Battle System Alpha 2

by KibblesTasty

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Battle System

Alpha 2 (v0.2)

Introduction

The rumors fly like leaves on the wind... war comes! A great host descends upon the lands, a wave of darkness sweeping toward the good people. What are your heroes to do but raise their own army and stand against this evil?

The Battle System is a relatively simple set of mechanics that fits over a combat encounter of 5e D&D that turns that humble combat encounter into a skirmish at the heart of a raging battle, but also a framework that sits over the campaign for building the unique mechanics fitting for each battle. A battle is not a standalone event, but the culmination of two sides building the forces and meeting in a series of epic clashes, and that's what this system aims to represent.

Why do you need this?

Like many things I make, this arose from my own games. Over the course of a campaign the players had been hearing of a swelling force of Hobgoblins to the East. Then they heard that the legendary fortress that guards the western lands they adventure in, Ironmount, had fallen to this host. Now they hear that bands are roaming through the lands conquering and pillaging.

My players find themselves in a remote border region of farmland and adventure when the distant rumors become reality. The outriders are here. An army comes. They rally the villages to arm themselves and stand against this menace, but as the two forces set up to clash, I find myself wondering... how as a DM do I make all this epic? Does all this seem worth it?

This was my solution. I needed something where the players play their characters, it's what they are here for! I wanted something that they could lose without me just deciding they did. I wanted something where they could be rewarded for having recruited powerful in allies in an obvious way. Most of all, I wanted something that would feel like an epic clash at the heart of a raging battle. And I wanted something lightweight enough to not slow down combat too much. We still have to play the game folks.

Many games do not need this system. Many adventurers can go many campaigns without finding themselves in the heat of battle. But when you find yourself gearing up for war, this system is here for you to make it an epic showdown that is, most importantly, a lot of fun.

How does the Battle System Work?

The core of the Battle System is the battle takes part on two levels played simultaneously.

The Skirmish, which serves as the beating heart of the battle and focuses on the players and their individual contributions to the fight, and the contextual layer above that that tracks the overall progress of the battle including what the players in the Skirmish are contributing.

But the characters contributions in the Skirmish are not the only way the players engage with the battle. At the start of every turn, the DM and players play Battle Cards from a deck built from the Elites of each army (including the players themselves!).

These can sway the battle by inflicting devastating effects on the Skirmish, and Casualties on the enemy's General Forces.

System and Story

It would not be incorrect to call the Battle System a deck building card game that plays out over a 5e encounter, though it is, on its own, a fairly simple system that makes no effort at systematic balance, as what army, elites, leaders, and scouts your players have comes out of the story of how your players have played the game.

Recruiting powerful Elites, establishing relationships and character development that unlock further powers, securing your armies, these all correlate to options you will have in combat.

System Overview

To run the Battle System, follow these steps, each of which are expanded throughout the system below in greater details. This step by step process can be referenced back to while running a battle, or as a checklist to make sure you have all the steps ready.

Set Up the Battle
  1. Construct two armies (each built of a Leader, Elites, General Forces, and Siege Weapons) with are combined to represent its Fielded Strength. Templates and calculations are provided in Building Your Army.
  2. Calculate the Morale for both armies (based on Fielded Strength, circumstance modifiers, and the Leader). Morale is 1/3 of Fielded Strength + Leader Bonuses.
  3. Create a deck of Battle Cards to simulate the tactical layer for both armies. Battle Cards are granted by the Elites, Siege Weapons, and Events. Templates are are provided in the Battle Cards section.
  4. Draw a circle on a battle map for the Skirmish to take place in.
Running The Battle
  1. The DM adds an Elite to the Skirmish, and than adds enemies from the General Forces (covered in Spawning Enemies)
  2. Play out the Battle Cards, with the DMing playing each card first, until both sides have played as many cards as they can play.
  3. Play a round of D&D 5e combat as normal until the end of the round is reached.
  4. Repeat until the enemy Elite is dead or the players Withdraw
  5. Run an Intermission, the players can choose to immediately continue with a Challenge. Calculate Attrition based on the Player's Choice of Intermission.
  6. Start the next Skirmish and repeat the Running The Battle steps.
  7. Repeat until one side has their Morale or Fielded Strength reduced to 0.
Tally the Results
  1. Calculate the after math of the battle (covered in the Aftermath section).
  2. The battle is complete.

Mechanics

The Armies

A battle needs an army. Specifically, it needs two of them.

An army consists of:

  • A Leader, who directs the battle and has stats the serve as a force multiplier.
  • Elites, who represent the most powerful and heroic figures within the army.
  • General Forces, who represent the bulk of those forces.
  • Seige Weapons, which represent special warfare tools that grant special Battle Cards.

The only element that is not optional is General Forces, but armies missing other elements will be a severe disadvantage.

The PC serve as a special kind of Elite that is part of their army, but will play a special role fighting in the Skirmish - the raging heart at the center of the battle where they will defeat enemy Elites (and potentially the enemy Leader, throwing the enemy into disarray).

