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====== Trample ======

//"Smush!"// - Illwinter

{{:abilities:trample.png?nolink }} A creature with **Trample** walks over smaller creatures instead of stopping to fight them. It enters their square, everything standing there is thrown out into the surrounding squares, and each one of them is crushed on the way. The unit description shows the trait as **Trample**, with no value attached.

Trample takes the place of the movement block that an occupied square would otherwise be. It is not a chosen attack and not an area spell: it happens because the trampler tried to walk somewhere, or, when it has nowhere to march, because it went looking for a square to walk over.

^ Question ^ Answer ^
| Which squares can be entered | any square whose **largest** occupant is smaller than the trampler, see [[#reach|Reach]] |
| What stops it | the [[#awe|Awe]] family, and nothing else. The damage still meets the ordinary [[#avoiding-a-trample|saves]] |
| Who takes the hit | every creature in the square, friend or foe, see [[#the-trample-attack|The trample attack]] |
| What the victim rolls | [[defence-skill|Defence Skill]] against an open-ended 3d6, see [[#the-defence-roll|The defence roll]] |
| Damage | 7 plus the **trampler's** size, against half [[protection|Protection]] |
| How often | two to four squares a round for most tramplers, see [[#how-often-a-trampler-tramples|How often]] |

===== Reach =====

A trampler can enter a square only when it is bigger than everything in it. Its reach is its own **[[size|Size]] minus 1**, and the square is judged by its **largest** occupant, so one big defender shields every small one sharing its square. A size 9 ??War Elephant?? reaches size 8 and below; put a single size 9 unit in the square and the elephant has to fight normally instead.

For a [[mounted|mounted]] trampler the **mount** supplies the size. The same resolution runs on the victims, so a trampled mounted unit takes the damage on its **mount** whether the trample lands or is avoided, and the rider is only touched if the mount dies under it.

A square that cannot be trampled is not skipped. The trampler falls back to an ordinary melee attack against it.

===== The trample attack =====

Every creature in the square is trampled, each with its own rolls, up to the ten that a square can hold.

<WRAP box 800px center>==== The rolls ====
<WRAP column half>
**Damage**
  * base = **7 + the trampler's [[size|Size]]**
  * halved, rounded down, if the trampler is [[ethereal|Ethereal]]
  * attack = base + [[drn|DRN]]
  * soak = DRN + **half** the victim's [[protection|Protection]]
  * damage = attack - soak, never below **1**
</WRAP>
<WRAP column half>
**Landing the hit**
  * the victim's [[defence-skill|Defence Skill]], minus 1 per 10 [[fatigue|Fatigue]] (no more than 10 fatigue penalty)
  * against an **open-ended 3d6**
  * the trample lands when the roll is **higher**, so the defender wins ties
  * a victim that avoids it still takes **1 damage**
</WRAP>
</WRAP>

The size of the **victim** appears nowhere in that arithmetic. A size 1 ??Crow?? and a size 8 ??Melqart?? face the same damage roll from the same trampler. Size difference does change how often the trample repeats, which is [[#how-often-a-trampler-tramples|further down this page]].

The damage is nonmagical and carries no damage type, so no elemental resistance applies to it. It is also not a weapon strike, which decides a good deal of [[#what-trample-does-not-trigger|what it does and does not set off]].

==== The defence roll ====

{{:dom6:stats:def.png?nolink }} The defence used here is not a normal defence check. It is the same reflex-style check that ??Earthquake?? uses, and it is assembled differently:

  * **Armour** defence modifiers apply, penalties included.
  * A **shield** subtracts its [[encumbrance|Encumbrance]] and gives no Parry bonus at all. A ??Blacksteel Tower Shield?? makes its bearer easier to trample.
  * **Weapon** defence modifiers do not apply, in either direction. A ??Main Gauche of Parrying?? does nothing here.
  * **[[fatigue|Fatigue]]** costs 1 point of defence per 10 fatigue, and stops counting at 10.
  * The **[[unsurroundable#harassment|Harassment]]** penalty applies normally.

An open-ended 3d6 averages exactly 12, which puts the practical rates at:

^ Effective defence ^  5  ^  8  ^  10  ^  12  ^  14  ^  16  ^  18  ^  20  ^  24  ^
| Trample lands in full |  95%  |  75%  |  56%  |  39%  |  26%  |  16%  |  10%  |  6%  |  2%  |

The rest of the time the victim keeps its footing and takes **1 damage** instead. That point is flat: it skips the soak roll entirely, so armour does nothing against it. Nothing walked over comes away untouched.

