Ravenloft is not really an epic-battle sort of place, but it is the sort of place where fights can happen. Moreover, an evenly-matched fight between two roughly equal forces usually doesn't happen. One side is likely to be outnumbered or outgunned, whether it's the PCs fighting a scrappy skirmish, or the dark enemy keeping up a guerrilla-style string of attacks against our heroes.
(This post originated in the thread about making low-CR monsters an interesting threat. I moved this post into its own new thread because it's light on mechanics.)
I have always been interested in a discussion about asymmetric combat and tricks of the trade that the outmatched side can use. These are not game mechanic specific - they're just my ponderings in a variety of media.
Asymmetric warfare - what to do when you're the weaker side
1. Surprise: Depending on what ruleset you're using, this can be a mild bonus or a battle-winning tactic. In more realistic situations, surprise usually gives one side a free period of complete freedom to attack as they see fit, without having to worry about dodging retaliatory attacks. Not only that, but it usually gives them a chance to make preparations - fine-aim that sniper weapon at the enemy's head, or to uncork the vials of whatever foul poteen they'll be chucking at the enemy.
Example: PCs are making their way through a twisting cavern. One enemy scout is tracking them, unseen. Eventually, the party will stop to make camp. Waiting until the ranger is busy taking a bathroom break, the enemy will be able to strike at a time when the party a) won't know what direction the attack is coming from, b) vulnerable members (mages etc.) are completely unsuspecting and won't be able to take affirmative defensive measures, c) the ranger can't fire back even if he can see the enemy, because his hands are otherwise engaged.
Will this kill the party? In a fantasy game, very likely not. But it'll do much more damage than if the enemy scout had just leapt out in front of them in a banzai attack. In a realistic modern-era game with guns and low hp, this could well be fatal. The first few shots will take out at least one party member, and possibly two, by the time they get their hands on their own firearms, let alone figure out where the shots are coming from.
Example: PCs are making their way through a twisting cavern. One enemy scout is tracking them, unseen. Eventually, the party will stop to make camp. Waiting until the ranger is busy taking a bathroom break, the enemy will be able to strike at a time when the party a) won't know what direction the attack is coming from, b) vulnerable members (mages etc.) are completely unsuspecting and won't be able to take affirmative defensive measures, c) the ranger can't fire back even if he can see the enemy, because his hands are otherwise engaged.
Will this kill the party? In a fantasy game, very likely not. But it'll do much more damage than if the enemy scout had just leapt out in front of them in a banzai attack. In a realistic modern-era game with guns and low hp, this could well be fatal. The first few shots will take out at least one party member, and possibly two, by the time they get their hands on their own firearms, let alone figure out where the shots are coming from.
2. Mobility: If you're faster than your opponents, you can make use of terrain benefits better than they can, and you can force them to react to your tactical decisions. Many games of chess, for example, are dictated by whichever player can force the other to be just one step or two steps too slow to effectively use his pieces.
Example: Flying enemies are a huge harassment of landbound PCs. In realistic situations, they can literally end the engagement. (One of Saddam Hussein's elite 101st Republican Guard commanding officers, when taken into custody by the American army, said something like "it didn't matter that we were the best-trained fighters in the country. You were dropping bombs on us from aircraft we couldn't even see, let alone shoot. What's the point of fighting? What could we do?") More low-tech, look at the guerrilla actions of the Viet Cong or Mao Zedong's early Communist militias to see how a lightly-equipped, super-mobile force can harass and corral a much larger, better-equipped one.
Small and nimble creatures may be able to dash away undetectably in longgrass, or brachiate through forest limbs, or keep low between rocky outcroppings while still moving at a decent pace. If each time they attack, they only do a small amount of damage, it then becomes a long-haul encounter of repeated sudden engagements and then quick disengagements. Logistical problems like line-of-sight and trajectory of fire should be the primary obstacle for PCs, and not an inherently high AC or HP of enemy forces. If the enemy is outnumbered, have them mount phantom attacks from several different locations and directions to give the illusion of numbers.
