
The encampment is laid out like a capital "T" that has been cut off at the knees. The perimeter is a wooden palisades with sentry towers every 20-40 yards. The only observed entrance is at the base of the T. Behind the entrance is the camp for the Orcs and the behind them are the Bugbears. The right side of the T is for the Goblins and the Hobgoblins. The left side of the T contains workshops where siege weapons are constructed and the walls of the palisade are lined with completed siege engines.
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Below, you will see references to flour bombs. These will be the medieval equivilant of fuel-air bombs. Without going into all of the math, just know that each bomb is 10 cu ft of flour in sacks that has had Shrink Item cast on them so that they weigh about .01 lbs.
They will be dropped from the air into the encampment, using grenades to burst the bags in air (or they burst themselves when they hit the ground), dispersing fine powder through the air of the encampment. This will then be ignited by flame arrows, alchemist's fire, torches, fireballs, etc.
Below is the outline of the plan that we have come up with so far:
I. Phase I – Gather Intelligence
a. Sûl will spy on and around encampment from above, using Ring of Invisibility.
i. Note numbers (race by gender and age category) and any names
ii. Note functions of all buildings
iii. Note how often sentries are swapped.
iv. Note any patrols that are sent out. (Number, arms, patrol route)
v. Note any clan markings
vi. Note possible escape tunnels
vii. Check both night and day
b. Narien will spy on and around the encampment from the inside using Beast shape (Tiny)
i. Note numbers (race by gender and age category) and any names
ii. Note functions of all buildings
iii. Note how often sentries are swapped.
iv. Note any patrols that are sent out. (Number, arms, patrol route)
v. Note any clan markings
vi. Note possible escape tunnels
vii. Check both night and day
II. Phase II – Reduce Morale and Combat Effectiveness
a. Narien will introduce disease (Bubonic Plague) into the encampment through the Contagion (3rd) spell while Beast Shaped (Tiny).
b. Narien will introduce famine into the Orcs through Feast of Ashes (2nd) spell while beast Shaped (Tiny)
c. If this is the same group that is ambushing caravans on the south road. Let them “capture” a shipment of wine/ale/spirits that has been poisoned.
III. Phase III – Assault on the Encampment
a. Communication
i. Saeryn will provide communication by casting Message on all team members as needed (Duration is 1 hr), with the last casting happening just before the signal is given.
b. Deployment
i. Rangers will have arranged themselves in pairs in a 180 degree arc around the sides and rear of the encampment. They will have lanterns that have been covered so as not to provide light, but may be opened to access the flame.
ii. The Mages will split up with 1 mage per Ranger pair and will levitate or otherwise place themselves up in trees to see down into the encampment.
iii. The Paladins, 2nd Son, and Brother Dante will be under the command of Nomad and will position themselves in front of the encampment, far enough away not to be seen or heard.
iv. Sahr will pour oil all over the outside of the wall under cover of darkness and using Ring of Invisibility.
v. Lem on his Eidolon and Sûl will be circling high overhead (not directly over the encampment)
c. At the signal (skyrocket), Rangers will open up with fire arrows into the oil-splashed walls of the encampment, thus surrounding the entire camp with burning walls.
d. At the signal, Lem and his Eidolon, along with Sûl, will drop Air-bursting flour bombs throughout the encampment, making sure to target the siege workshops, siege engines, any supply tents/buildings that have been identified, groups of goblinoids, and organized resistance.
e. At the signal, the Mages (including Saeryn) will open up with fireballs at pre-designated targets. And then proceed to engage a prioritized target list including siege weapons, siege workshops, large groups of enemy personnel, and organized resistance.
f. At the signal, Nomad’s group will hurry to the entrance to the encampment and proceed to engage and destroy any and all enemy personnel leaving the encampment.
