@Valeska: I'm sorry that I forgot to respond to your question.
I will allow Grigs as an alternative creature on your list for Summon Nature's Ally II
@Valeska: I'm sorry that I forgot to respond to your question.
I will allow Grigs as an alternative creature on your list for Summon Nature's Ally II
It's OK... you were busy! Thank you for the reply and the allowance.
I was thinking using them as scouts (down the exhaust shaft), but my duration is only 2 rounds.
:(
Does our claim of the mineral deposits hex put us in conflict with the Dwarves? Or can we hire them to mine it? Pay them with the same extraction bonus (for using Dwarves?)?
Thinking out loud.
DM Vayelan the last time we leveled Valda learned Elvish and hand sign specifically so she could communicate with Chao and Shontar. Who seem to be no longer with us. Have you heard if Ellioti is returning? If not do you mind if I switch 'hand sign' for Dwarvish? She wouldn't start speaking it for this conversation. But maybe the next.
@Valeska: Good question! The mineral deposits are beyond the territory that the dwarves of Gerduhm (which is the name of the hold, as you will learn from Vreya) claim, both in theory and practice. Since the Oathkeepers who govern Gerduhm revere Kols, the dwarven demigod of duty, they are as lawful as they come - thus they would honor your first claim upon the deposits. Of course, they would greatly appreciate some manner of shared stake in the resource, as you suggested, and that would further cement your new friendship.
@Valda: Yes, since it seems like Ellioti will not be returning, and thus Shontar and Chao will be retired, you can retrain 'hand signs' for Dwarvish, especially since it makes narrative sense for Valda to learn it thanks to this meeting and future friendship with the dwarves.
I am in the process of fighting off a migraine so I may not have a post up today. I'll get one up tomorrow definitely.
I propose that Gargan's company motto can be:
Ego operor illud, sed est iens ut tibi constarent :)
I will post in the morning tomorrow. Weekend and Monday has been crazy.
So looking at the current Leadership roles, it looks like the only really vacant one is Royal Enforcer.
Nikolai would fit thematically very well as a Grand Diplomat (Probably call himself a Chancellor since we're a county and not a kingdom) or as a Magister. Both have an NPC in them and both would get a +1 increase to their bonus having him assume authority over it. It'd get me some roleplay goodness with whoever is currently in the position as well; I am certain that Nikolai would want them around for their experience and knowledge of the position.
Valda is a thick, strong woman with a greatsword so any of the positions using Strength for the bonus would be great. She could replace the Warden perhaps?
This is just me spit-balling and looking at the most optimized things. I'm cool for whatever the group thinks is best.
So...according to the Improvement Edicts table, we can build 1 new buildings (Houses, Noble Villas, Mansion, and Tenement does not count against that number). Upgrading does count against it. We can make two terrain improvements and claim one hex.
For the players that were here before Valda and me, what were your expansion plans? What hexes do we have explored that we could consider taking for ourselves?
Thank you, I was reading about the bleakwall and saw they were in our territory, didn't think about whether it was 'metagaming' or not.
I don't know anything about the kingdom building rules. Is there anyplace we can check them out? I saw you had the sight up top, I will spend some time reading it :)
In general terms, were focused on commerce and population.
We wanted to maximize farming/food supply (sorry if it's not the exact term) with terrain changes to the hexes adjacent to Ravengro and along the river.
That mineral/gold deposit seems a good hex to claim.
That said, we need to protect so... barracks and troops are important too.
Kain mumbles about not having proper rivals to fight and get experience for the troops with due to all the peace making.
As it stands, Kain is content with knowing that, once wealth begins flowing into the town, a fair portion of it will be diverted to increasing both the quality and quantity of his Reclamation army militia and guard. IC he is content to let those more experienced in such matters decide, as long as the courtesy is reciprocated when required.
general ideas Kain has brought to consideration in regards to military/defense.
A large mounted division, especially if we are planning to expand into the hold and its (generally) open plains. This is tactically sound in his opinion, and also would give him an excuse to potentially revive the Dragoons from his late home.
IIRC he also mentioned somewhere about having them split between a more melee oriented cavalry(ala lances at dawn) and a ranged focused one (horse archers OP) He advocates the latter as the primary focus. If they could be merged into one, great, though that would take a lot of training.
