Wednesday 13 June 2018

Wizard Wars 1: Causes and Forces

Would be more common in my new setting but heck could happen any setting with wizards lets face it. During the wizard wars common spell books were printed to keep wizards using the same spells in mass combat. Note that Ive included basic dnd and adnd monsters here to expand possible constructs and summoning. You could swap  sorcerers for wizards or mix them up. 

d10 What Started war?
1 Wizards want power over humanity
2 Wizards fed up with persecution
3 Wizards know best because they are smarter
4 Prophecy said now is the right time
5 Human religion critical of wizards

6 Wizard factions united under leader or council
7 Spellbook of battle magic becomes common
8 A single wizard began and others join in
9 Several leading wizards were killed by nobility
10 Apprentices were rounded up and killed en mass

d10 Objectives of invaders?

1 Place wizards at the top of society forever
2 Human kingdom today the multiverse tomorrow
3 Channel wealth and production into magical research and manufacturing
4 Create a new improved master race of wizards
5 Replace religion with wizardry
6 Seize all magic items and books for wizards and minions
7 Build a age undreamed of with wonderous monuments
8 Make humans the dominant race and replace gods and planar powers
9 Seize power of the gods to create new ones from the ruling wizards
10 Build a new god, a wizard god made from adamant and human souls

d10 What ends war?

1 Most of the wizards destroyed
2 Wizards feud and cant work together
3 Wizard leaders destroyed in accident
4 Gods intervene to smite great wizards
5 Reality tears unleashing planar monsters
6 Chaos bubbles forth making making unpredictable
7 Wizard leaders pawns of some power and ranks split
8 Wizard leaders turn on each other and all killed
9 Dragons killed the wizard council
10 Assassins decimated the wizard leaders

d10 Factions of Wizards

1 Elementalists seek communion and command over the elements
2 Summoners desire power over planar beings for power
3 Necromancers want to master the power of death and rule by fear
4 Enchanters desire to create new and marvellous magical wonders
5 Illusionists want a world of dreams and desires unleashed into reality
6 Mentalists seek mental domination over lesser minds
7 Sorcerers crave raw power to lead lives of opulence and pleasure
8 Draconologists want to unite with dragon kind to conquer the world
9 Demonologists want to call forth chaos to consume the world
10 Cultists seek to make pacts with fell powers to conquer all

d10 Factions of Humans

1 Anti Wizard want to kill and burn all wizards and sorcerers
2 Legalists want wizards to work for the state under strict control
3 Theists want religion to control wizards and kill those without church sanction
4 Anti magic hate all magic and spell casters and want them all dead
5 Humanists support wizardry but oppose despotic power mad wizards
6 Barbarians oppose literacy and wizardry and all unnatural civilised arts
7 Purists want wizards to help commoners and teach secrets openly to all for free
8 Magocrats want wizards forced to work on public works for the state
9 Inquisitors want wizards tried and burned if against church, state or common folk
10 Cultists sew seeds chaos to destabilise authorities and blame on wizards

d10 Quests of the War

1 Assassinate a wizard leader
2 Beat wizards agents to a relic in a dungeon
3 Sabotage a magic infernal engine the wizards are rebuilding
4 Help people escape a wizard concentration camp
5 Gain support from non human allies against wizards
6 Aid wizards who are trying to split from wizard kind
7 Stop wizard agents recover a ancient spell book
8 Stop wizards making a ancient race or dragons joining them
9 Destroy a orc factory and kill the lead wizard overseer
10 Sabotage wizard sect alliances and sew dissent

Forces of the war
Human Forces and allies as previously documented in this series
Church inquisitors and templars might feature more often (see necromancer war)
Religious units and even rogue wizards might help the kingdom resist wizard invaders
Cultists serve on both sides some opposed to wizards, some causing more problems and using chaos to act more openly. Cults on the wizards side look forward to a age of magical corruption, open spell casting and demons and devils unleashed on the world. 

Wizard Born Orcs
Orcs are created nowdays from pits of mud with alchemical ingrediants by wizards. Some older spells usa a human or elf corpse but elves have tried to kill all who have the elf version of the spell killed for millennium. The mud version is easier. Such orcs are all male. The wild orcs who breed naturally might tempt wizard born orcs to join them and participate in orc culture. Orcs can be regular and disciplined or irregulars. Wizards unlike wild born orcs have orcs operate siege weapons and pike formations. Siege crew may also operate fire arms, cannons, mines and grenaides which will become more common in the later war (posibly making them more common in the kingdom after). Crossbowmen are another innovation support siege weapons and pikemen and defensive roles and can fight in hand to hand if needed. Orcs working for wizards have no tradition of warg or boar riding.

Orc Skirmishers with bows, darts and spears, irregular, Morale 7
Orc Archers with bows and swords, regular, Morale 8
Orc Spearmen with long spears and hand axes, regular, Morale 8
Orc Swordsmen with good armour and swords and shields, regular, Morale 9
Orc Pikemen with good armour, 16 foot pikes & shortswords, regular, Morale 9
Orc Siege Artilery with catapaults, balistia, seige towers and rams, regular, Morale 8
Orc Crossbowmen with good armour, heavy crossbows, swords, regular, Morale 9

Wizard Forces
Wizard armies will use human and orc troops mostly plus some specialist forces. Apprentices will use spells like magic missile to target elites and officers then skirmish or might use charm to break up enemy formations in battle. Better apprentices will close ranks if attack and will use open ranks if attacked with spells or missiles. Better wizards act as artillery units with fireballs. Wizards often summon creatures of all kinds with basic summoning spells or more powerful spells such as elemental conjuring. Charmed monsters are also commonplace. Necromancers will have undead constructs so see the necromancy lists.

