DM Advice

[Blackplaga]

So currently running a campaign where a friend of mine wants to become king of Cormyr. So starting off a very far distance away from that by them becoming the baron of the stonelands and just looking for an idea on how to go about him cleaning out the place other than this massive free roam sandbox kill everything you find. So just looking for some ideas to not turn this into a fight 10000 enemies grind fest that im currently looking at it as.

[KillianHawkeye]

Okay, I'm not super familiar with the Forgotten Realms, but in most kingdoms there is a line of succession.

Typically, you need to have some relationship with the ruling family or whatever to even be in the running. Being a Baron of some podunk province isn't usually going to be a starting point for eventual kingship if you aren't at least the current King's nephew or second cousin or something like that.

So for any chance at getting into a position of inheritance, it's likely to be through marriage. Marrying into the royal family is a good plan, but it still doesn't put you very high in the pecking order, so a lot of people would have to die before the crown falls into your lap.

That leaves you with taking the kingdom by force, which is the more standard approach to taking over a country that doesn't belong to you.

[Kobold Esq]

So currently running a campaign where a friend of mine wants to become king of Cormyr. So starting off a very far distance away from that by them becoming the baron of the stonelands and just looking for an idea on how to go about him cleaning out the place other than this massive free roam sandbox kill everything you find. So just looking for some ideas to not turn this into a fight 10000 enemies grind fest that im currently looking at it as.

Wannabe usurpers don't fight the opposing army. They make diplomatic alliances, or acquire powerful artifacts to turn the tide. They raise their own armies, or they do great deeds to get the populace on their side.

Is your player a CG freedom fighter who wants to overthrow the crown? Is he a LE tyrant in the making? His goals and style should guide a lot of your approach.

[Blackplaga]

Character is a lawful good paladin griffon rider that got the sword of cormyr and than thought he would walk in and claim Cormyr as his own. The current crown of Cormyr is a neutral good character that his character has no ill relations. This is a player going on a whim to do something.

[Mordaedil]

Then have him rescue and marry the current rulers daughter. Once he passes, line of succession kicks in.

[Bronk]

Then have him rescue and marry the current rulers daughter. Once he passes, line of succession kicks in.

I agree. He can gain favor with the current king (Azoun?) by turning the sword in, then dealing with cleaning up his lands, and using a lot of diplomacy on any potential royal love interests.

For battling in his lands, you can start a mini game where he can arm and train his forces, then send them out to patrol... he can jump in during key scenes, or when battling boss monsters.

Maybe have the Purple Dragon show up at some point? Helping with the fight against him made Wyvernspur look good, so defeating him outright should be even better.

[Lapak]

Character is a lawful good paladin griffon rider that got the sword of cormyr and than thought he would walk in and claim Cormyr as his own. The current crown of Cormyr is a neutral good character that his character has no ill relations. This is a player going on a whim to do something.Overthrowing a crowned ruler on a whim is not particularly lawful; displacing a Good ruler so you can take power on a whim is at the very least non-Good. I’d agree with the others than for this character the easiest path to the throne is by ingratiating himself with the current ruler and the populace. Particularly for a paladin, moving with a goal to becoming a ruler by right of service-to-the-people rather than by ‘I found a sword’ is the right angle to take. Become the logical choice when the current ruler dies, don’t kick him out.

[Bronk]

Oh, right, and iirc, if he does manage to marry onto the throne, the Azoun heir will always be the dominant royal. So, nice title, but not head of state.

[Covenant12]

Seizing the throne from a legitimate neutral good ruler of a mostly good populace really sounds like an evil act, at least evil enough to lose paladin abilities. If he's committed to this I'd go with a two-pronged approach:

Over time become the hero/legend of Cormyr. Slay a rampaging red dragon, fight off invading orc hordes, find a cure for a magical plague spreading across the land, that sort of thing.

Make the current heir secretly evil. Twirling mustache *EVIL* (with all capital letters) for effect if necessary, have your friend become aware of the heir's murders or equivalent for fun and profit. Work to expose him and then challenge him to a duel/trial by champion if appropriate.

The next in line of succession can be a woman who is conveniently unattached and can marry your friend. Which sounds mildly terrible but consistently medieval Europe and DnD royalty marries for the good of the kingdom, never love. It is what it is. In fairness a physically fit knight with high Cha and hopefully diplomacy doesn't sound like the worst deal. When you want this player to co-rule have the King assassinated with a thinuan blade, avenging his death and fighting the organization responsible can be a sweeping campaign arc.

