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View Full Version : treating large groups like swarms?



krossbow
2008-07-08, 10:42 PM
This is in regards to thoughts i have been having about how to make it easier and quicker to have my PCs fight large groups of enemies in 3.5 (probably won't be upgrading anytime soon, if only for the fact that magic is just cooler and more utilitary in 3.5 than 4.0)




Me and my friends always like the idea of a diablo type battle, with enemies swarming towards the heros, crawling down the walls, clambering over each other, and being torn apart en mass by the heroes.


The problem is that usually the experience is a nightmare of positioning, tedium, and rolls.

So i was planning on clumping large groups of enemies together, making each group of medium 5 act as a single entity filling a large space. what i mean by this is to assume that the enemies are clambering towards the heroes to the point where they occupy a very crowded space as they clamber towards the heroes. Then pool their hp together as a single pooll, and state in description that the heroes fell one or another enemy as their hp drops.

in addition, i would do a single roll for all five of them for their attack, instead of five individual ones to speed it up.
Also, in order to make large groups more intimidating, i would assume that they got a aid other bonus in this clump (which would be reduced as they lose allies).



in this way, i think it would be easier for me to keep track of the action, and make a group of 40 enemies go alot quicker (as i would only have to keep track of 8 positions on the map/area) than having to control them individually.





Anyone see any problems which i should consider before attempting this in my campaign? i'd like to fix any issues before implementing a problematic houserule.

Jayngfet
2008-07-08, 10:45 PM
I believe cityscape:an essential guide to urban adventuring had rules for treating people as swarms.

Krimm_Blackleaf
2008-07-08, 10:58 PM
DMG2 does, crowds of pretty much anything can be turned into 'swarms'.

Faithless
2008-07-08, 11:32 PM
Yeah it's called the Mob template.

insecure
2008-07-09, 04:50 PM
I'm having the same problem, so can anyone post or send me a pm with the mob template if it isn't protected by the open gaming license?