Skjaldbakka
2007-03-04, 07:41 AM
The Aristocrat, Machiavellid20
I am going to outline a model for building an army that works in a D&D setting. This is strictly game mechanics based, so that there can be no argument
that can't be just 'looked up'.
You start with the King, a level 20 aristocrat
According to the wealth-by-level chart, a level 20 NPC (CR 10) is supposed to have 200,000 g.p. worth of equipment.
This NPC is going to be given the elite array (15,14,13,12,10,8).
That gives him a 15 cha, 14 int, 13 wis, 12 con, 10 dex, 8 str
Please keep in mind that the entire force I am about to bring down on your level 10 party is only CR 10. I am going with that because othewrwise I would
have to calculate epic NPC starting gold, and I don't want to do that right now. If the thread gets popular, I will write up the CR 20 version.
As we are obviously going to be exploiting Leadership, lets go ahead and see what it takes to get our level 20 guy to the maximum of 25 leadership score:
with a 15 base charisma, we put our 5 level-based stat-boosts into charisma, giving us a 20 (+5). That gives us level + 5 leadership score, which meets
our goal right away. Our money is going into making sure all our cohorts hit a 25 leadership score then.
YOur first cohort is level 17, because thats the max. He gets to have PC levels, so he will be a wizard. That works with the concept too, the
'wise councilor', Merlin/Gandalf type. We like the default array, so he will have a 15 int, 14 cha, 13 wis, 12 con, 10 dex, 8 str. He gets 4 stat
bumps which go into intelligence, giving him the requisite 19 to cast 9th level spells. We would like for him to go ahead and start the Wish factory,
but that takes xp, and he is a flat level 17 character, so we need to generate xp for the cohort. D20 SRD gives us what we need to give xp to cohorts.
since that is by definition OGL, here we go :
"Cohorts earn XP as follows:
The cohort does not count as a party member when determining the party’s XP.
Divide the cohort’s level by the level of the PC with whom he or she is associated (the character with the Leadership feat who attracted the cohort).
Multiply this result by the total XP awarded to the PC and add that number of experience points to the cohort’s total."
So in order for my cohort to gain xp, I have to gain XP. How do I orchestrate this. . . we will save this for later, as I need to figure out how many
wishes, and thus how much XP, I need.
We need to get our level 17 character to have a 25 leadership score. That is a difference of 6, counting his current charisma mod. He is a wizard, and
thus has a familiar, which widens the gulf to 8 (familiar is a -2). We are going to be an enterprising monarch, and se our skills to the benefit of our
friend the wizard. As an aristocrat, perform, bluff, and disguise are class skills, and we get 4+int/lvl. We will go ahead and put max ranks into perform,
bluff and disguise and use them to increase the reputation of our pet wizard. We should easily be able to increase his reputation, giving him
great renown (+2 leadership score), and spread rumors that he has some special power (+1 leadership score). Just to be safe, we won't use the same special
power more than once, that way if it ever comes into question, too many claims will come up at once for any of them to given enough credit to need proving.
While we are at it, we will keep all the money gathered from these perform checks, and distribute them to the poor. That will give credit for the wizard's
'fairness and generosity' (+1 leadership). We are now short 4 leadership points. I would love
to give him a guildhouse, but I can't find the costs for that online (and therefore assume it not to be OGL), so I won't use it. Instead we will buy him a
+6 cloak of charisma and make him an old wizard (-3 physicals, +2 mentals). Leadership score of 25 accomplished, and this old bat isn't even min-maxed for
it. That cost me 36,000 gold.
