Daggerheart Deconstructed

Deconstructed: Noble Forces

Adversaries for when you need an army. Conscripts need not apply!

Deconstructed: Noble Forces

THE ADVERSARY SECTION of chapter 4 is laid out oddly. The attempt was made to group Adversaries that go together, but not all of them are grouped together. This might be because they go with several different options. Layout decisions aside, you might have missed some things that were intended to go together based on their synergies.

The Noble Forces (Archer Squadron, Conscript, Elite Soldier) mentioned in the Castle Siege/Pitched Battle Environment on page 249 are a good example. If you unlock them from the stat block they are the perfect companion for the Knight of the Realm.

The Elite Soldier has a higher Difficulty for its type and tier, but lower thresholds. Their attack modifier is low, but their damage is good. Their features are designed to help the Knight and keep the pressure on the PCs by creating a positive feedback loop using their Reinforce action to clear Stress on the Knight who uses For the Realm! to spotlight the Soldiers.

ELITE SOLDIER
Tier 2 Standard
An armored squire or experienced commoner looking to advance.
Motives & Tactics: Gain glory, keep order, make alliances
Difficulty: 15 | Thresholds: 9/18 | HP: 4 | Stress: 3
ATK: +1 | Spear: Very Close | 2d8+4 phy
Features
Reinforce - Action: Mark a Stress to move into Melee range of an ally and make a standard attack against a target within Very Close range. On a success, deal 2d10+2 physical damage and the ally can clear a Stress.
Vassal's Loyalty - Reaction: When the Soldier is within Very Close range of a knight or other noble who would take damage, you can mark a Stress to move into Melee range of them and take the damage instead.
If you're a noble, you should always keep a squire in your back pocket

Imagine the scene: The PCs have snuck their way into the fortress using a group roll, but the leader rolls a failure with Fear. Instead of catching the PCs at the gate, a more interesting story might be that the guards catch sight of them as they’re rounding the corner into the main courtyard. Now they are in a bad situation, and they’re well behind enemy lines. The sound of armored soldiers fills the courtyard and the whinny of a horse rings out over top as the Knight of the Realm arrives with their loyal squires.

We then see the Knight unsheath their longsword and level it toward the party, demanding they drop their weapons. A tense standoff ensues. Perhaps, a few social rolls happen and the PCs offend the Knight to the point where they command their squires to attack. A few of the Elite Soldiers step forward to test the PC’s defences. The party spreads out. One goes for the Knight, and an Elite Soldier marks a Stress to throw himself in the way using his Vassal’s Loyalty reaction. This feature has a requirement that the person they are protecting be a noble (like the Petty Noble or Monarch) or a Knight.

When the spotlight falls on the Knight, he encourages his allies, “For the Realm!” he cries, sending his squires into battle. One of them marks a Stress to make an attack against the PC nearest to the Knight within reach of his spear, piercing the brave but foolish warrior. The Knight, pleased that his allies are so protective, clears the very Stress he used to encourage his allies.

The Knight might, as part of that For the Realm activation, call down a strike from the archers up on the ramparts, guarding the fortress. Enter the Archer Squadron As far as Hordes go, they are extremely fragile and very weak. This is because they attack from Far range.

ARCHER SQUADRON
Tier 2 Horde (2/HP)
A group of trained archers bearing massive bows.
Motives & Tactics: Stick together, survive, volley fire
Difficulty: 13 | Thresholds: 8/16 | HP: 4 | Stress: 3
ATK: +0 | Longbow: Far | 2d6+3 phy
Features
Horde (1d6+3) - Passive: When the Squadron has marked half or more of their HP, their standard attack deals 1d6+3 physical damage instead.
Focused Volley - Action: Spend a Fear to target a point within Far range. Make an attack with advantage against all targets within Close range of that point. Targets the Squadron succeeds against take 1d10+4 physical damage.
Suppressing Fire - Action: Mark a Stress to target a point within Far range. Until the next roll with Fear, a creature who moves within Close range of that point must make an Agility Reaction Roll. On a failure, they take 2d6+3 physical damage. On a success, they take half damage.
"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Besides the Horde feature, their two other features are very similar, but have some key differences. They both affect a Close area around a point within Far range. Focused Volley is an attack roll at advantage for a Fear. Suppressing Fire is an on-going effect. One selects targets, the other affects every creature in the area.

MORE ON PICKING TARGETS: One of the design explanations that was left out of the core rules was the difference between targets and creatures. The terms were later clarified in the Homebrew Kit on page 4. There it says that when an ability or feature references a target, it means the character using the feature can choose who (or what) it affects. When the term creature is used, it means two things. The first is that it must be a living being. The second is that it is indiscriminate and will affect everything in range. Knowing that even Adversaries can get caught in the Archer Squadron’s Suppressing Fire might give your PCs an interesting bit of landscape to play around on the battlefield. If an NPC were to be pushed into range of the feature, they are also required to make a reaction roll with a trait. Though there is nothing to add, so you must roll a d20 to determine the outcome.

With its very low attack modifier, it's better to use the Archers' standard attacks on low evasion targets and Focused Volley on anything else if you have the Fear to spare. As a feature, it is very straightforward. Spend a Fear and get advantage. The damage has the potential to be slightly higher than a standard attack, but the average damage is the same.

Suppressing Fire is useful in scenarios where you want to deny the PCs entry to an area, though it’s really only the threat of damage. Once you use this feature, you might describe it as a rain of arrows from above that even Xerxes would be proud of. But what if the area you choose falls on a group of PCs? They aren’t affected until they move so I would turn the spotlight over to one of the affected characters and ask them what they are doing and if they roll with Fear after the Agility Reaction Roll, you could let the other PCs describe how they avoid the volley.

While the Elite Soldier has a more definitive place in the fiction, the Archer Squadron can call many battlefields its home, regardless of where they might be come layout time.

Daggerheart Deconstructed is written by ENNIE Award-winning writer Chris Davidson, author of RightKnight's Guide to Making Custom Adversaries, one of the authors of Incredible Creatures, and Additional Writer for the Daggerheart Core Rule Book.

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