SoF Exalted/Mass Combat
Mass Combat[edit]
Creation is a land of war, violence, and upheaval. Sitting smack dab in the middle of it all, the mighty Realm fashions itself as the defender of all Creation, at battle on all fronts against the Fair Folk, barbarian hordes, and the creeping undead threat of the Death Lords. Over the centuries, the Realm's army has evolved into the finely-tuned combat force that it is today, and sets the standard across Creation in terms of organization, effectiveness, and warfare philosophy. Over time, by accident or intention, other cities, countries, and self-styled leaders have adopted the Realm's military organizational style as their own.
The chart below details the size of the various units in a military structure, their Realm names, and their stats for Strand of Fate.
Realm Unit Manpwr Size PA MA SA PS MS SS Fang 5 1 5 4 4 6 5 5 Scale 25 2 7 6 6 9 8 8 Talon 125 3 9 8 8 12 11 11 Wing 250 4 11 10 10 15 14 14 Dragon 500 5 13 12 12 18 17 17 Legion 5000 6 15 14 14 21 20 20 50000 7 17 16 16 24 23 23 250000 8 19 18 18 27 26 26 1000000 9 21 20 20 30 29 29 PA/MA/SA = Physical Ability/Mental Ability/Social Ability PS/MS/SS = Physical Stress Boxes/Mental Stress Boxes/Social Stress Boxes
Each unit will also have Defining Aspect and a number of Roster Aspects equal to its Physical Ability.
The Defining Aspect tells you what the unit is or what it does. This will depend on the background of the unit and its function. For example, Realm Archers, Undead Army, and Beastman Cavalry, are all examples of what a Defining Aspect will look like.
A unit has a number of Roster Aspects equal to its Physical Ability. Each Roster Aspect should represent a smaller sub-division of the unit's manpower as well as various other specialists such as siege units, archer divisions, spell-casters, and Exalted leadership. For example, a Realm Legion (PA of 15) might have the following Roster Aspects:
Infantry x 8 and Archer x2 (roughly speaking, each of these groups will have about 500 people [5000/10]) Siege Units x1 Dragon-Blooded leadership x 4
The exact make-up is up to the person (player or GM) designing the unit, but should reflect the military style, technology level, and roles and goals of the appropriate army. And make sure the Roster Aspects are consistent with the the Defining Aspect. The GM, as always, should clear all unit designs.
Following the Strands of Fate rules, every time a unit takes a consequence, it loses one of its units Roster Aspects.
Design notes: The stats above are based on a attributes of 3/2/2 for the individual soldier. An elite honor guard might be statted up based on a 3/3/3 or 3/3/2 foundation. I used the SoF Size chart (page 289) to come up with the size of each unit but as always when dealing with this sort of thing, the numbers are far from perfect.
See pages 393-408 of the SoF rulebook for more information on Units and Large Scale Conflict.