IV. Mop-up
a. Team members will not enter the encampment until all fires are out, all enemy personnel have surrendered or died, or daylight.
b. All wreckage will be removed from the site and the ground will be checked for tunnels entrances or spots that might have been entrances that are now blocked up.
i. Should tunnels be found, Excess oil brought expressly for the purpose, will be emptied into the tunnels and set alight. Any excess flour bombs may also be used for this purpose.
ii. No one enters the tunnels until they have been cleansed by fire and allowed to cool.
iii. Sentries will be posted at the entrance to any tunnels until such time that they can be verified as empty by a fresh and rested squad.
c. Bodies will be typed and counted to determine how many, if any, enemy personnel escaped. Bodies will then be stripped and burned to avoid any lingering disease.
d. All non-valuable items found inside the encampment will be burned to avoid lingering disease.
e. Valuables will be stacked in a pile and will be checked for poison and disease by Narien and Brother Dante.
f. All food and/or drink found inside the encampment will be destroyed to avoid poison and/or lingering disease. While clerics and druids are able to render it safe, most goblinoid food will probably not be palatable in any case and you never know who any meat used to be. Safer to destroy it all.
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Please let me know what you think and how it might be improved.
saved for the rerst of the info
Ermahgerd!
Unless there is a comparable caster complement amongst those monsters or their HD have been artificially boosted across the board, I fail to see how this is a challenge. Your wizards have the ability to fly while invisible and throw fireballs from up to 600 feet away! These are 1-2 HD enemies; a fireball is automatic death for the 1 HD targets and save-or-die for the 2 HD targets. You could conceivably kill half the camp in the surprise round alone! With no real risk of retaliation due to your altitude!
The exact number of fireballs at your disposal will vary a bit depending on the specialization of these wizards, and the number of kills per fireball will depend on how tightly-packed the monsters are. If things go well, the casters can fly in low (presumably with a "protection from arrows" spell) to drop summon and support spells, or else just fly back and rendezvous with the main forces to march in and clean up the old-fashioned way.
Unless there is a comparable caster complement amongst those monsters or their HD have been artificially boosted across the board, I fail to see how this is a challenge. Your wizards have the ability to fly while invisible and throw fireballs from up to 600 feet away! These are 1-2 HD enemies; a fireball is automatic death for the 1 HD targets and save-or-die for the 2 HD targets. You could conceivably kill half the camp in the surprise round alone! With no real risk of retaliation due to your altitude!
The exact number of fireballs at your disposal will vary a bit depending on the specialization of these wizards, and the number of kills per fireball will depend on how tightly-packed the monsters are. If things go well, the casters can fly in low (presumably with a "protection from arrows" spell) to drop summon and support spells, or else just fly back and rendezvous with the main forces to march in and clean up the old-fashioned way.
Yes, these are not out-of-the-book goblinoids. They have max HP for thier hit dice and we know they have some casters among them. Flying is great, but the first time you cast a fireball, you are visible. They have more than enough archers and ballistae to give us a real hard time of it. We also suspect that this encampment may be built on top of the Formian nest. This could literally be kicking over an anthill.
Your Summoner alone could probably take out most of the camp with that ring of invisibility and his summons.
They have max HP for thier hit dice and we know they have some casters among them
That does mix up the odds a bit, but not by too much. They're still 1-2 HD monsters, so the majority should still die to a single fireball.
Flying is great, but the first time you cast a fireball, you are
visible.
Invisibility is only to get in without being spotted to ensure you get a surprise round against juicy, clumped up targets. Really, you should be able to do this with a stealth check (perception checks take a -1 penalty per 10 feet to target, hence the monsters have a -60 penalty on their perception checks), but a lot of GM's are finicky about stealth so without knowing your's I recommend going with the more reliable invisibility.
Distance is your primary defense here: you're 600 feet off the ground. This puts you out of range for longbows and crossbows and the vast majority of spells. Even if you need to fly a bit lower for targeting purposes and the GM claims all the monsters are equipped with heavy crossbows or longbows, they're still taking a -9 for four and a half range increments. With mage armor, those monsters should only be hitting on a natural 20, which a "protection from arrows" spell will clean up.
As for siege engines, I don't believe they can target flying creatures. While I don't see any hard rule on this, this is a pretty big stretch to suggest they can fire directly up.
Furthermore, if you choose to attack at noon you'd have a pretty good case to claim that the monsters are effectively blinded by firing into the sun, giving you ad-hoc concealment. This is the kind of thing I encourage my players to take into consideration, so I'd definitely allow it, but your GM might not.
We also suspect that this encampment may be built on top of the Formian nest
All the more reason to bombard first and then regroup.