Our wizard gets a level 15 cohort, who gets a level 13 cohort, who gets a level 11 cohort, who gets a level 9 cohort, who gets a level 7 cohort, who gets a
level 5 cohort. I don't expect to hit 25 leadership with all of these people. Here is a summary so far:
THE KING: Leadership 25 (accomplished with base stats)
level 17 wizard cohort: Leadership 25 (great renown, special power, fairness and generosity (king's perform/bluff, and +6 cloak of charisma, and old age)
level 15 cleric cohort: Leadership 22 (+6 cloak of charisma, 15 into wisdom, 3 stat boosts into wisdom, 100,000 gp into a temple)
level 13 paladin cohort: Leadership 22 (15 base cha, +3 from level, +6 cloak of charisma, great renown (cleric's sermons))
level 11 fighter cohort: Leadership 14 (10 base cha, +6 cloak of charisma)
level 9 rogue cohort: Leadership 11 (10 base cha, +4 cloak of charisma)
level 7 bard cohort: leadership 21 (15 base cha, +6 cloak of charisma, venerable, 1 stat boost into cha, +5 cha from wish (total cha is 30) great renown (is
a bard with a +25 perform check), fairness and generosity (always donates his performance earnings), special power (suggestion))
level 5 fighter cohort: leadership N/A: bodyguard for the bard.
level 6 followers (x6) : leadership score 6 (base stats)
level 4 cohorts (x6)
level 5 followers (x7)
level 4 followers (x14)
level 3 followers (x26)
level 2 followers (x47)
level 1 followers (x501)
At present, assuming we want everyone equipped appropriatly for their level, I have a national debt of 333,500 g.p. The King's personal treasury is 200,000
g.p. VALUE. Sale value is 1/2 market price, which means a level 20 NPC is assumed to have 'stuff' that will SELL for 200,000 g.p. Which means that
200,000 value equates to 400,000 gold worth of stuff, which covers the cloaks of charisma, the temple, and the +5 tome of leadership for the bard, with
66,500 gold to spare (which sadly, is only 33,250 g.p. in the treasury).
Now what are the economics of the 'kingdom'? (616 loyal followers). These followers make 4,458 gold in a week via profession checks (which they all have max
ranks in). Keeping them in lodgings costs nothing, because you use magic to keep your servants in extended magnificent mansions (68 hours/cast, houses
approx 200). This means for every week of peace, you make enough money to field an army of about 1,500 mercenaries for a week, plus your own personal elite
force of 600. All with equipment appropriate for their level. You also have 33,250 g.p.
I am going to outline a model for building an army that works in a D&D setting. This is strictly game mechanics based, so that there can be no argument
that can't be just 'looked up'.
You start with the King, a level 20 aristocrat
According to the wealth-by-level chart, a level 20 NPC (CR 10) is supposed to have 200,000 g.p. worth of equipment.
This NPC is going to be given the elite array (15,14,13,12,10,8).
That gives him a 15 cha, 14 int, 13 wis, 12 con, 10 dex, 8 str
Please keep in mind that the entire force I am about to bring down on your level 10 party is only CR 10. I am going with that because othewrwise I would
have to calculate epic NPC starting gold, and I don't want to do that right now. If the thread gets popular, I will write up the CR 20 version.
As we are obviously going to be exploiting Leadership, lets go ahead and see what it takes to get our level 20 guy to the maximum of 25 leadership score:
with a 15 base charisma, we put our 5 level-based stat-boosts into charisma, giving us a 20 (+5). That gives us level + 5 leadership score, which meets
our goal right away. Our money is going into making sure all our cohorts hit a 25 leadership score then.
YOur first cohort is level 17, because thats the max. He gets to have PC levels, so he will be a wizard. That works with the concept too, the
'wise councilor', Merlin/Gandalf type. We like the default array, so he will have a 15 int, 14 cha, 13 wis, 12 con, 10 dex, 8 str. He gets 4 stat
bumps which go into intelligence, giving him the requisite 19 to cast 9th level spells. We would like for him to go ahead and start the Wish factory,
but that takes xp, and he is a flat level 17 character, so we need to generate xp for the cohort. D20 SRD gives us what we need to give xp to cohorts.
since that is by definition OGL, here we go :
"Cohorts earn XP as follows:
The cohort does not count as a party member when determining the party’s XP.
Divide the cohort’s level by the level of the PC with whom he or she is associated (the character with the Leadership feat who attracted the cohort).
Multiply this result by the total XP awarded to the PC and add that number of experience points to the cohort’s total."