General Forces

Will be conscripts, rank and file soldiers, hordes of skeletons, mercenaries, or other mass forces. These are not inherently nameless minions, and can include NPCs or friends of the party, but generally will represent anyone without special warfare skills.

This will make up the bulk of your army and its Fielded Strength, but will be very vulnerable to without Elites and Leaders as they cannot play Battle Cards themselves, and contribute only passively (if very importantly) to your army.

Elites

Elites are exceptional creatures that are generally higher CR or level than the general forces. What sort of creatures and CR range would qualify as an elite depends on the tier of play as well as their importance to your game and story. Generally Elites are units that could inflict devastating casualties on General Forces if unopposed by other Elites. Elites contribute to your overall Fielded Strength, but also contribute Battle Cards, and to the number of Battle Cards you can play.

Battle Cards represent actions of your Elites that change the course of Battle, and an army without Elites will generally be ravaged by the enemy Battle Cards - but be warned, an army with only Elites will quickly be over run by sheer attrition! Elites alone will struggle to hold a field.

Leaders

Leaders can be Elites as well, but they can also just be capable commanders. A leader is a force multiplier that contributes greatly to your army. A leader can be a player character or NPC. Your army can have multiple leaders, but only one leader's multiplier can be used, additionally leaders still contribute their morale bonus, and a bonus to the number of Battle Cards you can draw at the start of combat and hold, expanding your tactical flexibility.

Scouts

Scouts can be either General Forces or Elites with the Scout tag, which will come with a Scouting Effectiveness value. They both inform you about the enemy army and defend an army against the enemy learning things about you. They can get their information from scouting, spying, or scrying, all are combined into their scouting effectiveness.

This information can provide you with unique and powerful Event based Battle Cards.

Siege Weapons

Siege Weapons grant additional Battle Cards, but do not directly contribute to your Fielded Strength, so cannot carry on a battle on their own.

Fielded Strength

Each creature contributes fielded strength equal to 4 x its CR. Your army has a Fielded Strength that is the sum of the creatures in your General Forces and Elites. This number is then multiplied by your designated Leader's multiplier.

Morale

Your army has a Morale score that is derived from the Fielded Strength, with additional modifiers from circumstance and your Leader. If your Morale score drops to zero, your army breaks and flees. Some Battle Cards (typically those contributed by Leaders) can raise Morale when played.

Starting Morale Score = (Fielded Strength / 2) x Modifiers

Casualties

Attrition, many Battle Cards, and some actions of Elites can deal Casualties. Casualties reduce the Fielded Strength and Morale score of an army. Reducing one of these to zero ends the Battle.

Army Size

Army Size depends on Fielded Strength. It effects how many Battle Cards you can play, but is something that should be kept in mind in relation to the PC's strength. Sizes are Small (<500), Medium (101-500), Large (501-1000), and Gigantic (1000+)

In general, the larger the battle, the less the player's actions will impact the outcome, while the higher level the PCs, the more they will impact the outcome. A rule of thumb is that Level 1-4 PCs can meaningfully impact small battles, level 5-9 PCs can meaningfully impact medium battles, and 10+ PCs can have a meaningful impact on Large and larger battles.

Attrition %

At the end of each skirmish phase during the Intermission, both armies suffer attrition. Attrition is measured as a % of the opposing army which the army takes as casualties. For example, if an army suffers 10% attrition, against an army with 400 Fielded Strength, they take 40 casualties.

If an army loses their Leader or has a Fielded Strength of 1/3 or less of the opposing army, all attrition casualties are doubled.

The Skirmish

While this system simulates a large scale battle, as this is D&D, ultimately what we care most about is the players and what they are doing. The players can generally be found in the heart of the battle called the Skirmish. The Skirmish is a ring of terrain in the heart of the Battle where the players engage enemy forces and Elites directly. The player's actions here will have a large impact on the battle, but it is possible to lose a battle while winning in the Skirmish if your army is routed around you. Not only can you defeat enemies in the Skirmish depleting your enemy's Fielded Strength and potentially eliminating their Elites, for each casualty you deal in the Skirmish, your army's Morale is increased by an equal amount, giving you a large boost.

While an Elite is in the Skirmish (including the PCs) you cannot play Battle Cards from that Elite unless they have the Action or Gambit property. A Action card can be played while in the skirmish, but requires your action; a Gambit can be played while its Elite is in the skirmish without an action.

Starting the Skirmish

At the start of Battle, mark the Skirmish circle. The radius of the is flexible, but a default size of Skirmish of 10 feet for 1 player, and increasing by 5 feet for each additional player to a maximum of 40 feet in radius can be used. The terrain and obstacles of the skirmish can be set however is appropriate for the field of battle. It should generally include at least some cover or terrain features.

Placement: The players enter the Skirmish from their army's side of the field; the players can start anywhere within their half of the skirmish. The DM places 1 Elite, plus a deployment from each General Force in the enemy force (typically 1 to 1d4 of that General Forces Unit). These can be placed anywhere in the enemy half of the skirmish.