Example: Flying enemies are a huge harassment of landbound PCs. In realistic situations, they can literally end the engagement. (One of Saddam Hussein's elite 101st Republican Guard commanding officers, when taken into custody by the American army, said something like "it didn't matter that we were the best-trained fighters in the country. You were dropping bombs on us from aircraft we couldn't even see, let alone shoot. What's the point of fighting? What could we do?") More low-tech, look at the guerrilla actions of the Viet Cong or Mao Zedong's early Communist militias to see how a lightly-equipped, super-mobile force can harass and corral a much larger, better-equipped one.
Small and nimble creatures may be able to dash away undetectably in longgrass, or brachiate through forest limbs, or keep low between rocky outcroppings while still moving at a decent pace. If each time they attack, they only do a small amount of damage, it then becomes a long-haul encounter of repeated sudden engagements and then quick disengagements. Logistical problems like line-of-sight and trajectory of fire should be the primary obstacle for PCs, and not an inherently high AC or HP of enemy forces. If the enemy is outnumbered, have them mount phantom attacks from several different locations and directions to give the illusion of numbers.
3. Communication: In medieval times, communication issues meant a large force of human fighters had to stick close together in order to receive orders in a timely fashion from their commander. This led to formation fighting, which came with strengths and weaknesses of its own, depending on specialty. In smaller, squad-based combat (such as what the PCs in a fantasy game usually will have), realism-based communication will become a major problem unless they're using magic or they stick close together. Shouting instructions across a brawl hall will get your point across, but it'll clue in the enemy as well. Disrupting your enemy's communications while preserving your own means you have an advantage.
Example: Fantasy races could well have a different range of hearing than humans do. Dogs can hear high-pitched noises beyond human range, and so it stands to reason maybe gnolls and other similar fantasy races might as well. If the enemy can find something that produces obscuring noise for human ranges but still leaves their audible ranges intact, they can drown out human coordination. Insectoid and canine races like umber hulks or gnolls could make the most sense for this.
Less fantastically, this also introduces the simple idea that a nonhuman race might have learned basic human tongue. Given that DnD and most fantasy RPGs are somewhat human culture-centric, it's entirely possible that no human thought to take a language proficiency in Gnollish. Play up this advantage! The gnolls don't even have to let on that they understand human tongue - but having a gnoll scout overhear the wizard tell the priest to be careful with the mule saddlebag with his spell reagents in it, and understand the warning, gives the gnolls an immediate and realistically reasonable advantage. In realworld battle, the British had decrypted the German enigma code and was routinely keyed in on Nazi military movements. Also, the American army had Iraqi-speaking agents call up Iraqi generals on their cell phones and home lines to offer them surrender leniency terms, and other such morale-sapping techniques.
Example: Fantasy races could well have a different range of hearing than humans do. Dogs can hear high-pitched noises beyond human range, and so it stands to reason maybe gnolls and other similar fantasy races might as well. If the enemy can find something that produces obscuring noise for human ranges but still leaves their audible ranges intact, they can drown out human coordination. Insectoid and canine races like umber hulks or gnolls could make the most sense for this.
Less fantastically, this also introduces the simple idea that a nonhuman race might have learned basic human tongue. Given that DnD and most fantasy RPGs are somewhat human culture-centric, it's entirely possible that no human thought to take a language proficiency in Gnollish. Play up this advantage! The gnolls don't even have to let on that they understand human tongue - but having a gnoll scout overhear the wizard tell the priest to be careful with the mule saddlebag with his spell reagents in it, and understand the warning, gives the gnolls an immediate and realistically reasonable advantage. In realworld battle, the British had decrypted the German enigma code and was routinely keyed in on Nazi military movements. Also, the American army had Iraqi-speaking agents call up Iraqi generals on their cell phones and home lines to offer them surrender leniency terms, and other such morale-sapping techniques.