This sounds like a problem that could be easily solved by 1, maybe 2 scrolls of Cloudkill.
While this is still an excellent spell, you're dealing with a lot of monsters over a larger area. I'd rather have more scrolls of a lower spell level (ie, fireball). As well, you'd need to fly in much lower to use this spell, whereas fireball gives you artillery-level range which is better suited for taking out 1-2 HD creatures who are out in the open.
To cause futher Chaos you could have the casters who can, memorise summon monster 3 and summon 1d3 grigs each. The area 8x1d3 entangles covers should effectively lock down most of the area let alone the pyrotechnics spells.
Aww, you all think Lamashtu would allow a goblin town to be demolished so easily?
Don't forget underground hideouts, possibly tunnels dug for them as a staging area by the Formians.
- Wandering patrols
- Shaman diviners detecting trouble
- Not every target is visible, or huddled together
- The natural goblin instinct to hide and strike from darkness when "biggies" are about
- Barghest guardians and cohorts
Can you take out all the goblins before nightfall? If not, you're going to have scattered bands mucking around the countryside, causing more trouble, and alerting more powerful forces
And lets not forget the larger plot afoot: These goblins were obviously tasked by some other force to build siege weapons in the open; what if they were INTENDED to draw the attention of powerful adventurers...?
I would recommend casting Enlarge on the Goliath Barbarian, disguising him as a deity, and sending him in with promises of fresh hot pie if they stop what they're doing and reveal the location of their Formian bosses.
Does your druid have Natural Spell? Fly up as an eagle and throw down spike growth. Now the goblins can stand there and die from the fireballs, or try to run for cover and die from the spike growth.
Aww, you all think Lamashtu would allow a goblin town to be demolished so easily?
She let 'em get enslaved by the Formians pretty easily.
- Wandering patrols
Easily dealt with by the rangers and druid, who should be able to track down any stragglers with ease.
- Shaman diviners detecting trouble
What kind of spell would you suggest could provide them warning? The lowest-level spell that could give reliable forewarning is commune, and the presence of a 9th level cleric is going to be a massive gamechanger regardless of what kinds of spells he brings to the fight.
- Not every target is visible, or huddled together
No, but you don't need to get them all. Remember that the only real advantage the enemy has is their walls and their numbers. A group of arcane casters that blast the larger groups then land and start summoning monsters inside the walls should clear things out pretty handily.
- The natural goblin instinct to hide and strike from darkness when "biggies" are about
Which is why that surprise round is so important.
- Barghest guardians and cohorts
Higher CR monsters are going to be a problem no matter how you slice it.
I would recommend casting Enlarge on the Goliath Barbarian, disguising him as a deity, and sending him in with promises of fresh hot pie if they stop what they're doing and reveal the location of their Formian bosses.
How could that possibly go wrong?
But seriously, if he's an invulnerable rager he's already got 3 DR. If you throw some magical buffs on him, he will be pretty close to invulnerable. Have an invisible wizard flying overhead to make "miracles" happen and if the GM is cool with it you could pull it off. Hope the barbarian didn't dump charisma like everyone else did ^_^
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This is totally not going to work here, but I know how one of my favorite characters ever would have handled this.
So a while ago, I was playing in a game, where each character had a magic box that had a small chance each morning to randomly generate not only ANY item from the CRB but from a few other Non-Pathfinder books as well. To give an example, we had a ranger with a Barrett .50 sniper Rifle.
So my wizard, around 5 level opens his box one day to find: A staff of Evocation.
So ladies and gentlemen, here is exactly how this would go:
1st: Cast Fly
2nd: Cast Invisibility
3rd: Once over goblin encampment, pull out Ipod
4th: Find this song
5th: UNLEASH HELL
Aww, you all think Lamashtu would allow a goblin town to be demolished so easily?
She let 'em get enslaved by the Formians pretty easily.Yeah, I can see her doing that.
- Wandering patrols
Easily dealt with by the rangers and druid, who should be able to track down any stragglers with ease.Dozens of small groups...in the middle of the night...scattered over the countryside...Just think about it. One worse thing than herding cats, would be finding goblins.
