When the PCs claim Citadel Altaerein as their own, they can simply start living in the ruined castle, but until they repair the damage that years of neglect and monster raids have done to the structure, they won’t be able to enjoy any of the benefits detailed on the following pages or perform downtime activities like long-term rest or retraining. Work on the citadel is organized into two categories: basic repairs and upgrades. All basic repairs must be seen to before upgrades can be applied. The PCs should also Administer their castle (see below) each week. Failing to Administer the property makes repairing and upgrading Citadel Altaerein much more difficult, and not attempting to Administer the citadel results in an automatic critical failure. You should supply the players with a list of the basic repairs and potential upgrades, so that they can focus their efforts, though creative players might come up with their own ideas for how to improve the citadel, of course.
Administration and Organizing
To efficiently see to Citadel Altaerein’s repairs, upgrades, and general operation, the PCs will need to Administer at the start of each week. They can also Organize Labor to complete repair activities.
ADMINISTER: CONCENTRATE DOWNTIME LINGUISTIC MENTAL
You spend the day attending to administrative needs related to running Citadel Altaerein. The Administer activity can be used to undo poor public relations from the use of Deception or Intimidate to Organize Labor, but it is also used to maintain relations with groups you make contact with over the course of the Age of Ashes campaign. Only one person can attempt to Administer per day (though others can Aid, as described in the Core Rulebook), and once the castle has been Administered, no one else can Administer until after the interval specified in the result. However, the GM might allow exceptions to this if, for instance, the group is about to go on an adventure and wants to make sure the citadel runs smoothly while they’re gone. If you perform downtime activities involving Citadel Altaerein when it’s not successfully Administered, you take a –4 circumstance penalty to your checks. Administering requires a successful DC 20 Society check (although for special actions later in the Adventure Path, this DC may change). You can pay a seneschal (see Hired Help) to attend to Citadel Altaerein’s administrative needs. As long as the seneschal is paid, the weekly requirement to Administer is automatically a success (but never a critical success).
Critical Success: You facilitate the prosperity of the citadel. The citadel functions smoothly for 1 month. In addition, during this time you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to all checks to Organize Labor.
Success: Citadel Altaerein functions smoothly for 1 week.
Failure: Citadel Altaerein is not Administered, but you can try again the next day.
Critical Failure: Citadel Altaerein is not Administered. Botched relations and flared tempers among certain citizens in Breachill prevent you from attempting to Administer again for 1 week.
ORGANIZE LABOR: CONCENTRATE DOWNTIME LINGUISTIC MENTAL
You spend a day in Breachill recruiting workers to aid in a repair or an upgrade at Citadel Altaerein. Attempt a DC 13 Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation check to Organize Labor to organize workers, or a DC 18 check for specialists. If you use Deception or Intimidation for this check, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus, but failure comes with extra risks, as detailed below. Using Diplomacy grants no bonus to the check, but comes without added risk. When you Organize Labor, you must specify one repair or upgrade activity to be undertaken; once you successfully Organize Labor, you must begin that activity within a week. A force of organized workers costs 1 gp per day, while a force of organized specialists costs 5 gp per day.
Critical Success: You organize labor for the full duration of the repair or upgrade activity, and the cost to pay the workers is halved for the duration.
Success: You organize labor for the full duration of a repair or upgrade activity.
Failure: You organize labor for a single day of a repair or upgrade activity. Unless you used Diplomacy, word of your deceptive or intimidating nature spreads, and you take a –1 circumstance penalty to all future checks to organize labor. This penalty increases with each subsequent failure, to a maximum penalty of –4.
Critical Failure: You completely fail to organize labor. If you used Deception or Intimidation, word of your untrustworthiness or cruelty spreads, and you can no longer use that skill to Organize Labor.