Moving Outside the Skirmish

A player or Elite can move outside the Skirmish area, but they treat it as difficult terrain and take 1d12 piercing damage for each 5 feet they move while outside of the Skirmish. This damage represents them getting pulled into the general chaos of the battle raging around them (as well as encouraging them to stay within the Skirmish).

If a Player or Elite ends their turn outside of the Skirmish, they are withdrawn from the Skirmish until the next Intermission. If they exited on the enemy side of the skirmish, they take an additional 4d12 damage.

Spawning Enemies

At the start of a Skirmish, the DM adds an enemy elite to the Skirmish, and one spawn from each general forces, up to a maximum number of spawns equal to the number of PCs (note this is number of spawns, not number of creatures spawns - some units spawn multiple units per spawn). The skirmish continues until the Elite is slain or the players retreat. Each general forces unit will indicate its rate of adding enemies to the Skirmish, but this is generally about 1d4 to 1 creature.

At the start of each round after the first, additional enemy reinforcements will spawn in an escalating number the longer the Skirmish continues. This generally means that players will eventually have to break the Skirmish - either withdrawing or after killing an enemy elite.

Round Number of Enemy Spawns
1 # of PCs - 2
2 # of PCs - 1
3 # of PCs
4 # of PCs + 1
5+ # of PCs + 1

Enemy forces are spawned anywhere along the edge of the enemy's side of the skirmish. There is always a minimum of 1 enemy spawn at the start of a round.

Fashionably Late Elites

In some instances, players with excessive burst damage builds can too easily kill single targets when focus firing, particularly when they are highly familiar with the system. One way to mitigate this is to have the elite spawn in Round 2 or 3. This will make the battle take longer, but makes it somewhat more realistic, fighting a few waves of general forces before the Elite appears.

Bringing Allied Elites in the Skirmish

The players can choose to bring the allied Elites into the Skirmish; to do so, they must sacrifice a Battle Card contributed by that Elite from their hand automatically expending, playing it without any effect. That elite immediately joins them in the Skirmish, rolling initiative and starting on player's side of the skirmish. While that Elite is in Skirmish, the number of Battle Cards you can roll is reduced by one, making this generally a tactic of last resort.

Intermission

When the players defeat an elite, play out the rest of the round as normal. At the end of the round your players can choose one of the following options.

  • Challenge (Immediate). Double the Morale gained from killing the last Elite. Immediately spawn the next Elite and continue the Skirmish without resetting the spawn progression. No time passes and you proceed into the next round as normal. Both armies suffer 5% attrition.
  • Press the Advantage (5 Minutes). You inspire a charge on the enemy joining the general fray for 5 minutes. Reset the Skirmish and start it again as normal (resetting spawn progression), but add half of the enemies that remained in the last Skirmish as bonus enemy spawns on the first round. The enemy suffers 15% attrition, while your army suffers 10% attrition.
  • Tactical Opening (5 Minutes) Play one Battle Card in your hand uncontested, and then discard any cards in your hand you choose, and draw an equal number of cards to the discarded cards. Reset the Skirmish and start it again as normal, but add half of the enemies that remained in the last Skirmish as bonus enemy spawns. Both armies suffer 10% attrition.
  • Redeployment (5 minutes). Recover 3 expended cards that were not Expendable, add them back to your deck. Reset the Skirmish and start it again as normal, but add half of the enemies that remained in the last Skirmish as bonus enemy spawns. Both armies suffer 10% attrition.
  • Catch a Break (10 minutes) The current skirmish ends and players can take a short rest. Unconscious PCs can be healed before starting the short rest if resources are available to do so. Reset the Skirmish and start it again as normal. Both armies suffer 20% attrition.
Deadly Challenge

Optionally, the DM can implement the Deadly Challenge event table. When in play, roll on the following Event Table each time the players take the Challenge option.

  d20   Additional Challenge
1-10 1 additional General Forces Spawn.
11-15 2 additional General Forces Spawn.
15-19 1 additional Elite spawns.
20 1 additional General Forces spawn, 1 additional Elite Spawn, the Enemy Leader is added to the Skirmish.
Time During Intermissions

When time passes during an intermission, PCs can use abilities and cast spells (such as second wind or cure wounds). PCs can cast spells with a duration of 10 minutes or longer, but the timing of the battles is not predictable enough to set up 1 minute spells before the Skirmish restarts. Any temporary creatures conjured by a spell lose 50% of their hit points if they are persisted through an intermission other than Challenge.

Withdraw

The players can withdraw from the Skirmish. To do so, all players that are not Unconscious must exit the Skirmish (taking the damage penalty for moving outside and ending their turn outside of the Skirmish). Any players that are downed and not stabilized in the Skirmish must roll until the are stabilized or dead.