- Shaman diviners detecting trouble
What kind of spell would you suggest could provide them warning? The lowest-level spell that could give reliable forewarning is commune, and the presence of a 9th level cleric is going to be a massive gamechanger regardless of what kinds of spells he brings to the fight.From a purely roleplaying perspective, even a level 1 shaman might receive a message or "read a sign" from his deity (a mephit messenger, perhaps). Think "Magic" not "Which spell from the list?" Don't let the spell list in the book get in the way. The players can't know every secret held by the goblins.
OR...you might consider the goblin wizard would know how to cast "Elamdri's Sarcasm" or "Elamdri's Sense of Fairness". THOSE spells would mess up the players real quick.
- Not every target is visible, or huddled together
No, but you don't need to get them all. Remember that the only real advantage the enemy has is their walls and their numbers. A group of arcane casters that blast the larger groups then land and start summoning monsters inside the walls should clear things out pretty handily.Sensible, but I'm always inclined to make things difficult for a group of adventurers who want to wipe out a town, goblin or what-have-you. No reason it can't be a challenge or even a risk. Poor little goblins.
One problem I can see is your trying to operate at night where hummans suck and your enemy excels. With that said the moment your rogue starts dumping oil on the battlements he will be quickly discovered. While maybe not physicly seen he will be noticed and since there are Hobs around that oil will be seen as aprelude to an attack.
They may go ahead and ignite it in hopes to make the dumper appear.
This will put a kink in your plan as you will have to shift to accomidate the new issues. A very alert enemy.
I like the idea of trying to poison/ disease them ahead of the attack. But again your tipping your hand that you know about your enemy, Hobs are smart and will protect the stupid goblins and orcs in the camp from such a thing working very well. And I would be willing to bet that they may discover your poisned goods idea and send it into the city if given a moments chance.
Poison and disease are siege and gorilla tacticts, aka things you use when the enemy already knows your attacking. And in this instance your trying to ambush to make up ground against their precieved advantages. A quick strike to end this threat once and for all.
As for time of attack I would go with daylight. Either just after sunrise or in the light of the noonday sun. both these times they should be at their mental lazyness. either due to low gaurd numbers or just before they call it a night for them.
From a purely roleplaying perspective, even a level 1 shaman might receive a message or "read a sign" from his deity (a mephit messenger, perhaps). Think "Magic" not "Which spell from the list?" Don't let the spell list in the book get in the way. The players can't know every secret held by the goblins.
If the GM is running a military-tactics styled encounter (which it looks like he is) then that would be a real dick move to give them divine intervention to prepare for exactly the strategy the PC's are using. I'd be very opposed to this as a GM, as you're just telling players that their plan didn't matter because the GM was just going to nullify any advantage they gained by means of divine intervention.
In any case, this is still the equivalent of the GM granting the monsters a free 5th level spell (commune). That's a gamechanger; my comment still stands.
Sensible, but I'm always inclined to make things difficult for a group of adventurers who want to wipe out a town, goblin or what-have-you. No reason it can't be a challenge or even a risk. Poor little goblins.
Oh, certainly. Given the massive amount of spellcasting resources at the party's disposal here, something is definitely up. All the more reason to soften them up with aerial bombardment first, then approach the smoking crater left behind cautiously with resources left in reserve.
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If you do choose to fight at night and, for whatever reason, you end up going into the camp while it's still dark and enemies are still active, consider using spells like obscuring mist or smoke sticks. This will obscure the party and their ally's from the goblinoids darkvision, negating a major enemy advantage, and make ranged attacks against them largely meaningless.
Check how soft that ground/moist is after being a goblin camp for so long, that'll have a major effect on your flour bombs(nice idea).
I'd avoid poisoning the water as you may need to use this as a fall back point at some stage. It's also close to your city and you may accidentally contaminate your own water supply.
That's all I can think of for now.
this sounds like a joke.... i mean, the question/challenge is not WHETHER you can win, but how much resources you expend doing so.
WHY on earth do the hobgoblins have such utter lack of magical support vs. your forces?
why are your allies so especially magically aided, vs. the hobgoblins?
seriously, the hobgoblins should have 10-15 magical/casters on their side.
why are the formians not present? if there is zero presence immediately, they should be able to be in contact magically.
