PCs: Design Your Domiciles!

[RickAllison]

Alrighty, everyone, another creation thread: how would you design your PC's domicile? This is where your PC focuses his resources that don't directly go to further adventures. Some things to consider:

Type: Is it a castle, a monastery, a luxurious bachelor pad built on top of existing buildings? The big things to consider here are is it residential or utility, family or group-focused (cathedral with the priest and a few others vs. a monastery, for example), and what is its purpose?

Size: Approximates are appreciated, just how large do you need this place to be?

Location: Urban, rural, mountain, forest, where is it located? This also ties into what natural resources you have around and whether you have to get materials brought in.

Amenities and Features: What are the main features of your dwelling? This ranges from primary areas (throne rooms for castles), to secondary areas (chapels in castles), workshops/labs, and even fun things like indoor plumbing!

Capacity: How many residents can it hold? How many workers and what kinds? Military garrison?

Secrets: What parts of the residence do you keep hidden? Who knows about these secrets?

Defenses: How do you keep it safe?

Obtainment: How did you get the land and the resources to make/buy this?

I'll add in any other sections I think of, but that should suffice for now. I will add my own idea once I figure it all out (a combination cathedral and university for my wizard/knowledge cleric), but I wanted the discussion to be open to faster fingers.

Edit: Changed the title. Somehow it took the title from an earlier thread I was thinking about making.

[Cybren]

Once an ancient Dwarven ruin, now a renovated fort that serves as headquarters to the Crimson Company.

Upkeep: 20gp/day or 600gp/month for hirelings, 54gp/month for named NPCs (assuming modest meals x 6 NPCs) = 654gp / month
What you have:
-A main keep, about 50ft in height
-A fortified front gate
-Solid walls, about 30ft in height
-A simple stable
-A simple well
-A simple chapel
-Simple quarters
-A makeshift laboratory
-Quack
-Basic storage
-A haunted basement (includes library, forge, foundry and mining tunnels)

Garrison: 10 guardsmen (infantry veterans)

Copy/pasted from our games roll20. We captured the keep from some bandits in our first adventure and I convinced the rest of the party to keep it and fix it up as it technically fell outside the any lords demesne. The party wizard wants to found a wizardry school and we hosted a magical gathering there (which we named "Wizcon" out of character), where we picked up some NPC's to help us/join us. Every once in a while i try to sketch out what it looks like but don't have the artistic talent to do so

[JNAProductions]

Scarlet, the Dragonfire Adept

Type-A cave system.

Size-BIG! She wants a LOT of space to roll around in treasure in!

Location-Mountainous. It's a classic for a reason.

Amenities and Features-Big ol' rooms with treasures stacked high in mounds, perfect for rolling in or sleeping. Also utility things, like a larder, a garden in the outdoor area (mostly for fruits and veggies), a small library, etc.

Capacity-Could hold a lot of people, but isn't really designed for more than four or five to actually live their.

Secrets-Not much, really. Scarlet's an open woman.

Defenses-Maybe a time-share with a metallic dragon? One of us lairs at any given time, so it's always kept safe by a being of draconic might?

Obtainment-Probably by murdering a chromatic dragon and claiming his lair as my own.

[NecroDancer]

Well if our Curse of Strahd campaign goes well my adventuring team (the Strahd-dust Crusaders) will be living in glorious castle ravenloft.

[Specter]

My ranger obtained land in the campaign. It's basically a farmhouse with two bedrooms, where he spends his downtime just tending to crops with a slave buddy and forgetting about the horrors of adventure. But I still intend to use the basement for torture.

As for my bard, anything less than a castle is not cool. But as a Tiefling, he'll have some trouble getting power to have it. Meanwhile, the inns await!

[Catullus]

The abbey from Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

[Sir_Leorik]

My PCs have a small storefront in Mordentshire where they can receive requests for adventures. While they are in other Domains they have a secretary who forwards their mail to them. (Of course they're currently in Barovia right now, so they haven't checked in with their mail in over a week.)

[Crgaston]

Alrighty, everyone, another creation thread: how would you design your PC's domicile? This is where your PC focuses his resources that don't directly go to further adventures. Some things to consider:

Type: Is it a castle, a monastery, a luxurious bachelor pad built on top of existing buildings? The big things to consider here are is it residential or utility, family or group-focused (cathedral with the priest and a few others vs. a monastery, for example), and what is its purpose?

Size: Approximates are appreciated, just how large do you need this place to be?

Location: Urban, rural, mountain, forest, where is it located? This also ties into what natural resources you have around and whether you have to get materials brought in.

