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Battlefield Conditions

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 237
In some mass combats, the specifics of a battlefield won’t impact either army, but sometimes the battlefield will itself decide the outcome. The modifiers listed below apply only for the duration of the battle. Naturally, the GM should exercise judgment regarding any conditions that don’t seem to apply to one of the armies (such as darkness and an army with darkvision, or fog and an army with scent).

At the GM’s discretion, large-area spells such as move earth might allow armies or commanders to manipulate the battlefield conditions before a conflict. For these spells to have any effect, they must last at least 1 hour and affect at least a 500-foot square. Likewise, magic items such as an instant fortress (+2 Defense) and spells such as wall of stone (+1 Defense) can create simple fortifications for an army to use in a battle.

Advantageous Terrain: Generally, if one army occupies a position of superiority (such as being atop a hill, wedged in a narrow canyon, or protected by a deep river along one flank), the defending army increases its DV by 2.

Ambush: In order to attempt to ambush an army, the entire ambushing army must have concealment. The ambusher attempts an Offense check against the target army’s DV. If successful, the battle begins but the target army doesn’t get to act during the Tactics phase. Otherwise, the battle proceeds normally.

Battlefield Advantage: If an army is particularly familiar with a battlefield, it’s OM and DV increase by 2.

Darkness: Darkness reduces all armies’ OM by 2 and DV by 3.

Dim Light: Dim light reduces all armies’ OM by 1.

Fog: Fog reduces damage by half and gives the armies a +2 bonus on Morale checks to use the withdraw tactic.

Fortifications: An army located in a fortification adds the fortification’s Defense to its DV. A settlement’s Defense is determined by the types of buildings it contains, as detailed in the kingdom-building rules. If the game isn’t using the kingdom-building rules, a typical fortification increases DV by 8.

Rain: Rain affects modifiers to OM in the Ranged phase as if it were severe wind; see Table 13–10: Wind Effects.

Sandstorm: A sandstorm counts as fog and deals 1 hp of damage to all armies during each Ranged and Melee phase.

Snow: Snow affects ranged attacks like rain, and affects damage like fog.

Wind: The wind modifiers to ranged attacks apply to OM in the Ranged phase; see Table 13–10: Wind Effects.

Archives of Nethys

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Battlefield Conditions