CR18 has around 300 hps, according to the monster creation guidelines. Considering that it can maybe take out 7 enemies per round(unless it has a big AoE attack like a breath weapon), it can't significantly dent the size of the army in normal play. Assuming average numbers, 100 attacks per round will hit it, of which 5 will be criticals.
I'd say it's toast.
CR18 has around 300 hps, according to the monster creation guidelines. Considering that it can maybe take out 7 enemies per round(unless it has a big AoE attack like a breath weapon), it can't significantly dent the size of the army in normal play. Assuming average numbers, 100 attacks per round will hit it, of which 5 will be criticals.
I'd say it's toast.
Um wait what? You'll have to explain the math to me there, 2000 cr 2 creatures should not even break trough an high level outsiders dr (or AC for that matter). One of the reasons the mass combat rules were made so that large numbers could actually match a massively more powerful enemy (like a nations army getting together to beat a massive dragon). but that's still just a single attack phase. not a 100 attacks
Okay.
So, big nasty has DR 15/whatever, and is being hit 5 times per round for 3d8 (average 13.5, but over 30% will actually do at least 1 point of damage against the DR.
So, it's going to take roughly 200 rounds of normal combat to deliver 300 points of damage past the DR, in which time the CR 18 creature has wiped out a good proportion (somewhere between 600 and 1,400) of the army.
This does not account for the reduced effectiveness of the army caused by reducing numbers, but that will only make it about even, which is what the mass combat rules say.
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Yeah - much depends upon the DR & AC.
If the 2,000 CR 2 guys are all archers with point blank/precise/rapid shot, they'll be churning out 4,000 shots a round. (I'm assuming human level 4 warriors)
If they only hit on a 20, they'll be 200 hits a round and 10 crits.
If DR 15/ - only the crits will do actual damage. If with +1 strength composite bows, the median damage (if not within 30ft) is 1.5 damage, though the mean damage would be 3.75.
So - the average damage per round - if all can see the target and hit on a 20 only, vs DR 15/, and none get point blank damage, the average damage per round to the creature would be 37.5. (as you can see - a lot of variables) If it has an AC lower than 27 or less than DR 15/, it'll go down far faster.
The offense of the creature is also a big difference. If they have long range AOE? If they have to close to melee? If they have utility spells? (wind wall = immune to archery)
Evasive abilities matter a lot too.
A Planetar has Regen 10 and at will invisibility. It can disengage and reengage at will, and there is essentially nothing the army can do about it.
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Evasive abilities matter a lot too.
A Planetar has Regen 10 and at will invisibility. It can disengage and reengage at will, and there is essentially nothing the army can do about it.
True - except that if you know he's coming and equip the army with a couple vials of unholy water each you'd take him down in a round. (Touch AC is only 13) Only 45 or so would have to hit him to kill.
True - except that if you know he's coming and equip the army with a couple vials of unholy water each you'd take him down in a round. (Touch AC is only 13) Only 45 or so would have to hit him to kill.Evasive abilities matter a lot too.
A Planetar has Regen 10 and at will invisibility. It can disengage and reengage at will, and there is essentially nothing the army can do about it.
Planetars have at will holy smite.
They can stand off 60 feet away and laugh at thrown weapons.
Even if the army is composed of good creatures throwing unholy flasks (???), they are still in deep trouble.
The army is going to be laid out in one of two ways
1)extremely spread out, to reduce the effectiveness of AoE and melee weapons and allow a clear shot for ranged weapons
2) extremely bunched up, to allow the maximal number of melee/flask throwers to engage simultaneously.
If 1) is being use, there will not be enough people within range of the planetar to deliver enough flasks to kill it. 45 flasks is a lot of hits, especially when most of the throwers are going to be eating -2 to -10 from ranged penalties and don't have a great to-hit in the first place.
If 2) is being used, the attackers are almost all eating -8 from making touch attacks against a target behind cover(their buddies) and in melee. This is on top of the minuses from range increments. The planetar might alter self into a small character for the boost to AC, meaning that throwing flasks is back into natural 20 territory for most of the throwers (a low to-hit bonus and a whole stack of penalties against 16 touch AC or 20 touch AC with shield of faith).
In the case of 1), the army can't kill the planetar fast enough to stop it retreating and regenerating. The planetar can repeat this until the army runs out of flasks(good thing it doesn't need to eat or sleep right?).
In the case of 2), even with it's non-tailored spell list, it can drop a double earthquake and kill a little under half the army. Firestorm will hit over 100 people. Blade barrier hits about 60. Flame strike hits 10. Now we are down to an army of about 800.
Unholy water is created by imbuing it with negative energy. It would be within the scope of Death Ward to block it's effects. That's a quarter of an hour of immunity to unholy water.
There is also the fact that it wouldn't be unreasonable for a planetar to have a bow (since the army is preparing, why not let the planetar prep) or a spell list that is actually tailored to mopping up large groups. Then the army is in real trouble.