The players than either sound a general retreat, or select the Catch a Break option. At the DMs discrection the rest of the battle can played out in the Tactical layer only (playing Battle Cards and applying attrition after each round until morale is depleted) instead of sounding a retreat.

Attacking the Army

Elites within the Skirmish can opt to attack the army beyond the Skirmish directly. To do so they must be in range of the edge of Skirmish to make the attack, and it expands their action, bonus action, and reaction.

Doing so deals the player's proficiency bonus in casualties to the enemy army (Elites instead use half their CR, rounded down). Alternatively, the player can expend a spell slot to deal twice the spell slot level in casualties.

Note: Intentionally inefficient

While attacking the army directly is a good option to have, it is intended to be inefficient and rarely the best option available to PCs unless they have wiped the skirmish.

Defeating Units in the Skirmish

Each time an enemy is defeated in the Skirmish, the enemy takes Casualties (damage to Fielded Strength and Morale) equal to the defeated creature's Fielded Strength, and the army that defeated them gains an equal amount of Morale.

If an Elite is defeated, any of the Battle Cards provided by that Elite are discarded and removed from play. You can draw an additional card to replace it.

Tallying This Up

Generally speaking, I just set all the units defeated in a round to the side and tally them up at the end, it should only take a few seconds since you can reference the creatures CR or level. An alternative method is to have the players keep track as they go - they'll typically enjoy that and its a good way to offload some of the calculations.

Battle Cards

Building Your Deck

Battle Cards are contributed to an army by Leaders, Elites (including Players), Siege Weapons and Events. In the case of NPC Leaders, Elites, and Siege Weapons, they will typically come with standard cards from the templates based on their type and CR (as shown on the Elite Cards Table in the Template section). Players can draft their cards from a limited selection based on their class and level.

Place all Battle Cards each army has into their own decks at the start of battle.

Special and Event Cards

When running the Battle System as a Campaign, in addition to these you can have Special cards. These should be treated like loot - special things the players have earned that aren't "balanced". These either replace a standard elite card (if granted by an elite) or are simple added to the deck.

Drawing Cards
  • At the start of combat, draw a number of cards equal to your Leader's Stratagem Score + the number of bonus leaders you have.
  • At the start each subsequent turn, draw a numnber of cards equal to your Leader's Stratagem score.
  • During the card playing phase, you can forgo playing a card to draw two additional cards.

You can have a maximum number of cards in your hand equal to your Leader's Stratagem Score times 2, and any cards drawn while at your maximum hand size are immediately discarded (but not expended). For each additional Leader in your army, you can increaser of cards you can hold by 1 (regardless of Stratagem Score).

Playing Cards

The number of cards you can play are determined by the scale of the battle:

  • Small (<300 FS): 2 Cards
  • Medium (300-999 FS): 3 Cards
  • Large (1,000-2000 FS): 4 Cards
  • Gigantic (>2,000 FS): 5 Cards

You cannot play more cards than you have Elites, meaning that if you're army does not have enough elites, you may run into situations where you can no longer play as many cards as the size of the battle merits (usually giving the other side a large advantage).

Siege Weapons

Siege Weapons contribute Battle Cards to your deck, but do not increase draw number, hand size, or play number. They are useful because their Battle Cards are strong and typically very reliably (meaning their have a large reuse die).

These can be particularly important as Elite cards are lost when they die; while many Leaders have additional ways to draw cards, if they have no cards to draw that cannot help them.

Playing Cards

Cards are played at the start of each combat round during the Skirmish. The PC cards are dealt face up allowing all the Players (and the DM) to see their cards, while the DM cards are dealt to the DM and visible only to them.

Cards are played 1 at a time, with the DM always playing their card first, followed by the PC's playing a card in response to that card.

Player Favoritism

This system is heavily biased toward the players. While the DM can see all the cards, giving them a slight advantage, this pales in comparison being able to respond to the played cards. This is intentional, allowing the players to always have a tactical edge and helping them to overcome the odds.

Card Reuse

A card is either Reusable or Expendable. Cards can be in one of 4 places: Your Deck (where all cards start), your Reserve pile (where cards that are discarded or played but not expended go), your hand, or Expended pile, which are removed from play in all but rare cases.

You draw cards from your Deck into your hand. If you must discard cards, those go into the Reserve pile. When you play a card, if it is Expendable it goes into the Expended pile. If it is Reusable, roll the reuse die (which will be listed on the card). On 1 or 2, that card is expended, otherwise it added to the Reserve pile.

If your Deck is empty, you shuffle your Reserve pile into your Deck and start drawing again.

Time for Battle

Step 1: Build Armies

This step is done before the session. It can be anything from the subject of a whole campaign (gathering an army to defeat a foe is a classic narrative) to setting up an army before the session to play out a large scale skirmish.

  • Select a Leader for both armies. An army can be leaderless, but will face a large disadvantage without one.
  • Select the composition of General Forces for both sides, generally selecting and customizing (if needed) general force stat template blocks.
  • Select a number of Elites from the ranks of each force. In general, the number of Elites should be generally equal for both sides, but the player sides counts the PCs as Elites.
  • Add any appropriate Siege Weapons to each force.

