Characters - Domains, regents and others.

[Aeric (DM Matt)]

The thing about movies, about books and even about the stories we tell each other is that they are all have one thing in common - they are all based around characters. The characters drive the narrative, they resolve the actions and they provide all of the emotional content too. It is their fears, their hopes and their dreams, their successes and their failures that we rollercoast through and leaves us cheering or sobbing at the page.

And when we play roleplaying games it is those characters that we play as, that we enact through with the world our imaginations have the jointly created. But Birthright is an unusual RPG in that way, as you are often playing more than one character.

Your domain is a character - it has a personality, a set of agendas and suffers or succeeds based on your actions and those of you acting around you.

Your regent is a character - it has a personality, a set of agendas and suffers or succeeds based on your actions and those of you acting around you.

Sometimes those characters clash; it might be the case that a personal agenda clashes with a realm policy and that friction creates game. It makes the story that drives the game. And then those same characters clash and bounce off other realms and regents, let alone all the NPCs. It is a self perpetuating story machine in the right hands.

So, if you have bothered to read this far, you are probably asking why I am writing this. My summary is this; your character is not just your regent. It is your domain, your realm. It is also your Lts, your minor court official npc's. And it is your regent. All of those characters present the nature of your part in the game and hopefully we will be able to get enough feeling and depth into as much of those elements as possible to make your realm feel a fully fledged character all of its own. After all you are assigned a Domain, not a regent, to play.

But yes, I'll make sure there are some clear rules for generating pc-type characters - just remember they really are not the whole of the game

[Talinie & NIT/TD (Linde)]

I could see by the viewed counter that not everyone have taken the opportunity to read Matt's post.
That is a shame I think it is good.

[Aeric (DM Matt)]

I believe it got buried under RSS bot posts originally...

[Stjordvik/Varri (Greg)]

Yep, I did not see this earlier, until today it popped on to my radar under "unread posts since last visit".

This is good stuff, and a very important aspect of the game, especially during the creation phase that we are in.  I will work hard to achieve these goals, thanks Matt (and Linde, for pointing this out).

[Talinie & NIT/TD (Linde)]

You're welcome

[Yggdrasil (DM Andy)]

It is possibly worth noting, that income in ROE III is likely to be in short supply in some realms compared to ROE II (Bjorn's system does not like low-level provinces), having a rich, developed domain of characters who can adventure, etc in support of your actions is likely to be vital to success - relatively few people can hope just to throw a wall of RP/GB at a problem and hope to bludgeon their way to success...

[Aeric (DM Matt)]

"having a rich, developed domain of characters who can adventure, etc in support of your actions is likely to be vital to success" is the vital bit there. Having a high level regent you send onto an adventure every time your domain has a problem is going to cost you your domain very quickly. VERY quickly.

[Torele Anviras/TA (Niels)]

So are the hire help rules going to be fixed?

[Cariele/EG (Thorsten)]

So are the hire help rules going to be fixed?

Are they broken?

[Stonecrown Coster/MB (Rune)]

"having a rich, developed domain of characters who can adventure, etc in support of your actions is likely to be vital to success" is the vital bit there. Having a high level regent you send onto an adventure every time your domain has a problem is going to cost you your domain very quickly. VERY quickly.

I think this is what we call a "subtle hint" from our DM :-)

For those so inclined, I suggest taking a peek on this video before doing their next adventure: http://youtu.be/IJNR2EpS0jw. It has certainly provided me ample inspiration for my next domain characters.

 

[Aeric (DM Matt)]

I never found them to be broken. I did a few hire help actions in RoE2.

That and some of your domains may already have help hired 

[Dhoesone/FD_(Marco)]

I used the action hire help in roe2 and it did work well.
As every action in roe one must use wisely

[Torele Anviras/TA (Niels)]

Let have a look at it though:

Pure administrator types:
Lvl 1 Expert class, same culture as you, DDC: 5
As above but a Master in administration: DDC 10
As above but High level, to max out adm bonus: DDC 20

Bland and boring and not at all in the spirit of the game, but the most efficient way for any ruler worth his salt to hire. Get the bland boring guy that is never late, never wrong and never gets killed.

Lieutenants:
Level 3 (Low level) Warrior, same culture, DDC: 5
as above, but Rogue or Fighter. Must be this to get the Lieutenant's bonus action. DDC: 15
as above but Weak Blooded, maybe an heir: DDC 20
as above but Ranger, Paladin, Bard or Cleric. These can cast Realm Magic, even if your domain can't, so are DDC: 30
If you want a Wizard you start at DDC: 35 for a level 3, with no masteries in skill.

Once we're up there, adding the extra 10 to DDC to get someone high level is trivial, and a +5 to get a skill mastery. That's DDC 50 for the best of the best.

