Optional Rules (back)
The following sections are optional rules for the kingdom-building system. These rules are modular; if the group prefers a simpler version of the kingdom rules, the GM can ignore the options and only use the standard kingdom-building rules. Many of these optional rules introduce more math into kingdom-building and use complex formulas to derive additional effects to be placed on the kingdom. The GM decides whether to use any of these optional rules in the campaign, and whether to keep or discard them if they interfere with the campaign's intended style of play.
Abandoned Buildings
If a building requires another to be adjacent (such as how a Tavern must be adjacent to a House or Mansion), and that required building is demolished or destroyed, the GM may decide that the associated building goes out of business or otherwise shuts down 1d3 turns later because of lack of customers or support. If this occurs, you lose the building's benefit and Unrest increases by 1.
If you build a replacement for the abandoned building, on the next Upkeep phase you may attempt an Economy check to activate the abandoned building; success means the abandoned building is occupied and provides its bonuses. If you fail, you may keep trying on the next turn.
Deities and Holy Sites
Instead of Cathedrals, Shrines, and Temples providing the same bonuses to Economy, Loyalty, and Stability regardless of that building's religious affiliation, they can instead provide a bonus to an attribute related to the alignment of the god worshiped.
A Temple increases attributes as follows: Chaotic: Loyalty +2; Evil: Economy +2; Good: Loyalty +2; Lawful: Economy +2; Neutral: Stability +2 (apply this twice if the god's alignment is simply Neutral, not Chaotic Neutral or Lawful Neutral). A Cathedral increases these attributes by 4 instead of 2. A Shrine increases one attribute, and only by 1; for example, a lawful good Shrine increases Economy by 1 or Loyalty by 1).
Instead of granting alignment-based bonuses, a religious building may grant bonuses based on the portfolio of its chosen god. For example, a Temple of the goddess of wine may increase Economy and Loyalty (the same attributes as a Tavern) each by 2, and a Temple of the god of greed may increase Economy and Stability (the same attributes as a Black Market) each by 2. These values replace the building's normal modifiers to Economy, Loyalty, and Stability, and should never provide bonuses greater than the building's normal bonuses (+1 for a Shrine, +4 for a Temple, +8 for a Cathedral).
Expanding Settlement Modifiers
As explained in the Buildings section, the Settlement entry for a building lists modifiers that affect skill checks in the settlement (GameMastery Guide 204). If the GM wants these modifiers to influence the kingdom as a whole, add up the Settlement modifiers for all settlements in your kingdom, divide them by 10, and apply the following adjustments according to your kingdom's alignment:
- Chaotic: +1 Crime
- Evil: +1 Corruption
- Good: +1 Society
- Lawful +1 Law
- Neutral: +1 Lore (apply this twice if the kingdom's alignment is simply Neutral, not Chaotic Neutral or Lawful Neutral)
Use these total modifiers everywhere in your kingdom. If a settlement has its own settlement modifier, use the higher of the two modifiers for rolls relating to that settlement.
Fame and Infamy
Kingdoms gain notoriety for the actions of their leaders and citizens, as well as for constructing certain types of buildings. This leads to the development of Fame or Infamy. Fame represents a positive perception of a kingdom—it's seen as a place of culture, learning, peace, and honor—as well as reflecting its measure of success in diplomacy, trade, and battle. Infamy represents a negative perception of a kingdom—it's perceived as treacherous, corrupt, prejudiced, ruthlessly warmongering, and villainous.
As a kingdom grows, it can gain and lose both Fame and Infamy, but these are not opposite statistics—an increase in Fame does not mean an equal decrease in Infamy. For example, a kingdom may be famous for culture and learning as well as infamous for treachery and corruption.
Starting Values: When you found a kingdom, it starts with Fame 1 or Infamy 1 (Ruler's choice). The other value starts at 0. Fame and Infamy cannot go below 0. Certain buildings (such as Arenas and Castles) increase Fame. Some events (such as Squatters or Visiting Celebrity) can increase or reduce Fame or Infamy.
Settlement Modifiers: Add all the Lore and Society modifiers from all your settlements and divide by 10; add this amount to your Fame. Add all the Corruption and Crime modifiers from all your settlements and divide by 10; add this amount to your Infamy.
Size Increases: When your kingdom's Size increases to 11, 26, 51, 101, and 201, Fame or Infamy (Ruler's choice) increases by 1.
Using Fame and Infamy: Fame and Infamy affect skill checks relating to other kingdoms. For every 10 points of your kingdom's Fame, your citizens gain a +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks to influence government officials of other kingdoms. For every 10 points of your kingdom's Infamy, your citizens gain a +1 bonus on Intimidate checks to influence government officials of other kingdoms.
Forms of Government
The kingdom-building rules presume your government is a feudal monarchy; the leaders are appointed for life (either by themselves or an outside agency such as a nearby monarch), and pass their titles to their heirs. The form of government you choose can help establish the flavor and feel of the kingdom and also adjust its settlements' modifiers. You may choose one of the following as the kingdom's government.