Now you can calculate all derived values. Though it sounds like math, this is extremely simple:

  • Add the Fielded Strength of the General Forces and Elites together.
  • Calculate the Morale by dividing that number in 2.
  • Multiple the Morale by the Leader's Morale Modifier.
  • Add all Leader Morale bonuses to get the final Morale.

Morale is the most important number as it determines when an army will retreat, but keep Fielded Strength handy as its used in a few places (main Attrition). An army will almost always deplete Morale before depleting Fielded Strength.

Step 1.5: Build the Battle Deck

Now that you have the army composition for both sides, building the deck is fairly easy. For Elites and Siege Weapons, they'll have set Battle Cards that are added to the deck for their side. You can always customize and create new special cards where appropriate, or swap around cards, replacing them with other options, such as from the Hero and Villain options.

For PCs, generally highly engaged PCs can pick their own cards from those available for their class, though you can assign them cards if you feel that would be too complicated for them.

Army Size Guidance

Generally speaking, the Enemy Army should be at least 20% larger than the PC army, and though it can be quite a bit larger depending on various factors. The system is designed to give PCs the advantage. The larger the scale of the army, the lower the level of the PCs, and larger the difference, the less the PCs will be able to overcome the odds though. In general, 20-50% larger enemy army with a maximum size of Small in Tier 1, Large in Tier 2-3 will give the PCs a reasonable fighting chance between easy and hard. In larder scale conflicts, the difference should be smaller as the PC actions will contribute less to the overall outcome.

Step 2: Fight!

The battle lines are drawn and the roar of the enemy hoard is near. It's time for battle.

Dues Ex Reinforcements

While it is important to let PCs be able to lose, it is also unreasonable to expect perfect balance of this system on your first time you using it. If you want to use it in a situation where you'd rather the PCs don't lose, but still want an engaging Battle, you can prepare reinforcements ahead of time to bolster their forces if it seems the battle will turn against them.

While it's generally suggested you don't lean on this too heavily, it can be a useful tool to have ready for the first time your running a battle, and can help highlight the importance of allies and that they might need to seek help for battles ahead.

Resources

Template General Forces

Template Elites

General

Template

Elite (Tier 1)

  • Skirmish Unit:
  • Fielded Strength:
  • Battle Cards:
  • Stratagem
  • Leadership Multiplier:

Knight

Elite, Leader (Tier 1)

  • Skirmish Unit: Knight
  • Fielded Strength: 12
  • Battle Cards: Devastate, Inspire Forces
  • Stratagem 2
  • Leadership Multiplier: 1.1

Undead

Vampire

Elite, Leader (Tier 3)

  • Skirmish Unit: Vampire
  • Fielded Strength: 52
  • Battle Cards: Deploy Conjured Allies, Destroy
  • Stratagem 4
  • Leadership Multiplier: 1.25

Frost Giant Zombie

Elite, Brawler (Tier 2)

  • Skirmish Unit: Frost Giant Zombie
  • Fielded Strength: 36
  • Battle Cards: Rampage, Rampage
  • Stratagem N/A

Cadaver Collector

Elite, Support, Brawler (Tier 3)

  • Skirmish Unit: Cadaver Collector
  • Fielded Strength: 56
  • Battle Cards: Deploy Conjured Allies, Destroy
  • Stratagem N/A

Tyrannosaurus Zombie

Elite, Brawler (Tier 2)

  • Skirmish Unit: Tyrannosaurus Zombie
  • Fielded Strength: 32
  • Battle Cards: Rampage, Rampage
  • Stratagem N/A

Blackguard

Elite, Brawler, Leader (Tier 2)

  • Skirmish Unit: Blackguard
  • Fielded Strength: 32
  • Battle Cards: Incite Violence, Rampage
  • Stratagem 3
  • Leadership Multiplier: 1.2

Necromancer Lord

Elite, Villain, Controller, Leader (Tier 2)

  • Skirmish Unit: Necromancer
  • Fielded Strength: 36
  • Battle Cards: Cycle the Legions, Deploy Conjured Allies
  • Stratagem 3
  • Leadership Multiplier: 1.2

Battle Cards

The Narrative

Battle Cards represent the contributes of Elites to their army. This can be the direct actions, or premeditated plans, traps, items, preparations, etc. Don't worry too much about the exact translations of the rules of D&D combat to the Battle Card mechanics - the game is not built for combat on this scale, and these serve as the representations of days or weeks of preparations for war.

In the case of NPC allies that are not directly in the Skirmish, these can generally be thought of as the actions they are directly taking. In the case of cards contributed by the PCs, the effects are generally more abstract. In older versions of the system, these were more discretely differentiated, but ultimately that was discarded for convenience in play.

Mechanics Tips
  • Battle Cards resolve in the order they were played when order matters.
  • Morale is not recalculated when if Fielded Strength is modified by a Battle Card.

