Post by takewithfood on Jul 18, 2009 12:55:44 GMT -5
Hey gang,
So, I've always loved big braws between comic book heroes and swarms of henchmen (HAIL HYDRA!) but in practice, these are actually a big pain in the butt to manage in combat. Keeping track of each individual mook and what he's doing is just a mess.
Anyway, I'm thinking of changing the way I run these battles by basically grouping henchmen up into units. This system really only works for groups of mooks that have essentially the same CAD:
- A group of henchmen functions as ONE henchmen, but gains a +1 bonus on combat Actions for each doubling of numbers (2 henchmen gain a +1 bonus, 4 henchmen gain a +2 bonus, 8 henchmen gain a +3 bonus, etc)
- Henchmen effectively pool their health stones together; however, when the group sustains enough damage to KO a henchmen, their numbers drop by one.
Example: Deadpool is raiding a HYDRA facility when he foolishly (perhaps deliberately?) trips an alarm. Two giant steel doors suddenly lift up to reveal a swarm of well armed agents - each dressed in a familiar green uniform.
Each HYDRA agent is essentially the same: The GM decides that they have 2 in each Physical ability, including health, energy, and pool. They also have Close Combat 3 and Ranged Combat 3, and carry various firearms worth a x2 Ranged Combat modifier. In total, the GM decides that there are 20 agents, all in one big mob.
The mob functions as one character. The GM puts 3 stones into Ranged Combat and adds a +4 bonus to account for their numbers. (16+ henchmen gain a +4 bonus). That's a total of 7 stones of x2 damage attack. He doesn't shift any of these to defense: the Hydra agents want to take Deadpool down hard and fast, if they can.
Meanwhile, Deadpool allocates 3 stones of Acrobatics to heroically (or stupidly?) dive into the middle of the mob (2 shifted to defense), and 10 stones of Close Combat as an attack. He bought a weapon modifier to boot, so he gets to add x2 damage thanks to his katana.
Deadpool has the highest Initiative (superhuman agility, yay) and so he gets to act first. He dives into the fray and dishes out 10 stones of attack. Those poor HYDRA henchmen have no stones of defense, so they suffer 20 stones of damage!! That's a total of 7 white in a single attack! Since each Hydra agent has only 2 health, 3 of them die immediately, and another is gravely wounded. Their numbers drop to 17.
The surviving mooks get their turn: Their 7 stones of attack beat Deapool's 5 stones of defense, and so Deadpool takes 2 white damage - ouch! His healing factor will start to repair that soon, but he had better be careful not to take too much punishment.
Fortunately, he's close to weakening the mob. If he can get them down below 16 agents, their attack bonus will fall from +4 to +3; that alone might make the difference between coming out on top, or getting captured.
Does that make sense?
~TWF
So, I've always loved big braws between comic book heroes and swarms of henchmen (HAIL HYDRA!) but in practice, these are actually a big pain in the butt to manage in combat. Keeping track of each individual mook and what he's doing is just a mess.
Anyway, I'm thinking of changing the way I run these battles by basically grouping henchmen up into units. This system really only works for groups of mooks that have essentially the same CAD:
- A group of henchmen functions as ONE henchmen, but gains a +1 bonus on combat Actions for each doubling of numbers (2 henchmen gain a +1 bonus, 4 henchmen gain a +2 bonus, 8 henchmen gain a +3 bonus, etc)
- Henchmen effectively pool their health stones together; however, when the group sustains enough damage to KO a henchmen, their numbers drop by one.
Example: Deadpool is raiding a HYDRA facility when he foolishly (perhaps deliberately?) trips an alarm. Two giant steel doors suddenly lift up to reveal a swarm of well armed agents - each dressed in a familiar green uniform.
Each HYDRA agent is essentially the same: The GM decides that they have 2 in each Physical ability, including health, energy, and pool. They also have Close Combat 3 and Ranged Combat 3, and carry various firearms worth a x2 Ranged Combat modifier. In total, the GM decides that there are 20 agents, all in one big mob.
The mob functions as one character. The GM puts 3 stones into Ranged Combat and adds a +4 bonus to account for their numbers. (16+ henchmen gain a +4 bonus). That's a total of 7 stones of x2 damage attack. He doesn't shift any of these to defense: the Hydra agents want to take Deadpool down hard and fast, if they can.
Meanwhile, Deadpool allocates 3 stones of Acrobatics to heroically (or stupidly?) dive into the middle of the mob (2 shifted to defense), and 10 stones of Close Combat as an attack. He bought a weapon modifier to boot, so he gets to add x2 damage thanks to his katana.
Deadpool has the highest Initiative (superhuman agility, yay) and so he gets to act first. He dives into the fray and dishes out 10 stones of attack. Those poor HYDRA henchmen have no stones of defense, so they suffer 20 stones of damage!! That's a total of 7 white in a single attack! Since each Hydra agent has only 2 health, 3 of them die immediately, and another is gravely wounded. Their numbers drop to 17.
The surviving mooks get their turn: Their 7 stones of attack beat Deapool's 5 stones of defense, and so Deadpool takes 2 white damage - ouch! His healing factor will start to repair that soon, but he had better be careful not to take too much punishment.
Fortunately, he's close to weakening the mob. If he can get them down below 16 agents, their attack bonus will fall from +4 to +3; that alone might make the difference between coming out on top, or getting captured.
Does that make sense?
~TWF
