Expanding a Bandit Lair 1
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I rolled this up using ODD Referee Tools
Bandit Lair
90 light foot (LNC Mv12 6AC 1HD 1d6)
70 archers (LNC Mv12 7AC 1HD 1d6)
50 light cavalry (LNC Mv24 6AC 1HD 1d6)
20 medium cavalry (LNC Mv18 4AC 1HD 1d6)
Hero Taydeanza the Priest
F N F4 S:10 I:13 W:8 C:12 D:10 X:12 HP:11 AC:2
Hawksæx, Neutral Sword +1
Int: 11 Ego: 12, Speaks 1
Read Magic
Detect Sloping Passages
Detect Magic
See Invisible Objects
Telekenesis
Hero Prew the Babe
M N F4 S:11 I:7 W:13 C:14 D:10 X:16 HP:15 AC:2
Hero Noetl the Peacemaker
F N F4 S:8 I:13 W:12 C:5 D:10 X:17 HP:8 AC:2
Hero Lomoge the Conqueror
F N F4 S:9 I:14 W:9 C:7 D:12 X:10 HP:15 AC:2
Hero Gwyllo the Stiff
F N F4 S:6 I:14 W:13 C:10 D:14 X:14 HP:12 AC:-2
Shield +3
Bluehammer, Neutral Sword +1
Int: 8 Ego: 4, Empathy
Note Shifting Walls & Rooms
Detect Evil and/or Gold
Hero Ricershualen the Protector
M N F4 S:10 I:13 W:9 C:13 D:8 X:12 HP:14 AC:2
Armor +1
Hero Devis the Lion
M N F4 S:9 I:15 W:14 C:12 D:13 X:11 HP:17 AC:0
Armor +1
Eaglesæx, Lawful Sword +1, +2 vs Lycanthropes
Int: 8 Ego: 2, Empathy
Detect Sloping Passages
Detect Meal & What Kind
Myrmidon Rherlaudlevi the Farmer
M N F6 S:7 I:14 W:7 C:6 D:10 X:10 HP:21 AC:1
Shield +1
Swashbuckler Miqueb the Victorious
M N F5 S:8 I:7 W:10 C:12 D:6 X:10 HP:12 AC:3
Swashbuckler Vaudo the Champion
M N F5 S:15 I:9 W:12 C:7 D:14 X:9 HP:16 AC:-1
Armor +2
Swashbuckler Dawrev the Affable
F N F5 S:10 I:15 W:11 C:7 D:18 X:9 HP:20 AC:-1
Armor +1
Lord Jaqua the Precious
F N F9 S:10 I:10 W:10 C:12 D:14 X:15 HP:32 AC:-1
Shield +2
Ironmaker, Lawful Sword +1, +2 vs. Magic-Users and Enchanted Monsters
Int: 11 Ego: 1, Speaks 1
Read Magic
Detect Meal & What Kind
Detect Sloping Passages
See Invisible Objects
Lord Oliee the Bold
F N F9 S:11 I:10 W:11 C:12 D:13 X:15 HP:37 AC:0
Armor +1
Treasure Type A (Land)
a piece of jewelry worth 600gp
a piece of jewelry worth 700gp
2 pieces of jewelry worth 800gp each
a piece of jewelry worth 900gp
3 pieces of jewelry worth 1000gp each
2 pieces of jewelry worth 1100gp each
a piece of jewelry worth 1200gp
2 pieces of jewelry worth 1300gp each
a piece of jewelry worth 1400gp
2 pieces of jewelry worth 2000gp each
3 pieces of jewelry worth 3000gp each
a piece of jewelry worth 4000gp
2 pieces of jewelry worth 5000gp each
a piece of jewelry worth 6000gp
a piece of jewelry worth 10000gp
12 prisoners
Obviously I could run this as-is and just pants it, but I generally like things a little more developed before I bring them to the table.
I'll start from the bottom-up. Who are these prisoners? I'm going to assume that since we're looking at a fighting force of 243, that this number only represents hostages, and that the bandits also have common prisoners they keep to do menial labour. I'll do a table for what kind of people these hostages are:
| 1d6 | Hostage Type |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Aristocrat |
| 3-4 | Clergy |
| 5 | Noble |
| 6 | Nonhuman |
Rolling twelve times we get:
6, 6, 3, 6, 6, 5, 1, 2, 1, 6, 6, 4
3 Aristocrats, 2 Clergy, 1 Noble and 6 Nonhumans. I'll roll 1d6 to see how many of the nonhumans were of a single type, and I'll roll the rest individually:
4
Okay, so I should determine where this lair is, and I'll roll appropriate nonhuman prisoners.
| 1d6 | Terrain |
|---|---|
| 2 | Forest |
| 3 | River |
| 4 | Swamp |
| 5 | Mountains |
| 6 | Desert |
5
So the lair is in the mountains. Going to roll mountain encounters until I get 3 nonhumans that would be good gets for bandits:
Weasels
Gold Dragons
Toads
I considered rolling a couple more times, but I kinda love the idea that the bandits caught a giant toad. The toad stays. Maybe she's a wizard's familiar? Maybe she's going to lay eggs and they have a contact who will buy them.
I think the gold dragon is in human form and doesn't want to break kayfabe for whatever reason. Maybe there's something in the rocks here that prevents shape shifting?
The weasels are definitely the group of 4, the bandits are trying to train them as war dogs. Maybe they're kits. Their mom is probably around somewhere, trying to bust them out.
