D&D Tactics: Basic Rules

D&D Tactics is a homebrew system that has been created for large scale military battles. The following are the rules for how D&D Tactics works:

The Battalion

The primary token used in D&D Tactics is the “Battalion” token. It represents a battalion.

---

Battalion Statistics

• Units.
  • Each battalion may contain between 1 to 10 units. A unit represents an amount of troops.
• Unit Bonus (UB).
  • UB is determined by the number of units divided by 3 rounded down.
• Movement.
  • 3 hexes. The default speed for every battalion is 3 hexes.
  • Difficult Terrain. Moving into, through, and out of Difficult Terrain conumes the remainder of a Battalion’s Movement.
  • A leader’s ability or an effect may alter this.
• Initiative Bonus.
  • Initiative Bonus is determined by leadership abilities.
• Armor Class (AC).
  • Minimum AC: 12. No unit’s AC will ever be below 12.
  • Positive value Modifiers can affect AC.
  • Negative value Modifiers do not affect AC.
  • If a unit is Protected by Walls, they gain +2 AC.
  • Leader abilities can affect AC.
• Modifiers. Modifiers are applied to a battalion’s attack rolls. Modifiers with positive values are applied to Battalion AC. Modifiers are determined by the battalion’s owning organization; however, leaders can also affect Modifiers.
  • Prowess (PRO)
    • Range: -3 to +3.
  • Technology (TEC)
    • Range: -3 to +3
  • Magic (MAG)
    • Range: -3 to +3
• Actions (1).
  • Attack Action. A battalion has a number of Attack Actions equal to its UB.
    • Breach Wall. Use an Attack Action to attempt to breach a wall.
      • Roll: 1d20 + TEC against the Wall DC.
    • Additional actions are determined by leader abilities.
  • Bonus Actions (1).
    • Determined by leader abilities.
  • Reactions (1).
    • Counterattack. A battalion has a number of Counterattacks equal to its UB.
      • If you miss, you lose a unit. If you hit, the enemy loses a unit.
    • Additional reactions are determined by leader abilities.

The Round

---

General Rules

• Initiative determines the order in which armies will get to move their available battalions.
• When moving battalions, an army must complete each battalion’s turn in its entirety (movement, action, bonus action) before moving onto another battalion.
• An army must make decisions for every fielded battalion during their turn.
• Effects and results from battles will not take effect until the end of each round.
  • This is because each turn is happening at relatively the same time for the purpose of the game’s mechanics.

Initiative

Initiative is rolled to set the order of armies’ turns.

Movement

An army moves their first selected battalion their appropriate number of hexes.

Action

An army performs their chosen appropriate action.

Bonus Action

An army may perform their chosen appropriate action at any point during the battalion’s turn.

Reaction

A hostile or allied army battalion may perform their chosen appropriate action when triggered during the acting army’s turn.

Next Battalion

An army then iterates this turn phase through each of their battalions. An army may choose to do nothing with a battalion, but that must be stated.

Wall Defense

---

• Wall Protection
  • A unit is Protected if they are either on top of their walls or behind their walls and the unit attacking has not Breached.
    • Protected gives +2 AC, unless modified by a leadership ability.
• Attacking a Unit Positioned On a Wall
  • If the attacking unit is on the ground while the defending unit is on top of a wall, the attacking unit has Disadvantage.
• Wall Breaching
  • A unit must use an Attack Action to attempt to Breach.
  • To breach a wall, a unit must roll 1d20 + TEC against the Wall’s DC.

Critical Successes & Failures

---

• Natural 20
  • During an Attack: Attacker defeats two total units.
• Natural 1
  • During an Attack: Attacker automatically loses and loses a unit.
  • During a Counterattack: Attacker automatically loses and loses two total units.

Leadership Abilities

---

Leadership Abilities will always be a work in progress, as situations in the world of Deabros may inspire new ones, players may inspire new ones, or the random DM thought may inspire new ones. Additionally, abilities are always subject to change, in the event one is determined to be overpowered or underpowered based on its cost.

Ability Cost

PCs and NPCs available to “lead” Battalions or Armies will have a number of Leadership Points. These points can be used to purchase Leadership Abilities. For a PC, their points are determined by their Player Level divided by 5. For NPCs, their Leadership Points are determined by their CR divided by 5. There may be ways for both PCs and NPCs to increase their Leadership Points beyond this, but none are available at this time.

Ability Name	Ability Cost	Function
Breach Expert	1	Bonus Action: Use a Bonus Action to give Battalion Advantage on the Breach Walls attack action.
Counterattack Expert	1	Unit has Advantage on Counterattack.
Expert of the Terrain	2	Unit has no movement restrictions due to Difficult Terrain.
Careful Counterattacker	1	When a Unit loses a Counterattack, they do not lose a unit.
Commanding Presence	2	Bonus Action: Use a Bonus Action to give Battalion Advantage on Attack Actions.
Way of the Shadows	1	When this Battalion executes its first attack and has not been seen, they get an extra Attack Action.
Fortifier	2	Action: Battalion uses an Action to create a Fortification. Hexes surrounding it are difficult terrain and the battalion is surrounded by Low Walls.
Defender	1	Battalion always has +2 AC.
Champion	1	Battalion always has +1 PRO.
Technician	1	Battalion always has +1 TEC.
Arcane Master	1	Battalion always has +1 MAG.
Recruiter	1	Bonus Action: Recruit 1 Unit.
Cleric's Might	1	Bonus Action: Restore 1 Unit.
Might of the Master Cleric	3	Bonus Action: Restore 2 Units.
Master Recruiter	3	Bonus Action: Recruit 2 Units.
Meteor	3	Bonus Action: Rain hellfire down on the enemy. The enemy loses 1 Unit. RANGE: 2-5 Hexes (Qualifier: Only usable number of times equal to Battalion's MAG.)
Druid's Will	2	Bonus Action: Create 3 Hex cone of Difficult Terrain.
Blot out the Sun	3	Bonus Action: Rain arrows down on the enemy. The enemy loses 1 Unit. RANGE: 2-5 Hexes (Qualifier: Only usable number of times equal to Battalion's PRO.)
Mobile	1	This Battalion can move 2 additional hexes.