How do force fields work against hordes?

By PhaKnight, in Black Crusade Rules Questions

I been told before that I should roll to see if the force fields fail for each hit done it them but how dose if work with hordes when you have like a mob of guys shooting at you? Do you just say force fields fail bc satisticly speaking it should or just roll for the normal hits it generates?

Do you just say force fields fail bc satisticly speaking it should or just roll for the normal hits it generates?

The latter. Note that Hordes make a number of attacks equal to the tens digit of their Magnitude, though; for example, a Magnitude 25 Horde will attack twice.

Yes, it is not very realistic, but Hordes in general are so much abstracted that they are probably better regarded as a narrative element or backdrop to a bigger fight, rather than "true" adversaries. In theory, you can turn anything into a Horde and it will function way worse than its members would have done individually.

A Horde's only real advantage is the bonus damage they get on their attacks ... however, the amount of damage has zero effect on the protective qualities of force fields. A dozen individuals armed with rocks may well be more dangerous to a force-field owner than a Horde armed with guns, but a good GM would either avoid such ridiculous situations altogether, or simply house-rule something. Keep in mind that the rules as written are not law; you are free to change them as you want, as long as your group is on board with it.

Worth to note if they became aware of your powerfield they maybe try to grapple you. Or use other means to over pass it (haywire, toxic gas etc..)

Do you just say force fields fail bc satisticly speaking it should or just roll for the normal hits it generates?

The latter. Note that Hordes make a number of attacks equal to the tens digit of their Magnitude, though; for example, a Magnitude 25 Horde will attack twice.

That only goes for ranged attacks I believe, a Horde has only one melee attack, unless it has Lightning Attack/Swift Attack. :)

A Horde's only real advantage is the bonus damage they get on their attacks ... however, the amount of damage has zero effect on the protective qualities of force fields. A dozen individuals armed with rocks may well be more dangerous to a force-field owner than a Horde armed with guns, but a good GM would either avoid such ridiculous situations altogether, or simply house-rule something. Keep in mind that the rules as written are not law; you are free to change them as you want, as long as your group is on board with it.

That and their attacks cannot be parried.

On a side-note, Hordes become really interesting when using the advanced Horde traits.

That only goes for ranged attacks I believe, a Horde has only one melee attack, unless it has Lightning Attack/Swift Attack. :)

Indeed! Thanks for the correction.

That and their attacks cannot be parried.

I'm in the office atm and don't have the book with me, but wasn't the amount of Parry actions limited either way? Meaning that this would be the case anyways if you'd resolve the members of a Horde individually (which is probably why this is a trait of Horde rules in the first place).

Edited by Lynata

I thought as much. It just seems abit strange is all hordes. It's like they could be dangerous but thy are also limited my players agree their force fields are powerful so we might just house rule it that they roll 1d100 for each horde magnitude so a horde of 30 guardsmen is fireing at them they need to roll 30d100 and If one fails the damage is normal by horde standerds. To make hordes more of a threat. Thanks for the input

Sounds like a good idea for a House rule! Although I'd probably base it on the tens value again (so Magnitude 30 = 3 Tests, which also cuts down on the amount of dicerolls ), and if only a portion of attacks gets past the field, then the amount of damage should only be a portion as well.

Suggestion:

  • The tens digit of Magnitude indicates how many Forcefield Tests the target must make
  • Each success lowers the Horde's Magnitude by 10 for the purpose of determining this attack's bonus damage (referring to the additional d10s)
  • Should the target succeed on every single Test, the Horde's attack is negated entirely

Example:

Aura Vashaan is under attack by a group of Xur Contract Auxiliaries, the warriors unloading a salvo of gleaming blasts from the sheet-stamped lasguns they were issued. Fortunately for the self-styled Astromancer, Aura is carrying an active forcefield that springs into action. The attackers are a Magnitude 25 Horde, which means Aura needs to succeed on two Forcefield Tests to negate the assault entirely. Unfortunately, Aura's player rolls above the required value once, meaning that Horde's prolonged barrage finally manages to collapse the field with one of the last salvos. Since Aura's player succeeded on at least one roll, however, the Horde's Magnitude gets reduced by 10 for the purpose of determining its bonus damage, meaning that the psyker will still have to deal with being hit by 2d10+2 Energy damage.

Edited by Lynata

We added the number of people firing at the players to the shield overload chance and kept it at one roll. It worked fairly well, even if it means insta-failure when things approach the 50s or 100s, depending on how good your field is, but, tbh, that's how we feel it should be.