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2/13/2014 6:19 am  #1


Heroes vs Rabble?

I was hoping for some guidance on appropriate numbers of rabble for a 4-person group of heroes?
 

 

2/13/2014 4:20 pm  #2


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

I use some rough "math" here, so take it with a grain of salt as this is very anecdotal from my personal experiences.

Fighting is pretty rough and brutal in BoL, and so is healing after, so I like to keep that in mind when there are combats. Usually this is my math set-up:

2 Rabble = 1 Hero

So, let's say a group of 4 heroes and I want to challenge them a bit. Throw in a "standard" NPC and six rabble. This has worked well for me in the past, but sometimes when the dice are not in the players' favor, this can hurt a lot more.

Or, if you want to embrace some pulpiness, which is fitting for the syster after all, have four rabble assault the four heroes with extra rabble to jump in as it feels right. Kind of like kung-fu flicks where the mooks all try and take on the hero one-on-one while the others watch on, waiting to jump in. This also works well in my experience.


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2/14/2014 2:30 am  #3


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

With just 6 Rabble per Hero only one will do a Mighty Success kill all the Rabble and the next Player knocks down the Henchman with another Mighty Success. This isn't even a challenge for 1 Character.
I don't know what and how you're fighting, but I use at least 10 Rabble and 1 Henchman per hero. Heroes have Heropoints and they shall use them. So every player gets his turn and can his spotlight. Rabble doesn't hit very often, maybe 1 out of 10 hits a player and does a little damage. That's why players will spent Heropoints to get rid of Rabble as soon as possible.
Rabble aren't a real thread, they're just there to suck out some Heropoints therefore the other fight gets more interesting. They will have to communicate and talk about how they will act every turn, work with the environment, they're careers, if someone got hit bad he spents a Heropoint to regain some Lifeblood during the fight etc. So all the options will be used and it's not a boring hit-damage-down-done fight.


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2/14/2014 5:25 am  #4


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

Great point, MarCazm. I usually run with lots smaller groups, so the dynamic is definitely different for me. Now I want to swarm a larger group with rabble!


Art By Blob                                                  Legend4ry Gaming
 

2/14/2014 6:58 am  #5


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

Thanks for the info guys.

I like the idea of starting with a few and increasing the numbers mid-fight. Simple really.

     Thread Starter
 

2/14/2014 9:23 am  #6


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

MarCazm for the win - swarm 'em every time! Then they get to show you just how good they are.

My wife's character took out eight assassins with one legendary success - she'd always played her PC like a badass, but that proved it. Made the game for her.


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2/15/2014 2:40 am  #7


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

You can always put the rabble into groups of 3 to 5 giving the group only one "mob" attack  but with a bonus attack die and +1 to damage. The group keeps this advantage until reduced to 2 or fewer members, at which point you would follow the rules as usual. This way you can have 15 rabble swarm the heroes but need only make 3 attack rolls.  I like doing it this way personally.


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2/17/2014 10:45 am  #8


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

I sent ten rabble against four beginning characters and they handled them fairly easily (but they did burn 5 Hero points between them). They'll probably regret that a bit later in the adventure ...

 

4/05/2014 7:42 am  #9


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

Ave!
Is there any rule regarding gang up (preponderance?)? 4 instance: +1 for all combatant above 1. +1 when two fighters against one, etc.


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4/07/2014 3:02 am  #10


Re: Heroes vs Rabble?

In the mythic Simon had said just one attack roll with +1 to hit per member of the rabble mob (limited by how many could rationally be engaged with the hero.) Instead of damage being d3 (standard for rabble), it would now do 2d6/Low damage. If not using mythic then I guess you could use the same method for attack and add 1 to damage.


Coins, cleavage, and carnage...the three C's of Swords & Sorcery.
 

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