He also has designs, as outlandish and grandiose as they are, for an elite knight unit of griffon riders. Its largely a pipe dream at the moment, as the county has one (1) griffon in it. Who has already claimed a caretaker. Though the recent events have gotten him thinking about potentially making use of some of the more wild beasts from the hold as mounts.
In the more immediate, and less grandiose, he has spoken about getting some light horses to train and equip his militia with, effectively turning them into ranged skirmishers and scouts. This would, with some training, likely make the militia we currently have the most effective, while also(hopefully) limiting casualties in any potential conflict as they harass and skirmish without a full engagement. If ever forced into a full head on engagement however, it may prove worse. The simple solution is to never allow this to happen with better scouting and information. Though, easier said than done haha.
This leads into his suggestion, of eventually and slowly retaking the forts along the border of the hold. Having a largely light cavalry/skirmish based force would allow more rapid redeployment if required.
He will also be suggesting a "2 year service by requirement" for anyone able bodied. This would largely be for the younger men and women, (think 16-22 of age) and largely be general training, both physical and militarily. They would also be taught how to read and write, along with basic math etc if they were not able to already. They would be paid a sum as well of course. We want quality after all, and the idea that they are being given a rudimentary education, housing, meals and a small pay would make the "requirement" part less of an issue, if only in some ways.
So first is the upkeep phase? What do we need to do?
Step 1—Determine Kingdom Stability: Attempt a Stability check. If you succeed, Unrest decreases by 1 (if this would reduce Unrest below 0, add 1 BP to your Treasury instead). If you fail by 4 or less, Unrest increases by 1; if you fail by 5 or more, Unrest increases by 1d4.
Whose doing the stability check?
It hasn't been needed in a while, but for Vayelan's Ironfang Invasion campaign I wrote up a big template in a text file with all the rolls in place and each Phase marked. Each time a Militia turn is called for I just copy and paste it into the PBP thread, modifying our roll bonuses and allocating upkeep gold, etc.
For the sake of expediency I was kind of making decisions for the group so that each subsystem turn didn't take days or weeks of discussion. I would be fine if our group did the same here--if someone wants to post each Kingdom Turn using a similar template I think that would be more efficiency.
That's fine with me, I don't understand the system well yet at all.
On another note, with Chao seemingly now absent, I think Bashuk would do well as the Marshal (+3Dex) or potentially even better as the Warden (+5Con), and she also has some ideas about patrolling & guarding the nation. She'd be happy to be working with Kain on that front!
So this is what I have so far...
Nikolai: Grand Diplomat
Bashuk: Warden
Valda: Royal Enforcer
I went with Grand Diplomat since we have a friendly NPC in that position and it'd likely ruffle the least amount of feathers. That and removing a known lecher from such a position seems like a good idea lol. I am totally fine with each of us taking a turn doing the kingdom management rolls each time we need to so we can hurry things along. Other players can give suggestions of what to do but whichever player is in charge of the rolls that time will take care of it.
Here is a little spoiler write-up of most of the stuff we'll do every kingdom turn...
Upkeep Phase
Step 1 - Stability Check: You roll 1d20 + Stability Score - Current Unrest v.s. Control DC. If you succeed, Unrest decreases by 1 (if this would reduce Unrest below 0, add 1 BP to your Treasury instead). If you fail by 4 or less, Unrest increases by 1; if you fail by 5 or more, Unrest increases by 1d4.
Step 2 - Pay Consumption: Subtract your kingdom’s Consumption from the kingdom’s Treasury. If your Treasury is negative after paying Consumption, Unrest increases by 2.
Step 3 - Fill Vacant Magic Item Slots: If any of your settlement districts have buildings that produce magic items (such as a Caster’s Tower or Herbalist) with vacant magic item slots, there is a chance of those slots filling with new items (see the Magic Items in Settlements section).
Step 4 - Modify Unrest: Unrest increases by 1 for each kingdom attribute (Economy, Loyalty, or Stability) that is a negative number.