I would love you to tell me that I am doing it wrong.

If I were to redesign Hire Help I would make levels much more expensive but reduce the "tax" on blooded, and drop the distinction between realm magic or not and True Magic or not.

Non-caster domains are currently never hiring a caster, even if the flavor would suit them. Similarly caster domains need that guy, and once he is in, they do not need another, barring deaths. The balancing of caster domains should be in the on-going domain balancing, not in a once-off expenditure to hire new characters.

You could the Blood to its +ECL value, so what you do is take lvl + Blood ECL and scale the DDC with that. Starting DDC 5 for Expert classes, DDC 10 for Heroic classes.

Adding a mastery skill costs +5 DDC as usual. Different human cultures are trivial in differences, no need for it to cost something here. Adding an Elf, Dwarf or Goblin should also only add cost if they come with a special ability/skill, else it is basically just flavor, and can be used to prejudice against the court by others.

Now the ECL stair does not have to be linear. Something like this maybe:
ECL = DDC 5/10
1 = +1
2 = +2
3 = +3
4 = +5
5 = +10
6 = +15
7 = +20
8 = +30
9 = +40
10 = +50

Now a level 1 Wizard is much cheaper, but a high level one almost impossible to grab of the shelf, and he is priced the same as a Rogue or Fighter, meaning that any domain can grab any class they want for increased flavor of their courts.

The new scale also entices more to grab that Hero class character and use them more actively for both administration and adventuring/lieutenant work. Less optimal on the admin part, but more vivacious domain overall.

All of the above is of course based on my assumptions and view of the world. The existing rule seems a bit divided between securing game balance and what is "right" from a non-balance point of view. I believe all we need to focus on in the rules is the balance part, and let flavor run wild.

[Aeric (DM Matt)]

I am on my phone in the bath - can you post the WHOLE of the actual rules extract for that bit Niels please?

[Torele Anviras/TA (Niels)]

Hire Help [Court]
You attract skilled persons to the regent’s court, to act as advisers or specialists.
Type: Court – You can take a number of court actions each turn equal to your Court Expenditure (minimum 1).
Cost: 1GB.
Difficulty: DDC 5.
Special – Add 5 to DDC for a Mid-level character, 10 to DDC for a High-level, etc.
Special – The above DDC assumes Elite characters (experts and such); elite characters increases the DDC by 5, while heroic characters are more rare and adds 10 to the DDC (if available at all).
101
Blooded individuals are rare (beyond what their ECL would indicate). Add 5 to the DDC for each level of bloodline strength possessed by the Scion (weak, minor, or major; characters with great and true bloodlines are not generally available using this action).
Add 5 or more to DDC if trying to hire a character of a race/culture not normally found in your court.
Add 5 or more to DDC if trying to hire a character with special skills/powers (such as one that is a Master).
Add 5 to the DDC for characters that have mastered True Magic. Add another 10 to DDC if they can cast Realm Magic.
The DM may allow you to subtract 5 (or more) from the DDC when you are hiring for only a defined period of time (or a specific task), such as for one year or a single turn.
Subtract 5 from the DDC if you are hiring an adviser (as opposed to a specialist).You can't hire henchmen; they must be promoted from existing AAs.
If using this action to attract more than one character, the base DDC is 5 + the group’s EL. This rule is applicable only to groups of characters (an adventuring party, a group of bodyguards).
Modifiers: Court; Stability; Special – In addition to the usual description, supportive etc. bonuses the DM may give you an additional bonus if the character description is very nice or if your turning an existing character into an AA.
Influence: Yes – You can use influence.
Restrictions: You may take 10, but you may not take 20.
Check: The target character joins your court for an indefinite period of time as an adviser or specialist.
See the rules for able assistance in Chapter 2: Domains for additional details of what you can use such characters for.
Special: Characters of low (1st to 3rd), medium (4th to 6th) level and high (7th to 9th) level, are assumed to be paid for by your court expenditure.
Very high (10th-12th) level and legendary (13th to 15th) level characters often demand additional (1GB) payment each turn to remain with you.
Near-epic (16th-20th) and epic (21st+) level characters are so rare as to be handled on a case-by-case basis by the DM.
Powerful spellcaster might require 1 or more extra GBs in extra payment. They are handled on case-by-case basis by the DM.
Also keep in mind that you maximum number of advisers/specialist is limited by your court expenditure (the DM may allow adventurers to be hired for defined periods of time, in excess of court expenditure).
Note: The player is more than welcome to help make up any characters he hires (in the RoE PBeM players are required to come up with character descriptions and basic statistics; otherwise the action automatically fails), but the DM has the final say.