Even apprentices will summon low level help and might have charmed followers from a past battle. Battlemage groups act as artillery but will also have better vassals possibly charmed giants, trolls and ogres or worse. Wizards may have golems, elementals and demons at their command. Archmages might command armies of demons, elementals and undead. Even great demons and elemental lords might be called to battle.

Wizards don't like to take risks and will use mundane troops as shields. Wizard enemy troops will lose leaders rapidly or have them charmed. Any specialist kingdom elites can be brought down by even a force of apprentices. Wizards will often serve in groups allied by school or tradition and with similar spells. Military groups of wizards publish spellbooks of common school spells.

Apprentices 1st lv with slings, magic missile or charm person, irregular, Morale 6
Apprentices 2st lv with slings, magic missile or charm person, irregular, Morale 7
Apprentices 3st lv with slings, with several spells, regular, Morale 8Apprentices 4st lv with slings, with several spells, regular, Morale 9
Battlemage 5-8th lv +4 apprentices and squad or orcs or human soldiers, regular, Morale 7
Wizard 9-12th lv +2 Battlemage groups
, regular, Morale 8Archmage 18-20th lv +2 Wizard groups, regular, Morale 7

Constructs
These are things made by wizards to be guards. They do cost alot so wizards are sending all captured wealth and exotic materials captured back to wizard lands for alchemists and enchanters.

Scarecrow able to lay still and ambush and cause fear, claws, regular, Morale
Homonculous an effective magical spy, iregular, Morale
Animated Weapons left as traps and hazards on roads or retreats
Animated Armour guard locations or wizards
Skeleton Spearmen - phalanx with shield and light spear in the ancient styleSkeleton Swordsmen - warriors with shields and shortswordsSkeleton Archers - with shortbowsZombie horde irregular mostly with peasant tools
Zombie warriors regular former enemy militia and military with equipment
Crystal Statue a living artwork often used as a guard
Iron Statue a living statue that traps metal weapons in it's body
Rock Statue a living statue that can shoot magma from finger tips
Guardian Warrior a ceramic animated figure
Guardian Horse a ceramic horse acompanies some guardian warriors
Wood Golem a weak class of golem used for wizard baggage carrying and guards
Bone Golem a four armed sword wielding weapon
Obsidian Golem powerful construct is intelligent and can speak
Mud Golem powerful construct can hide in mud or water
AmberGolem mostly in animal form often used as mount or a guard
Clay Golem dangerous animated clay monster prone to insanity
Stone Golem powerful living stone creation
Rock Golem powerful living rock statue breaks normal weapons
Silver Golem fast living statue with quicksilver inside
Bronze Golem beast headed glowing hot engine of destruction
Iron Golem huge deadly construct suitable for siege warfare
Juggernaut huge wheeled animated siege weapon in wood or stone
Colossus is a towering artificial humanoid with flesh being the most common type

Summoned
These are magical creatures summoned to aid wizards

Imp or Quasits, familiars of evil wizards, spies, sabotage or assassination
Spectral Minions, are undead phantoms often of soldiers or conjured by illusionists
Hellhound, devil war hounds from hell that spit fire, make good guards
Soul Eater, summoned horror from dimension of darkness
Spectral Hounds, phantom horror hounds
Demons vary from lesser to greater
Devils vary from lesser to greater
Efreeti or Djinn or Dao or Marid are elemental spirits of great power
Elemental in various sizes from tiny to gargantuan elemental lords

Charmed, Bred or Hired Monsters
Creatures controlled by magic, bred in menageries or employed as agents. Others are possible and some wizards like their own favorite creatures or beastmen but these are the most common.

Beastmen of all types, most wizards have a favorite type and training
Doppelganger used as magical spies
Ogre good troops fro shock and demoralizing to normal humans
Gargoyle able to fly as scouts and can even carry aprentices
Manticore able to fly and act as mounts
Wyvern able to fly and act as mounts
Behir a lightning breathing reptilian horror
Cocakatrice can petrify foes with a peck
Baslisk can petrify with a gaze
Troll regenerating insane horrors
Fire Drake fire spitting dragon kin
Hill giant huge stupid primitive humanoids
Ettin even bigger two headed humanoids
Dragon prefer stupid breeds for control but make good mounts
Gargantua huge creatures that tower over greatest buildings able to ruin a city

Monster War Zones
Faerie 1 Faerie Forces
Faerie 2 Encounters Wonders
Faerie 3 Rumours Treasure
Faerie Maidens
Faerie Land Encounters
Peasant Revolt 1 Forces and Encounters
Peasant Revolt 2 Gossip
Draconic 1 Encounters and wonders
Draconic 2 Gossip
Draconic 3 Treasure
Necromancer 1 Causes and forces
Necromancer 2 Encounters and links
Necromancer 3 Rumours and treasure
Giant 1 Causes and forces
Giant 2 Encounters and links
Giant 3 Rumours and treasure
Addendum Quests
Goblin 1
Goblin 2
Goblin 3

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