If Bronk is correct it is functionally semantics. Your player should be a hero and champion of the people by now, and can now be responsible for making a stable kingdom for his heirs to rule. If his wife has more power it just frees him up to do more adventuring than counting copper pieces.

[Mars Ultor]

I'd have his character be a member of one of the noble families of Cormyr, even if he has no actual path to the throne. The important families help choose and support the king, he'd need to have some sort of connections to an established and influential family.

Depending on what year it is and which timeline you're following, the current ruler (in 3.5) is Irvel Obarskyr the 1st. He's the son of Floril and grandson of Azoun. I think for D&D 5 the ruler is his daughter, Raedra, who's mid-twenties or early thirties in age.

If you actually want the Paladin to become king, the easiest way to do it is for there to be a coup. One of the noble families originally had influence and prestige but as time went on their fortunes have declined. They have less economic power, their personal connections with the royal family have become more distant with each successive ruler, the prestige of their family has become reduced. A member of this family realizing that in few generation they'd lose their power decided to hold a coup. They overthrew the current ruler, killed him and his family, and accused a scapegoat--perhaps another second or third tier noble family. The king is dead, the "assassin" family has been purged, the other families don't know what to do exactly. They don't want to start a war, the old king wasn't so fantastic, just competent, there's no one to replace the usurper with. The families don't want to hold another coup and then fight it out to decide the new ruler. As much as they don't like it, they're going to stick it out and see what happens.

Along comes the PC, a brave and hearty baron bringing order to the Stonelands and making it part of Cormyr proper. Finally the monsters have been tamped down and a few settlers are cautiously expanding across the northern border into the region. His family now has some more prestige among the other families, they're looking at the wealth they can get as Cormyr expands into the new territory. So far the Stonelands is still wild, but the Paladin and his extended noble family is being wined and dined in an attempt to get mining rights, logging rights, land grants, canal contracts, etc.

The Paladin is suddenly a very important person and his family is taking advantage of the situation. Since the Paladin is still adventuring to a degree, his great uncle or whomever leads his noble family, has been the one negotiating with the other families on the PC's behalf (with his consent).

The usurper perceives this as a threat. His family is still sort of locked out, the other families are richer and his has nothing to offer. Now along comes this murder-hobol upstart who's suddenly rich and famous and raising his mediocre noble family to new levels of power and wealth.

Perhaps the usurper hires some assassins to try (unsuccessfully) to kill the the paladin's great uncle. Perhaps he tries to make the Paladin's family a scapegoat for something. Perhaps he has the Paladin's father great uncle or father arrested for treason. During the rescue attempt there's a wild battle in the palace, the usurper is killed, this is witnessed by people, there's pandemonium, the nobles institute martial law and then decide that the Paladin can be king, but they're going to set up a ruling council to assist him. He'll have veto power and royal authority, but not absolute power.

This can go on over the course of the campaign, diplomatic missions, clearing areas for settlers, solving mysteries as influential nobles are assassinated by the usurper.

[Bronk]

Depending on what year it is and which timeline you're following, the current ruler (in 3.5) is Irvel Obarskyr the 1st. He's the son of Floril and grandson of Azoun. I think for D&D 5 the ruler is his daughter, Raedra, who's mid-twenties or early thirties in age.

I think Irvel is in 4th Edition... in 3.5E, we're in the period between King Azoun IV and King Azoun V. If you want your Paladin to have any chance at being king, and you may very well not, you'd want to sent the timeline when the Azoun the Fourth's daughters are still alive and available... maybe the Fifth can be his son?

What I mentioned earlier is all in the Cormyr Saga:

The nation was originally founded ages ago in an ancient elven forest, when an elven royal made a pact with some random guy in a homestead. If you're not descended from that random guy, the pact dissolves, and the legal underpinnings of the entire modern nation unravel.

What I remember from the various timelines of 3.5:

King Azoun IV died, leaving his two daughters, Alusair and Tanalasta, as heirs. Alusair was more aristocrat, and Tanalasta was more fighter.

At some point, Alusair fell in love with some other royal who soon turned into a Ghazneth, and she died soon after having their son Azoun V.

Azoun V was brought up by Tanalasta, 'The Iron Regent'. She comes up again in the Empire of Shade novels.

So yeah, if you want to go with this, and keep it close to the main timeline, and you didn't want to be evil, you'd want to set your Cormyr's timeline to be fairly early on.