4. Fight dirty! Some attacks reduce the emphasis on a good attack roll. One of the most interesting attacks I've ever seen in my RPGing experience was a fellow PC who played a telekinetic race in a sci-fi setting. We were attacking an enemy who had lots of armor, and my meat-shield PC couldn't hit it. Our sniper's bullets merely harried it. Our psionicist's mental powers couldn't get past its Jedi mind shield. Finally, our psionicist used his TK powers to pick up a grenade and slowly move it behind the enemy. Then he pulled the pin telekinetically and the enemy got a lot of shrapnel. It worked, and we kept up the firepower while he continued this tactic.
Explosions are a good form of indiscriminately damaging attacks requiring no finesse. In fantasy games, these are typically Fireball spells. Area-effect attacks like landslides or falling branches and other rigged booby traps are a common trope in fiction. (Ewoks could take out an Imperial Scout Transport by releasing a torrent of rolling logs.) In urban or underground warfare, cave-ins are a routine peril - and one that would be more threatening to humans than to smaller creatures, who would be able to wriggle through rubble more easily.
In hostile terrain, such as swamps, high ground with uncertain footing, or caverns with dangerous rock formations, sometimes the best offense is simply causing confusion. Putting spiders in a party's bedding as they make camp in a cavern may not kill them, but it'll definitely cause some confusion and may cause a twisted ankle or a bad trip-and-fall resulting in a black eye (and impaired vision). When they're tripping over each other in their bedrolls, the party guard's attention is likely elsewhere, such that even a lone outmatched enemy could cause some stinging hits from a safe distance.
Fire underground is also an oxygen drain, with attendant problems for alertness. Darkness is another strong weapon to use against humans. Poison is a very potent (and potentially very frustrating) effect to deal with - on weapons, it makes damage irrelevant as long as a hit is scored. As a general environmental hazard, it even removes the need for an attack roll (such as putting rotten stuff into water supplies, or a trap releasing harmful parasites or fungal spores into the air). Also, never underestimate the possibility that nonhuman races may have some resistance or immunity to some horrible disease. Human history is full of first-contact battles being won largely through depopulation by disease. And even the humble farmyard chicken, long a human food source, becomes a potentially deadly foodstuff once the heating goes out and you can't cook any meats. Chickens are a potent carrier of the salmonella bacterium. They are immune to it - we humans are not.
Explosions are a good form of indiscriminately damaging attacks requiring no finesse. In fantasy games, these are typically Fireball spells. Area-effect attacks like landslides or falling branches and other rigged booby traps are a common trope in fiction. (Ewoks could take out an Imperial Scout Transport by releasing a torrent of rolling logs.) In urban or underground warfare, cave-ins are a routine peril - and one that would be more threatening to humans than to smaller creatures, who would be able to wriggle through rubble more easily.
In hostile terrain, such as swamps, high ground with uncertain footing, or caverns with dangerous rock formations, sometimes the best offense is simply causing confusion. Putting spiders in a party's bedding as they make camp in a cavern may not kill them, but it'll definitely cause some confusion and may cause a twisted ankle or a bad trip-and-fall resulting in a black eye (and impaired vision). When they're tripping over each other in their bedrolls, the party guard's attention is likely elsewhere, such that even a lone outmatched enemy could cause some stinging hits from a safe distance.
Fire underground is also an oxygen drain, with attendant problems for alertness. Darkness is another strong weapon to use against humans. Poison is a very potent (and potentially very frustrating) effect to deal with - on weapons, it makes damage irrelevant as long as a hit is scored. As a general environmental hazard, it even removes the need for an attack roll (such as putting rotten stuff into water supplies, or a trap releasing harmful parasites or fungal spores into the air). Also, never underestimate the possibility that nonhuman races may have some resistance or immunity to some horrible disease. Human history is full of first-contact battles being won largely through depopulation by disease. And even the humble farmyard chicken, long a human food source, becomes a potentially deadly foodstuff once the heating goes out and you can't cook any meats. Chickens are a potent carrier of the salmonella bacterium. They are immune to it - we humans are not.