==== Protection ====

{{:dom6:stats:prot.png?nolink }} Trample hits the whole body, so it reads the **average [[protection|Protection]]** shown on the front of the character sheet rather than a per head or per body value, and then **halves** it, rounded down, before the soak roll.

A size 9 ??War Elephant?? opens with a base of 16. Against an unarmoured target that averages **16 damage** on every hit that lands; against 10 average Protection it is **11**; against 20 it is **6**.

==== Ethereal creatures ====

{{:abilities:ethereal.png?nolink }} An [[ethereal|Ethereal]] **trampler** halves the **7 + size** figure, rounded down, before anything is rolled. A size 9 ??Air Elemental?? starts from 8 where a solid creature of the same size would start from 16, and then adds its [[drn|DRN]] as normal. Nothing else changes: the dice are the same, the trample lands just as often, and a victim that avoids it still takes its 1 damage.

Halving that figure does **more** than halve the damage, because the victim's soak is untouched. Against an unarmoured target the size 9 Air Elemental averages **8** where a solid trampler of its size averages 16, which is about half. Against 20 average [[protection|Protection]] it averages **2** against the solid trampler's 6.5, which is under a third. An Ethereal trampler is a threat to unarmoured troops and close to harmless against armoured ones.

An Ethereal **victim** is a different matter, and follows the trait's ordinary rule. Trample is a nonmagical hit, so it has only a **25% chance** of doing anything at all to an Ethereal target.

===== Avoiding a trample =====

A trample can be answered at three points, and the table follows the order the game takes them in. The **[[#awe|Awe]] family turns the trampler away** before anything is rolled, and it is the only thing that does. [[protection|Protection]] and [[defence-skill|Defence Skill]] work inside the trample's own roll. Everything after that meets the damage once it is settled, through the same saves that answer any other hit.

^ Ability ^ Acts ^ Effect on a trample ^
| {{:abilities:awe.png?15&nolink}} {{:abilities:sun_awe.png?15&nolink}} {{:abilities:animal_awe.png?15&nolink}} {{:abilities:halt_heretic.png?15&nolink}} [[#awe|the Awe family]] | before the trample | turns the trampler back, and costs it a full round |
| {{:dom6:stats:prot.png?15&nolink}} [[protection|Protection]] | in the trample roll | half the victim's average score joins the soak, see [[#protection|Protection]] |
| {{:abilities:invulnerability.png?15&nolink}} [[invulnerability|Invulnerability]] | in the trample roll | counts as Protection, and is halved along with it |
| {{:dom6:stats:def.png?15&nolink}} [[defence-skill|Defence Skill]] | in the trample roll | cuts the trample to 1 damage, which no armour reduces, see [[#the-defence-roll|The defence roll]] |
| {{:abilities:glamour.png?15&nolink}} [[:glamour|Glamour]], ??Mirror Image?? | on the settled damage | an image takes the hit and is lost |
| {{:abilities:ethereal.png?15&nolink}} [[ethereal|Ethereal]] | on the settled damage | negates the whole hit 75% of the time, see [[#ethereal-creatures|Ethereal creatures]] |
| {{:abilities:mistform.png?15&nolink}} [[:mistform|Mistform]] | on the settled damage | subtracts 25, to a floor of 1 |
| {{:abilities:mossbody.png?15&nolink}} [[:mossbody|Mossbody]] | on the settled damage | subtracts 15 on 75% of hits, to a floor of 0 |
| {{:abilities:twist_fate.png?15&nolink}} [[twist-fate|Twist Fate]] | on the settled damage | negates the hit. The 1 damage of an avoided trample does not spend it, unless the victim is down to 2 hit points |
| {{:abilities:fools_luck.png?15&nolink}} Fool's Luck | on the settled damage | negates the hit, then doubles the next one to land |
| {{:abilities:luck.png?15&nolink}} [[luck|Luck]] | on the settled damage | negates a killing hit 75% of the time |

Ethereal and Invulnerability both work here because a trample counts as a **mundane attack**, which is the same flag that decides those two against any weapon.

