| Merm7th |
I've played 1st through 3.5 and a lot of PFS and some pathfinder home games. I know the system well but I don't know much of the variant rules or there, so something similar might already exist.
In fantasy movies and games some of the most epic and memorable moments are when the the heroes are owning the battlefield, one shooting everyone they come across as they wade into the masses.
You start on the battlefield with a goal, reach the tent of the rivals commander, destroy the enemies supplies, capture a valuable target, or something similar, but you are surrounded by grunts.
Combat is run like normal with the following exceptions...
The party chose their initiative order.
Movement, casting, and ranged attacks don't provoke.
Each character's movement is reduced by 40 feet.
At the beginning of each character turn, she uses the lowest movement penalty of any ally within 10 feet. She may gift any portion of her AC to another within 10 feet until the beginning of her next turn.
You attack a flat DC based armor class. All hits kill. Every 5 kills decrease your movement penalty by 5 feet. Confirmed crits count as a number of extra kills equal to the weapons crit multiplier. The enemy will begin to give you a wider birth as they witness your prowess.
Characters with combat reflexes or another ability that provides extra AoOs get one extra attack at their full BAB.
All squares are occupied. AoEs kill a number of enemies equal to half of the squares covered (burning hands=3, fireball=22). You are always adjacent to enemies to hit.
At the end of their turn each character takes a DC based damag each round minus they're AC.
Encountering an actual threat starts normal initiative and combat. If the battlefield target is not reached, battlefield is resumed once the threatis eliminated.
Sorry if this is stupid, I'm stuck at a very slow conference and the idea just popped into my head. It's not well thought out or tested, and I'm sure there are issues I've missed, but it feels like it could be an interesting setup.