I've did it before, so I'll do it again. This time it'll be a group
of death cultists and their leaders. Hopefully someone will find of
use and even if they don't, I'll probably use it somewhere.
Composition
8 Cultists
1 Acolyte (Bless, Cure Wound, Inflict Wound) *
* Can be
increased to 2 if greater challenge is needed.
** Find stats
for both here.
Tactics
The cultists will swarm hostile targets and attack until they get
other orders. The leaders will try to keep their cultists alive but
also keep one spell slot in reserve for an inflict wound. Using the
screen of their cultists it allows the acolyte leaders to come within
range. If the fight is clearly lost, the acolytes will try to escape
while leaving their cultists to hold up the enemy. They could also
try to gather reinforcements and come back if such an option presents
itself.
Size
The size of the cult should be planned ahead of time, I think, as
well as the type of cult. Doing so allows for possible reinforcements
to be planned as well as story points. The loss of part of a larger
cult could result in hunting parties to find out what happened, who
did it and to avenge the loss. It also helps determine the role of
the cult in a campaign. A small one may play a small role in one
particular part. A bigger cult could provide for resistance through
the entire campaign.
Relationships
One cult could have good or bad relations with another or with
established and well accepted religions. This could mean that the
players gain unexpected allies through their conflict with the
cultists. They could also gain unexpected enemies in the same way.
This could be more complicated as well. A group may be against the
cultists, but also against the players because of how they handled
the situations they encountered the cultists in. The loss of an
acolyte could also set plans back days, weeks, or even months
depending on the importance of the figure.
Things Not Going as Planned
Decide before hand if the group is so devoted to their cause that
they will not retreat, or if they will retreat if their leader(s) are
killed. When this occurs, they will retreat without any roll being
made. Otherwise, they will continue to push forward unless an order
made by their leader(s) tells them otherwise. Depending on the kind
of cult, the leader may be the most important consideration. In other
cases, a particular item could be fallen back to and defended instead
(in such a case, the leader would be less important than the goal of
the group).
