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[Vash787]

Ok so being a fan of Seven Samurai I have decided to base a mission off of the movie. I have a few questions I need answered for this upcoming battle.

First, Do you think a level 1 party consisting of a psychic who only used mind control type matrices, a air mage with air school of 40, a blind ki using monk, a ranger with no ki abilities, and a lvl 2 axe warrior geared out in chainmail, can take on a group of forty lvl 1 bandits from page 279? Bear in mind that they most likely won't fight them all at once, and they might have a whole bunch of lvl 0 villagers helping them as well.

Second, as I mentioned I have a psychic in my group who only used mind control. He has no attacks at all. However, I plan on using mass combat rules from Those That Walked Among Us and I am wondering how his usual tactic of turning people allies against each other will work when the book states on page 182 that "non-direct damage spells or special abilities that affect only a single individual have no power over a mass of enemies." Any suggestions on how to work around this? There have already been times that his character couldn't do anything, but I don't want to make him completely useless for an entire epic battle.

Finally, I am using my own custom setting, but I have kept the whole church thing alive in spirit. I have, what is my worlds version of an inquisition officer, following my players. What do you think is a good lvl to make what could end up being a boss? I was thinking lvl 5, but I would love to get input from some other GMs.

Thank you for taking the time to read my long questions.

[Lizbeth]

1. No they are not able to defeat such mass of enemies.

2. If he intentionally makes builds that cannot in to combat then it is his fault.

3. Lv 5 will tear them. Something like lv 3 or 4 + some lowly Lv 0-1 warriors depending on power of your group.

[The Dread Polack]

1) All characters use the same rules, and anybody can botch a defense roll against an open attack roll, so 40 bandits is, I'd say, definitely too many to fight without losing some PCs. Of course, what is more important is how many they are going to fight each, at any one time. I've played enough to know that being outnumbered seriously sucks, especially against anyone close to your level. If you're ready to say that in the background, peasants & bandits are dropping left & right while each PC takes on 1-2, then that might work.

2) I know nothing about the mass battle rules. But, having been in similar situations, I know that such a character will most likely either a) be completely useless, or b) take over the mind of the lead bandit and wreak terrible havoc over them until they figure out he's being dominated. If you're relying on dice rolls in front of the players, then you don't know if it'll work or for how long. Otherwise, you'll have to fudge things behind the screen and let the chaos bring things to a manageble situation for the PCs and then the mentalist will probably have to sit out while the fighters mop up the remaining bandits.

3) As Lizbeth says. If you want the players to not kill him, he needs to be able to kill at least 1-2 of the players. Level 5 is good for that, but if he's too powerful, what reason will he have to not simply crush the players all at once? You need to either a) make him very powerful, but have a good reason to simply follow the PCs, or b) don't stat him out. If they get in a fight, decide on what skills you think he needs at the moment, but have a plan for escape. You don't have to tell the players his level, so he'll always be just powerful enough to not die. If a player gets a good hit in that you think should kill him, just say "Nope, not quite enough, but he does look hurt". Although that's hard to do in Anima, where a crit can be insta-kill. You might just have to live with that possibility.

[Spirit_Crusher]

1)I should see the character sheets. I could stat a first level Psi specialized on Telepathy that one-shots the whole group easy. Same with ki user. A ranger with maxed stealth (not the class specialty, I know) can shot one to death each round without being seen. A well built second level weapon master could also be hard to take down...

2)I'd say that if he mind controls or puts under illusion one single opponent, he takes 2 out of the fight the first round (the one he controls and one that is surpirse attacked by the controlled one), maybe one the second, then he has to switch target.
Calulate the damage to the mass consequently.

3)Again, it depends on how the characters and the npc are built. Level 5 could annihilate them in a single round if built for doing so and\or prepared, or not be much of a challange if he isn't optimized and they are.

[Kalis]

Isn't the point of Seven Samurai, that most of the samurai in question are fairly experienced and powerful in comparison to the bandits? Having the bandits be the same level, even if they don't have the same attributes seems to be against the spirit of Seven Samurai.

[Lagnalok]

1. 40 Bandits should be ok if they attack in waves, don't forget that the PCs don't need to defeat them all, they will start to run away if their losses are to great unless there is absolutly no way to run (so will the villagers if their side gets beaten heavily or PCs with low composure) - People with leadership can help keeping the moral high while a good intimidate check could affect the opponents moral. As for Mass Combat, your bandit groups will be under 100 units each so every 50 hp taken one bandit dies, you'll wan't to keep track of this as this reduces the groups attack bonus and maxmimum number of tragets per round. If your PCs are familiar with their classes and builds the should be able to take on up to two 5 bandit groups or a single 10 bandit group, to be on the safe side thought, start slow with a 5-bandit-group for a warm up and increase accordingly.

2. Simply take out the affected bandit of the group and treat him as a single entity (don't forget to reduce the groups hp by 50 and decrease the member count by one), that is the easiest way to take care of this

3. see what Spirit_Crusher said for a general idea
Depending the boss magic/psychic ressitances, this fight could be over very fast as you have 1 or 2 control type PCs in there that could render a single opponent vulnerable even if he is a few level higher (this effect will grow weaker in higher levels). If the whole party levels up to level 2 before the boss fight and there aren't any power gamers under your PCs something comparing to a level 5 in those who walked amongst us should give them a good fight.

[alphawhelp]

1. if using mass combat rules, they could take all 40 at once in a single mass

2. maybe encourage the psychic to splurge for the "Area" power

3. average high inquisitor level is 6, would not recommend making them fight a level 6 character unless they were level 3.

[Vash787]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I have a lot of things I need to consider, but you have definitely given me some ideas, and a few doubts lol. I want this to be an epic challenge, maybe a player or two might even die, but I don't want a total party wipe.

[Ikefist]

MY advice as i offen use Higher level guys than the groups level IS in Under fuel his comabat ability I have had my group figth guys 4 -6 levels higher than them ITs all i how you spend there DP For example if you make a level 7 character and Cap his combat out at say what i 3rd elvel character might have then he Fights like around what a 3rd level character might fight like Just keep in mind what the groups combat stat's and abilities are and its easy to do the 7th leevl character i am mentioning is a HIGH skilled theif very indian jones style With crazy skill levels in history trap's ect for finding and loot out ruins tombs ect  REMEMBER in anima Level DOES NOT have to represt Combat skill and no where dioes it tell you you have to make them all combat gods cuase they are level 5 or 7 ECt its all how you as a GM spend there DP WHat they will have is a higher skill base  MK and LP initive ect and in case of direct melle types with there aAdds per level tyo att and def a higher combat skill than any other  combatant there DP level of fighting might have if you don't pay attention to that fact BUt its easy to Make a higher level guy than the group thats still fightable