Cost of Living and Kingmaker

[Banti]

OK first off, let me just say I understand the divorce of BP and wealth. BP is not a measure of money just the capability of building. Got that.

But the question in the back of my mind, and maybe this all falls under hose rules is once you have started your cities and your doing your governance of them, how do you describe how a character is living?

These are the rules for Cost of living from the Core Rule Book.

Cost of living:

Destitute (0 gp/month): The PC is homeless and lives in the wilderness or on the streets. A destitute character must track every purchase, and may need to resort to Survival checks or theft to feed himself.

Poor (3 gp/month): The PC lives in common rooms of taverns, with his parents, or in some other communal situation—this is the lifestyle of most untrained laborers and commoners. He need not track purchases of meals or taxes that cost 1 sp or less.

Average (10 gp/month): The PC lives in his own apartment, small house, or similar location—this is the lifestyle of most trained or skilled experts or warriors. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 1 gp or less from his home in 1d10 minutes, and need not track purchases of common meals or taxes that cost 1 gp or less.

Wealthy (100 gp/month): The PC has a sizable home or a nice suite of rooms in a fine inn. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 5 gp or less from his belongings in his home in 1d10 minutes, and need only track purchases of meals or taxes in excess of 10 gp.

Extravagant (1,000 gp/month): The PC lives in a mansion, castle, or other extravagant home—he might even own the building in question. This is the lifestyle of most aristocrats. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 25 gp or less from his belongings in his home in
1d10 minutes. He need only track purchases of meals or taxes in excess of 100 gp.

So during the stages for construction of the kingdom, would it be safe to say that characters are living a lifestyle like the ones mentioned, for "free" or at a reduced cost? Should this be in flux? Or are these rules just not suited for Kingmaker at all.

[gang]

Michael Griffin-Wade wrote:

So during the stages for construction of the kingdom, would it be safe to say that characters are living a lifestyle like the ones mentioned, for "free" or at a reduced cost? Should...

I've allowed my players a 'wealthy' lifestyle as per the rules. They seem happy with that and it in no way breaks the game. *shrug*

[roguerouge]

Totally ad-hoc, but I'd say that 5 PCs living "wealthy" would cost a BP/month and every PC living "extravagant" would cost 2 BP/month. That's going with the army rules of a BP=500 gp or so.

[Alexander Kilcoyne]

I'm personally using these rules and basing it off their main cities wealth (base value) and i've told them i'll upgrade them when they finish their castle...

[tlc_web tlc_web]

Since my players built their castle first I gave them the following:
-- Wealthy Lifestyle automatically (can not be lowered in return for money)
-- 20 servants (17 unskilled, 1 cook, 1 butler, 1 mapmaker/booker (not Treasurer)
-- 10 guards
-- Rooms for 3 small diplomatic entourages
-- Room for 1 pet project (Alchemist chose alchemy lab, dwarf choose brewery)

That may sound like a lot, but considering castle is huge (it increases the population by 1000), I thought that was reasonable. Plus it allows the players to delegate trivial tasks to servants and not have to worry about low level thieves while they are adventuring.

[gang]

roguerouge wrote:

Totally ad-hoc, but I'd say that 5 PCs living "wealthy" would cost a BP/month and every PC living "extravagant" would cost 2 BP/month. That's going with the army rules of a BP=500 gp or so.

The thing is they're not really living that sort of lifestyle. If they were taking advantage then, maybe I'd start racking up their consumption, but so far nobody has. *shrug*.

[Mark Norfolk]

I'm about to start the Kingmaker AP. As they're the rulers/government I'd be quite happy for them to live a 'wealthy' lifestyle - on the understanding it's the position that gets the perks, not the individual. An excessive lifestyle, or siphoning off funds for your own pocket may result in Unrest increases.

Cheers
Mark

[Archmage_Atrus]

Yeah... I really think that forcing them to pay BP for cost of living is on the ridiculous side, especially since they can build a castle for themselves to live in relatively cheaply. (Plus, they'll easily have a dozen or so farm hexes within the year pumping out produce for all to feed upon year round. There's a *lot* of abstractions in Kingmaker, and I don't see why you would be retentive about Cost of Living expenses at that point.)

(Now, if the PCs build themselves a castle and then proceed to build no housing except Tenements for people to live in... *that* might start to cause some unrest, beyond the usual for the tenement gain.)

tlc_web tlc_web wrote:

Since my players built their castle first I gave them the following:

-- Wealthy Lifestyle automatically (can not be lowered in return for money)
-- 20 servants (17 unskilled, 1 cook, 1 butler, 1 mapmaker/booker (not Treasurer)
-- 10 guards
-- Rooms for 3 small diplomatic entourages
-- Room for 1 pet project (Alchemist chose alchemy lab, dwarf choose brewery)

Those are good ideas. So far I've only given them servants, and followed the old guidelines for militia/guards (1 out of every 100 citizens is an active member of the guard, 1 out of every 20 can be called to the militia) with the caveat that once they get Leadership, they'll start getting more. I like the castle having more of a physical bonus than just being a building for them.

[Shizvestus]

Back in Rise of the Rune Lords, in the back of one of the books there was a "Guide to Keeps" that was all about running a small castle and what the headaches were in costs and upkeep and who did what etc. Handy little thing that... Great to figure out seneschals, serfs, castellians and what not :)