Amenities and Features: What are the main features of your dwelling? This ranges from primary areas (throne rooms for castles), to secondary areas (chapels in castles), workshops/labs, and even fun things like indoor plumbing!

Capacity: How many residents can it hold? How many workers and what kinds? Military garrison?

Secrets: What parts of the residence do you keep hidden? Who knows about these secrets?

Defenses: How do you keep it safe?

Obtainment: How did you get the land and the resources to make/buy this?

I'll add in any other sections I think of, but that should suffice for now. I will add my own idea once I figure it all out (a combination cathedral and university for my wizard/knowledge cleric), but I wanted the discussion to be open to faster fingers.

Edit: Changed the title. Somehow it took the title from an earlier thread I was thinking about making.
This is for my L13 Champion with the spy background...

After completing a 5e conversion of Tomb of Horrors, the party cleric and wizard have taken over the school of necromancy at the entrance to the tomb.

The Sorcerer managed to turn himself into an independent vampire, and asked my fighter to help manage/guard his lair, which is in Desitisso's tower.

It's a small stone building, about 30x60, with a 20' round tower built against the side of a cliff. Sorcerer gets the tower part... lavishly furnished. Fighter gets the downstairs portion. Spartanly and efficiently outfitted. There's a tunnel to some cliff caves concealed behind the larder.

It's rural and secluded, and of course there are the vampire lair effects nearby. About a half mile out, we've cleared some land and built a small farm tended by a retired associate and his wife. There's a house, a barn, and a barracks style guest house that will hold a dozen comfortably. There are fields for grazing horses and a couple of cattle, and another couple of fields for crops, along with a stream and small pond on the farm.

Bob (the fighter) has reached out to some of his former associates, fighters, rogue's and a bard (L5-8) to put together a security/intelligence team. That's what the barracks are for. He's only got 5 or 6 now, but depending on the next story arc, that may grow. The party is not on anyone's political radar for the time being, nor inhabiting any lands under the control of anyone else.

So the primary defense at this point is anonymity.

[pwykersotz]

As a Paladin of the Ancients, I reside a little beyond the edge of town where the Green Wood begins. My services to my god keep me fairly busy, but my more mundane services to my king and church have given me this inexpensive piece of land. I reside in a mere cabin built by my hands. The design is open and my furnishings humble but comfortable. The outside is fairly littered with moss and ivy, and an abundance of flowers of a dizzying variety grow haphazardly from as many places as a pixie or sprite are likely to land. The cabin has but four rooms. The sitting room is the largest, and the front door opens into it. Three comfortable chairs stuffed with moss sit before a large hearth. A bottle of honey mead is never far from reach, as are a few simple cups. An arch with no door to one side takes you to the the washroom where a pump draws water from the well. A door on the other side of the hearth takes you to a small hallway where two bedrooms can be found. The first is mine, slightly bigger than the other. Within are a bed, a rack for my equipment, and a large trunk for my assorted possessions. The other is a guest room and houses a bed, a small bedside table, and a change of clothing.

The stable is where I find my steed when he deigns to grace me with his presence. As a fey spirit, he has his share of wanderlust and does not like to be penned in. He likes to kick the wall when he wants carrots, and over the years he's put in quite a dent. The stable is a comfortable place attached to the side of the cabin. A large stack of loose hay rests against one wall and a wooden trough is out front for his water. In a pinch there is an upper level where a traveler might rest if my guest room is full, and that has happened a few times before.

I don't abide glass, so the windows are simply shuttered, though most of the time they are open to allow in the light of the sun or moon. My doors bear simple latches. I'm afraid the place is not what my Rogue friend would call secure, but to make it so would take away the very elements that endear it to me. After all, I want a home, not a jail. As such, my home has but one defense, holy water. I use it in time of need in conjunction with my powers to defend or trap those who would set upon me. I keep three flasks. One upon my bedside table, one by my chair, and one in the stable.

Now I will share a great secret with you. I also possess a truly magnificent collection of knowledge that I have gathered over the years. Songs and stories, many told by bards I have met, some of which I have made myself through my deeds, are housed in my home. But you will not find much parchment nor leather-bound tomes. Instead, if you care enough to inspect the fine woodwork on the walls and archway, on the chairs and yes, even in the stable, you will find my stories. Painstakingly carved in a labor of love that took me a great deal of time. Some are told in picture, some are very short, and there is a ballad written by a very wordy Bard that takes a full half of a stable wall. What is interesting is how few people seem to notice them! Oh, many comment on the fine woodwork as they casually glance about, but it takes a special person to truly see what is there.

It may not be a palace or a Wizard's tower, but I am quite happy here, I assure you.