Edict Phase
Step 1 - Assign Leadership
Step 2 - Claim and Abandon Hexes: For your kingdom to grow, you must claim additional hexes. You can only claim a hex that is adjacent to at least 1 other hex in your kingdom. Before you can claim it, the hex must first be explored, then cleared of monsters and dangerous hazards (see Steps 2 and 3 of Founding a Settlement for more details). Then, to claim the hex, spend 1 BP; this establishes the hex as part of your kingdom and increases your kingdom’s Size by 1. Table: Improvement Edicts tells you the maximum number of hexes you can claim per turn. You may abandon any number of hexes to reduce your kingdom’s Size (which you may wish to do to manage Consumption). Doing so increases Unrest by 1 for each hex abandoned (or by 4 if the hex contained a settlement).
Step 3 - Build Terrain Improvements: You may spend BP to build terrain improvements like Farms, Forts, Roads, Mines, and Quarries (see Terrain Improvements). You may also prepare a hex for constructing a settlement. Depending on the site, this may involve clearing trees, moving boulders, digging sanitation trenches, and so on. See the Preparation Cost column on Table: Terrain and Terrain Improvements to determine how many BP this requires.
Step 4 - Create and Improve Settlements: You may create a settlement in a claimed hex (see Founding a Settlement). Table: Improvement Edicts tells you the maximum number of settlements you can establish per turn. You may a building in any settlement in your kingdom. The list of available building types begins. When a building is completed, apply its modifiers to your kingdom sheet. Table: Improvement Edicts tells you the maximum number of buildings you can construct in your kingdom per turn. The first House, Mansion, Noble Villa, or Tenement your kingdom builds each turn does not count against that limit.
Step 5 - Create Army Units: You may create, expand, equip, or repair army units (see Mass Combat).
Step 6 - Issue Edicts: Select or adjust your edict levels (see Edicts).
Income Phase
Step 1 - Make Withdrawals from the Treasury: The kingdom-building rules allow you to expend BP on things related to running the kingdom. If you want to spend some of the kingdom’s resources on something for your own personal benefit (such as a new magic item), you may withdraw BP from the Treasury and convert it into gp once per turn, but there is a penalty for doing so. Each time you withdraw BP for your personal use, Unrest increases by the number of BP withdrawn. Each BP you withdraw this way converts to 2,000 gp of personal funds.
Step 2 - Make Deposits to the Treasury: You can add funds to a kingdom’s Treasury by donating your personal wealth to the kingdom—coins, gems, jewelry, weapons, armor, magic items, and other valuables you find while adventuring, as long as they are individually worth 4,000 gp or less. For every full 4,000 gp in value of the deposit, increase your kingdom’s BP by 1. If you want to donate an item that is worth more than 4,000 gp, refer to Step 3 instead.
Step 3 - Sell Expensive Items for BP: You can attempt to sell expensive personal items (that is, items worth more than 4,000 gp each) through your kingdom’s markets to add to your Treasury. You may sell one item per settlement district per turn. You must choose the settlement where you want to sell the item, and the item cannot be worth more than the base value of that settlement. To sell an item, divide its price by half (as if selling it to an NPC for gp), divide the result by 4,000 (rounded down), and add that many BP to your Treasury. You cannot use this step to sell magic items held or created by buildings in your settlements; those items are the property of the owners of those businesses. (See Magic Items in Settlements for more information on this topic.)
Step 4 - Collect Taxes: Attempt an Economy check, divide the result by 3 (round down), and add a number of BP to your Treasury equal to the result. You make an Economy check by rolling 1d20 + Economy - Unrest v.s. Control DC. If successful, divide result by 3 and add resulting number to your Treasury.
Event Phase
Step 1 - In the Event phase, a random event may affect your kingdom as a whole or a single settlement or hex. There is a 25% chance of an event occurring (see Events). If no event occurred during the last turn, this chance increases to 75%. Some events can be negated, ended, or compensated for with some kind of kingdom check. Others, such as a rampaging monster, require you to complete an adventure or deal with a problem in a way not covered by the kingdom-building rules. In addition, the GM may have an adventure- or campaign-specific event take place. Other events may also happen during this phase, such as independence or unification.
So who wants to go first? We have the goal of building some semblance of a military force, increasing the economic power, and claiming and improving the territory around Ravengro and along the river. The quarry and other things in the Hold are going to be long-term objectives; it'll take us time to get all the way out there to claim things before we can even do anything there.
@DM Vayelan - Are we to assume that the county limits are all considered explored? If not, we'll need to re-explore them again which will take time or do Exploration edicts to get people out there to explore for us. The benefit of course is more fun adventures and we may find neat stuff out there to uncover.