On to the 6 Human Prisoners:
Hero Miao the Black
F C F4 S:9 I:4 W:11 C:8 D:13 X:14 HP:9 AC:1
Evil High Priest Vononwyln the Scourge
F C C10 S:9 I:10 W:11 C:13 D:8 X:5 HP:32 AC:1
Shield +2
spellbook: Detect Magic, Inflict Light Wounds, Protection/Holy
Find Traps, Hold Person, Speak with Animals
Continual Darkness, Locate Object, Remove Curse
Inflict Serious Wounds, Protection/Holy, 10'r., Speak with plants
Create Food, Dispell Holy, Insect Plague
Evil Acolyte Inocoinkott the Crouchback
F C C1 S:15 I:4 W:10 C:13 D:14 X:15 HP:3 AC:1
spellbook:
Warrior Valtruzy the Lamb
F L F2 S:11 I:7 W:12 C:9 D:7 X:10 HP:5 AC:2
Armor +1
Myrmidon Lawn the All-fair
F L F6 S:7 I:10 W:16 C:6 D:10 X:13 HP:15 AC:2
Swordsman Rikakot the Oath-breaker
F L F3 S:11 I:16 W:15 C:6 D:7 X:15 HP:8 AC:3
I rolled these all as classed characters, but I'll probably ditch that for most of them, Call it a 2-in-6 chance of keeping their class:
5, 5, 6, 5, 4, 5
So they're all normal types. But we've got names, epithets, alignments and genders. I'll also keep note of high ability scores. I'll give each prisoner an age too, 2d20+10.
- Miss Rikakot the Oath-Breaker, 39, Lawful. Spinster daughter of an important historian. She broke off her engagement to an earl after she learned he was using her to gain access to certain chaotic artifacts in her father's collection. The bandits are extorting both her father and ex-fiance. Rikatot is a skilled translator with an 80% chance of being able to read any mundane text.
- Miss Lawn the All-Fair, 23, Lawful. The mayor of the goat herding village of Byrnholm. Despite her youth, Lawn gained the esteem and trust of her community, and when the old mayor passed away, she was more or less forced into her role. Vaudo the Champion has set her ransom too high for the little village to pay because he fell in love with the girl as soon as he laid eyes on her and hopes to be able to woo her. Lawn is not not interested, but worried about her people.
- Mrs. Valtruzy the Lamb, 38, Neutral. An oil merchant from the village of Haywitch. She is desperate to get back home. She doesn't know that her husband is hardballing the bandits so he can have some extra time with his mistress.
- Vile Mother Vononwyln the Scourge, 42, Chaotic. Custodian to a small temple of Drekbek the Rotting Worm. The bandit's leader, Oliee the Bold, wants Vononwyln to cure the necrosis that is eating her sword arm. Vononwyln could call on Drekbek to break the curse, but at the cost of her position. For now she resists, but Oliee is getting desperate. Vonowyln can command undead and cast scrolls like a chaotic acolyte.
- Vile Sister Inocoinkott the Crouchback, 27, Chaotic. Vile Mother Vononwyln's half-crazed companion. She has a scroll of Foul Food and Drink tattooed on her belly.
- Dutchess Miao the Black, 33, Chaotic. A widow. She burned through her estate's wealth and got herself kidnapped for a place to stay while the peasants ransack the manor. An expert sword swallower, Miao has smuggled a pair of daggers into her room in preparation for when the bandits start to suspect that she doesn't have a husband to pay her ransom.
- Chaldreano the Absolute, 723, Lawful. A gold dragon in disguise as a 45 year-old human scholar. Magic-supressing lodestone in the rock prevents him from transforming back, though he can still breathe fire. He is a pacifist, and is committed to escaping bloodlessly. The bandits have been relying on his knowledge to plan their raids. He has been trying to feed them faulty information, but is incapable of lying.
- Gillian the Giant Toad, 3, Neutral. Familliar of the wizard Ianny the Unready. Gillian can talk, but the bandits don't know that. Gillian is gravid, and the bandits want to sell her eggs to a fancy gourmand in the city.
- Kip, Dribbles, Retch and Fentyn the Baby Giant Weasels, 1, Neutral. The bandits want to train them as war dogs. Their mother has broken into the complex and is searching for them.
As far as common prisoners go, my rule of thumb is that a lawful fortress needs about one noncombattant for every soldier, plus one for every horse (Up to 4:1 if they don't have the support of local villages). If the bandits are 1:1, that gives us a capacity of 326. Now bandits may not be at full capacity; they may have more downtime and be more willing to do their own chores, or maybe they have lower standards, choosing to steal replacement horses and armour rather than maintaining the ones they have. Presumably they don't have people farming for them, so I'll say 1:1 is a maximum and make a D100 roll for what percentage of the fighting force is supported by noncombattant prisoners:
80
So about 195 common prisoners. I'll do a reaction roll to see, generally, how they feel about the bandits, I'll give it a -2:
9
A 7 reaction roll means they are ambivalent. Their lives must not be much worse under the bandits than before, and their capture must have been fairly bloodless. Probably these are folks from sparsely-populated herding villages. They resent being captured, but they're probably eating better. A good chunk of the fighting bandits are probably from the same villages.
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That's a lot for now. I like that I figured some things out about the bandits and their lair. I'll pick this up in another post, we'll do treasure next.
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Listening to: Skin Witch Original Soundtrack by Guild of Lore
Reading: Arm of the Sphynx by Josiah Bancroft
Watching: Babylon 5, Season 1