An Alternate Character Interpretation for Warfare

Warfare, despite being a major component of fantasy fiction, often seems too complicated to bother with in a game of D&D. This post exists to help rectify that. Warfare can be simple to run, and more importantly, it can be character focused. This post breaks down character participation in warfare into a ‘score’ which tracks the progress of a battle or war, which each encounter (starring a PC or important NPC) impacts positively or negatively. Generally, battles should start out with a negative score (indicating a defeat) which the PCs can gradually turn into a victory if they succeed at their encounters. Exact numbers are unimportant—if you need a guide, simply define a battle or war as an adventure, with 6-8 encounters required for victory! If you want to simulate the battle or war with a more in-depth system, that’s great—these roles can simply grant bonuses (like advantage) to units in that simulation—but they don’t require it! PC roles can be divided into six possible categories: Champions, Saboteurs, Sages, Leaders, Spellcasters, and Officers. I’ll go through each role one by one:



The giant-blood orc called out to the defenders of the meager fortress for a champion, one to face her in single combat. A single stout dwarf in thick plate armor emerged from the fortress to meet the challenge. Wordlessly, the sized each other up, the orc towering over her dwarven foe. Their axes clashed, bouncing off stone-like hide and dwarven steel alike. It was a stalemate—the battle continued for the better part of an hour, exhausting both beyond their capacity for fury and technique. Finally, the dwarf used a lull in the action to pour a bottle of an acrid substance on his axe. He swore he wouldn’t use it, but oaths meant little now. The next blow of his axe was but a nick to the massive stone skinned orc, but it was enough for the venom to begin to work, and the stone behemoth tottered and fell, grasping her chest. Her children, crying foul, swarmed the exhausted warrior and tore him to bits, but it was too late. Without their leader, the warband could not keep the siege up. The dwarf had lost his life and his honor but saved his people.
 
Champions are the mightiest warriors in their armies, often facing each other in either formalized duels or impromptu brawls on the battlefield. To many soldiers, the sight of their champion keeps them in the battle, granting them influence beyond their physical ability to fight. A champion encounter is a simple brawl, possibly with the twist that the if either side’s champion falls, even if they are raised or healed, it means that side loses and the other wins. This grants a victory condition for the fight besides annihilating the enemy—keep your champion on the fight and take out theirs. Champions can be of any class or subclass, but typically they are bombastic, pyrotechnic, or unsubtle in their fighting style, like a Swashbuckler Rogue, an Evoker Wizard, or a Berserker Barbarian. In a more in-depth system, Champions should grant some sort of buff to allied units as a once-per-battle effect, as the champion’s duel represents the height of a battle (or a violent prelude).



This was the fifth stable the halfling had visited today, and the one with the heaviest guard. Evidently, word of her exploits had reached the general’s ears. It mattered not. In and out, quick as a wink, she slipped past guards to seize her prize. Not gold, nor blade, nor magic, but something far more valuable. By the time the night arrived, her pack was full, and she retreated into the night, dumping her cargo into the deep river. A cacophony of clangs in a silent forest was the only evidence of her deeds. She thought about the old saying and smiled as she slipped away— “For want of a horseshoe, the kingdom was lost”. Well, they would want dearly indeed.

Saboteurs are the silent workhorses of generals, acting as spies, scouts, and secret agents to spoil the plans of their enemy. Though unknown to the armies, the actions of saboteurs can lay ruin to a general’s schemes or enable them to reach new heights of audacity. A saboteur encounter is usually a stealth and/or social encounter, depending on the specific method used by the saboteur. The victory condition may require the saboteur’s work remain undetected, or it may be as simple as an assassination mission, where stealth is simply an optional aid. Saboteurs can be of any class or subclass, but typically they are skilled at infiltration with either stealth or social subterfuge, like an Assassin Rogue, an Illusion Wizard, or a Shadow Monk. In a more in-depth system, Saboteurs may either grant some sort of debuff to a single unit or a small group of the PC’s choice or simply negatively impact some out-of-combat modifier, like supplies or morale.


“They’ll make a night attack.” Karnus said. “Why do you say that?” Gallus asked. “They’re elves. It’s their specialty.” Karnus replied. “It’s our specialty as well! We both see well in the dark. Besides, they can’t use their bows effectively at range. They’d be at a disadvantage, not an advantage.” Gallus declared. “No. We rely on our cohesion to win the day. We have no cohesion at night—no long-range communication. We also need sleep—elves don’t. Besides, these are Greenvale elves. They favor blade over bow. They are at their greatest advantage at night.” Karnus deduced. “Then I will prepare accordingly. I knew there was a reason I kept you alive, old friend.” Gallus concluded. The other hobgoblin simply curled up and went back to sleep, chains clinking around his feet.

