I remember there being a listing in the v3.0 DMG, but can't remember the value. There doesn't appear to be any similar listing in Pathfinder.
I gave away my copy of the Strongholder Builder's Guide a year ago, but if I am remembering correctly, about the cheapest you could find would run around 20,000 gp. That is a no-frills, 20'x20' Square Keep three stories tall. And it went UP from there. Keeps and castles aren't exactly the type of thing that can be bought and sold though. More often than not, a local noble will lay claim to it, after you've cleaned it out, of course. And the full weight of the law will agree with him.
Now, as a reward for an adventure (i.e., the Duke sends you to the no-man's land past the border to cleanse the evil from a ruined tower and then deeds you that tower and the surrounding land, charging you with its defense--and protecting his own subjects with a buffer zone) is something far more likely.
Master Arminas
O.M.G.
We just lost everything!
Our characters found themselves in an arcane university. Thinking we could sell them the deed to our keep (to use as a satellite campus or as a ruin for experiments/research) we sought out the dean. After much haggle with the eccentric man, we agreed to 5,000gp and some prestige within the academy (access to their specialists, the occasional spell cast on the party's behalf, privileged access to their private libraries, etc.)
The dean paid us in platinum, but sadly we couldn't split 500 platinum evenly between the three of us, so we went to a money changer...
...who revealed to us that the platinum was wood, not platinum, that the local academy did not have, and never had, a dean, and that we were highly unlikely to get any "prestige" or future favors from the academy.
...
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FLIBBERTYJIBBIT!!!
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O.M.G.
We just lost everything!
Our characters found themselves in an arcane university. Thinking we could sell them the deed to our keep (to use as a satellite campus or as a ruin for experiments/research) we sought out the dean. After much haggle with the eccentric man, we agreed to 5,000gp and some prestige within the academy (access to their specialists, the occasional spell cast on the party's behalf, privileged access to their private libraries, etc.)
The dean paid us in platinum, but sadly we couldn't split 500 platinum evenly between the three of us, so we went to a money changer...
...who revealed to us that the platinum was wood, not platinum, that the local academy did not have, and never had, a dean, and that we were highly unlikely to get any "prestige" or future favors from the academy.
...
...
FLIBBERTYJIBBIT!!!
Oh come now Ravingdork, he's given you everything you need to find him with a scry spell. The bag of wooden nickels that belonged to him. Now do what a munchkin caster does best: NOVA like an adventuring day lasts 15 minutes.
Sounds like a twisted game! Good luck!
As an aside, killing a man that cheated you is probably the greatest excuse to nova on a commoner.
Yup, it doesn't just apply to wizards obviously, any 9th level caster can nova, and most every class with limited resources can burn through them all to win an encounter.
We're a good aligned party with a paladin (no murderin'), only 4th-level (no nova'n), he's likely a fair bit higher (likely expecting us), and the law is on his side.
He promised us 5,000 coins and brought out a large sack of platinum. He never technically said what TYPE of coins he was promising us...
We're a good aligned party with a paladin (no murderin'), only 4th-level (no nova'n), he's likely a fair bit higher (likely expecting us), and the law is on his side.
He promised us 5,000 coins and brought out a large sack of platinum. He never technically said what TYPE of coins he was promising us...
Item: You have a paladin in your party
Item: Said paladin supports the 'legal' technicalities/falsehoods that would not likely stand up in any modern court in which the judge was not well bought off (particularly since the charge is counterfeiting money) that they were, in fact, paid the agreed upon prices for the property.
Inference: While I know wisdom doesn't have a minimum ability score for the class any longer, just how dumb is this paladin? There's obeying the law, and then there's being a chump! Also would not that sort of underhanded approach to payment suggest you may have aided and abetted a man whose intentions for your keep would be the sort bold adventurers would usually be the ones to sally forth and put a stop to?
While the murder may be out, the idea that hunting this mountebank down and bringing him to justice is in some way not the paladin's duty because he was the one who got scammed is ludicrous. He may-or-may-not be higher level than you, but aren’t most of the Villains a group of PCs faces off against of higher level?
The man stole your keep. Don’t let him get away with it. Even if it takes a campaign to stop him.
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We're a good aligned party with a paladin (no murderin'), only 4th-level (no nova'n), he's likely a fair bit higher (likely expecting us), and the law is on his side.
He promised us 5,000 coins and brought out a large sack of platinum. He never technically said what TYPE of coins he was promising us...
You don't need murderin'. You need sneakin'. He stole from you so it is right that you steal back your own property. If the paladin can't agree to that then nuts to him.
Step 1: Hire some guys to dress up and act like you guys and take a trip in the opposite direction of the keep to go "looking for the guy that dun ripped us off".
Step 2: Scry on your "dean". Find out his location.
Step 3: Get back your stuff. (but only your stuff) Leave fake deed with explosive runes and such on it.
Step 4: Let bad guy take possession of keep.
Step 5: Call in the law.
Step 6: If he defies the law...then it is murdering time.
Due to the fact that the guy obviously did something illegal (posing as a dean/misleading you in regards to the transaction) I don't think the paladin would have any problem with tracking him down and insisting on reversing the exchange. If he doesn't want to trade back, then it is time for some legally sanctioned 'enforcement' :D
We're a good aligned party with a paladin (no murderin'), only 4th-level (no nova'n), he's likely a fair bit higher (likely expecting us), and the law is on his side.
He promised us 5,000 coins and brought out a large sack of platinum. He never technically said what TYPE of coins he was promising us...
That sort of linguistic trickery will work in a fae bargain, but not a court of law. Regardless of what he promised you he was acting under false auspices (those of the academy), passing counterfeit money (an extremely serious charge in any jurisdiction), and engaging in fraud.