==== Defences that do not apply ====

  * **??Shroud of Bewilderment??** and **??Aura of Bewilderment??** turn away an attacker's weapon attack on a [[magic-resistance|Magic Resistance]] check before the strike, and a trample itself does not count as weapon attack.
  * **[[cursed-luck|Cursed Luck]]** does not worsen a trample's rolls. Its 50% chance of a negative single-die [[drn|drn]] against the bearer's Defence and Protection rolls is applied by weapon strikes and aura attacks, and a trample rolls its own dice. It still takes the victim's [[luck|Luck]] save away.
  * **[[repel|Repel]]** cannot be attempted against a trample.
  * **[[fear|Fear]]** and **[[dread|Dread]]** act on [[morale|morale]]. They can rout a trampler and end the trampling that way, and they do nothing to a trample already under way.
  * **[[flying|Flying]]** and **[[floating|Floating]]** give no escape. A creature above the ground is trampled on the same terms as one standing on it.
  * A **shield** gives no Parry against it, as covered under [[#the-defence-roll|the defence roll]].

===== How often a trampler tramples =====

A trample step costs a fraction of an attack. Two things set the wait: the trampler's [[combat-speed|Combat Speed]], and **how many sizes bigger it is than the largest creature in the square**. That second figure is the one this section focuses on, and it is measured against the same creature that decides whether the square can be entered at all. A size 9 ??War Elephant?? walking over size 2 humans is 7 sizes bigger than everything it treads on.

<WRAP box 800px center>
**time per square = 1.33 / [[combat-speed|Combat Speed]] + attack time / divisor**\\ 
//in combat rounds//

  * **attack time** is what one ordinary attack costs the same creature: **1 combat round**, adjusted by any of the following that apply:
    * [[quickness|Quickness]] ×0.5
    * [[slowed|Slowed]] ×2
    * [[slowed#slimed|Slimed]] ×2
    * [[freeze|Frozen]] ×2
  * the **divisor** comes from how many sizes bigger the trampler is than the largest creature in the square:

^  sizes bigger  ^  1  ^  2  ^  3  ^  4  ^  5  ^  6 or more  ^
^  divisor  |  3  |  4  |  4  |  5  |  5  |  6  |
</WRAP>

This is the only place where the difference in size between trampler and victim changes anything. A bigger difference divides the attack time further and gives extra passes; it never adds a point of damage.

Squares trampled per round, at ordinary attack speed:

^ Combat Speed ^  1 size bigger  ^  2-3 bigger  ^  4-5 bigger  ^  6 or more bigger  ^
^  2 ??Gelatinous Cube??  |  1.0  |  1.1  |  1.2  |  1.2  |
^  4 ??Juggernaut??  |  1.5  |  1.7  |  1.9  |  2.0  |
^  12 ??Great Mother??  |  2.3  |  2.8  |  3.2  |  3.6  |
^  15 ??Minotaur??  |  2.4  |  3.0  |  3.5  |  3.9  |
^  18 ??War Elephant??  |  2.5  |  3.1  |  3.6  |  4.2  |
^  20 ??Chariot??  |  2.5  |  3.2  |  3.8  |  4.3  |
^  30 ??Great Moose??  |  2.6  |  3.4  |  4.1  |  4.7  |

Because the comparison is against the **largest** creature in the square, one nearly matching defender standing among small troops slows the whole trample against a square.

Each trampled square costs the trampler its full **[[encumbrance|Encumbrance]]** in [[fatigue|Fatigue]], exactly as a melee attack would. On a mounted trampler the **mount pays it and the riders pay nothing**, because the mount is the creature doing the trampling. The amount is the mount's own encumbrance; carrying two riders does not double it.

The cost is per square rather than per round, which is what tires a fast trampler. A ??War Elephant?? has 3 encumbrance and tramples a little over four squares a round (against normal troops like ??Militia??), so it gains about **13 fatigue a round** where a soldier swinging once a round usually gains 3 to 5. It recovers 1 point a round, so it reaches **50 fatigue after about four rounds** of steady trampling and **100 after about nine**.

==== A trampler in contact keeps on trampling ====

Reaching the enemy line does not turn a trampler back into an ordinary fighter. A creature acts whenever its action timer runs out, and each time a trampler's comes up it looks for a square to walk over before it considers swinging: **trampling takes the place of its weapon attack** for that action, and the wait until its next action is then the short [[#how-often-a-trampler-tramples|trample timer]] rather than a full attack. That is why a trampler in contact gets so many more actions than the creature next to it. It swings its weapons only when there is nothing it can trample: no enemy next to it, an enemy too big for its [[#reach|reach]], or [[#awe|Awe]] turning it back.

Which square it walks over is not chosen tactically. The trampler gathers every living enemy in the **3x3 block** of squares around it into one list and draws **one entry at random**, then tramples the square that creature is standing in. Each enemy is a separate entry, so a square holding five enemies is five times as likely to be drawn as a square holding one - thus, the trampler drifts toward the thickest part of the line.

