Forum

Has anyone created an Allies in Battle table for use during combat to deal with NPC allies? If so, can you share it here? Even if you haven't, what do you think should be the common elements of such a table? Or, do you think each table should be completely customised for a particular scene?

As an example, for Nightmares of Angmar, I created this generic one:

Roll a Feat Die.

Result
Eye: A howl of pain rises into the air as one of the allies drops to zero Endurance, suffers a Wound and then falls to the ground unconscious. If they are not treated successfully by a Healing roll within 12 hours, they will die.
1, 2, 3, or 4: The hatred of the enemy surges and they land their blows more often than not. The number of allies taking Endurance loss is equal to the number rolled on the Feat die. The amount of loss depends on the enemy that engages them.
5, 6, 7: The allies exchange blows and the battle continues.
8, 9, 10: The allies outmatch their opponents, side-stepping attacks and finding vulnerabilities. If this result is rolled twice in a row, then one enemy is slain!
Gandalf: In a savage display of fury, one of the Hill-men kills an enemy with a terrible stroke of accuracy.

How would you change this?

Might change the result of 8, 9, 10 to be An ally in the battle inflicts endurance loss equal to their weapon damage, if this result is rolled twice in a row an ally inflicts endurance loss and a piercing blow forces an enemy to make a protection test.

It is a very good skeleton for a table. What I think is very important, though, is to think before what the table is to be used for, and therefore what does the LM need of it.

If the allies are going to be background colour, and the whole battle will be decided by the heroes actions, then probably a table is not even needed. Just narrate the tide of the allies depending on how the heroes' turn went.

If the resistance or death of the allies will mean that the heroes are going to face more or tougher enemies (for example, if the group and the allies are trying to block an armies advance, like in the Crossing of the Celduin), then the table needs not just to address how hurt the allies get, but specifically how many enemies are added (or not) to the heroes combat.

Then, there might be a situation were the allies are not so numerous and have names of their own (NPCs the heroes have related to during the Adventure phase). Then it might be dramatic to include in the table who specifically has been hurt, and if the same result comes out twice that NPC might die. For instance, if there's a great warrior in the allies' group, he might be wounded/dead only with a 1, while a more younger and inexperienced fighter might have more entries (2-4). If a table like that is used, the LM has to be sure he'll take the consequences. It might be suited for a very climatic battle, where the campaign reaches a point when victory comes with a bittersweet sense of loss, too (as is so usual in Tolkien). This option, were loses are real, can also put some pressure on the players, as they might decide to retire from battle if many of their allies are badly hurt and they don't want to risk them dying.

Falenthal, I like your ideas! Your last thought is especially relevant to the situation in Nightmares of Angmar. The NPCs are definitely important enough to include in a table by name. I also like the thought of enemies increasing around the player-heroes if allies fall in battle. This puts a real feeling of urgency on the player-heroes to defeat their enemies before any allies are slain or rendered unconscious.