Heroic Foray Rules
To involve players in large scale battles where there may not be an ongoing encounter, PCs may declare a foray and directly attack a unit card's general or lead their own individual units. At the start of the round, a PC should declare if they are making a foray or leading a unit.
Foray
A Foray is an encounter between the party and the commander of the unit they have chosen to attack. If they choose to Foray, they put their miniature on an enemy unit's card.
The enemy commander will be backed up by minions equal to the units current hit die. (An 8 hit die unit has 8 minions with the general, and so forth). The commander should be an enemy with a CR related to the die size of the unit.
Commander CR
| Unit Strength | CR |
|---|---|
| Green / Regular | 1-4 |
| Seasoned | 5-9 |
| Veteran | 10-12 |
| Elite | 13-16 |
| Super-Elite | 17-20 |
On initiative count 20, the commander can summon reinforcements (no action required) by rolling the units die size and receiving that many minions (the number of minions in play at any time cannot exceed the units die size).
If the party manage to kill the commander the unit becomes diminished, should the unit already be diminished then it disbands. (The party cannot Foray against the same unit multiple times, the removal of a unit from the field of battle is a joint effort between the party and their army).
Minions
The commander's minions should behave similarly to 4e's minions, as such their HP is set to 1. Their attributes are determined by the unit that they are a part of.
| Minion Attribute | Unit Attribute |
|---|---|
| AC | Defense |
| Attack and Damage Bonus | Power |
| Damage Dice | Equipment Level* |
| Mental Save Bonus | Moral Bonus** |
| Physical Save Bonus | Toughness Bonus |
*The damage dice starts at d6 for light and increases a step for each equipment level (Heavy is a d10 for example).
**If the unit is diminished then the minions do not receive this bonus.
Minion Resilience
If the minion would take damage on a successful save, it instead takes none. A minion must be killed by being hit with an attack or the minion failing a save and taking damage.
Leadership
If they lead a unit, they put their miniature on an allied unit's card and choose one of the following effects:
Lead from the front. The Unit a gets bonus to Attack rolls equivalent to half the PC's proficiency bonus rounded down.
Master Strategist. The Unit a gets bonus to Toughness rolls equivalent to half the PC's proficiency bonus rounded down.
Bolster. The Unit gets advantage on Morale checks.
Threatening yell. Targeted Unit gets disadvantage on Morale checks.
Surgical Strike The Unit gets a bonus to Power rolls equivalent to half the PC's proficiency bonus rounded down.
If multiple PCs choose to lead the same unit they cannot choose the same effect.
If the party has hired or gained any retainers then they can be used as additional leaders for units. If a retainer is performing the role of leader for a unit then wherever proficiency bonuses are used as bonuses they instead provide a +1.
Additional Optional Rules
Included here are some more rules that interface with what has been laid out above but may not be to every GM's preference.
Victory Rush
When a PC wins a Foray against an enemy commander, the rush of victory allows it to spend up to a number of hit dice equal to its proficiency bonus to regain hit points, just as it would at the end of a short rest. Additionally, the PC can recharge one ability that recharges on a short rest.