Where is the problem?
I like the your preparation (poison and stuff). But for the attack you just need a bit of time, gold and the right weather condition (no full moon cloudy..).
Attack Preparation:
1. Some of the wizards should be able to scribe scrolls.
So let them make some (fly and fireball scrolls)
2. Get as much flammable material as possible (lamp oil in barrel, alchemist fires, tar pots, torches etc).
3. Get as much arrows as you can. Some flammable arrows as well.
The Attack:
Split your forces in two groups and hope for a cloudy dark night.
1. Flying mages + flying archers + a few "bombers" chars/npcs with high perception skill and a good carrying capacity. Let all mages cast light on some stones. The bombers get all this stones in a leather sack. The bombers drop the "light stones" in the camp marking targets for the archers and mages. Let some bomber drop oil barrels on flammable buildings, large groups of enemies and the siege engines (priority: anything that can shoot).
Group: 2. Archers and some ground support to protect them. The archers fire ballistic arrows over the palisade. Switching position to prevent counter fire. This group also guards the wagon that transports the extra ammunition for your "bombers" (Bombers can come here to get new barrels of oil)
Conclusion:
Darkvision is a huge advantage in caves and dungeons but will not help against a force flying 150 ft. above you camp on a nearly open battlefield. Your forces can see because of the light stones and the burning oil etc and the enemy is as blind as he can be. Effectively making your hole force improved invisible. Keep a few dispel magics handy for when an enemy caster finds a way to illuminate your forces.
The magic of a fly spell lets Characters/NPCs with a good STR value lift 230 lbs. (Strength 16). So they can even carry huge stones. This bombs are not precise weapons but with a bit aim should be able to hit immobile siege engines. A building/siege engine hit with a 100 lbs. stone from 100 ft. above should be destroyed or at least unusable with a single hit.
The only counter against such an attack is sending some thing flying up (enemy caster, summoned bird etc.). Try to prevent that with a few own scouts with darkvision and see invis among you flying forces. This have to kill anything with a ligth source that tries to fly to your forces.
After the carped bombing move in and finish the job.
Again, the forces I listed are only what was observed at the time. We estimate that there a LOT more in the encampment, including casters and several with character levels up to 7th.
While we do have 5 NPC wizards with us, they are only 5th level with only a couple of 3rd level slots. By the time they cast fly and fireball twice, they are out of gas.
There are roughly 4 120' x 120' sections of the camp. Fireball only has a 20' radius. It would take 9 fireballs to cover 1 section of the camp.
Since wands of fireball are on the expensive side, we decided to use the non-magical variety with the flour-powered fuel-air bombs.
Everyone on here has assumed that this is going to be an easy fight to win. Our party is not making that assumption. We still have recon to do to determine what we are up against.
The Cloudkill spell is something that we had not considered. 3 of our 5 players are RPing for the first time and the other 2 of us are new to Pathfinder and neither of us has played an arcane caster in 3.x (I know, cardinal sin).
A couple of cloudkill scrolls might just be used after we have nuked the site, in order to flush out/kill anything that might be hiding out of sight or underground.
Fireball shouldn't be the only spell you have access to.
Sleet storm, fog cloud, entangle, web, shifting sand, etc... can all make it difficult to get out of the area.
Stone call is only a second level spell, has 4 times the area, will still kill most goblins, and hampers movement.
Not all the wizards need fly. Have one with fly the others have levitate. The one with fly does not use attack spells so he stays invisible and can tow the levitating wizards into and out of position. He can also keep using vanish on the others as they attack and become visible. Make sure they all have feather fall for emergency use.
I would have the NPC for the general attack.
Blasting and bombs from the NPC wizards to take out the mooks and destroy the siege engines. When they run out of spells or start getting seriously attack in some manner, they just run away invisible.
Other NPC's to hit those trying to run out the gate or climb over the walls to escape the fire, stones, webs vines, fog, etc...
If significant numbers are getting out to threaten them, this force also runs away.
There is no need to kill all the bad guys. If you take out the siege engines, disrupt the chain of command, destroy supplies, take out large numbers of mooks, they are no longer much of a threat to a city.
Most GM's will have either some leaders charge out, formians hiding, spell caster counter attack, something like that.