EDIT: So I was looking at the awesome kingdom tracker there and I realize that our unrest is not up to date. We have 4 tenements, each giving +2 Unrest. With the other buildings we have, we have a total unrest of +3, I think?
My suggestion, for this turn, is to improve a tenement into a house for for 3BP, rebuild the Town Hall for 11BP, and we can either gamble on rolling at least average on our Economy roll and use the last 2 BP we'll have remaining to build a Farm on a Plains tile if we have one or spend 1 BP to claim a new explored tile nearby us. If we get a 13 on our Economy roll, that'll get us 10BP into our Treasury after everything is said and done. We need to get at least a 5 to make any BP at all.
Last little thing! We should also totally look into buildings that require waterfronts since we have access to one.
Everything within the county borders can be considered explored. The process of claiming these hexes represents reasserting authority over the territory and rebuilding minimum infrastructure.
The Unrest may seem off because, besides being adjusted by buildings and events, it can also be reduced or increased by the Stability check at the start of each kingdom turn.
That is true, yes. I forgot about that. Brain a little melted from absorbing the subsystem lol.
That is true, yes. I forgot about that. Brain a little melted from absorbing the subsystem lol.
Who's Brian?
That is true, yes. I forgot about that. Brain a little melted from absorbing the subsystem lol.Who's Brian?
Do you mean who's Brain?
Made you look! Was hoping to get Nikolai :) Since his Brian is melted.
I am a clever guy. I reread super fast :P
I think we have only had one or two kingdom building turns, what we did was...
Each "player/character" brought their ideas to the table (petitioned or lobbied?) and I/Valeska choose or combined ideas.
Obviously, in this process... "Hey Valeska, that's stupid... " or some equivalent is acceptable.
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I think we have only had one or two kingdom building turns, what we did was...
Each "player/character" brought their ideas to the table (petitioned or lobbied?) and I/Valeska choose or combined ideas.
Obviously, in this process... "Hey Valeska, that's stupid... " or some equivalent is acceptable.
My suggestion, for this turn, is to improve a tenement into a house for for 3BP, rebuild the Town Hall for 11BP, and we can either gamble on rolling at least average on our Economy roll and use the last 2 BP we'll have remaining to build a Farm on a Plains tile if we have one or spend 1 BP to claim a new explored tile nearby us. If we get a 10 on our Economy roll, that'll get us 10BP into our Treasury after everything is said and done. We need to get at least a 5 to make any BP at all.
The Town Hall building gives us a slew of discounts to things, including barracks and other good buildings. Building an army can be done but we have to keep in mind that their Consumption is per week, not month. A standard army will consume 4 BP every month so we need to make sure we have a good economy to support it. If we start expanding into the forests, we can begin making lumber mills that'll get us additional BP as well.
I love discounts! Are the discounts worth the delay of other improvements?
11BP seems a large investment, could we instead convert to homes, farms, mills... to get "cash/BP" flowing before the 11 BP expenditure?
I understand we are trying to avoid a length discussion "every turn" but we need to get acquainted and understand how each the other tihinks (exchange viewpoints) at least once.
I guess my instinct is "secure what we have" and also have a decent humanitarian public relations campaign instead of what might be seen by "the people" as over developing administration/government/control.
A people first type of thing.
I know it may not be by the letter of the law or rules as written. But, we're pretty RP heavy thus far.
In game terms, I suppose it goes back to your "unrest" concern. So, although not focused on a single thing.
I'd like to split resources:
People (local, within)
Economy (external, other states/ entities)
Defense (Protect what we've got)
Not sure if I'm missing something.
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In terms of securing what we have, we already have the Town Hall. It usually goes for 22BP but we can repair it, which only takes half the Building Points for it. It gives us mechanically a Economy +1, Loyalty +1, Stability +1 to the Kingdom and +1 to Law inside of Ravengro.
Fluff-wise, it is a public venue for town meetings, repository for town records, and offices for minor bureaucrats. It is where we would meet the townfolk for questions, emergencies, and keep the history of Ravengro.
I'll speak on it more later today, I have to go see a movie and eat noms :D
I am back! Sorry about the delay, Suicide Squad was a pretty entertaining movie.
11BP seems a large investment, could we instead convert to homes, farms, mills... to get "cash/BP" flowing before the 11 BP expenditure?