==== The free attack ====

After a trample the trampler has a **25% chance** of an immediate free attack against an adjacent enemy. This is the only way a trampler that tramples on every action still gets to use its weapons, and it is why a ??Chariot?? lands the hoof+spear attack between passes.

It is a **whole ordinary attack, not one swing**. A creature with several weapons uses all of them, on the same terms as any other attack it makes.

On a [[mounted|mounted]] trampler the attack runs for **the whole group**: the rider attacks and the mount attacks, even though only the mount did the trampling. A mount at **50 or more [[fatigue|Fatigue]]** sits out its own half of it **half the time**, which the battle log calls "mount resting".

The attack's cost is charged to a **second timer**, kept apart from the one that sets how often the creature tramples. Trampling therefore never gets slower because of it. That second timer is also the gate, so free attacks cannot stack up: after one, the next has to wait roughly an ordinary attack interval no matter how many squares get trampled in between. A trampler crossing a formation at four squares a round does not get four free attacks; it gets about one.

==== Routing and retreating tramplers ====

A [[rout|routing]] trampler, and a trampler carrying out the **Retreat** order, ignore the friend-or-foe test on the way to the map edge and walk over their own side's squares as readily as the enemy's - **happily crushing your own troops.** The [[#avoiding_a_trample|size rule and the Awe check]] still apply: a square whose largest occupant is too big blocks the flight, and a fleeing trampler answers to its own side's Awe just as it would to the enemy's.

A trampler that can fly crushes nobody on the way out: it lifts off and leaves the battlefield through the air.

Routing works differently for [[mindless|Mindless]] creatures. A mindless creature whose side has broken stands its ground and keeps fighting, with a **33% chance each time it acts** to dissolve and vanish from the battle. A routed ??War Elephant?? stampedes back through its own line; a ??Gelatinous Cube?? on the same broken side keeps trampling the enemy until it melts away. An ordered Retreat is followed like any other order, so a mindless trampler told to retreat still walks out over its own side.

===== Swallowing =====

{{:abilities:swallow_on_trample.png?nolink }} **Swallow on Trample** takes the place of the damage on a successful trample: the victim is swallowed whole and removed from the battlefield. A victim that avoided the trample is not swallowed, so the ability only fires on the hits that would have dealt full damage.

A swallowed creature is out of the fight until its swallower dies, and it is digested while it waits. The damage per round is set on the swallower rather than fixed: a ??Gelatinous Cube?? deals **4 acid damage** a round and rusts what its victim is wearing. Digestion ignores [[protection|Protection]] entirely.

Being off the battlefield suspends the effects that need a square to happen in. ??Phoenix Pyre?? does not fire for a creature that dies inside a swallower, and neither do the death explosions or the affliction rolls. [[regeneration|Regeneration]] keeps working, so a regenerating creature heals while it is being digested.

Four creatures carry the ability in the unmodded game: the ??Gelatinous Cube??, and the ??Eater of the Dead?? through all three of its stages, including its final ??Unfettered?? form.

===== What trample does not trigger =====

Trample itself is not a weapon strike, and it is not treated as one. That cuts both ways.

  * **[[:fire-shield|Fire Shield]]**, ??Astral Shield??, [[:banefire-shield|Banefire Shield]], [[:poison-barbs|Poisonous Barbs]], Contact Poison and [[:acid-splash|Acid Splash]] do not fire.
  * The **[[:charge-bonus|Charge Bonus]]** does not apply.
  * Effects that key on **taking damage** work normally, because trample deals ordinary damage. [[:damage-reversal|Damage Reversal]] and [[:blood-vengeance|Blood Vengeance]] both fire, and both aim at the **mount** of a mounted trampler, since the mount is what did the trampling.

Kills made by trampling count as **melee kills** on the unit sheet and toward the [[:hall-of-fame|Hall of Fame]] score.

===== Granting Trample with items =====

Two items grant Trample to a commander that does not have it, and they are the only sources outside the monster trait itself. No bless and no spell grants it, and nothing removes it.

^ Item ^ Slot ^ Requires ^
| ??Boots of the Behemoth?? | feet | Construction 3, {{path>E1}} |
| ??Stymphalian Wings?? | body | Construction 7, {{path>E4}} |

===== Modding =====

The monster commands are **#trample** and **#trampswallow**, and neither takes a value.

**#trample is also an item command.** Written under **#newitem** it marks the item rather than a monster, exactly as the two items above do, and the bearer counts as a trampler for as long as it is carried.

{{tag>Combat-Mechanics unit-abilities}}
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