NOTES REQUIRING EXPLANATION
Pg. 14 “If conscripts are released from service by their leader, trained conscripts will become mercenaries or brigands…” all of them? Every time? Why do none of them return home to a life less dangerous?
As Judge you can certainly have that occur if you want. My in-world justification was the following:
- Often conscripts were trained and deployed far from home. Going home was difficult.
- After years of time, the only experience most conscripts will have is war.
- The money earned as a warrior is significantly higher than the money earned as a peasant.
- Peasants tend to be victimized by soldiers. Why go back to being a victim?
In-game, I think it creates an interesting result where you might train troops, run out of money to pay them (or not need them anymore) and then later see them turn up again in the campaign.
Pg. 14 “In addition to conscripting peasants, the leader of a domain can also levy a peasant militia…” is it just me, or does the wording of this sentence seems to imply that one cannot levy a peasant militia with also implementing conscription? I presume that is not the case, but I’m unsure whether this is ambiguously written, or a case of poor reading comprehension on my part.
My assumption is that you’d be unlikely to resort to levying a militia unless you’ve already conscripted the available able-bodied men.
Pg. 24 Under Siege Engineer there is no mention of replacing Artillerists and at what ratio (1:1?), even though their abilities would seem to allow them to do so…
You are right, but I didn’t go into it (and don’t intend to). Otherwise I also have to mention that an Exotic Creature Handler of Owlbears could also be used on Bears, that a Heavy Cavalry Marshal could also do Light Cavalry and Heavy Infantry, and so on.
Pg. 41 Under Crutch there’s no mention of what a effect a crutch actually has…
Speaking of asking for crutches… 
Pg. 41 Under Howdah conversions are given for weights from Stone into Pounds (e.g. 6 stone (60lb)) when no prior conversions were given for anything other than capacity. Why?
It’s actually correct under Howdah, and incorrect in places where we don’t give the weight in lbs. If you refer to our standard in ACKS Core, we also give both.
Pg. 42 I’m a bad person because I lol’d at the example for Surgical Saw
I’m a bad person because I laughed when I wrote it.
Pg. 42 Under Prosthesis multipliers are given for different construction material (e.g. silver (x5)) with no explanation as to what is multiplied. Cost?
Yes. I fixed to say (cost x2).
Pg. 43 Under Crew and Rate of fire it states the negative effects of not having an artillerist; can a siege engineer replace an artillerist?
Yes, if you want. It’s like using a doctor when a nurse will do.
Pg. 44-45 The damage is listed in the description, giving both standard (“4d10 shp”) and 1/10th (“1d4 shp”) damage (for wood and stone, respectively). There is some inconsistency in that artillery doesn’t do this, and these rates (x1 and x1/10th) are explained under structures, later, which could result in confusion (e.g. 1/10th of 1/10th for stone structures).
Pg. 45 Under Screw it states that, “Each bore deals 3d10 shp of damage to wooden structures and 1d4+1 shp of damage to stone structures…” but this is at odds with the “SHP” entry on pg. 47, which would mean 3d10 shp to wood and 1d4-1 shp (or better, 1d3 shp) to stone.
Screws are better at burrowing through stone than their damage against wood would otherwise indicate. This is why I put the specific damage in the descriptions, so that the gamer could see this.
Pg. 45 Under Moveable Gallery and Moveable Mantlet it states that, “creatures gain a +4 bonus to saving throws versus Blast caused by artillery, burning oil, or similar effects.” Does that exclude breath attacks, spells, etc.? The wording of, “…or similar effects…” seems to imply so.
Yes, they do. That’s in fact exactly what “or similar effects” is supposed to include.
P. 48 I know virtually nothing about classical siege warfare, but the siege tower entry states, “External crew generally stand outside the tower and pull it with ropes.” How do these crew members avoid being slaughtered when so exposed? The wikipedia (I know, I know!) entry for Helepolis suggests the crew pushed the tower from behind (though it doesn’t explain how). Please illuminate the darkness of my ignorance…
Much of how ancient war was actually fought remains hotly debated, even among the most knowledgeable experts. Helepolis was supposedly maneuvered with a crew of 3,400 men who pushed from within and behind. We don’t know if this was all at once, or in relays. We don’t know how they pushed. The ancients were very clever mechanically and may have been able to construct push-poles designed to allow larger crews of men to do so. If anyone is inclined to work out the coefficient of friction for Helepolis, we could make a guess at how many men were working at once…
I tend to think that siege towers were probably pulled with ropes, at least the smaller ones, and that the crews were protected with shields, mantlets, or galleries.
Assaults: Increasing the BR of all defending units by 1 is an interesting mechanic that makes 0.5 BR units (or 0.25 BR units like kobolds) dramatically more effective… just sort of curious to see the math on that one.
One of the most important elements of defending the walls is simply having the manpower to hold the gaps. It doesn’t take as much fighting skill to cut grapple ropes, stab downward at exposed faces, push ladders, pour burning oil, etc.
Ballista: Sort of surprised medium ballistae are no better than light ballistae during assaults.
That’s just how it worked out when I did the Excel spreadsheet.
Cauldrons: Can cauldrons be deployed by the attacker in an assault?
Not in normal circumstances.
Lieutenants: Do lieutenants provide a +1 to unit attack throws during assaults, as they do during normal campaign combat?
Yes
Sieging: Under what circumstances might a besieged defender be able to defend with a number of units larger than his stronghold’s unit capacity… ?
That would be up to the Judge to determine.