Homes, by themselves, don't provide any kind of bonus to Economy rolls but they are necessary for other buildings to be built beside them. We can, for 2BP, upgrade a Tenement home to a proper House. That will cut out 3 unrest (Tenements are +2 unrest and Houses are -1 unrest). Building another farm would lower our consumption by 2 points, which means that we would no longer lose BP on each Kingdom Turn for the time being. We can upgrade to a House for 2BP, leaving us with 3BP. Claiming territory and building another Farm would take that last 3.
At that point, if we roll a 9 on the Economy check, we should make back 10gp. Every three higher than that gets us an additional BP. We can only fail the check on a 1-2.
It uses our resources and what we all have her well. There is a influx of crops and harvest coming in, more stability and calmness in the town itself, and we get discounts for next turn on the barracks and cistern, if that is something we're interested in. Otherwise, we can start storing up BP, expand out more slowly, and try to get ourselves to the next size up.
I would advise against just building things all next to us; we will likely want to build more districts once our initial one is full. Maybe down the river and closer to the border, we can build a more militarily focused town as well?
I am interested in all your thoughts folks :)
For my thoughts, I just want to say how pleased I am to see you guys so enthusiastic for the kingdom building aspect of the game.
who doesn't want to build a kingdom up in their ideal image afterall?
I think you (@Nikolai) made an excellent case, and it's more or less in line with my thoughts. On top of what is best mechanically, I'm trying to maintain the RP aspect and "campaign promises" made, as it were.
@DM Vaylen - can we make sure from an RP perspective we don't re-neg on the refugees we met and talked into heling us?
That could be the center of the house improvement whereby they have a legitimate home (or one is being constructed).
What is the roll?
I agree with reasoning that Nikolai has presented, and I have a strong preference for developing out economy first before doing anything with a military. Years of playing strategy/4x/rts games have taught me that without a strong economy none of the other shenanigans are possible! :)
Oh for certain! I am all about finding ways to make good mechanical choices make sense with the roleplay. I like to optimize but not so much that it doesn't make sense with the game.
I agree with reasoning that Nikolai has presented, and I have a strong preference for developing out economy first before doing anything with a military. Years of playing strategy/4x/rts games have taught me that without a strong economy none of the other shenanigans are possible! :)
clearly you never practiced the rush tactic. If we spent everything on a military, and just took the resources from a neighbor, what could go wrong?
I do agree on building economy up first though.
I think you (@Nikolai) made an excellent case, and it's more or less in line with my thoughts. On top of what is best mechanically, I'm trying to maintain the RP aspect and "campaign promises" made, as it were.
@DM Vaylen - can we make sure from an RP perspective we don't re-neg on the refugees we met and talked into heling us?
That could be the center of the house improvement whereby they have a legitimate home (or one is being constructed).
What is the roll?
Diplomacy is the most obvious option to present the renovation of tenements into houses as making good on the promise to the refugees. Other options would include certain Perform or Profession skills.
Oh... I meant the kingdom building round roll. :)
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I typed up the rules and rolls here in this post if you want to do them first. If you prefer though, and everyone is in agreement of what we'll do, I'll do it all first to show how it goes?
That would be greatly appreciated!
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Alright, may the Dice Gods be with us!
So we enter first into Upkeep Phase
Step #1 - Stability Roll. v.s. DC 23
We just barely scoot on by. Since our Unrest is 0, that means we get one BP which bring us up to 18BP.
Step #2 - Pay Consumption. We are Size 2 right now, including the settlement itself and the farmland. That means we pay 3BP in Consumption and that brings us down to 15BP.
Step #3 - We have no vacant magical item slots, so we're all good there.
Step #4 - Nothing is negative so we don't gain Unrest. Huzzah.
Upkeep Phase is done, which brings us to the next phase; Edict Phase
Step #1 - Assign Leadership. Now I know we haven't covered it in-game but I am assuming that the role suggestions are good by everyone and will be assigned sometime in the next month?