Autocracy: A single person rules the kingdom by popular acclaim. This person may be elected by the people, a popular hero asked to lead, or even a hereditary monarch who rules with a light hand. Modifiers: None.
Magocracy: An individual or group with potent magical power leads the kingdom and promotes the spread of magical and mundane knowledge and education. Those with magical abilities often enjoy favored status in the kingdom. Modifiers: Lore +2, Productivity -1, Society -1.
Oligarchy: A group of councilors, guild masters, aristocrats, and other wealthy and powerful individuals meet in council to lead the kingdom and direct its policies. Modifiers: Corruption +1, Law -1, Lore -1, Society +1.
Overlord: The kingdom's ruler is a single individual who either seized control or inherited command of the settlement and maintains a tight grasp on power. Modifiers: Corruption +1, Crime -1, Law +1, Society -1.
Republic: The kingdom is ruled by a parliament of elected or appointed officials who represent the various geographic areas and cultural constituents of the kingdom, making decisions for the whole through voting, bureaucratic procedures, and coalition-building. Modifiers: Crime -1, Law -1, Productivity +1, Society +1.
Secret Syndicate: An unofficial or illegal group like a thieves' guild rules the kingdom—the group may use a puppet leader to maintain secrecy, but the group pulls the strings. Modifiers: Corruption +1, Crime +1, Law -3, Productivity +1.
Theocracy: The kingdom is ruled by the leader of its most popular religion, and the ideas and members of that religion often enjoy favored status in government and the kingdom. Modifiers: Corruption -1, Law +1, Lore +1, Society -1.
Independence and Unification
Sometimes, breaking a kingdom into multiple pieces or joining with another kingdom is the best option for long-term survival.
Declaring Independence
Though many kingdoms break apart due to military, racial, or religious conflicts, you can divide up your kingdom amiably if all leaders agree. During the Event phase, follow these steps.
Step 1: Decide how many kingdoms you'll make out of the old one.
Step 2: Split up the kingdom. Determine which hexes belong to each daughter kingdom. Divide the treasury in a fair manner (such as proportionate to population or Size), and divide any other mobile assets (such as armies).
Step 3: Determine how much Unrest in the parent kingdom does not result from leadership and building modifiers. Divide this by the number of daughter kingdoms being made from the parent kingdom (minimum 1 Unrest).
Step 4: Each daughter kingdom should follow the steps for founding a kingdom . Treat leaders moving from the parent kingdom to a daughter kingdom as abdicating their posts in the parent kingdom. Loyalty increases by 1 for each daughter kingdom for the next 6 months. Add the Unrest from Step 3 to the Unrest for the daughter kingdoms.
The GM may influence any of these steps as appropriate to the situation, such as by giving one kingdom an Economy penalty and a Loyalty bonus, or dividing the Unrest in Step 4 unequally between the kingdoms.
If independence occurs as a result of creating a secondary territory by losing control of a connecting hex, the additional Unrest penalty from having a kingdom leader act as the Ruler ends.
Independence and Diplomatic Edicts: If you're using Diplomatic edicts, you may wish to use such an edict to declare independence. Treat this act as a Diplomatic edict to form an alliance, but the sponsor's initial attitude toward your kingdom is 2 steps worse. If successful, the negotiation emancipates your kingdom and ends any treaty or alliance with your former patron; you retain an embassy with that kingdom and can try to negotiate a new treaty or alliance. If the negotiation fails, it worsens the patron's attitude by 1 additional step. If this changes the patron's attitude to hostile, it leads to war against your rebellious kingdom.
The paragraph above describes an optimal, peaceful situation where part of the kingdom wants to split away from the rest or the rulers want to divide the kingdom into smaller kingdoms. Splitting a country because of invasion, revolution, or a similar conflict usually involves unique circumstances and is beyond the scope of these rules; the GM should use the above steps as guidelines for when the kingdom leaders reach an agreement with others about how to split the kingdom.
Forming a Union
Just as a kingdom can divide into separate pieces, kingdoms may want to unite to become a more powerful political entity. If the leaders in each kingdom agree to the union, the process is relatively smooth. During the Event phase, follow these steps.
First, combine the Treasuries and any other mobile assets (such as armies) of the kingdoms. Next, determine how much Unrest in each kingdom is not from leadership and building modifiers. Average these numbers together (minimum 1 Unrest).
Then follow the steps for founding a kingdom . Treat leaders who change roles as changing roles within the same kingdom.
Once you've got your new, combined kingdom, add the Unrest from earlier to the Unrest for the new kingdom.
The GM may influence any of these steps as appropriate to the situation, such as giving hexes in the smaller kingdom a temporary Loyalty penalty for 1 year, or giving the entire kingdom a 1d4-2 Stability modifier each turn for 6 months.
