Okay, I've been contemplating this for a while.
In Other Roleplaying Games (tm) a swarm of creatures is treated as a single monster, with a single pool of hit points and does damage to everyone in the swarm. That's not very Harn-ish, and wouldn't feel right in the game. But, rolling 10 hit attempts and defense maneuvers and Impact results individually for a group of 20 rats will be tedious, and take the whole session. There's got to be a better way.
So I think I have it ... follow me on the math here -- yes, I could do an environmental effect, yes, I could stat up 'one creature' like other rpgs, yes I could replace the encounter with 2-3 vlasta, but I want an elegant way to handle a situation like this, and if it works well for a swarm of rats, it could also work for a mob of gargu-araki, a stampede of horses, a cloud of mosquitos, or a gang of drunken farmers.
10 rats with bite ml 60 2p done the hard way is on average 5 x MS results, 1 x CS result. Versus a poor lone adventurer's Dodge of ml 30 (factoring in outnumbering) would eliminate 2 of those hits, so 4 x MS, 1 x CS hits? Bite attacks of 4 x 1d3+2 and 1 x 2d3+2 impact is going to mostly only result in the CS hit doing any meaningful damage, unless the MS bites hit the less protected knees rather than the leather boots? So how to shortcut those hit rolls?
As for taking damage, let's houserule a human attacking with a longsword against a very small rat steps up their impact dice from 1d6+5 to 1d10+5, average 11 impact if they can hit vs a rat's dodge of 90, maybe give the rats a penalty like outbumbering, because the human doesn't care which rat they hit? 3d6 vs End 8 will probably take out a rat every hit...
So, how's this work for everyone, with a few examples?
SWARMS
Mobs,
Stampedes, etc
Sometimes
a single creature isn’t the problem, it’s a number of them banding together to
wreak havoc. But how to handle it? A combat encounter will bog down if you have
16 rats each rolling to attack each round, and it can be handled in a
streamlined way that still works out to similar results.
The Swarm
However many creatures are in the swarm, they must be more or less
contiguous or adjacent (no more spread out than every other hex). As well, smaller creatures can fit multiple
creatures into a single hex (2 small dogs, 4 very small rats, 8 tiny mice, etc).
For
each creature in the swarm, add +05 EML to the base creature’s attack ML. And rather than rolling for each creature,
roll once for the swam to hit each opponent, and have the opponent(s) choose a
defense option as normal.
Outnumbering Modifiers
Outnumbering rules apply, but size of the creature matters – 4 Trierzi
Terriers do not outnumber a full-size human at a rate of 4-to-1! As well, you can be abstract about the number
of creatures engaged, from a psychological or distraction effect as well as the
press of bodies engaged in combat. Use
the number of creatures per hex to determine the equivalent of one full sized
human (so 8 rats would count as 2 humans for outnumbering purposes.
Likewise, it applies if the opponents outnumber a swarm – 4 humans facing
down a swarm of 8 rats would be outnumbered 4-to-2, or 2-to-1, and the swarm
would have a -10 EML penalty to defense.
When the swarm attacks,
make one attack roll for each opponent, dividing the number of swarm creatures
engaged with the number of opponents – a swarm of 20 rats engaged with 4 human
opponents would have 5 rats each striking, with each attack having +20 EML.
If
a strike hits, we then need to determine
how many swarm creatures strike – roll on the Number of Strikes chart
below, up to the number of creatures engaged with the opponent (so 5 rats would
roll 1d10, to a maximum of 5 hits). MS
hits and CS hits treat all the strikes as MS or CS, as rolled.
If
multiple strikes hit an opponent, roll impact and hit locations for each, and
have the victim suffer the appropriate amount of wounds.
|
Creature Size |
Examples |
Creatures Per Hex |
Number of Strikes |
|
Tiny |
Small birds, mice |
8 |
1d12 |
|
Very Small |
Most
snakes, small mammals |
4 |
1d10 |
|
Small |
Most Dogs, Vlasta |
2 |
1d8 |
|
Medium |
Human |
1 |
1d6 |
|
Large |
Most Horses, Bears |
½ |
1d4 |
|
Very Large |
Hru, Some
Cattle |
¼ |
1d3 |
Swarms Taking Damage
If an opponent strikes a swarm, roll to hit,
with the number of extra creatures each subtracting -05 EML from any defense
maneuver – they aren’t striking one specific creature in the swarm, they are
attempting to strike any creature they can. This is not divided up between multiple
opponents like attack EML bonuses, a swarm of 10 rats has a -45 EML to all
defense maneuvers from all opponents.
