I am speaking about their Morale System.
I was skeptical at first - "A morale system for D&D?" but then I remembered that a morale system has been in place in most editions of the game from the beginning, its just that no one ever used them because they were a pain in the butt. So I gave it a quick read through (as I suggest you do as well) and I thought to myself "Wow, that sounds like it could be really, really fun!" But I did have one or two quibbles with the way it was worded so I am going to basically re-write it here, in my own terms with a few extra rules thrown in to flavor.
I mean think about it, during the high action combats that take place in your game, the miniatures and the dice rolling are used to determine the outcome of a grand battle taking place in a fantasy world. This imagined battlefield is ever changing and extreamly dangerous, every 4-6 seconds swords are clashing together in showers of sparks, and spells are completed that send their deadly energy burning through the air. In this environment it is important to memeber that, while the Player Characters are fearless heroes who throw caution to the wind, most of their adversaries are living, breathing (and often times) sentient beings, who have their own best interests at heart. So when the chips are down, or the situation seems dire, these enemies may break ranks and flee! That is what the Morale System is for.
I haven't been able to playtest this system yet, but I hope to in the near future.
Click through to the full article to read the Moral Systems I've come up with!
The Morale System:
War Band:
All allied monsters in a combat are considered to be a "War Band." If a monster is part of a War Band they gain a benefit based on the Strength of the Band (See War Band Strength).
War Band Strength:
To determine a War Band's Strength, you total up how many standard monsters are present in the Band. Remember that Solos count as 5 standard monsters, Elites count as 2, and that minions count as 1/4th of a standard monsters. Always round down when determining War Band Strength. For example, a War Band consisting of 1 Elite monster, 3 Standard monsters and 3 Minions would have a War Band Strength of 5. If the Strength of a War Band is greater than the number of PC's present, all members of the War Band gain a +2 to their Morale Checks. If the War Band Strength is less then half the number of PC's present all members of the War Band take a -2 penalty to their Morale checks.
War Band Leaders:
When designing a War Band, the DM may designate a single creature in that War Band as the "War Band Leader." This monster could represent anything from a small Orc tribe's Cheif to an entire armies General. While the War Band Leader is still fighting, all the members of it's War Band gain a +2 to all their Morale checks. This creature gains no additional benefit from being designated the War Band Leader other then that he will never have to make a Morale Check due to his War Band's leader being defeated.
Morale Checks:
When a creature is first bloodied, at the beginning of its next turn, it must succeed on a saving throw or become Frightned (save ends) (see below). In addition, all creatures in a War Band must make Moral Checks, at the beginning of their next turn, when one of the following conditions are met:
- The War Band is brought to half its original Strength.
- The designated "War Band Leader" has been defeated.
Of course, the DM may call for Morale checks whenever he deems it appropriate.
New Status Effect: Frightened
- This creature will use its Move action to disengage from combat, even at the risk of drawing attacks of opportunity.
- If the creature has more than 1 hp remaining it takes 5 damage per teir at the beginning of their turn. A creature can never fall below 1 hp as a result of this damage.
Brave, Cowardly, and Fearless Creatures:
The DM may, at his discresion, apply the Brave, Cowardly or Fearless keywords to a monster. A Brave monster gains +2 to all Morale checks and a Cowardly monster takes a -2 to all Morale checks. A creature that has the Fearless keyword never makes Morale checks, this keyword can represent anything from crazy cultists or mindless undead to extreamly powerful creatures and gods.
Intimidate and Morale Checks:
The Intimidate skill gains the following uses when using the Morale System:
Forcing a Morale Check:
Forcing a Morale check from a bloodied creature is a Standard action with the following terms:
- Opposed Check: Intimidate vs. Will+10. If you can’t speak a language your target understands, you take a –5 penalty to your check.
- Success: You force the target to make another Morale check.
- Failure: You failed to intimidate the target you can’t try to force a Morale check again against that target during this encounter.
Demoralize a War Band:
To demoralize a War Band is a Standard action with the following terms:
- Targets: Each enemy that can see you.
- Opposed Check: Intimidate vs. Will+10. If you can’t speak a language your target understands, you take a –5 penalty to your check.
- Success: The target takes a -2 to the next Morale Check it makes.
- Failure: The target gains a +1 to Morale checks for the remainder of the encoutner. Also, you failed to demoralize the target, and can’t try again against that target during this encounter.
Common Morale Check Penalties:
Encounter Leader is present .............................................+2
War Band Strength is greater than number of PC's............+2
War Band Strength is half the number of PC's ...................-2
Creature has the Brave keyword.......................................+2
Creature has the Cowardly keyword.................................-2
Creature has been demoralized with Intimidate skill............-2
Player fails to demoralize a creature...................................+1
Another way of doing this, that is a bit less elaborate would be to just pull out the new Frightened status effect and add an "infecting" mechanic to it. Then attach some new traits to each enemy to express all the stuff above. This is interesting in the fact that it is alot simpler, and can be a whole lot more flexable if done correctly. Also, this allows players that are into monster knowledge checks to determine what will demoralize an enemy. It's a bit more dynamic, but also a bit more up front work for DMs. I am going to give a few sample traits here that would mimic the system above, but each monster could have one of many different demoralizing traits attached to it.
Trait Based Morale System
Add to each monster one or more of the following traits:
Demoralized (Standard)
No action, when first bloodied
The creature is Frightened (save ends);
Demoralized (Tough)
No action, when first bloodied
The creature grants combat advantage (save ends);
First faild save: The creature becomes Frightened (save ends);
Team Demoralization
No action, when more than half the creatures allies are defeated
The creature triggers its Demoralized trait.
Leader's Countenance
Aura 10
Allies within the aura gain a +2 power bonus to saves vs. Frightened. When this creature falls to 0 hp, all allies within Leader's Countenances aura become Frightened (save ends)
Stand Your Ground!
Aura 1
Allies within the aura gain a +5 power bonus to saves vs. Frightened.
Brave
The creature gains a +2 to saves vs. Frightened.
Cowardly
The creature takes a -2 to saves vs. Frightened.
Fearless
The creature is never becomes Frightened due to Frightened allies.
New Status Effect: Frightened
- All creatures save against Frightened at the beginning of their turns, instead of at the end.
- This creature will use its Move action to either disengage from combat or to move adjacent to one of its allies, even at the risk of drawing attacks of opportunity. Once adjacent to at least one ally that is not Frightened the creature will end its turn or use the total defense action.
- If the creature has more than 1 hp it takes 5 damage per teir at the beginning of their turn. A creature can never fall below 1 hp as a result of this damage.
- Any allied creature that starts its turn within 2 squares of a Frightened creature also becomes Frightened (save ends).
Overall, either Morale System should speed up 4e combat, allowing a defeated band of monsters to break rank an flee. But in these systems the PC's can feel like they contributed to making the enemies flee, and not that the DM just got bored with a fight they were loosing and decided to end it early. Also, because the PC's can understand how to trigger a Morale roll/Frightened condition they have additional tactical options to help win an specific encounter.
Well, what do you guys think? Does it sound like either of these systems would add anything to the game? Or do they both seem to add a bunch of rules for not a lot of gain? Let me know in the comments!
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