Leadership Role Skills
Each leadership role provides bonuses to kingdom statistics based on one of the leader's ability scores. The GM may want to allow a leader's ranks in a relevant skill (such as Diplomacy or Intimidate) to also affect the kingdom statistics. For every 5 full ranks in a relevant skill, the leader may increase the leadership modifier by an additional 1. These skill-based additional bonuses modify the standard leadership role bonuses in the same way that the Leadership feat grants additional bonuses.
The relevant skills for each leadership role are as follows.
Ambassador: Diplomacy
Castellan: Knowledge (engineering)
Consort: Knowledge (nobility)
Councilor: Knowledge (local)
General: Profession (soldier)
Grand Diplomat: Diplomacy
Heir: Knowledge (nobility)
High Priest: Knowledge (religion)
Magister: Knowledge (arcana)
Royal Enforcer: Intimidate
Ruler: Knowledge (nobility)
Sheriff: Survival
Spymaster: Sense Motive
Treasurer: Profession (merchant)
Viceroy: Knowledge (geography)
Settlement Sizes
The GM may want to adjust settlement modifiers based on the kingdom's Size and how that corresponds to the standard settlement size categories in the Core Rulebook.
| Settlement Sizes and Modifiers |
|---|
| Lots | Category | Modifiers | Danger |
|---|
| 1 | Village | -4 | -10 |
| 2-8 | Small Town | -2 | -5 |
| 9-20 | Large Town | 0 | 0 |
| 21-40 | Small City | +1 | +5 |
| 41-100 | Large City | +1* | +5* |
| 101+ | Metropolis | +1* | +5* |
| * Per district |
Modifiers: Add the listed number to the settlement's Corruption, Crime, Law, Lore, Productivity, and Society.
Danger: Add the listed number to the settlement's Danger value.
| The settlement size modifiers need adjusted to agree with Ultimate Rulership |
Other Sources of Treasury
In addition to grants of building points from a liege, seizing the assets of a conquered territory, or spending
wealth to acquire the assets represented by Building Points, you
can facilitate investment in the kingdom in other ways.
Make Building Points a form of treasure: As PCs go
through their adventuring careers, not all rewards you hand
out need to be in the form of gold, jewels, magic items, and
similar portable, easily salable goods. Abandoned fortresses,
ruined towns, monster-filled mines, and vast forests are
all great places for adventuring, but they are also resources
to exploit. Once PCs have completed an adventure in the
traditional sense, friendly NPCs might suggest to them that
areas cleared of monsters are actually quite valuable, and
with time and effort they could put these resources to good
use. Even the goodwill of ordinary commoners they have
rescued from monsters and marauders is a part of Building
Points, as the willing labor of loyal citizens is what converts
raw materials into wealth as they clamor for PCs who have
saved them now to lead them.
In a campaign where creating
a domain is not just possible but encouraged, you need to
introduce the idea that things have values beyond a purely
cash economy. The valuables that bandits or monsters might
steal are more likely to be these kinds of commodities, assets,
and resources than they are sacks and chests of coins and
gems. If PCs start to accumulate a substantial amount of non-
liquid wealth, they are more likely to want to do something
productive with it than if they have to take their hard-earned
coin and pour it back into livestock and lumber.
Optional Rule: Whenever PCs recover a cache of treasure from
the lair of a sentient creature, the treasure includes 1d2-1 Building
Point worth of goods and materials (1d4-1 Building Points if the
creatures are humanoid). For each Building Point, reduce the
monetary value of the treasure found (not including the value of
magical items or of equipment worn or wielded by the creatures)
by 500 gp. Each Building Point represents 1d4 wagonloads of
goods and raw materials. These Building Points are in addition
to those that can be gained by selling items and donating the
proceeds to the treasury (steps 2 and 3 of the Income Phase).
Make the right to rule a part of the campaign: Once PCs
reach 10th level, in the context of the campaign world they have
proven their worth and earned the renown that warrants a grant
of land to claim, a temple to establish, a wizard’s tower to erect,
or a thieves’ guild to seize. PCs should never be obligated to rule,
but as well as suggesting in character that it is an expected part
of their newfound status as powerful and respected figures in
the world as well as offering a tangible inducement:
Optional Rule: At 10th level and above, each PC can claim
a one-time award of 1 BP per character level, representing the
accumulation of contacts, allies, supporters, fame, goodwill, and
even legal claims to territory they have earned in their careers.
Leadership: The Leadership feat provides a character with
a cohort, which in addition to being an adventuring sidekick
also makes an ideal member of a kingdom leadership team,
someone whose loyalty is secure and whose skills can be
applied equally well to ruling as to raiding dungeons. More
importantly, the Leadership feat grants loyal followers that
are willing to devote their service to a PC as well as recruiting
others to settle and labor in their master’s name.
Optional Rule: For each character in a kingdom leadership
role that has the Leadership feat, the kingdom adds 1
Building Point to its treasury each turn, representing the great
productivity of their faithful followers.
