"Smush!" - Illwinter

Trample is an ability some units have, which lets them assert dominance on smaller units. They can displace anyone smaller than themselves, entering their square without a care, and the units there must either hoof it or get hooved.

Trample is a displacement move. It thus costs an additional point of Combat Speed, compared to regular moving. Regular Displacement requires a Size gap of 3 points or more, but not Trample; fellows with the Trample trait are built different in this regard. As a tradeoff, however, units who Trample will almost never displace their friends; their displacement moves always do damage, and always drive out everyone in the square they want to squeeze into.

Unlike with most Area-of-Effect attacks, Defence Skill allows the target of a Trample to avoid much of the damage. A reverse saving throw of sorts is involved; the Trampler rolls a 3d6 for each of the fellows in the square, which must be higher than the target's Defence Skill to do full damage. Even those nimble enough to avoid the roll take 1 capped damage, however, due to either the push of the Trampler or the strain.

• For Area-of-Effect attacks like these, the Parry value of shields is not applied, and the Defence modifiers of weapons (positive or negative) aren't applied either. The Defence Skill penalty from Fatigue (-1 per 10 Fatigue), and the Defence modifiers from armor, are both applied. For example, a Main Gauche of Parrying doesn't help, and a Blacksteel Tower Shield actually hurts, but Bracers of Protection do help.

For those whom the roll defeats, damage is dealt – this could be from the scythes on Chariot wheels, or the hooves of Boars, or just the sheer crushing weight of an Elephant or a Great Mother, so the damage is nonmagical but untyped. The damage is 7 plus the Trampler's Size. It's also Armor-Piercing, like the Crush attack of a Water Elemental. Since it's an Area-of-Effect attack, it hits the full body, thus taking the average Protection score listed on the front page of the character sheet (and halving it).

A Trampler in a rout is a very dangerous thing. Fearing for their safety, they will Trample friends and enemies alike.

The Ethereal, such as Air Elementals, do only half as much Trample damage (rounded up). They don't have any weight, really, so they just push foes out of the square.

Gelatinous Cubes, and some especially-weird monsters, Swallow foes upon a successful Trample. Swallowed units are taken out of the battle until the Swallower is slain, and take set damage each combat round; in the case of Gelatinous Cubes, it's 4 AP acid damage.

• Since a unit is technically out of the battle while Swallowed, Regeneration and Phoenix Pyre don't work for them.

A Trampler's ability to disrupt enemy lines is invaluable. Those displaced by a Trampler are sent in random directions and may displace other units as well, or just end up in the Trampler's previous square. This is without a Combat Speed cost to the Trampled subjects, though, since they're the ones who got displaced.

In previous games, Tramplers did not attack normally unless they absolutely had to. The reasons for this were never explained, but they made certain units such as the Minotaurs of Pangaea quite weird. Now, though, a Trampler will still remember to attack at least once a combat round.

The existence of Trample poses some questions regarding Size, a somewhat-abstract concept in Dominions. Hit areas and weapon Reach suggest that the actual Size difference of units is reflected in their sprites, more or less. Trample and Swallow, however, suggest that the size difference is far greater. According to Grab and Swallow, at least, a fellow with half the Size points of another unit is able to be grabbed in one of that other unit's hands and swallowed in one gulp.