How do you handle Players being/becoming Nobles/Knights in your game?

[Razgriez]

It's a question I'm curious about, and that maybe some Playgrounders can provide insight on.

To explain, I'm preparing to run a 3.5 campaign sometime in the near future, and one the things I want to do, is that about mid levels or so, I want to reward the party with in game Noble titles/ Knighting them. Mainly, I'm looking for advice on some fancy titles (Including Class specific) and some special perks I can give them. Also, how should I handle this, for someone who may design their characters, as already members of a Noble family?

[Raimun]

They become double nobles.

Seriously though, a PC could be a noble already but the standing of his family among other noble families might have seen better days. Ie. they are struggling financially and/or their domains have diminished.

So, the PC does the sensible/desperate thing and starts the life of adventure and dreams about restoring his family's might.

That or the classics "orphaned noble kid" and "runaway noble kid".

Then it's always possible the noble PC has an actual mission and is traveling incognito.

[navar100]

A couple of campaigns ago my cleric became the Duke of the Western Realm. (Rogue was the Godfather and my Viscount, Wizard turned down my offer of being my Vizier due to not wanting to be involved in politics but still Headmistress of the Wizard's Guild and of course ally and willing to help behind the scenes.) There were political games as part of adventure stories, but the campaign in general just continues on. As high level characters, our adventures were now focused on national security and interests that happened to be about the upcoming gameworld's version of Armageddon.

I was actually trying for Centurion, leader of the nation. There was a bit of railroading not to get it, but there was metagame practicality about it. Had I become Centurion, I would have had to retire the character to NPCdom and play something else. It was more feasible to continue playing the character as Duke, and I really want to continue playing the character. Only Centurion ranked higher. Also, there was an Honorable Out available for me to take the position of Duke and not lose face. The previous Centurion had chosen an heir before he died in battle. I was the the first to swear loyalty to him when he became Centurion so to honor his choice was to keep that loyalty.

Great roleplay fun.

[Prime32]

You do it like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnTJATMQRsM), of course. :smalltongue:

[Vitruviansquid]

Yes, distribute funny looking hats for your players to wear at the table.

[Balain]

It is possible to have more tha n one title. In fact in a campaign I ran there was one npc ( that was a real jerk), Prince Geoffrey, Duke of the nine isles, Earl of the Black Marshes, Lord of riverwatch,...Etc etc (had about 23 diffrent titles) who was the most likely going to become the next king. There were a few other nobles that also had claims with about 4 titles each.

It was fun handing out official invites to the party from the prince with all his titles taking up like 3/4 of the page and the invite was like 2 or 3 sentences long at the bottom.

I always though Birthright was kind of interesting. If I recall right, the characters were nobles, and 3/4 of the time you were out adventuring the rest of the time was spent in court being a prince/duke/whatever.

[Acanous]

it is true that nobles can hold multiple titles. While politics plays a part, the idea behind nobility is that you own and manage an area of land.
The bigger the title, the more land in that area you own.
This is not a hard and fast rule, but it is a general one.

[Mastikator]

The non nobles become low rank nobles, the already noble become higher ranking noble. For example knight -> duke -> count -> prince, or something.

[Balain]

it is true that nobles can hold multiple titles. While politics plays a part, the idea behind nobility is that you own and manage an area of land.
The bigger the title, the more land in that area you own.
This is not a hard and fast rule, but it is a general one.


Well if you look at Prince William his official title(s) is His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

If his father becomes king, William will also add Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay to his official titles.

Anyways I'm no expert on royalty and how it works in one nation/kingdom.What have you. But you can hold multiple titles from diffrent kingdoms as well. So you can be a Duke here, an earl there, Knighted somewhere else, earn a bunch of titles through marriage.

Edit: Also don't know about all the titles, but I think you can(or could) be named a count and have no lands. It wasn't common, most counts had a county, but some didn't. Same with Marquess, most had a March, but some didn't.

Noblity also has to do with peerage and non peerage. So knights were commoners granted a title but were not part of the peerage (How all the nobbles are related and laws relate to them that sort of thing). Baronets are above knights, but also not part of the peerage.

I thought it was interesting that in modern practice, no new hereditary peerages are created except for the royal family.

Three features of The privilege of peerage has continued on to this day, though rarely used. Privilege to be tried by your peers in the Lord high stewards court and the house of lords, The right to have access to the Sovereign at any time, and the right to exempt from civil arrest.

OKay yeah this post had me go search some more on nobility.

Any ways maybe that will give some ideas for your game

[Beleriphon]

Keep in mind that you could in theory have a member of the nobility be so poor that they might as well have no land. This has happened many times in England, there are several very old families that in theory Barons of such and such a place but don't functionally have any sway, or money.

A fairly typical trope is that the character could be the last member of what was thought to be a dead lineage. They might be the illegitimate child of some previous heir and they have at best a tenative claim. Or they could be a low ranking member of the nobility and aspire to take over some other lord's holdings.

[jackattack]

Becoming a member of a knightly order or a professional society can also impart a title and confer privileges and respect. Some titles can also be given for specific deeds. These are not noble titles.

Nobility conferred without land (for deeds, or purchased) will probably not be hereditary, and may not include certain privileges like a voice in court or a vote in parliament.

Remember that in an established kingdom, all land is already owned by someone, so land granted with a hereditary noble title has to be taken away from someone else. (Or, the character is being inserted into a pyramid scheme of landlords.) The only free land in a kingdom has been confiscated by the king, or belonged to a family line that ended without heirs.

Where there are wilds, isolated city-states, and kingdoms whose borders don't actually meet, there are unclaimed lands. These lands can be conferred with noble titles on an "as long as you can hold onto them" basis, although in such cases the players may actually be able to form new kingdoms of their own.

[Megaduck]

Remember that in an established kingdom, all land is already owned by someone, so land granted with a hereditary noble title has to be taken away from someone else. (Or, the character is being inserted into a pyramid scheme of landlords.) The only free land in a kingdom has been confiscated by the king, or belonged to a family line that ended without heirs.

Another possibility is that the noble title comes with the responsibility to marry into a family.

Because historically only males were allowed to inherent if a wealthy linege was down to just females (Widow, orphans daughter ect) the ruler might force a marriage of that person to someone the ruler trusts to keep control of the power or just to prevent succession wars.

Now in a fantasy world where woman are allowed to inherit it might be that the current heir is unable to defend the title. In that case the ruler might force a marriage between them and some sufficiently powerful adventurer that has proved their loyalty.