Basic Cards

Devastate

Basic (Tier 1), Reuse d12

  • The enemy forces take 1d12 casualties.

Rampage

Basic (Tier 2), Reuse d12

  • The enemy forces take 2d12 casualties.

Destroy

Basic (Tier 3), Reuse d12

  • The enemy forces take 3d12 casualties.

Obliterate

Basic (Tier 4), Reuse d12

  • The enemy forces take 4d12 casualties.

Siege Weapon Cards

Fire Bolts

Siege (Tier 1), Reuse d20

  • The three hostile creatures furtherest away from your army must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving. On failure, they take 3d8 piercing damage and are knocked prone. On a successful save, they take half as much damage and are not knocked prone.
  • Deals casualties to the enemy army equal to half the damage roll.

Fling Rocks

Siege (Tier 1), Reuse d20

  • The three hostile creatures furtherest away from your army must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving. On failure, they take 2d12 bludgeoning damage and are knocked prone. On a successful save, they take half as much damage and are not knocked prone.
  • Deals casualties to the enemy army equal to half the damage roll.
  • Alternate Use: If this card isn't block, you can alternatively choose to use it destroy one fortification, removing it's effect from combat.

Hail of Stones

Siege (Tier 2), Reuse d20

  • Pick 3 10-foot radius areas within the skirmish. All creatures within those areas must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On failure, they take 6d6 bludgeoning damage, or half as much on a successful save. A creature can only by affected once (even if multiple areas overlap with them).
  • Deals casualties to the enemy army equal to half the damage roll.

Thunderous Barrage

Siege (Tier 3), Reuse d20

  • The three hostile creatures furtherest away from your army must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving. On failure, they take 4d12 piercing damage and are knocked prone. On a successful save, they take half as much damage and are not knocked prone.
  • Deals casualties to the enemy army equal to the damage roll.

Aerial Bombardment

Siege (Tier 4), Reuse d20

  • Pick 3 15-foot radius areas within the skirmish. All creatures within those areas must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On failure, they take 6d6 bludgeoning damage and 6d6 thunder damage, or half as much on a successful save. A creature can only by affected once (even if multiple areas overlap with them).
  • Deals casualties equal to half the damage roll.

Special Cards

  • Each class can draw from the following categories of cards.
  • A PC contributes two Battle Cards to their armies deck, which can be drawn from their current tier or lower, drawing on either the general cards of their tier, or from one of the available categories for their class. You cannot pick the same card twice.

A DM can allow a PC to draw from other categories (or use custom cards) where it makes sense for their character, particularly if their subclass is a different archetype than their class. If a character is multiclassed, they use class with the most levels in it to determine their category.

Class Categories
Barbarian Brawler, Defender
Bard Controller, Leader
Cleric Support, Leader
Druid Controller, Blaster
Fighter Brawler, Leader
InventorK Specialist, Blaster
Monk Striker, Specialist
Occultist Controller, Support
Paladin Defender, Leader
PsionK Blaster, Controller
Ranger Striker, Specialist
Rogue Specialist, Striker
SpellbladeK Striker, Blaster
Sorcerer Blaster, Striker
WardenK Defender, Controller
WarlordK Leader, Support
Warlock Blaster, Specialist
Wizard Controller, Blaster
Level Tier
1-4 Tier 1
5-9 Tier 2
10-14 Tier 3
15+ Tier 4

Leader

Leaders can additionally serve as the Leader of your army. They have Bards, Clerics, Fighters, and Paladins have a base Stratagem score of 1 + their Tier (so a Tier 1 Fighter would have a score of 2). A Warlord has a base Stratagem score of 2 + their Tier (so a Tier 1 Warlord would have a score of 3).

Inspire Forces

Leader (Tier 1), Reuse d8

  • Allied units in the Skirmish gain 1 Inspiration (this is lost if not used by the end of the round).
  • Restores 2d6 Morale.

Reposition

Leader (Tier 2), Expendable

  • Allows allied units in the Skirmish to move up half their movement speed with provoking attacks of opportunity.
  • Blocks opposing Battle Card
  • Allows you to reassign all of your previously played Battle Cards, changing which enemy Battle Cards they oppose.

Outflank

Leader (Tier 3), Expendable

  • The enemy forces take 4d6 casualties.
  • The opposing Battle Card is Expended (automatically failing its reuse reroll).
  • You can play an additional Battle Card this round.

Perfect Play

Leader (Tier 4), Expendable

  • When you play this card, you can replace it with any card in your Deck, Discard, or Expended piles (searching them an reshuffling them as necessary). If the card you played was already expended, it is automatically expended again (rather than rolling its reuse die).

Blaster

Explosive Assault

Blaster (Tier 1), Reuse d4

  • The enemy forces take 2d6 casualties.

Arcane Barrage

Blaster (Tier 1), Reuse d4

  • The three enemy units closest to your army take 1d4 + 1 force damage.
  • The enemy forces take 3d4 casualties.

