City Under Siege – Encounter Location
Cities are beacons of civilization. They are a point of light in a darkness crawling with monsters and danger. Occasionally, a new point of light will appear in the darkness, burning weakly at first before it grows in strength and becomes a beacon against the encroaching wild. Or, its light is extinguished as the armies of monsters and evil creatures flood the war.
For the longest time, I’ve wanted to write a campaign about players starting the adventure in media res. The city is under assault; they’ll have to break the siege, defeat the orc war band outside the gates, and then scour the kingdom for artifacts to help defeat the opposing orc army threatening to strike them again. Maybe one day it’ll get written, but today, I’m sharing with you the elements I’d include in a city under siege from an opposing army, whether it be an orc or hobgoblin war band, another city jealous of another, or even just a massive tarrasque wrecking the city.
Provide Directions & Goals
A city under siege is a complex problem. Just having an army attacking a city is such a novel interaction in an RPG that players may not know what to do, what they can do, what actions will help, or even if they can help. It’s important to have NPCs shout commands to direct your players, like “They’re attacking the gates!” or “That building is collapsing, did everyone get out?”.
If the party are friendly with the city guard or the rulers of the city, you could even be more direct about how they should help. From the guards telling the party that they are needed to clear out a section of the city that has fallen to the enemy, or the king riding in on a horse, asking the party to take up reins and ride with them to the front lines to defend the wall.
You should also be very clear that the siege ebbs and flows, and they may have to fall back with the rest of the army. If they are defending the walls, they may feel like they have to stay on the walls, even if it results in a TPK. You can have a commander shout for the army to pull back from the walls and regroup deeper inside, followed by dozens of low-CR soldiers striking at once.
You need to be clear with the party that, while they might be heroes, they can not take hundreds of soldiers if they seem unsure about whether or not they are supposed to fall back from the wall, or when jumping off the wall and into a horde of orc warriors would be very foolish and result in almost certain death.
Siege Engines
Boulders, burning wicker balls, and even corpses are being flung into the city from siege engines on a hill overlooking the city. These boulders smash through buildings and damage the walls. The burning wicker is setting the city on fire. The corpses are infecting the city with fear and disease.
Siege engines are a unique hazard you don’t get to include in a typical adventure. These instruments of war rain death and devastation, and players will have to keep a wary eye on the sky for oncoming danger.
Random Strikes
At the party is moving through the city, siege engines are launching their missiles into the city. The party might not get hit directly by a boulder, but a building near them could get hit and send debris raining down on them (or even the building could collapse on one of them).
To determine if the party gets hit during bombardments, you can roll a d20 every 10 minutes in-game. On an 18 or higher, a strike happens. To determine who it affects, roll an appropriate die and assign each number to a player (d4 for 4 players, d6 for 5 or 6 players, etc).
Once the player has been selected, have the player roll a Dexterity Saving Throw; the DC is based on the severity.
Severity
Setback \ DC 10-14
Dangerous \ DC 15-17
Deadly \ DC 18-20
Damage by Level
Character Level \ Setback \ Dangerous \ Deadly
1st-4th \ 7 (3d4) \ 18 (4d8) \ 33 (6d12)
5th-10th \ 18 (7d4) \ 45 (10d8) \ 65 (10d12)
11th-16th \ 45 (18d4) \ 86 (19d8) \ 111 (17d12)
17th-20th \ 85 (34d4) \ 117 (26d8) \ 143 (22d12)
Wielding Siege Engines
Obviously, if the party has been hit by siege engines, they’ll want the chance to return the favor to the invading army. Give them the chance to play with the big weapons with a specific target in mind. They won’t be able to destroy the entire army with their single siege engine (and it’ll draw the attention of enemy siege engines to their location), but they can help defeat a powerful giant pounding on the front gates or a battering ram.
No matter what, give them a clear objective for using the siege engine so that they feel like their actions are having an impact on the event. This is a great time to help them take down monsters they are too weak to fight head-to-head (like a Hill Giant when they are 1st or 2nd level), or even a wyvern or dragon (targeting the wings so that they can face it on the ground).
Ultimately, though, the party should not be at the siege engine for the entire siege. Whether you have it targeted by other siege engines or become overrun by the army, the players should have it for a specific purpose, and once that purpose ends, they move on to another area where they are needed.
Burning & Collapsing Buildings
As we mentioned, if there are boulders, flaming debris, and siege bolts, then you are going to have collapsing and burning buildings. A smith’s shop or large bakery that gets smashed is going to explode in fire, spraying hot embers across neighboring buildings and creating panic.
If you want more information on running encounters with burning buildings, we have an entire article on it!
Key Encounters
Manning the Walls
Up on the walls, the party can see the enemy army stretching before them. Are they holding back the enemy for a set amount of time, or has the enemy taken the walls, and now they have to take it back?
If you want to show an unstoppable enemy army, you might have the party start off on the walls, fighting back hordes of stronger soldiers. Describe the scene as parts of the wall start collapsing or their allies being pushed back. Eventually, a commander calls for a retreat. The party will have to protect their allies as they fall back to the city.
If you instead want the party to defeat the army, have them start within the city and make their way to the walls to help break the siege. They’ll need to fight off several waves of enemy soldiers, and then descend the walls to fight enemy commanders, breaking the morale of their enemies.
Roving Patrols
The city is under attack, and spies snuck into the city ahead of the siege. Roving patrols are attacking soldiers running for the walls or going to defend the king. Perhaps these spies are looking for commanders and assassinating them,
Or perhaps the walls have fallen, and these roving patrols of enemies have rushed to be first in the city to get the best spoils of war. They charge forward, attacking soldiers, civilians, and anyone they think has treasure on them.
War Machines
Whether these are siege engines lobbing boulders into the city, or giants and other huge creatures smashing through buildings, these machines of war must be destroyed to help swing the tide of the battle. If the party doesn’t stop them, then they’re city is sure to fall.
These can include earth elementals that can smash through walls and glide through the earth, giants that can crack down gates with a few blows of their hammers, or even powerful siege mages who can cast spells that collapse buildings and decimate people with powerful spells.
Filling Out Your City
If you want to fill out your city even more and have all manner of peole for your party to face against, you need our latest project, Faces of the City! Filled with over 100 city-themed NPCs, you’ll find artisans, circus performers, assassins, guards, thieves, merchants, and so much more to stock your city for adventure!
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