5. Pandas. These are cute and nobody wants to shoot them. Examples: Tai Shan, the young cub panda in the Washington DC zoo. I'm including this item to make sure you're still reading my post carefully. Even today China's Communist government sends pandas overseas in a cunning strategy to make other nations less likely to start a war. In a fantasy setting, they might turn into your dad if you pour hot water on them. And everybody would think twice before shooting their own dad.
Last edited by HuManBing on Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.
6. Different numbers of fighters are good for different things: Merely having a larger number of people isn't a guarantee of victory. The Chinese military theorist Sun Zi used various tactics and stratagems to prevail over larger enemy numbers. In a straight-up fight, it's true, victory usually goes to the larger force... but there are a number of ways a canny commander can deprive the enemy of an opportunity to engage him head-on.
In large numbers, communications tend to force a group to behave in a close-locked, predictable way. The Roman spear-and-overlap-shield formation gave extreme strength towards the front, but left the sides almost defenseless - in the HBO dramatization, Caesar attacked Pompey's flank with his swiftly-moving cavalry and caused just enough confusion to disrupt the frontline... and then Caesar's infantry met the weakened Pompey forces head-on and routed them.
The sorts of traps that will work vary by enemy numbers too. In movies, you have Spartacus' use of fire against closely-massed Roman legions, you have the Three Amigos' use of a cunning pit water trap to unseat the first wave of El Guapo's riders. In antiquity, the phrase "Killing Fields" comes from the front gate of a castle, which had two portcullises that could be lowered at the same time, creating an enclosed space where any enemies were hapless targets of murder holes and arrow slits and the like. A typical ankle-noose trap will only work against one person at a time. Pick your trap to suit your enemy, and your own tactics to match.
Speed is antithetical to size. My uncle used to babysit me and my brother. He'd make us sit in front of the TV. I hated it, it was boring. So I'd get up and run away. He'd catch me. Then I'd run away with my brother. He'd catch us. Finally I grasped that if I ran one way, and my brother ran another, he couldn't catch us both. We did this and prevailed over the greater size and strength of our opposing force. (Unfortunately he correctly deduced that he could merely chase and catch me, and then force me to order my brother back to the area.)
PCs finding themselves beset upon by small attacks from the corners, will usually lack the coordination to successfully pursue them as a group. They'll have to split up. In that case, communications becomes a problem again, and the enemy has an opportunity to break the single big group into a series of smaller skirmishes, this time with more favorable strength ratios.
Say that three kobolds have managed to track five PCs. Through a combination of cunning and misdirection, the PCs think there is a group of a dozen kobolds or so. Moreover, they believe they have the kobolds pinpointed to a certain location in the caves. Given cave geometry, it seems logical to post a watch here, a guard there, and then for three toughs to go in and mop up whatever kobolds are there. The catch is: the kobolds are not where the PCs think they are. One kobold remains in the relevant area, to harass and draw fire. But the other two (who understand rudimentary human tongue and can see in the dark) are now sneaking lightly through the stalagmites towards the lone lookout mage... By the time the party's fighters get to the lone kobold's sniping point, they'll find his abandoned bow (too large for him to sneak quickly with) and the kobold himself will have long vanished into the small nooks and tunnels of the caves. He won't have gone far, but finding him will be a problem.
In the first Iraq war, one of the worst Allied casualty counts came from an incident of friendly fire, when one Allied tank division mistakenly opened fire on another. It was dark. They were in hostile territory. They were in battle conditions where you shoot first before the enemy can. These things happen in battle.
And if you're outgunned, outnumbered, but have a better grasp of the territory than your enemy does, then you want to encourage your enemy to make this sort of mistake as often as possible. Why waste an arrow when you can get your enemy to waste theirs on each other?
In large numbers, communications tend to force a group to behave in a close-locked, predictable way. The Roman spear-and-overlap-shield formation gave extreme strength towards the front, but left the sides almost defenseless - in the HBO dramatization, Caesar attacked Pompey's flank with his swiftly-moving cavalry and caused just enough confusion to disrupt the frontline... and then Caesar's infantry met the weakened Pompey forces head-on and routed them.
