New Building type idea / advice

[fallenvash]

Okay, one of my players in the kingmaker I will be running soon, came to me and asked if I felt it would be possible to build a zoo in their city.
Of course I felt this would be fine, but then I thought. "A zoo would definitely need to give some kind of benefit." But my biggest problem is trying to balance out an appropriate price and benefits.

One idea I have with ruling the zoo is that it is a building that is capable of growing bigger over time as they capture more creatures to put inside it. I was thinking, it would cost so much BP at first, then after they put ten or so creatures into it, they can expand the zoo into an adajacent spot for about half the price of the original creation cost. Of course the spots nearby would have to be vacant first and only a max size of 4 spots.

Any thoughts on this?

Backstory info: The player who came to me with this idea is a Summoner, but not any Summoner. Oh no, his character is a biologist by profession. His reason for her coming to the River Kingdoms is to research and study the beings that live in the woods. She will be proficient with nets and making use of injector darts to fill animals with sedatives to restrain them. Of course the Summoner's Create Pit spells, will be used heavily to this goal as well. Thus a huge reason behind the zoo is a place for research as all his universities she will be building will be focusing on biology.

[Rickmeister]

My idea:

°° Two squares (not too big, not too small)
°° Somewhere between 10 and 20 BP. Perhaps you can even use your idea of making him pay "half" (=10BP) for one square and rest later (after finding a pre-set amount of animals) when they expand?
°° Modifiers:
=> Unrest +2 (coz for starters, people are not going to be thrilled about the idea of having wild and dangerous animals/monsters so close to their bed)
=> Economy +1 (coz of visitors from other countries)
=> Loyalty +1 (coz they become proud of this unique thing)

Options:
* Must be next to a house (e.g. stable)
* Mayb not be next to a house.

If you dare:
* Every month, after going through your kingdom phase, make a stability check to check if %random monster% escaped/causes havoc?

[fallenvash]

I was definitely thinking of having random events relating to it, and I like the idea of giving unrest for initial building. One reason I was going with the idea of expanding the thing over time would be giving a slightly higher economy bonus to signify that more and more people are learning about the zoo as it becomes bigger and are flocking to see it.

I was also thinking that they wouldn't be allowed to build a new zoo until they completely filled the last one, and that it would have to be located in another city or at least another district.

[Rickmeister]

One per district: no no!
One per city: if you must..

To be honest, i would go for "One, period."
Seeing as this is a "request"-build, I would defintely allow it (by DM's permission) but I would try to make it clear that having *one* zoo would be enough.
This char is going to need to take a lot of time capturing/caring for the animals as it is, does he really want to retire and become a full-time zoo-keeper. If this is his goal indeed, let him have it by the end of the adventure path :D

[fallenvash]

Those were my feelings on it as well. I would rather it be one period, but if he is capturing animal after animal, then I don't see much other choice then to allow another get built. Hopefully this won't be a big problem till the end.

[Valandil Ancalime]

I would not make a new building, rather I would put several existing buildings together/adjacent and call it a zoo. That's what we do. We currently have a Monastery of monk/wizards which consists of an Academy-Caster’s Tower-Shrine.

A zoo might consist of;
Park or Monument (nature)
"Theater or Arena" (entertainment)
Dump (the animals have to eat)
Academy or Library or Caster’s Tower (where the pc studies them)
Magic Shop or Tannery or Shop (for corpses, animal products,etc...)
Temple or Shrine (of an appropriate Deity)

[Sordello]

Another way to make the zoo, or collection of buildings that equal a zoo, unique to the character is to rule that is gives a "masterwork" type bonus to the character's research related skill checks. Basically, a biologist's master workshop. Tying other, non-realm management related bonuses to the "zoo" is a good way to continue to encourage this player's creativity without unbalancing the realm management system. I would discourage adding too many negative consequences related to the zoo. At least to me, I generally encourage things that strengthen a player's bond to the campaign setting, and tacking a too many random encounters or other negatives might make the zoo idea divisive among the party.

On another note, I have been toying around with the idea of having the non ruler PC's (ie everyone but the Baron/Duke/King) be able to buy their own buildings. In this case, I am thinking to allow characters a one time offer to purchase a building (2,000gp per BP in this case). Since they own the building, it would not count against normal monthly building limits. I was not going to have it generate normal bonuses, but rather generate a monthly revenue based on a fraction of the building's cost and determined by a profession check. If characters adventure, then they can hire an expert to run it for them, which will cut into their margin. I was thinking this might be a cool way to give each character their own "pad" plus a personal stake in the local economy. The biggest thing I worry about are structures with magic item slots. Let me know what you think.