If
a swarm creature is struck, work out the Impact and damage normally – if the swarm
creature suffers a wound, then the whole swarm is affected by it. A serious wound makes the whole swarm suffer
a -10 EML to attack and defend while that creature is part of the group. If the creature is downed from a Shock Roll
or killing blow, remove any penalty from the wounded creature, reduce the size
of the swarm (and EML modifiers), and continue as normal.
Big Critters Vs
Little Critters
Just like a small creature vs a human rolls
smaller Impact dice, have human-sized characters use bigger Impact dice when
striking smaller creatures – a human striking a Vlasta, roll d8s for Impact.
Swarm
Morale
Often, natural creatures like rats would
make an Initiative/Morale check after the first creature in their group is
downed – vicious creatures like Vlasta might only check after 50% of the swarm
is defeated. GM discretion should
prevail.
Habitat: Everywhere
Diet: Omnivore
Lifespan: 2-3 years
Size: Very Small/d3
ATTRIBUTES
03 STR 05 EYE 08 INT 07
END
08 STA 25 HRG 02 AUR 18
MOV
18 AGL 26 SML 09 WIL
SKILLS
60 Initiative 76
Awareness
90 Dodge (-55) 68 Stealth (-55)
75 Bite/1p (+55) 28 Climbing
52 Jumping 75 Swimming
* Black Rats have 56 Climbing and 30 Swimming
ARMOUR
B1 E1 P1 F2 GAC 0
STRIKE LOCATIONS
01-15 Head 56-69 Abdomen
16-20 Neck 70-87 Quarter
(Hip)
21-35 Fore Leg 88-95 Hind Leg
36-55 Thorax 96-00 Tail
Nest
of Paraman Vipers (8 Vipers)
Habitat: Various
Length: 7-23 inches (most adders)
Weight: 1.7-2.1 oz.
Diet: Carnivore
Lifespan: 20 years
Cycle: Durnal
Size: Tiny/d3
ATTRIBUTES
04 STR 03 EYE 02 INT 07 END
10 STA 10 HRG 01 AUR 12 MOV
12 AGL 16 SML 08 WIL
SKILLS
45 Initiative 56
Awareness
60 Dodge (-35) 40 Climbing
55 Bite/3p* (+35) 70 Stealth (-35)
50 Tracking 40 Intimidate
* Parman Viper Venom, H3, 60
minutes
ARMOUR
B1 E1 P0 F1 GAC 1
STRIKE LOCATIONS
01-15 Head 66-85 Abdomen
16-35 Neck 86-00 Tail
36-65 Thorax
Gargu-Ara
ki Horde (12 Gargu-Hyeka)
Habitat: Forest/Woodland
Height: 38”
Weight: 72 lbs
Diet: Carnivore
Lifespan: 20-25 years
ATTRIBUTES
10 STR 09 EYE 11 INT 10 END
10 STA 16 HRG 07 AUR 13 MOV
11 DEX 13 SML 10 WIL
11 AGL 11 VOI 07 MOR
SKILLS
50 Initiative 52 Awareness
55 Dodge (-55) 55
Climbing
55 Unarmed (+55) 55
Jumping
50 Shortbow (+55) 60
Stealth (-55)
50 Club/4b (+55) 50
Throwing
60 Dagger/5p (+55) 77 Herblore
55 Mankar/5e (+55) 55 Survival
55 Shield/1b (-55) 65
Tracking
50 Spear/7p (+55) 50
Blowgun (+55)
ARMOUR
Natural: B4 E3 P1 F3 GAC 1
STRIKE LOCATIONS & ARMOR
1d100 B E P F
01-05 Skull 6 7 4 6
06-10 Face 3 2 1 2
11-15 Neck 6 7 4 6
16-27 Shoulder 7 8 5 7
28-33 Upper Arm 5 4 2 4
34-35 Elbow 4 3 1 3
36-39 Forearm 4 3 1 3
40-43 Hand 3 2 1 2
44-60 Thorax 7 8 5 7
61-70 Abdomen 7 8 5 7
71-74 Groin 5 4 2 4
75-80 Hip 5 4 2 4
81-88 Thigh 4 3 1 3
89-90 Knee 4 3 1 3
91-96 Calf 4 3 1 3
97-00 Foot 4 3 1 3
EQUIPMENT
Shorbow, Mankar, Club Dagger
Buckler, Cloth Tunic, Leather Vest,
Leather Cowl