The sorts of traps that will work vary by enemy numbers too. In movies, you have Spartacus' use of fire against closely-massed Roman legions, you have the Three Amigos' use of a cunning pit water trap to unseat the first wave of El Guapo's riders. In antiquity, the phrase "Killing Fields" comes from the front gate of a castle, which had two portcullises that could be lowered at the same time, creating an enclosed space where any enemies were hapless targets of murder holes and arrow slits and the like. A typical ankle-noose trap will only work against one person at a time. Pick your trap to suit your enemy, and your own tactics to match.
Speed is antithetical to size. My uncle used to babysit me and my brother. He'd make us sit in front of the TV. I hated it, it was boring. So I'd get up and run away. He'd catch me. Then I'd run away with my brother. He'd catch us. Finally I grasped that if I ran one way, and my brother ran another, he couldn't catch us both. We did this and prevailed over the greater size and strength of our opposing force. (Unfortunately he correctly deduced that he could merely chase and catch me, and then force me to order my brother back to the area.)
PCs finding themselves beset upon by small attacks from the corners, will usually lack the coordination to successfully pursue them as a group. They'll have to split up. In that case, communications becomes a problem again, and the enemy has an opportunity to break the single big group into a series of smaller skirmishes, this time with more favorable strength ratios.
Say that three kobolds have managed to track five PCs. Through a combination of cunning and misdirection, the PCs think there is a group of a dozen kobolds or so. Moreover, they believe they have the kobolds pinpointed to a certain location in the caves. Given cave geometry, it seems logical to post a watch here, a guard there, and then for three toughs to go in and mop up whatever kobolds are there. The catch is: the kobolds are not where the PCs think they are. One kobold remains in the relevant area, to harass and draw fire. But the other two (who understand rudimentary human tongue and can see in the dark) are now sneaking lightly through the stalagmites towards the lone lookout mage... By the time the party's fighters get to the lone kobold's sniping point, they'll find his abandoned bow (too large for him to sneak quickly with) and the kobold himself will have long vanished into the small nooks and tunnels of the caves. He won't have gone far, but finding him will be a problem.
In the first Iraq war, one of the worst Allied casualty counts came from an incident of friendly fire, when one Allied tank division mistakenly opened fire on another. It was dark. They were in hostile territory. They were in battle conditions where you shoot first before the enemy can. These things happen in battle.
And if you're outgunned, outnumbered, but have a better grasp of the territory than your enemy does, then you want to encourage your enemy to make this sort of mistake as often as possible. Why waste an arrow when you can get your enemy to waste theirs on each other?
-
NeoTiamat
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 4119
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:00 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Extremely intelligent and useful stuff, HB, I must say. I tend towards very war-game-ish battles in my own campaigns.
One tactic that I've used effectively, which you touch on but don't really go in depth, is trying to separate the PCs. Using large maps and multiple hot-spots, it's possible to get the players to split up and handle different crises that are going on at the same time. The wizards might be trying to hold off the rampaging mob while the fighters try and break through another set of lines to rescue a hsotage. Attacks from multiple directions are particularly effective at this.
This has two benefits, one gamist, one realist. Game-wise, it forces the PCs to make decisions in a battle, serious decisions. Does the player help here or there? Generally speaking, battles where the PCs have to ponder tactics are better than ones where its all by rote. At the same time, if the players are splitting their forces, this means that a foe, particularly one with superior communications or speed, can choose matchups it prefers.
One tactic that I've used effectively, which you touch on but don't really go in depth, is trying to separate the PCs. Using large maps and multiple hot-spots, it's possible to get the players to split up and handle different crises that are going on at the same time. The wizards might be trying to hold off the rampaging mob while the fighters try and break through another set of lines to rescue a hsotage. Attacks from multiple directions are particularly effective at this.
