Mass Warfare

Unfortunately, D&D 5E's rules for mass warfare are... lacking. There is information to be found in Unearthed Arcana, but nothing official. The following are a combination of rules based on the UA document, other GMs, and personal play testing.   Mass warfare in D&D is a combination of NPC and PC actions.  

Army Setup

 

Organization

  Armies are grouped into units to improve their fighting power and combat capability. As such, a D&D army or large force should be organized similarly.

• NPC troops should be grouped with similar troops, each called a unit. For example: archers should be grouped with archers; Swordsmen should be grouped with swordsmen, etc.
• While magic users in Minelara aren't exceedingly rare, they aren't exactly common either. As such, casters should be kept separate.
• Player characters (PCs) ideally fight individually, given their special status on the battlefield as heroes.
• PCs are capable of embedding in units, thereby augmenting the unit's combat capabilities. It is suggested that they embed in similar units. For example: fighters embed with melee infantry; rangers embed with archers; etc. Embedding in dissimilar units (i.e. a wizard embedding in a melee infantry unit) results in decreased overall combat capability for the unit and minimization of the PC's unique skills and abilities.

 

Battle Rating

  The UA's mass combat document rely on a creature's battle rating (BR) to summarize its effectiveness in combat. It's based a creature's challenge rating (CR) and encompasses its attacks, hit points, AC, and special abilities. The following conversion table is derived from the UA document and will be used to convert from CR to BR:   Given the above table, a unit's BR can be calculated as such:  

Unit BR = [Number of troops in the unit] x [Equivalent BR of creature]

• For example, Bugbears have a CR of 1. To determine the BR of a unit of bugbears consisting of 12 individual creatures, one would calculate: 12 x .5, giving a BR of 6.

 

Morale Rating

  According to the UA documentation, morale is a rating like an ability score modifier. It ranges from -10 to +10. These rules sometimes require a unit to make a check using its morale rating.   There are a number of factors that affect a unit's morale. Some of these can include:

• poor treatment by a commander or allies;
• animosity toward an allied unit;
• low or no pay;
• no stake in the battle's outcomes;
• incompetent or ill-prepared commanders;
• a daunting, overwhelming foe;
• good or poor equipment;
• victory or defeat in battle;
• a rousing speech by a commander or PC

  Below is a table of Morale Ratings given the units circumstances:

Morale	Description
-10	Openly rebellious
-8	Mutinous
-4	Disgruntled
-2	Shaky
0	The typical unit
+2	Motivated
+4	Stalwart
+8	Fanatic
+10	Unbreakable

To determine a unit's morale, start at 0. For each factor that changes the unit's morale, shift up or down the table as appropriate. Add the unit type's charisma modifier to determine the final morale rating.

• For example, to determine the morale rating of the aforementioned bugbear unit, one must consider its circumstances. Starting at 0, they move down the chart because they are motivated and eager to go hunting dwarves, bringing them to +2. Unfortunately, their commander tends to boss them around - something which bugbears despise - droppping them back to 0. Add to that the charisma modifier of the unit commander, but if the unit does not have a specified commander, add the creature's CHA modifier (-1 for bugbears) to the unit, and the overall morale rating becomes -1. There may be other factors affecting morale, but for these purposes, that is enough.

Modifications to a unit's morale:   Sometimes a unit's morale will need to be adjusted due to circumstances on the battlefield. In that case, make the adjustment in the character's attribute table.

• For example, as the battle progressed, the bugbear unit attacked and defeated the equivalently sized dwarven unit. Their morale moves from -1 to +1. They give chase, running down their foes and outright annihilating them, bringing the bugbears' morale rating to +3.

 

Running the Battle

Initiative

  Units do not roll for initiative in the same way that player characters (PCs) do. Instead, each unit has a fixed initiative, calculated as:  

Initiative = 10 + unit morale rating + creature's CHA modifier

   

Action Options

  A unit maintains most of the same action options as an NPC in a regular combat encounter.   Attack. An attack is an opposed check between an attacker's BR and its target's BR. A unit can attack at any range that all of its members can make attacks at. Hence, the importance of grouping like creatures with like creatures.   Dash. A unit that dashes can move twice its speed for the turn, but can not attack.   Defend. A unit that defends focuses on building a shield wall or otherwise making itself harder to hurt. Until the end of its next turn, units that attack it suffer disadvantage on their attack rolls.   Disengage. A unit that is adjacent to an enemy unit normally can't move. If the unit takes the Disengage action, it has the chance to move away. The unit must immediately make a DC 10 morale check. If it fails, it loses its action and doesn't move. If it succeeds, it can move up to its speed. During this move, it doesn't need to stop if it moves adjacent to an enemy unit.   Guard. A unit that guards prepares to attack any enemy that draws close to it. The next time an enemy unit enters a space adjacent to this unit, it immediately makes an attack against the enemy unit. Basically, it readies an action.  

Attacks

  Attacks in mass combat are simplified to a contest of BR checks between the attacker and the defender. The attacking unit will roll a 1d20 and add their BR. Meanwhile, the defending unit will also roll the same. The higher roll wins. Below are the possible results:   Tie. Nothing happens if the attacker and the target tie.   Target Wins. If the target's total is higher, the attack has no effect.   Attacker Wins by 10 or Less. The attacker scores casualties, but not enough to break the target unit. The target's BR is reduced by 2.   Attacker Wins by 11 or More. The attacker scores heavy casualties on the target. The target's BR is reduced by 5, and it must immediately make a DC 15 morale check. If the check fails, the unit flees the battle and is eliminated. Remove it from play.    

Maps, Movement, and Space

    Maps should be organized in vertical/pointed hexes, to provide for maximum tactical decision making options.   Units will be represented by a single token. The size of that token depends on the size of the creatures involved.   Regardless of the scale of the hexes, a typical unit or PC can move one space at a time. Exceptions to this include a cavalry charge, which can move two spaces.    Melee attacks occur against adjacent tiles, regardless of scale. Ranged attacks (including spells) occur at two tiles distance. Archers or crossbowmen can attack at three tiles distance, but with disadvantage.  

Size	Space in Unit
Tiny	1
Small	1
Medium	1
Large	4
Huge	9
Gargantuan	16

 

Player Characters in Battle

   

PCs Fighting Solo

    It can be a really cool cinematic moment to be the hero of a battle. And everyone wants that sweet sweet glory, after all.    In order to take part in a mighty battle alongside hundreds or thousands of troops, we must also break down a PC so that they are compatible with the rest of the battlefield. That said, the formulation for a PC's battle rating acting on their own, is as follows:  

PC BR = [PC Level] + [Primary Combat Attribute]*

  Primary Combat Attribute. A PC's primary combat attribute refers to the attribute that a PC's class relies on the most in combat. For example, a barbarian relies on strength, a rogue on dexterity, a warlock on charisma, etc.    Just like the NPC units, when a PC makes an attack against an enemy unit, the player will roll 1d20 + [PC BR].   A PC is allowed to use his or her special abilities as normal, including magic, magic items, special attacks, etc.  

PCs Embedding in Units

    A PC embedding themselves in a unit can be a great way to increase not only the PC's survivability in the chaos of battle, but also improve the combat ability of the embedded unit.   As mentioned before, it is suggested that a PC embed in a similar unit (i.e. fighters embed in melee infantry units, rangers embed in ranged infantry unit, etc). It will be easier from a game mechanic standpoint to handle special abilities, spells, etc.   When a PC embeds in a unit, it adds its PC BR to the unit's