So in order for my cohort to gain xp, I have to gain XP. How do I orchestrate this. . . we will save this for later, as I need to figure out how many
wishes, and thus how much XP, I need.
We need to get our level 17 character to have a 25 leadership score. That is a difference of 6, counting his current charisma mod. He is a wizard, and
thus has a familiar, which widens the gulf to 8 (familiar is a -2). We are going to be an enterprising monarch, and se our skills to the benefit of our
friend the wizard. As an aristocrat, perform, bluff, and disguise are class skills, and we get 4+int/lvl. We will go ahead and put max ranks into perform,
bluff and disguise and use them to increase the reputation of our pet wizard. We should easily be able to increase his reputation, giving him
great renown (+2 leadership score), and spread rumors that he has some special power (+1 leadership score). Just to be safe, we won't use the same special
power more than once, that way if it ever comes into question, too many claims will come up at once for any of them to given enough credit to need proving.
While we are at it, we will keep all the money gathered from these perform checks, and distribute them to the poor. That will give credit for the wizard's
'fairness and generosity' (+1 leadership). We are now short 4 leadership points. I would love
to give him a guildhouse, but I can't find the costs for that online (and therefore assume it not to be OGL), so I won't use it. Instead we will buy him a
+6 cloak of charisma and make him an old wizard (-3 physicals, +2 mentals). Leadership score of 25 accomplished, and this old bat isn't even min-maxed for
it. That cost me 36,000 gold.
Our wizard gets a level 15 cohort, who gets a level 13 cohort, who gets a level 11 cohort, who gets a level 9 cohort, who gets a level 7 cohort, who gets a
level 5 cohort. I don't expect to hit 25 leadership with all of these people. Here is a summary so far:
THE KING: Leadership 25 (accomplished with base stats)
level 17 wizard cohort: Leadership 25 (great renown, special power, fairness and generosity (king's perform/bluff, and +6 cloak of charisma, and old age)
level 15 cleric cohort: Leadership 22 (+6 cloak of charisma, 15 into wisdom, 3 stat boosts into wisdom, 100,000 gp into a temple)
level 13 paladin cohort: Leadership 22 (15 base cha, +3 from level, +6 cloak of charisma, great renown (cleric's sermons))
level 11 fighter cohort: Leadership 14 (10 base cha, +6 cloak of charisma)
level 9 rogue cohort: Leadership 11 (10 base cha, +4 cloak of charisma)
level 7 bard cohort: leadership 21 (15 base cha, +6 cloak of charisma, venerable, 1 stat boost into cha, +5 cha from wish (total cha is 30) great renown (is
a bard with a +25 perform check), fairness and generosity (always donates his performance earnings), special power (suggestion))
level 5 fighter cohort: leadership N/A: bodyguard for the bard.
level 6 followers (x6) : leadership score 6 (base stats)
level 4 cohorts (x6)
level 5 followers (x7)
level 4 followers (x14)
level 3 followers (x26)
level 2 followers (x47)
level 1 followers (x501)
At present, assuming we want everyone equipped appropriatly for their level, I have a national debt of 333,500 g.p. The King's personal treasury is 200,000
g.p. VALUE. Sale value is 1/2 market price, which means a level 20 NPC is assumed to have 'stuff' that will SELL for 200,000 g.p. Which means that
200,000 value equates to 400,000 gold worth of stuff, which covers the cloaks of charisma, the temple, and the +5 tome of leadership for the bard, with
66,500 gold to spare (which sadly, is only 33,250 g.p. in the treasury).
Now what are the economics of the 'kingdom'? (616 loyal followers). These followers make 4,458 gold in a week via profession checks (which they all have max
ranks in). Keeping them in lodgings costs nothing, because you use magic to keep your servants in extended magnificent mansions (68 hours/cast, houses
approx 200). This means for every week of peace, you make enough money to field an army of about 1,500 mercenaries for a week, plus your own personal elite
force of 600. All with equipment appropriate for their level. You also have 33,250 g.p.