This has two benefits, one gamist, one realist. Game-wise, it forces the PCs to make decisions in a battle, serious decisions. Does the player help here or there? Generally speaking, battles where the PCs have to ponder tactics are better than ones where its all by rote. At the same time, if the players are splitting their forces, this means that a foe, particularly one with superior communications or speed, can choose matchups it prefers.
Ravenloft GM: Eye of Anubis, Shattered City, and Prof. Lupescu's Traveling Ghost Show
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
-
Gonzoron of the FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 7690
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:02 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: New Jersey
- Contact:
Deceptive strike-and-fade:
Start off with a large number of assailants from one direction. Then immediately withdraw and reposition most of your assailants, unseen. Leave a few assailants at the original location to continue sending counterfire.
Done correctly, your enemy will still be concentrating their attention and attacks on the old position, allowing your forces to circle around and flank or surround them.
Drawing an ambush:
Split your force into a mobile-but-weak force, and an entrenched strong force. The mobile force goes forward to engage the enemy. Their purpose is to lure the enemy into giving chase. When your weak force retreats, they will bring the enemy into a trap, allowing the entrenched force to attack the pursuers from a position of strength.
A variety of tactics can give credence to the weak force's gambit. Send them in along an oblique line, giving the enemy an advantageous flank attack to begin with. Or even send them in unawares, so their reactions of surprise and confusion will be genuine. Anything to convince the enemy that they really have surprised your weak force and to encourage them to give chase.
If your scout reports show that the enemy tends to leave their own vulnerable ranged attackers (spellcasters, archers) at their rear, use this same tactic to draw away their meat-shields. Then follow up with a second attack with your strong force against their weak force from a surprise direction.
Zoo cage decoys:
Eat all your bamboo for energy - you're going to need it for this tactic. Wait until it's snowing, and find a sturdy tree with dark branches. Your black-and-white fur will give you natural camouflage while you climb the tree and nestle in a safe spot. Using your six-fingered hands, fashion clumps of snow in other treetops to make dummies to distract the keeper. (This works best if the humans still don't realize you have mastered tool use yet.)
When your keeper comes out to look for you, he'll start with the wrong tree. If you're really successful, he'll be physically climbing into the tree to check the dummy before he realizes it's made of snow. Given enough trees and false starts, the keeper may just get tired and leave the enclosure before he finds you.
In any case, it is vitally important you get rid of the snow dummies before he brings reinforcements. Once they arrive, he will attempt to convince them that he saw you make use of abstract cognitive planning and tool use in the snow decoys... but will be unable to produce any real evidence. The other humans will mock his gullibility and insinuate that he has broken the employment rules on alcohol consumption. Either way, you win.
If he passes under the your branch at any time during this exercise, jump down and break his neck with 200 lbs. of monochromatic fuzzy rage.
Manipulating enemy disengagement:
Sooner or later, the enemy will disengage from your attacks. This is a victory for you, but if they're still more numerous than you are, it will be a temporary victory at best. You need to convince them that it's not worth their while to regroup and come after you a second time.
Careful preparation of the battle grounds can help you out here. First, be wary of cornering your opponent. If your intelligence efforts suggest that he is poorly trained, ill-equipped, or very tired, then cornering him may be advisable - he may be intimidated enough to surrender, or exhausted enough that you can kill him outright. Against a larger number of stronger foes, however, cornering him is dangerous - by removing any choice from the matter, you force him to fight you... and if you're weaker and less numerous, you will probably lose.
Instead, when picking your attack, try to leave the enemy at least one route of escape. One direction should look appealing as a preferable alternative to fighting, especially if you're using all the other tactics above and making it damn annoying for him to effectively fight you. That route can be trapped with a pit or some unpleasant stink-bombs, etc., to further weaken them when they do run.
If you're facing some really spunky enemies, think for a second about giving them some seemingly advantageous grounds. They might not want to run, but they might jump at the chance to turn the tables on you. If you can give them a nice free sniping point, they might be so busy getting up there that they don't realize you've released a hive of scorpions into the longgrass up there.