Falling Sky

Blaster (Tier 3), Reuse d4

  • Choose two 10 foot radius points in the Skirmish. Creatures within those areas must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d8 lightning damage.
  • The enemy forces casualties equal to the damage roll.

Cataclysm

Blaster (Tier 4), Reuse d4

  • The enemy forces take 6d12 casualties.
  • The furthest three enemies from your army take damage equal to the casualties dealt.

Striker

Strikers employ cunning tactics that typical deal damage to select units within the Skirmish and moderate casualties and have many unblockable cards.

Fire Volley

Striker (Tier 1), Reuse d8

  • The furthest 3 enemies in the Skirmish take 1d8 piercing damage.
  • The enemy forces take casualties equal to the damage roll.

Devious Assault

Striker (Tier 2), Reuse d6

  • Deals 3d8 damage to a creature of your choice within the Skirmish.
  • Deals casualties equal to half the damage dealt.
  • Cannot be blocked.

Daring Raid

Striker (Tier 2), Reuse d6

  • The enemy forces take 2d6 casualties.
  • Destroys an enemy Siege Weapon. The Battle Cards contributed by that Siege Weapon are Expended.

Unrelenting Assault

Striker (Tier 3), Reuse d6

  • The enemy forces take 2d6 casualties.
  • You can play an additional Battle Card this turn.

Assassinate

Striker (Tier 4), Reused d6

  • Attempts kill an enemy Elite that is not currently deployed in the Skirmish. Roll a d20 and add the number of cards you've played this turn (including this one). If the result is equal to or higher than the CR of the Elite, the Elite is either slain or critically wounded, withdrawing from the battle.
  • If the assassination succeeds, this card is Expended.

Brawler

Brawlers perform flashy actions, but ones that often come with a cost. Their cards do a lot of damage, but often restore morale or come with special effects... at the cost of often overtaxing themselves or their army.

Heroic Charge

Brawler (Tier 1), Reuse d8

  • The enemy forces take 2d8 casualties.
  • Restores morale equal to half the casualties dealt.

Incite Violence

Brawler (Tier 2), Reused d8

  • The enemy forces take 3d12 casualties.
  • Your forces take casualties equal to the lowest roll on the three dice.

Duel to the Death

Brawler (Tier 3), Expendable

  • Pick one of your Elites that is not in the Skirmish to challenge one of the enemy Elites that is not in the skirmish. Both Elites roll a d20 + twice their Fielded Strength. The one that rolls lower is slain (or critically injured) and withdraws from battle.
  • The victorious army regains morale equal to the twice the Fielded Strength of the defeated Elite.

Blood Toll

Brawler (Tier 3), Expendable

  • After all cards have been resolved, the opposing army takes casualties equal to the casualties you took from Battle Cards this round.

Last Stand

Brawler (Tier 4), Expendable

  • Your army takes 6d6 casualties or sacrifices one of your Elites. Blocks all enemy cards for the turn.
  • Regain 6d6 morale.

Controller

Impassable Terrain

Controller (Tier 1), Reuse d6

  • Blocks the opposing Battle Card.

Obscured Movements

Controller (Tier 2), Expendable

  • Blocks the opposing Battle Card.
  • You can rearrange all of your played cards before the Battle Cards are resolved.

Disruption

Controller (Tier 2), d6

  • Blocks the opposing Battle Card
  • All hostile creatures in the Skirmish that are concentrating on a spell must make DC 12 Constitution saving throw to maintain their concentration.

Deploy Conjured Allies

Controller (Tier 2), Expendable

  • Increases allied army Fielded Strength and Morale by 3d8.

Forewarned

Controller (Tier 3), Expendable.

  • The other player must play all of their Cards for their turn first. This card takes effect immediately, can be played out of playing order, and does not count against the number of cards you can play this turn.

Hazardous Approach

Controller (Tier 4), Reuse d6.

  • The opposing team takes 6d4 casualties for each Battle Card they play after this one is played.
  • Any general forces that are spawned into the Skirmish this round take 6d4 damage.

Support

Faith

Support (Tier 1), Reuse d8

  • Draw 2 battle cards.
  • You have advantage on all Reuse rolls made this round (rolling two dice and taking the more favorable result).

Conviction

Support (Tier 1), Reuse d6

  • Restores 2d4 morale to the allied army.
  • 3 allied units of your choice within the Skirmish gain the effect of bless until the start of the next round.

Zeal

Support (Tier 2), Expendable

  • All allied units in the Skirmish gain 2d8 temporary hit points.
  • Halves the casualties taken this round.

Surge of Life

Support (Tier 3), Expendable

  • Restores 2d8 morale to the allied army.
  • All allied creatures in the Skirmish gain 2d8 temporary hit points.

Back From the Brink

Support (Tier 4), Expendable

  • Either... (a) Restores a fallen Elite or (b) restores 1d4 expended cards from your Expended pile.
  • Cannot be blocked.