Pg. 77 Under Smuggling, “The perpetrator can smuggle extra supplies by taking a -1 penalty on the proficiency throw per 1,000gp.” Does mean a flat 1,000gp, or 1,000gp per level?
It’s per 1,000gp, as written. It’s not 1,000gp per level.
Pg. 79 - How do reconnaissance rolls for detecting siege mines work? The set of relevant modifiers is likely very different from those for locating an army. Is it just unmodified?
You use the same modifiers as normal. Of course, army proximity will always be +2. Observation from the air or magic will still be useful. Screening and scouting will still apply - night-time sorties, forays out of side gates, flying scouts, etc.
Pg. 79 - and, "…Marcus watches in glee as Moruvai’s curtain walls go “BOOM!” both place punctuation inside the quotations. There are numerous other places in the document (everywhere up to this point, I believe) where this was not done. I thought this was a style choice up until now (that I’m unfamiliar with), but perhaps not…
As a matter of opinion, I hold that for technical writing, British rules on placement of quotations are superior. British rules are that the punctuation goes outside of the quotation unless it’s part of the quotation.
In the case of “BOOM!”, the curtain walls went BOOM!. It’s not that Marcus watched a BOOM and felt exclaimed about it.
Pg. 80 Under Arson, “The perpetrator can set a larger fire by taking a -1 penalty on the proficiency throw per 4d6 x 10 additional shp.” Is this a flat amount or per level?
As written. It’s a flat amount.
Pg. 82 Heroic Forays During Assaults: it is unclear how targets are chosen by either the besieger or defender of a heroic foray. I suppose the same is true during regular heroic forays, but it seems more relevant here, as heroes are likely to do things like attack a particular point (gate, tower, breach, etc.), piece of equipment (battering ram, siege tower, catapult, etc.), or individual (leader of the assault, king of the castle, etc.). How is this determined? Does it all come down to what the player’s say and Judge-ment? For example, why would anyone have their artillery amongst their allies, as it is unlikely to help (inside minimum range), and may be destroyed by the foray…
It’s left to the Judge.
p. 83 Do spoils of war apply from each assault, or only at the end of the siege (sort of a ‘high risk, high reward’ thing) ?
They only apply on a Victorious Siege
Pg. 86 Under Note, “In all other cases, the leader will gain or lose company-sized units of 120 infantry or 60 cavalry.” What about very small domains, such as under a baron or marquis? 120 infantry could potentially double an army at platoon scale…
If the Judge feels this is too beneficial to small domains, he’s free to reduce the benefit. I believe that a sudden influx of troops to a small domain is a fun game mechanic, because the player-leader will likely not be able to afford them from his current holdings. It therefore encourages him to start to expand.
Pg. 86 Under Bold Captain, “In all other cases, he has the characteristics of a mercenary captain.” Same as above, what about very small domains and platoon scale?
As above.
Pg. 88 Under Notes, “In all other cases, the leader will gain or lose company-sized units of 120 infantry or 60 cavalry…” Same as above, what about very small domains?
As above.
p. 88. How does the initiative victory from Plans Discovered work in situations where there are more than two armies in the area?
Whatever your initiative score is, the opponent whose Plans you Discovered will go after you.
Pg. 90 Spy Caught - In the case where there were no spies infiltrated, the text states that you caught and killed a turncoat. Is his subsequent interrogation necessarily by magic, or is non-lethal capture possible? Does a (speak-with-dead’d) turncoat know things about the enemy army, or is that intended just for actual spies?
It’s left to the Judge.
Pg. 91 Under Bombardment, “…against each creature in the foray.” Bwa-? With a battle standard neaby, there could easily be 1440 troops per side in the foray (120 member infantry, BR.5)…
In dozens of battles, I have never seen a heroic foray of that size occur. In actual play, heroic forays tend to put the PCs up against the elite of the enemy (heavy cavalry or beast riders or elephants or whatnot) where a smaller number of troops has a higher BR.
If this happens to you in play, you should certainly use your judgment to adjust to what you find plausible, but otherwise wouldn’t worry about it.
Pg. 91 Does Calm Amidst the Storm cancel all other vagaries of battle if multiple are rolled on the d4?
No, it just provides a way for no vagary to occur in some battles.
General Vagary Questions: If you get local guides, then they leave, can you retrace your movements through the terrain they led you through? Likewise, is +strategic movement an ability Explorers can get via proficiency? Just feels dissociative to combine this explanation with this effect, and not make it available by other means. (I guess that sort of applies to much of this table; I guess these results are all reasonable outcomes for particularly good or poor planning on the PCs’ part.
You are correct. The reason the Vagaries are optional is that they are abstractions taking place at one tier higher than the standard level of abstraction we normally use in D@W. All sorts of strangeness can occur if they are applied thoughtlessly (For instance, what if you get Piles of the Dead in the opening battle turn of a battle? Where did the dead bodies come form?), and all sorts of questions can be raised about how they might apply at a larger level.
In general, they are meant to reflect the unusual, exciting, and impossible to plan for events of the fog of war. Good leaders of course will aim to have local guides; but the Vagary assumes you lucked out and got inexplicably good local guides. And so on.
But, as the note on Wishes suggests, you can also tap the rules for vagaries to handle interesting situations that might arise due to player or NPC agency. So if the PCs through role-play hit upon some idea or plan that merits giving them the benefit of a Vagary, do it.
There’s no reason you could’t manually award Legendary Leader to a player after a great battle, and so on.