As an alternative to trapping their escape routes, you might think about posting sentries and spies along that way. If their escape route takes them out of the cavern and up to the mountainside, hide a few cairns there for your own scouts. Your scouts can follow at a distance, using the cairns for resupplies, and note where the enemy makes camp or how battered they look from the fighting. Find out a likely nice camping spot ahead of time, and then find an alternative route up there for another ambush.
Water hazards:
Humans and most demihumans are not built for swimming. They can generally do it, but they can't fight effectively underwater. Moreover, they usually lack fur, and unlike pandas they only have five fingers, marking them out as a clearly inferior species. Water immersion is a very fast way to completely negate any environmental benefit of wearing clothes (suddenly, the cavern atmosphere seems very cold once your clothes are soaked to the skin). It also wonderfully balances out the usual big bonus that PCs use: metal armor.
In any dark area, water is not immediately obvious. Above ground, it babbles and gurgles as it runs. But underground, it pools silently. If you know your enemies are dependent on light and if their armor is too strong for you to shoot through, take out their torchbearer and then get them scrambling in the darkness. Anybody who trips into the water is in trouble until they can get their armor off.
Note that "taking out the torchbearer" doesn't necessarily mean killing him either. Merely making him drop the torch will usually be enough - the torch will burn out quickly now that the flame is pressed against rock, and as it lies on the ground it only illuminates a small bit of the area anyway.
Start off with a large number of assailants from one direction. Then immediately withdraw and reposition most of your assailants, unseen. Leave a few assailants at the original location to continue sending counterfire.
Done correctly, your enemy will still be concentrating their attention and attacks on the old position, allowing your forces to circle around and flank or surround them.
Drawing an ambush:
Split your force into a mobile-but-weak force, and an entrenched strong force. The mobile force goes forward to engage the enemy. Their purpose is to lure the enemy into giving chase. When your weak force retreats, they will bring the enemy into a trap, allowing the entrenched force to attack the pursuers from a position of strength.
A variety of tactics can give credence to the weak force's gambit. Send them in along an oblique line, giving the enemy an advantageous flank attack to begin with. Or even send them in unawares, so their reactions of surprise and confusion will be genuine. Anything to convince the enemy that they really have surprised your weak force and to encourage them to give chase.
If your scout reports show that the enemy tends to leave their own vulnerable ranged attackers (spellcasters, archers) at their rear, use this same tactic to draw away their meat-shields. Then follow up with a second attack with your strong force against their weak force from a surprise direction.
Zoo cage decoys:
Eat all your bamboo for energy - you're going to need it for this tactic. Wait until it's snowing, and find a sturdy tree with dark branches. Your black-and-white fur will give you natural camouflage while you climb the tree and nestle in a safe spot. Using your six-fingered hands, fashion clumps of snow in other treetops to make dummies to distract the keeper. (This works best if the humans still don't realize you have mastered tool use yet.)
When your keeper comes out to look for you, he'll start with the wrong tree. If you're really successful, he'll be physically climbing into the tree to check the dummy before he realizes it's made of snow. Given enough trees and false starts, the keeper may just get tired and leave the enclosure before he finds you.
In any case, it is vitally important you get rid of the snow dummies before he brings reinforcements. Once they arrive, he will attempt to convince them that he saw you make use of abstract cognitive planning and tool use in the snow decoys... but will be unable to produce any real evidence. The other humans will mock his gullibility and insinuate that he has broken the employment rules on alcohol consumption. Either way, you win.
If he passes under the your branch at any time during this exercise, jump down and break his neck with 200 lbs. of monochromatic fuzzy rage.
Sooner or later, the enemy will disengage from your attacks. This is a victory for you, but if they're still more numerous than you are, it will be a temporary victory at best. You need to convince them that it's not worth their while to regroup and come after you a second time.
Careful preparation of the battle grounds can help you out here. First, be wary of cornering your opponent. If your intelligence efforts suggest that he is poorly trained, ill-equipped, or very tired, then cornering him may be advisable - he may be intimidated enough to surrender, or exhausted enough that you can kill him outright. Against a larger number of stronger foes, however, cornering him is dangerous - by removing any choice from the matter, you force him to fight you... and if you're weaker and less numerous, you will probably lose.