Sages are the experts of war, offering knowledge and insight to their commanders and directly to armies. A sage encounter is typically a skill challenge or social challenge, involving things like research, prayer, interviews with locals, or even prisoner interrogation. Typically, there is no combat, though it’s possible to make a sub-adventure of it, as the sage is sent on a minor mission by a creature with knowledge, like a sphynx or an angel. Sages can be of any class or subclass, and often have their status determined by either their specific skill proficiencies, or their background (like the Sage background, for example). In a more in-depth system, Sages may grant some useful knowledge (like enemy troop count or HP) or grant some buff to a single unit or small group of the PC’s choice.


Their leadership had been slaughtered in the initial attack—the throne and the royal retreat had been attacked simultaneously. The demon lord Halkonath’s fiendish minions had entered through portals, evidently created by the court mage, who they had some how compromised. There had only been one survivor, and not even the demons considered them a threat. Nonetheless, they were the one who had rallied the knights from the border marches, who had raised an army off funds donated by the local burghers, who had given the accumulated forces a speech that had brought even the most hardened knights to tears. Though this survivor did not command the battle, they were heralded by all as the reason it had found victory, and songs are still sung to this day of how the terrible Halkonath had been brought low by a court jester.

Leaders are not necessarily the generals that command the battle, though they certainly can be. Leaders are the locus around which an army forms and without which it is simple military machinery. Leaders need not even participate on the battlefield at all and may simply act to rally the home front towards victory! A leader encounter is typically a social challenge, though for players that enjoy wargaming, you may grant them direct control over a battle as well. Typically, the class or subclass of the Leader matters less than the influence they have over their troops, but charismatic characters are beneficial, as are characters that have experience in warfare, like Battle Master Fighters. In a more in-depth system, Leaders may either directly command the battle or grant some sort of minor buff to all allied units (or both).


The roar of the beasts deafened the meager army assembled to face it. The militia only had to hold their foe in place for enough time to allow the Arch-Evoker to do what she had promised. Spear and shield met tooth and claw and the battle quickly turned into a rout. The massive beasts were barely slowed by their foes, but their presence did cause them to push more closely together, into a single great mass. This was what the Evoker was waiting for. Calling upon the powers of flame, stone, and sky, she cast her evocation, the flames illuminating her wizened face. As the beasts stared up into their doom, they had a moment of ancestral memory. The dinosaurs would meet their end by meteor yet again.

Spellcasters are a special category, split into two subcategories— battle casters and support casters. Battle casters are limited by the scale of the battle, how many battles they can participate in, and by the relative power of the spellcaster. In a small battle, with units that represent a dozen soldiers, even a spell like Burning Hands or Shatter can qualify. In a larger battle, it may require Fireball, and in one larger still it may require Circle of Death. A spellcaster encounter typically involves enemy champions attempting to prevent the spellcaster from getting into position to cast the spell. You can run this as a “king of the hill” type battle, where you mark a point or line as the “optimal position” for the spell to be cast from, and have getting to that place and casting the spell as the victory condition for the side with the spellcaster. Support casters are simpler to adjudicate. Spells like Scrying can offer critical information for one side and can often be foiled by other spells, like Nondetection. You can adjudicate this as if they were a Sage or Saboteur, judging success by the way the use their spells. In a more in-depth system, you may want to ‘average’ the amount of damage a battle caster would do to the portion of the unit it can affect, and adjudicate from there, while adjudicating more specific information or effects with support casters. Remember, you can make things more complex without trying for a perfect simulation!


“Lieutenant Candis was the best officer I’ve ever had. Brave, loyal, all that crap, but more than anything, he was smart. He saw the way the battle was going before anyone else noticed. He tried to send a runner to the general, but if she even got through, the general didn’t do anything about it. He made a fateful decision—retreat and save his soldiers. Some say it cost us the battle. It cost Candis his neck. I think it won us the war. That battle didn’t matter—our folks got away just fine— but if we hadn’t been there at Calcustree, there to lift the siege, we might have lost the whole damn war. That’s commanding, in my opinion, for all it’s worth. Here’s to him.”

Officers are another special category that could apply to an entire group of PCs in addition to these other roles! Officers are characters that are put in charge of a specific unit and make decisions for that unit. With officers, you can’t rely on the simple ‘score’ system as much and may want to simulate the battles using one of those ‘more in-depth systems’ I have mentioned. In that case, simply treat ‘units’ in a battle as identical to the creatures they’re composed of. You may need to do some tweaking with ranges, but ultimately, this works well. Officers aren’t ‘for’ every campaign, but if you’re running a military campaign themed game, with the same units in many battles, synchronizing PC abilities and unit abilities can help may the players feel as though their character creation decisions matter.
I hope you folks find this useful! There are a lot of guides on how to run warfare in D&D, so I figured I’d focus this post on things that people who don’t go as hard in for wargaming as I do would find useful. Frankly, if you’re into wargaming already, you don’t need my help!

(Originally published here on July 17, 2019)