Troop morale

[bigdamnhero]

I've been thinking about how to handle morale for henchmen, followers and other "troops." The specific instance I'm thinking of is a villain who has a number of low-level thugs working for him, but I can also see it applying to a knight's followers, a random pack of punks on the street, or any large group of sub-heroic NPCs. The FH mass combat morale rules don't quite answer the question I want, which is: "When do they attack vs when do they run?" I'm looking for something a little more solid than "When the plot requires them to." But I'd also prefer not to have to make a ton of EGO rolls every phase.

 

So here's my idea:

 

The first time a henchman is exposed to a reason to check morale (ie - the heroes burst through the window and start tossing 10d6 EBs around the room), he makes an EGO or PRE roll. How much the henchman makes or fails the roll by is recorded as his starting morale score. So if he made his roll exactly, he'd start with a score of 0; if he made it by 2 he'd start with +2; if he missed it by 3 he'd start at -3, etc. In general, positive numbers mean he is more eager to fight; negative numbers mean he's more likely to run away. To simplify matters, this roll can be made before the game starts and pre-recorded. Or it could just be assigned based on circumstances & plot requirements.

 

Morale Score:

+3 or higher: strong, will egage with ranged or melee attacks as appropriate.

+1 to +2: steady, will engage with ranged attacks; will engage with melee attacks if he has a perceived advantage.

-1 to +0: hesitant, will fight with ranged attacks if he has a perceived advantage; will avoid melee combat.

-2 to -3: shaken, will fight defensively if pressed, will consider fleeing.

-4 or lower: broken, will flee at the first opportunity.

 

Events that can lower a henchman's morale:

- henchman takes Stun: -1

- henchman takes Body: -1

- henchman takes Knockback: -1

- henchman gets stunned: -1

 

Events that can raise a henchman's morale:

- opponent takes Stun: +1

- opponent takes Body: +1

- opponent takes Knockback: +1

- opponent gets stunned: +1

 

The above are all cumulative, so taking Stun, Body and KB would be a -3.

 

Heroes & major villains can make PRE attacks to raise morale on their side, and/or lower morale on the opposing side. The character (PC or major NPC) makes a PRE attack as normal, but counts the BODY rolled on the dice; this number is added to or subtracted from the henchmen's morale as appropriate.

 

 

What do you think? It's still kindof a rough idea, and I haven't tried playtesting it yet, but I think it looks good on paper.

 

 

bigdamnhero

"Hell I dunno, if I wanted schoolin' I'dve gone to school."

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Troop morale

 

Looking at the system as written you have a lot of events that require tracking and noting (it could get ugly if there are more than one or two opponents on each side).

 

I would have more definitive events that happen less often or only have a check for every phase the henchmen operate (only one check per phase is easier operationally).

 

 

Doc

[zornwil]

Re: Troop morale

 

I'm not naysaying the system, but generally I have no problem using PRE and winging it.

 

I do think, as DD says, it's a lot of tracking, an awful lot, IMHO. Seems like it would slow combat down, perhaps too much. Put it this way, if your group already thinks Hero combat is too slow, I'd definitely work to streamline that a lot, although if they think Hero combat is too fast ( ) then great, go for it. If they think combat is "okay", I'd proceed with caution.

 

To playtest it, I'd recommend doing it with a small group of henchmen, say 3.

 

Oh, btw, I prefer, personally, to treat them as a group. Perhaps you could do it that way, use the highest EGO/PRE or use the explicit leader for the roll and the basis, then if he goes down, restart with whoever is next in line and standing. Or use the overall average for the duration (recalcing that as they go down would be a real pain, I think).

[prestidigitator]

Re: Troop morale

 

I personally don't have a problem with just deciding this sort of thing. I keep in mind the chracter of the henchmen, their level of loyalty, the magnitude of the danger they are in and such, and from there it is relatively easy to figure out if they are going to run, give up, or have a drooling breakdown without a roll.

 

If I'm being indecisive maybe I'll make a simple Ego roll or something, but there's no need to make it overly complicated. Of course, if the PCs (or NPCs!) want to press the issue they are free to make Presence Attacks, and I will likely be fairly liberal with the bonuses if it is appropriate.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Troop morale

 

I personally don't have a problem with just deciding this sort of thing. I keep in mind the chracter of the henchmen, their level of loyalty, the magnitude of the danger they are in and such, and from there it is relatively easy to figure out if they are going to run, give up, or have a drooling breakdown without a roll.

 

If I'm being indecisive maybe I'll make a simple Ego roll or something, but there's no need to make it overly complicated. Of course, if the PCs (or NPCs!) want to press the issue they are free to make Presence Attacks, and I will likely be fairly liberal with the bonuses if it is appropriate.

Yeah, that's pretty-much exactly how I've run it in the past. I dunno. The idea seemed awful simple in my head, but re-reading it, it does sound like a lot of tracking. I'll give it a shot and see how well it works. Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

bigdamnhero

“We’ve got a blind date with destiny...and it looks like she’s ordered the lobster!â€