Instead, when picking your attack, try to leave the enemy at least one route of escape. One direction should look appealing as a preferable alternative to fighting, especially if you're using all the other tactics above and making it damn annoying for him to effectively fight you. That route can be trapped with a pit or some unpleasant stink-bombs, etc., to further weaken them when they do run.
If you're facing some really spunky enemies, think for a second about giving them some seemingly advantageous grounds. They might not want to run, but they might jump at the chance to turn the tables on you. If you can give them a nice free sniping point, they might be so busy getting up there that they don't realize you've released a hive of scorpions into the longgrass up there.
As an alternative to trapping their escape routes, you might think about posting sentries and spies along that way. If their escape route takes them out of the cavern and up to the mountainside, hide a few cairns there for your own scouts. Your scouts can follow at a distance, using the cairns for resupplies, and note where the enemy makes camp or how battered they look from the fighting. Find out a likely nice camping spot ahead of time, and then find an alternative route up there for another ambush.
Water hazards:
Humans and most demihumans are not built for swimming. They can generally do it, but they can't fight effectively underwater. Moreover, they usually lack fur, and unlike pandas they only have five fingers, marking them out as a clearly inferior species. Water immersion is a very fast way to completely negate any environmental benefit of wearing clothes (suddenly, the cavern atmosphere seems very cold once your clothes are soaked to the skin). It also wonderfully balances out the usual big bonus that PCs use: metal armor.
In any dark area, water is not immediately obvious. Above ground, it babbles and gurgles as it runs. But underground, it pools silently. If you know your enemies are dependent on light and if their armor is too strong for you to shoot through, take out their torchbearer and then get them scrambling in the darkness. Anybody who trips into the water is in trouble until they can get their armor off.
Note that "taking out the torchbearer" doesn't necessarily mean killing him either. Merely making him drop the torch will usually be enough - the torch will burn out quickly now that the flame is pressed against rock, and as it lies on the ground it only illuminates a small bit of the area anyway.
Last edited by HuManBing on Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Manofevil
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2003 11:12 pm
- Location: Why should I say? No one ever visits!
I would add a defensible position of advantage. You may remember 'The Two Towers' when Theoden withdraws his people to Helm's Deep because it was the most defensible. He was right. Get a good fortress or reasonable facsimile under you and it will do half the fighting for you. The enemy will defeat himself crashing against it.
Do us a favor Luv, Stick yer 'ead in a bucket a kick it!
So, gentlemen, that's how it is. Until Grissome.... resurfaces, I'm the acting president, and I say starting with this... anniversary festival, we run this city into the ground! :D
So, gentlemen, that's how it is. Until Grissome.... resurfaces, I'm the acting president, and I say starting with this... anniversary festival, we run this city into the ground! :D
-
alhoon
- Invisible Menace
- Posts: 9081
- Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
- Location: Chania or Athens // Greece
Interesting stuff. Keep them coming. 
However, for D&D types of games, smart tactics won't get you far if you can hit your enemy only with 25 on a dice 20, and even if you score that natural 20, you get to deal 5% of his hp.
On the other hand, traps can help. I would like a bit more "fight near the traps" tactics.
Like say, those three kobolds mentioned have a something to give them speed and run down low corridors activating traps on every blind corner.
Or that innocuous panda ends up to be pressing the button that fills the room with fire or drops half the party down a 50' shaft.
However, for D&D types of games, smart tactics won't get you far if you can hit your enemy only with 25 on a dice 20, and even if you score that natural 20, you get to deal 5% of his hp.
On the other hand, traps can help. I would like a bit more "fight near the traps" tactics.
Like say, those three kobolds mentioned have a something to give them speed and run down low corridors activating traps on every blind corner.
Or that innocuous panda ends up to be pressing the button that fills the room with fire or drops half the party down a 50' shaft.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!