Basic Repair Activities
Before the PCs can get to the task of upgrading portions of Citadel Altaerein or even comfortably living in the fortress, they must complete the following basic repairs. All location numbers mentioned below refer to locations keyed to the maps of Citadel Altaerein in “Hellknight Hill.” The citadel must be completely Cleaned first, since no repairs can begin until this most basic of basic tasks is completed. Some repairs have requirements. If a PC with the appropriate training or feat isn’t available to take part in the activities, an NPC must be hired from elsewhere to do the work. See “Hired Help.” Each of these basic repair downtime activities (except Clean) requires a successful Crafting check. As with Crafting or Earning Income, the PC can continue on with the activity after the roll, continuing to make progress at the same rate and cost. On a critical success, the PCs complete 2 days’ worth of work each day. Each day of repair activities costs 1 gp for supplies, as well as any wages paid to organized workers or specialists (typically 1 gp for a group of laborers or 5 gp for specialists). On a failed check, the day’s costs are wasted. If a hired craftsperson takes the role of leading the repairs rather than a PC, the check is automatically successful (but can never result in a critical success).
CLEAN: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
You spend the day cleaning—hauling out broken furniture, disposing of detritus, and making rooms clear enough to begin repairs. Citadel Altaerein requires 8 days of cleaning before any other basic repair activities can begin. Cleaning does not require a Crafting check, nor does it cost gold.
CLEAR COURTYARD: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (trained) or hired stonemason; organized workers
You work to repair the collapsed northern wall, drain and fill in the flooded sunken area, and clear out weeds. This activity requires 6 days of work and a DC 15 Crafting check.
MAKE GENERAL REPAIRS: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (trained), Specialty Crafting (woodworking), or hired woodworker; organized workers
You make general repairs to the citadel furnishings, replacing or fixing furniture, replacing rotted floorboards, and rehanging doors throughout the structure. This task takes 14 days of work and a DC 15 Crafting check.
REBUILD BATTLEMENTS: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (expert), Specialty Crafting (stonemasonry), or hired stonemason; organized workers
You rebuild and restore the collapsed battlements along the northern section of the central tower. This task takes 28 days of work and a DC 20 Crafting check.
REBUILD COLLAPSED STAIRS: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (expert), Specialty Crafting (stonemasonry), or hired stonemason; organized workers
You work to clear rubble and rebuild the stairs connecting citadel floors, requiring a DC 20 Crafting check. Repairing the stairs from the courtyard to the battlement (connecting areas A12 and A22) takes 4 days. Repairing the stairs from the courtyard to the vault (connecting areas A12 and B1) takes 4 days. Digging out the long flight of stairs down to Alseta’s Ring (connecting areas B1 and D7) takes 8 days.
REPAIR CRUMBLED WALLS: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (expert), Specialty Crafting (stonemasonry), or hired stonemason; organized workers ;You work to repair a collapsed wall in either the training hall (area A8), the Court of the Nail (area A13), or the records room (area A17). Each room’s repair takes 8 days of work and a DC 20 Crafting check.
Upgrade Activities
Upgrading portions of Citadel Altaerein requires all basic repairs to have been completed. Each upgrade activity requires a successful skill check to complete a day’s worth of work. On a critical success, the PC’s team completes 2 days’ worth of work that day. Each upgrade activity costs 10 gp per workday for supplies, as well as any wages paid to organized specialists. If a hired craftsperson takes the role of leading the repairs rather than a PC, the check is automatically successful (but can never result in a critical success). Note that certain upgrades (building an infirmary, library, training facility, or workshop) must be applied to specific rooms in Citadel Altaerein. Use the encounter areas on the map to determine what areas count for this. Once a room has been given one of these upgrades, it cannot be used for a different upgrade in the future unless the old upgrade is removed. Which room is chosen for which upgrade does not affect the difficulty or cost, and it is primarily an aesthetic choice.
BUILD INFIRMARY: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (master), Medicine (master), or hired medic; organized specialists
Choose a single room in Citadel Altaerein to serve as a dedicated infirmary. Once complete, the infirmary fulfills the healer’s tools requirement for Medicine skill actions and grants a +2 circumstance bonus to Medicine checks made on site. This upgrade requires 20 days of work and a DC 25 Crafting or Medicine check.
BUILD LIBRARY: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (master), any Lore (master), or hired bookmaker; organized specialists
Pick a single room in Citadel Altaerein to serve as a library. Once complete, the library grants a +2 circumstance bonus to skill checks made to Borrow an Arcane Spell, Create Forgery, Decipher Writing, Identify Alchemy, Identify Magic, Learn a Spell, or Recall Knowledge as long as the PC performing the action is on site. This upgrade takes 20 days of work and a DC 25 Crafting or Lore check.