Defender

Hold the Line

Defender (Tier 1), Reuse d4

  • Blocks opposing Battle Card.
  • Restores 1d4 morale.

Escort Mission

Defender (Tier 2), Reuse d4

  • Your army regains 1d8 morale.
  • Pick one of your already played cards. That card cannot be blocked and if it is not Expendable, automatically passes its reuse check.

War Cry

Defender (Tier 3), Expendable

  • Your army regains 3d8 morale
  • The 3 hostile units in the skirmish closest to the enemy army must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, or become Frightened until the start of the next round.

Iron Wall

Defender (Tier 4), d20

  • Blocks opposing Battle Card.
  • Allied units in the skirmish game 1d8 temporary hit points.

Specialist

Prepared Reserves

Specialist (Tier 1), Reuse d6

  • Your army regains 1d6 morale.
  • Draw one additional Battle Card.

Siege Operator

Specialist (Tier 1), Reuse d8

  • Copies the effect the last Siege card you've played this turn. That card cannot fail its use reuse roll.

Cunning Reversal

Specialist (Tier 2), Expendable

  • Blocks and reflects an enemy Battle Card, causing them to suffer the effects of the Battle Card if they are negative, or your forces to gain the benefits of the Battle Card if positive (you decide).

Preset Traps

Specialist (Tier 2), Expendable

  • The opposing army takes 1d12 casualties for each card they play after this card is played.
  • The first enemy creature to move in the Skirmish must make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, or they fall into a trap, taking 1d12 piercing damage and becoming immobilized after moving 5 feet.

Complex Plot

Specialist (Tier 3), Expendable

  • Blocks opposing Battle Card.
  • Roll a dX where the X is the number of cards in opposing army's hand. You take the result from their hand and it add it to yours. This effect takes place when the card is resolved.

Economical Useage

Specialist (Tier 4), Expendable

  • Any time you succeed a reuse reroll on a card at the end of this turn, you can add it back to your hand instead of the discard pile.

Hero and Villain Cards

Villain Cards

Unstoppable Slaughter

Villain (Tier 4), Reuse d100

  • The enemy forces take 4d12 casualties.
  • This card cannot be blocked.
  • This card cannot be played while the contributing Elite is in the Skirmish.

Cycle the Legions

Necromancer (Tier 2), Reuse d20

  • Your army regains 6d6 Fielded Strength and Morale.
  • Restore one expended Card and add it back to your Deck.
  • Resurrect the 1d4 lowest CR creatures that have died in the Skirmish (as undead under your service if they were not already).

Example Armies

To start with, it helps to see what an army looks like. It is summarized into the following block. The subsequent pages will break down what each part of this stat block is and how to read, make, and play them.

Undead Army (Example)

  • Fielded Strength 1253 (Large)
  • Morale 627
  • Leader Necromancer Lord (Stratagem: 3, Leadership Bonus 1.2)
  • Starting Card Draw 5
  • Cards Play Per Turn 4
  • Cards Draw Per Turn 3
  • Maximum Hand Size 8

Elites

Elites Battle Cards
Vampire(L) Deploy Conjured Allies, Destroy
Frost Giant Zombie Rampage, Rampage
Cadaver Collector Deploy Conjured Allies, Destroy
Tyrannosaurus Zombie Rampage, Rampage
Blackguard(L) Incite Violence, Rampage
Necromancer Lord(L*) Cycle the Legions, Deploy Conjured Allies

General Forces

General Forces Skirmish Spawn
Skeletons (200) 1d4 Skeletons
Zombies (200) 1d4 Zombies
Vampire Spawn (20) 1 Vampire Spawn

Village Defense Force

  • Fielded Strength 1027.2 (Large)
  • Morale 513
  • Leader Level 6 Warlord (Stratagem: 4, Leadership Bonus 1.2)
  • Starting Card Draw 6
  • Cards Play Per Turn 4
  • Cards Draw Per Turn 4
  • Maximum Hand Size 10

Elites

Elites Battle Cards
Level 6 Fighter (L) Inspire Forces, Rampage
Level 6 Spellblade Devious Assault, Arcane Barrage
Level 6 Warden Escort Mission, Impassable Terrain
Level 6 Occultist Obscured Movements, Zeal
Level 6 Warlord (L*) Reposition, Inspire Forces
Named Knight NPC (L) Devastate, Inspire Forces

General Forces

Siege Weapons Battle Cards
Catapult Fling Rocks, Hail of Stones

General Forces

General Forces Skirmish Spawn
Militia (100) N/A
Guards (100) N/A
Archers (30) N/A
Knights (10) N/A

Blank Template

  • Fielded Strength
  • Morale
  • Leader
  • Starting Card Draw
  • Cards Play Per Turn
  • Cards Draw Per Turn
  • Maximum Hand Size

Elites

Elites Battle Cards

Siege Weapons

Siege Weapons Battle Cards

General Forces

General Forces Skirmish Spawn