The changes will be that Nikolai takes over as Grand Diplomat, Bashuk takes over as Warden, and Valda takes over as Royal Enforcer. I'll put us in right now but if we all decide to change that, then I will put back the originals. (Gharen Muricar - GD - 2, Vashian Hearthmount - Warden - 3)
Step #2 - Claim/Abandon Hexes. My suggestion is that we take the plains location that border Tamrivena's forest to the NE of Ravengro. It looks like it is a nice and simple plains and we can build a farm and fishery there pretty easily to help with Consumption. Claiming the hex costs us 1BP. That brings us to 14BP
Step #3 - Build Terrain Improvements. So with our plan, we'll build a Farm on the newly claimed hex. That'll cost us 2BP due to it being plains and will lower our consumption by 2 as well. That leaves us with 12BP.
Step #4 - Create/Improve Settlements. Okay, so things are a little closer than I had imagined it would be. With us just having 12BP left, if we rebuild the town hall then we'll only have enough BP to build one tenement house. Even worse, it'll leave us with 0 BP. Now, we just have to not roll terribly during income and we'll be fine for next turn. The other option we could do is build a tenement house and look into what we could build with alongside it. My suggestions would be...
1) Build 1 Shop (8BP) adjacent to a Tenement/House. Gives us +1 Economy, +500gp to Base Value, +1 Productivity to Settlement. We're going to want to do so eventually anyway if we want both a marketplace and a magic shop in Ravengro.
2) Build 1 Library (6BP). Gives us +1 Economy, +1 Loyalty, and +1 Lore to the Settlement. We'll want it somewhere where we can grow it into an Academy and get a slow of lovely benefits from. We can also upgrade a Tenement to a House and still have 3BP left over just in case our roll goes really, really bad.
So what do you guys think? I'm partial to the second option personally; building a new tenement does add +2 Unrest and will make the Economy roll that much harder to succeed on. We can also switch Chao or Valeska's focus now during the Edict phase, if we wish to.
Are we repairing/rebuilding a house? Costs half?
My leadership issue (sorry to be a stickler) is Nikolai doesn't seem too much of a "diplomat" per se. Is there another role that is more academic or logistical, even arcane?
Grand Diplomat seems they would be now diplomatic that Valeska.
Huh, Paizo ate my post from earlier. I vote for Nikolai's Suggestion (1) with the Shop; then fixing the Town Hall and then adding a Library as secondary and tertiary priorities.
In-world it seems to me that making these arrangements would take at minimum a week, even with the actually labor of claiming & building being delegated to others. While I'm concerned about these disappearances nearby that would also give Bashuk a chance to explore the town and see how things work.
We would be upgrading a tenement building to a proper house, if we wanted to. To upgrade, you take the cost of the upgrade and subtract it from the total. A house normally costs 3BP but when a Tenement is upgraded, it costs 2BP.
I know that Nikolai doesn't seem to appear to be a Grand Diplomat but the truth is that he is exceptionally good at it. I'm only behind Valeska by two points since I use my Linguistics instead of Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate for things. Since I roll with Linguistics, I also get to add a 1d6 for my inspiration to the roll. I had hoped to have made it clear that in stressful situations or when the pressure is on, the shy and somewhat stuttering scholar becomes quite eloquent and is able to hold a conversation marvelously. That and getting someone that is beating a +17 is really hard to do. As he gets smarter, he'll start catching up more. Nikolai's Sense Motive is also very good and as soon as my racial trait of Focused Study kicks in, I'll have a Skill Focus in that as well. After that will be Perception. Lastly, he is incredibly skilled at every kind of knowledge out there, which can help when dealing with neighboring kingdoms/counties.
If people prefer, he can easily fit as a Magister or as a Treasurer as well.
The dealings will take a week of time to do it all; you need to spend a week governing per month or things begin to deteriorate in the kingdom (county, for our purposes).
Continuing on with my rolls though, I'm going to go with the Shop idea. We spend 8BP to build a Shop attached to the Tenement building adjacent to the Tavern. We spend 2 BP to upgrade a Tenement to a House. That leaves us with 2BP leftover.
Step #5 - Creating Armies. We're skipping that for now until we're better able to sustain ourselves.
Step #6 - Change/Issue Edicts. I am assuming that we are fine with what we have so far.
So before we roll in the Income Phase, is there anyone who wants to be in a different Leadership role? Do you guys wish for me to be Magister or Treasurer instead of the Diplomat?
I'm good with whatever Nikolia recommends, don't know anything about the kingdom building process.