BUILD TRAINING FACILITY: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements expert in the skill listed below or hired trainer; organized specialists
Pick a room in Citadel Altaerein to serve as a training area for a single character class (you can have multiple training facilities, with each one devoted to a different class). Once complete, the training facility fills the role of a teacher when using the Retrain downtime activity for the chosen class, and reduces the time required to retrain a feat or skill increase by 2 days and the time required to retrain a class feature by 1 week. This upgrade takes 40 days of work. Building the facility requires a DC 25 skill check using a skill depending on the class in question, as listed below. If a class lists multiple skills, the PC can choose whichever one they like (but they must be an expert in the chosen skill, as noted in the Requirements entry above).
Alchemist Crafting; Barbarian Athletics; Bard Occultism or Performance; Champion Religion; Cleric Religion; Druid Nature; Fighter Acrobatics or Athletics; Monk Acrobatics or Athletics; Ranger Athletics, Nature, or Survival; Rogue Acrobatics or Thievery; Sorcerer Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion; Wizard Arcana
BUILD WORKSHOP (CRAFTING): DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (master), Specialty Crafting (any), or any hired specialist; organized specialists
Pick a room in Citadel Altaerein to serve as a crafting area for a specific Crafting skill chosen from one of the crafting specialties listed under the Specialty Crafting feat (Pathfinder Core Rulebook 267). You can have multiple workshops, each devoted to its own skill. Use of a workshop grants a +1 circumstance bonus to Crafting checks, or a +3 circumstance bonus to Crafting skill checks associated with that workshop’s specialty. This upgrade takes 20 days of work to complete and a DC 25 Crafting check.
UPGRADE DEFENSES: DOWNTIME MANIPULATE
Requirements Crafting (master), Specialty Crafting (stonemasonry), or hired stonemason; organized specialists
You bolster Citadel Altaerein’s walls with metal braces, skillful engineering, and other supports. This upgrade takes 40 days of work and a DC 25 Crafting check.
Hired Help
While the PCs can certainly take the lead on all downtime activities at Citadel Altaerein, they can also hire local experts and specialists to aid in both fulfilling requirements for activities or in actually performing the activities themselves. Note that when a downtime ability allows for a hired NPC specialist to run it, the results are always a success, but never a critical success. Each NPC must be paid 5 sp per day in wages. If the PCs forge particularly strong bonds with some of these NPCs and get them to become friendly through roleplay and use of Diplomacy, their daily wage is halved. An NPC made helpful will work for free on the first project they’re hired to help with (or for up to 1 month, whichever is shorter), and for half wages thereafter. Once an NPC is hired for a job, they cannot be hired for a different job that takes place at the same time. For example, if the PCs have three jobs that require a master stonemason, they’ll either need to put off one of the jobs or do one themselves, since there are only two master stonemasons available for hire in Breachill—unless they encounter another potential stonemason willing to join their staff.
Arcana trainer: Trinil Uskwold (human innkeeper)
Artisan: Tarindlara Vallindel (elf cleric of Shelyn)
Artisan Winthrop Finney (human tailor)
Athletics trainer: Alak Stagram (human Hellknight armiger)
Bookmaker: Jorell Blacktusk (half-orc librarian)
Crafting trainer: Renali (human [?] explorer)
Medic: Kellen Carondil (elf cleric of Desna)
Occultism trainer: Morta Valaskin (human mortician)
Performance trainer: Brynne Taithe (human cleric of Cayden Cailean)
Religion trainer: Brynne Taithe (human cleric of Cayden Cailean)
Religion trainer: Kellen Carondil (elf cleric of Desna)
Religion trainer: Tarindlara Vallindel (elf cleric of Shelyn)
Seneschal: Warbal Bumblebrasher (goblin diplomat)
Stonemason Amera Lang (human stonemason)
Stonemason: Rorsk Axebain (dwarf stonemason)
Survival trainer: Helba (goblin chieftain)
Thievery trainer: Crink Twiddleton (halfling merchant)
Woodworker: Fadelby Vusker (human wainwright)
Woodworker: Xandel Rynearsohn (human carpenter)
