So I'm currently engaged in a campaign where the bad guy is building an army of eights to presumably do terrible things to us in order to get some magic items. In order to prevent my demise( and also my parties I suppose) I've decided to raise a militia. Right now we have access to some monks and clerics we could use as trainers but the biggest issue is equipping them. So for a relatively poor wizard can you guys think of any unorthodox manners I can aquiraquire the hard ware? I am level 4
An army of 8th-level troops?
I would think it has to be either a GM bluff or the army will be so long in coming that you'll have power enough to deal with it personally, and/or commando-raid bridges and passes and such.
If you have to defend against such, you need to cheat.
Mostly, you need to not have to deal with such. Take out that leader.
Typo? Could be an army of wights?
Make your wizard look like one of the milita. Give them all slings (free). Have them use the Run action to get away from any army that gets close to them. Try to get some difficult terrain between you and the enemy. If you're lucky you'll be facing an enemy that has slower movement speed and no ranged weapons. Or if they have archers, cast Wind Wall from a scroll to buy some time.
If you send a militia out there you're just feeding him more wights when he kills them. Why let the bad guy have all the fun with wights? You should get command undead, take over one of the wights then kill a few villagers to get some spawn under the controlled wight's power. Cast the spell on the spawn while having your enslaved wight keep them from attacking you (they get -2 as spawn).
Then when they're under your control too, send the original wight off to attack the other wights in the army or the wizard. When the wight dies, all his spawn become full-fledged but under your control. Flawless.
Otherwise... Use hide from undead while you summon creatures to keep yourself safe; or trained animals; humanoids will just turn into spawn, exacerbating the problem. Use nets, caltrops, tanglefoot bags... anything to slow them down.
So would an army of monks trainers armed with quarter staff's and slings would be a terrible idea then with out a bunch of priests hanging around?
And how long would you say would be enough in game time to train a commoner to an npc warrior class?
According to the rules for retraining, it should take about 3 days to retrain a commoner to a warrior (or any other class apparently.) Now I am just reading from the Pathfinder OGC, so maybe there is an aspect that is missing.
Retraining: Class Level wrote: In general, it takes 7 days to retrain one level in a class into one level in another class. Some classes are more suited for this kind of retraining, as they have a similar focus or purpose—this is called retraining synergy. If your old class has retraining synergy with your new class, retraining that class level takes only 5 days instead of 7 days. Determine class retraining synergies according to Table 3 –8: Retraining Synergies. Retraining: FAQ wrote: If you are retraining a level in an NPC class (adept, aristocrat, commoner, or expert) to a level in any other class, the training takes only 3 days. This allows an NPC soldier to begin her career as a warrior and eventually become an officer who is a single-classed fighter, and for a younger character to start out with one commoner or expert level and become a 1st-level adventurer with a PC class when he reaches adulthood (see Young Characters). So, technically it would seem to be three 8-hour days of training assuming there is a trainer there (a warrior, or fighter, or suitable martial type) but you could theoretically make them all wizards it seems in three days.
Retraining wrote: Unless stated otherwise, retraining costs gp equal to 10 × your level × the number of days required to retrain. This is normally paid in full at the start of the retraining period, but the GM might allow you to divide these payments over multiple days. At the GM’s discretion, this training cost could be up to 50% higher or lower, depending on situational factors within the settlement—availability of trainers, local economy, cost of materials, and so on. Assuming 1st-level commoners, that's 30 gp each to retrain to any class in a normal situation. If you are just going into another NPC class, like warrior. I would probably halve the cost to 15 gp each with a suitable trainer and reasonable training equipment available, since that's a less optimal choice than, say, becoming a fighter.
Now all this is typically rules for adventurers, who don't tend to have lives or jobs or families that rely on them in the way most of the rest of the world do. So most NPCs aren't likely to devote complete days to becoming something they aren't... so if you want to say it takes a week or a month of training (and they continue to do most of their job during that time; working the fields, blacksmithing, etc.) then I don't think anyone is going to really be mad.
Yes, 1st level characters of almost any class vs. an army of wights = more wights. The exception would be if you can get your army mounted and armed with a tremendous amount of ammunition, then try to keep your distance and hammer them from range. It doesn't sound like that will happen.
Theoretically, with a priest or cleric around to train them, in 3 days (and 30 gp each assuming 1st-level) you could turn everyone into 1st-level clerics and just spam Channel Energy. While technically legal... I have to feel that any deity just doling out divine cookies like they were... cookies... would likely get an earful at the next DivinityCon.
Also if the wights charge and get through - not unlikely with a lot of 1d6 damage, Will save DC ~10 for half damage channels, against the +5 Will save & 26 hp of a wight - then the wights still get to rip the new clerics up and turn them into more wights 1d4 rounds later. Which would probably be a great disappointment to the deity(ies) in question.
Yeah, it sounds more effective to me to "starve" the enemy army by ensuring they don't find many replacements. So rather than working to get the locals to fight, get them ready to flee en masse.
With that sort of overarching strategy, you can then focus on having the party itself employ hit-and-run tactics to thin your enemy numbers. Wights are not stupid, but neither are they particularly bright and without oversight from a smarter leader, they may be quite susceptible to clever ambushes, etc.
But at the end of the day, you may be best served by reaching out to neighbouring lands for help before the wight army menace becomes an overwhelming threat to the region. Perhaps they can send some experienced cavalry archers, higher level clerics, etc.
How would you guys go about recruiting orcs and the like. For an army I mean.
Since regular orcs would also be more wight fodder I probably wouldn't try to recruit an orc army. One negative level kills any first level or one hit die creature regardless of their hit points.
Trying to recruit a few orc heroes would probably involve convincing them that there was tremendous loot to be gained from killing this wizard.
You should make liberal use of the consecrate spell with your helpful clerics. It will debuff the wights and, more importantly, prevent those killed by them from turning.
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