Also If were voting I vote for Nikolia as 'Grand Diplomat' My reason is two fold. One, he did the work of the proposal so I'm good to let him do what he wants. Second, while I've been in the game there have been times Valeska has not posted at a regular pace, Nikolia has. If we are at a place/time when Valeska can't post then Nikolia has a "title" to keep things moving. Which he does very well.
I admit, IC I see Nikolai as a better treasurer or magister. Just strikes me as more that type of character. That said, I've no strong feelings one way or another really.
I think that a focus on improving unrest, and BP generation is the best for now. Unrest is bad.
I suppose mechanically, that's correct... He's as good as and can at times be better at Diplomacy.
Butt from an RP perspective, being "the" diplomat means being pretty much diplomatic 24x7, by nature if not second nature. Approachable, compassionate. The softer side of diplomacy?
I'd think Magister suits better, his credentials, interests and ambitions seem overwhelmingly knowledge based.
Been trying to post more regularly, and happy to have Nikolai step in with a Diplomacy roll any time. We all have to save each other's arses.
I understand the idea of looking at the 'character' and lining him up with the 'position' that he seems to fit best. The other side of it, if KingHotTrash wants to play his character as the "Grand Diplomat" and no one else is playing that role, why not let him play what he wants? He clearly understands what he's doing.
The game tends be more enjoyable for everyone if folks get to play the way they want, as long as it doesn't interfere with what someone else is doing.
Honestly I don't understand the 'Kingdom building rules' well enough to know, that's why I'll take whatever role I'm assigned. But would Nikolai being "Grand Diplomat" interfere with what anyone else is doing or step on anyone's toes?
I realize in the game we have the Countess who's in charge, and Kain is the General our characters have been 'put under' But in the game the players are equal and should be able to have their characters do what they want, and the other players should use their characters to help facilitate that, not make it harder.
I am totally fine becoming the Magister and, perhaps in roleplay, his skillset will show itself for what it is and later on he could be accepted as a Grand Diplomat. When I made the character, that was the position I was aiming for as the ever so fun Spymaster was currently taken at the time.
Butt from an RP perspective, being "the" diplomat means being pretty much diplomatic 24x7, by nature if not second nature. Approachable, compassionate. The softer side of diplomacy?
I would argue that it also means knowing when to be tough, who to consider an ally, and how to play the diplomatic game cunningly. It is inevitable that once we show that we're not going to collapse in on ourselves, there will be those against up. The Palpatine of Timrivena is not going to be happy to have lost half of its influence, I imagine, and their allies will assist them. We have settlements that are not underneath our banner yet that need to be reclaimed and new ones that need to be built. It isn't just about compassion, a fun roleplay that I hope we get to be involved in if the political intrigue part of the campaign picks up. Nikolai values Valeska's outsider mentality, her compassion, and her willingness to offer a hand out. He also knows that there are dangerous foes that won't just stab her in the back but at the heart of Canterwall itself. You may want someone in that position who can be a little ruthless from time to time.
I'm fine becoming Magister if that is where people would rather have me; I'd still be a benefit to the Kingdom and it works off of my intelligence just as well. I also want to say, because context is hard online, that none of this is being mean-spiritedly. I truly am okay with whatever; I would like to use the thing my character was built for in time but if we want stuff to happen first, I'm more than willing to accomodate. Like Valda said, there is a hierarchy ICly but OOCly, we're all equal and good buddies I hope. <3
I'll put myself into Magister for now, change up some of the rulership tracker, and finish out our turn.
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@Valda - Here is your role as Royal Enforcer. You do get a special thing you can do if our unrest begin to get out of hand. Feel free to look it over at your convenience.
Now we're onto the Income Phase.
Step #1 - Withdrawals. I don't think anyone is withdrawing anything from the Treasury so no BP change there.
Step #2 - Deposits. For every 4,000gp we put in there, we gain 1BP. If we have an item over 4,000gp to sell, we need to find a place to sell it first.
Step #3 - Sell Expensive Stuff. I don't think we have anything like that?
Step #4 - Collect Taxes. v.s. DC 24. We just barely get our nose over. We take our result of 27, divide it by 3, and come out with 9 BP earned. That gives us a total of 11 BP in the treasury now.
@GM Vayelan - Now you would roll our chances for Settlement events and Kingdom events. I think Kingdom has a 25% chance of happening.