That is the PC's job. Take out the leaders, dig out the formians, disrupt the casters, etc...
Use illusions the day before your attack to test their defenses. You have plenty of casters on your side.
Don't fall into the trap of believing you have to exterminate every single one of the enemy. You only have to inflict enough damage so as to render them not a threat to the city. Lots of good advice on how to inflict damage has already been provided. Have fun!
1: Give everyone trumpets and torches.
2: Put clay jars over the torches so that they hide the light but still allow the torches to burn.
3: Divide the adventurers into 3 groups and sneak up on 3 sides of the encampment.
4: Coordinate everyone breaking the jars and blowing their trumpets all at once. Also have everyone shout "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"
5: Watch the enemy slaughter each other.
6: Win!!
-Aaron
From a purely roleplaying perspective, even a level 1 shaman might receive a message or "read a sign" from his deity (a mephit messenger, perhaps). Think "Magic" not "Which spell from the list?" Don't let the spell list in the book get in the way. The players can't know every secret held by the goblins.
If the GM is running a military-tactics styled encounter (which it looks like he is) then that would be a real dick move to give them divine intervention to prepare for exactly the strategy the PC's are using. I'd be very opposed to this as a GM, as you're just telling players that their plan didn't matter because the GM was just going to nullify any advantage they gained by means of divine intervention.In any case, this is still the equivalent of the GM granting the monsters a free 5th level spell (commune). That's a gamechanger; my comment still stands.
There is an old military saying: "Every encounter with the enemy will take place at night, in the rain, and at the juncture of four map segments."
Nothing kills off a large group like the group itself. You could buy a bunch of scrolls of confusion. You have enough arcane casters (6) to throw out quite a few of those in a single round. Just toss them out and watch the fun / mop up the leftovers.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Nothing kills off a large group like the group itself. You could buy a bunch of scrolls of confusion. You have enough arcane casters (6) to throw out quite a few of those in a single round. Just toss them out and watch the fun / mop up the leftovers.
Better yet, use the surprise round to use a bunch of scrolls of wall of fire to encircle the site. (If you don't catch anyone in the wall's path, you won't even break invisibility.) Then in the regular round, do the confusion thing. :D
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I've done this before. Perhaps you could take something away from it?
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You think YOU have problems?
In the game I've just started playing, our party's homeland is also being invaded by goblinoids. We're stuck in a small-ish town with a good defensible wall, but we're currently outnumbered 8-to-1 and that's probably going to turn more into 800-to-1 when the rest of the invasion arrives in the ares.
Just to be clear, this is the SECOND time we've been in this position. The last time we ran like hell, but this time we're surrounded.
And we're only third level, and mostly martial characters. (Cavalier, Paladin, Fighter, 2 Barbarians, Summoner, Sorcerer, Cleric)
Luckily, the local lord seems to be a high level wizard of some kind, and he says he can get us out of the town to go do some quest that will solve the problem. I have to say I'm slightly disappointed - I was looking forward to all-out war. :P
If you haven't already, perhaps look for tunnel openings outside of the camp or find a way to survey the grounds beneath your target. After all, if there is a possibility of Formians chilling out under your target, ready to come up after they hear explosions, you'd probably want to know about it.
As to how to check underground without tunnels, I'm sure there is a magic that could do this. I'm not to experienced with magic, but someone else may be able to help there.
If there are tunnels under your target then maybe you could find a way to collapse the tunnels from a distance, caving in most of what might be down there and causing some grounds to collapse underneath the army may help quite a bit if possible.
You may want to keep a few men inside of the city to alarm you of an attack and possibly help (maybe not much) defend the city.
One thing I'd definitely suggest is to devise multiple contingency plans up. Produce some "what if this happens" scenarios and how you'd intend to handle them effectively.
Here are just some starter what ifs you might want to answer to make sure all bases are covered. There could be many more.
What if some of the enemy escapes? This will lead to a possible alarm of stronger creatures, another army, an attack on the city you're trying to protect.
What if there are numerous Formian underground or nearby ready for a counterattack? This could lead to you being greatly outnumbered.
What if this army isn't actually planning on attacking the city? A long shot perhaps, but as mentioned by one above; why bother with siege engines when they don't even have a complete wall? They have a large enough army to just go in and take it now, so why are they waiting. Perhaps they are a sort of resistance and didn't take to parlay because they don't particularly like you.
What if there is another army somewhere else? This could be a decoy, made to have you attack while another army attacks the city while you're busy. While there are a lot of them, it seems odd to put all of their attackers in just one place.
What if they overpower you? You may kill quite a few, but if the tide turns against you, what do you intend to do to survive? Retreat? If so, where? You can't go running to the city, that will bring those following after you to possibly attack the city.
As I said I'm sure there are more, but I believe it wise to have a plan for everything possible. Like... Batman.
Either way, it's an interesting scenario. Good luck.
Step 1 State you obective cause right now you seen to have many.
Is it to control the battel field, bleed ennemy forces, destroy there base, destroy ennemy warmachine...
Note Fly + fire ball at 600 feet means archer take -10 to Wizard AC 13 so that AC 23 and it still hit on roll of 20. Add protection from arrows to mix. To help prolong the bombing.
5 wizard all have Scribe Scroll that 5000 GP per day of Scroll that
3rd Fly, Fireball, Summon Monster III pick one 375 GP
2nd Invisibility, Pyrotechnics, Protection for, arrows, Summon Swarm, Summon Monster II, Stone Call & Web 150GP
1st Shield, Protecion form Evil, Enlarge person, & Obscuring Mist 25 gp
The 7th lvl Fighter (2nd son of local noble), 5th lvl Cleric (local cleric of Abadar), and the 5 5th palidians would each be happy to pay
for at least 1k of spell if party give 500 gp that would be 10k worth of scroll and only take 2 day of build up.
Second divied forces like this in to comabt teams
Teams A-E
1 5th lvl Halfling Paladins on ponies
1 5th lvl Wizards with Flying fire balling summon monster II, Swarm, III
2 3rd lvl Rangers (archer)
That way you have mix of range, arcane, melee, speed, and healing
These is main attack it the casters the other 3 team members are there to keep Wizard alive. Rember The Wizard should have 6 3rd level spell 9 2nd levels and 12 1st level spell ready to cast both memorized and on scroll each.
Send A-E to attack points on top of the "T"
B===C===D
*********
A===*===E
====*====
====*====
====*====
====G====
This let each one give suport to the other teams
Take there points and hold.
This Draw force to them as they are the main assult.
Team F is
2 5th lvl Halfling Paladins on ponies
1 7th lvl Fighter (2nd son of local noble)
1 5th lvl Cleric (local cleric of Abadar)
Hold this team in reserve to help any fallen team A-E also assumes that noble will live due amout of healing. Have cleric cast Shiled Other on him to make sure he lives so he owes the party cant not get paid form a dead man.
Team G "Good Guys" ie The Party
Saeryn - 6th Elf Wizard (Conjuror) with Sûl - Air Elemental familiar
Nomad - 5th Goliath Barbarian
Narien - 6th Elf Druid with wolf companion
Sahr - 6th Human Rogue
Lem - 6th Human Summoner - Rides dragon-shaped Eidolon and uses Lance
3 caster runs the show 2 melee party guys and 3 pet keep them alive.
Keep Druid in the Center due to he is the only healing in the fight.
Casters Blast/control let melee mop up.
This unit G is to break through the rear there job assult kill as many taget as you can.
Do not worry about War machines or Structures/ tower/ workshops they are trap that draw you in where you can see rest of the battel.
The Unit G
Primary goal to kill the enemey leadership and casters.
Second take out food suplies only hard target you should think about.
Tertiary cause havoc in the rear.
The party attacks from the Bottom of the "T".
They will close trap and divied any flee enemy in to 2 groups
Do not chase any flee ennemy troops shoot and push them out get of way on drive your main line. Once you make it there Mop up or flee as group needs.
Do not be afraid fall back regroup and go again in 2 days time.
D&D rule #1 NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY!!!
Split your force sure but not your party.
The solo mission are risky and should go with some team suport.
Goal it to kill any thing that moves and drive them from the field.
They must have way to retreat are else they will fight to the last man and not flee. Then there numbers will work against you.