What rule is like, under different classes.

[SangoProduction]

Inspired by a post about what class would a ruler be.
And the primary question to be asked: What type of ruler? And that's a whole separate tangent, that's kinda fun to postulate on.
And I'm happy to get everyone else's opinions and suggestions on how the rules would go.

Barbarian: Rule will be violent and short. His inner cabinet is made up of yes-men because all others were slain for invoking his rage. His first year of conquests against smaller neighbors goes well, before he starts thinking himself too big for his britches. He declares for Gawedi lands and is deposed by a vast army. The peoples he subjugated are freed.

Fighter: He was sent on campaign nearly 20 years ago, when a message arrived. His brother, the next in line, was dead. He returns to a home he barely recognizes any more, shouldering a burden that would crush lesser men. Though his talents lie everywhere but politics, he manages to keep the army professionally trained and ready for action. 10 years of poor to mediocre rule proceeds, with rebellions being stamped out by an increasingly tired iron fist. Thereafter, his uncle asked for him to abdicate the throne. The now-mercenary happily retreats to relative obscurity.

Bard: The Queen always had a talent for song and stories, though she didn't imagine herself being alone on the throne after a fateful assassination. The court is thrown into chaos, loosely controlled by her calming voice. Although wisdom was not her strong suit, she knew enough about enough to filter out the bad from the good courtiers, and to direct discussions in a productive manner. The rule was relatively stable, up to and through the political marriage that unified her small queendom with a greater empire.

Paladin: Born first in line, and blessed on the day of his birth by an angel's appearance, he joined the crusading force against goblin corruption and came back victorious. His men shone with a glory only comparable to that of his own. On his victory march home, he heals some of the sick and wounded peasants before heading to take his throne. His rule is righteous and powerful, if unwavering. Although he failed to fully uphold his pledge to eradicate crime and disease from his capital, there was a great reduction - truly an era of prosperity.

Cleric: Truly, it was the church's will that she rule the city state of Tiamatia. Being a capital of the faith of one of the most active gods in the multiverse, she oversaw the vast sums of tithes and sacrifices and conquests into the church's hoard. It was unfortunate that when the aspect of Tiamat was kill yet again, there were already 15 rival powers at her doorstep. To put simply: The hoard was no more.

Rogue: His rule was as that of a prophet - a break away faith of the regional power. Though he gained no powers through the "god" he was professing, he was very good at convincing others that he did - and of the righteousness of his teachings. He was so good, in fact, that the regional powers sought to have him killed. He escaped every trap and spell and adventurer group before going into hiding. He slowly infiltrates a very well positioned fort, even going so far as to disguise himself as a teacher to get into the inner sanctums of the fort. By the time he revealed himself, and deposed the previous ruler, most of the castle was already under his control. Although his rule is short thereafter, his new religion has subverted the local powers enough to where they were invaded by yet further afield powers.

Dimers
Psychic Rogue: Our ruler is Terror; there is no Ruler, only Laws. The Laws appeared under cover of darkness one fateful night. Since then, those who have disobeyed have vanished, or met with sourceless death, or more chillingly yet, abruptly changed their minds and recanted their wrongthinking. I daily affirm that the Laws are Fair and Just (that affirmation being required by one of the Laws) and that I have no interest in finding out what happens to the Goodwill Tithes we leave in shadow-obscured alleyways and sewer grates.

Maat Mons
Druid: Millions perish in wake of program to convert all cropland and cities back to forests.

Rleonardh
Fighters/Cleric/Paladin same as barbarian.
Bard would actually be a great ruler, skills magic and gliberness.
Druid kinda hard to be ruler. But I can see a nature and growth of kingdom that benefits all.
Monk yah no
Rogue I can see a robin hood king author combo.
Sorcerer/wizard that scares me the most as it is the greatest potential for good and evil here.

Particle_Man
Monk Some are thrust into greatness. One of those was the 6th child of the last monarch. This was a child who had sought enlightenment in a quiet monastery and had lived quietly there for years when word arrived that their family had perished in a brutal civil war. Bringing calm and stability, diplomacy and wisdom, with both a keen understanding of others and a quite useful immunity to poison and resistance to harmful magic, Quiet Pool in the Sunrise was a humble but effective monarch, never seeking personal aggrandizement or wealth, and always turning their thoughts to how to use effective laws to bring stability and peace to the kingdom as they had already brought it to their own soul. Because of them, the kingdom knew peace and order that lasted even a century beyond the monarch’s own reign.

Jervis
Wizard No sense of right or wrong and will casually rewrite reality to get rid of a minor inconvenience. All of the kingdoms resources are diverted to magic item crafting and spell research. That said, everyone is living on a flying city that no one but the king knows how to operate. So complaining isn’t a good idea. Any hostility is met with a fate worse than death. At least the libraries are well stocked.
Sorcerer Tries to do the same thing as the wizard king but doesn’t quite measure up. Unless they’re from Athas, in which case they turn into a dragon and rule like a living god.
Sha’ir Very angry no one knows what his class is and always assume he’s a wizard, cleric, warlock, bard, or some strange multiclass no one but Kobolds can decipher. That said he’s pretty chill and his familiar is the kingdom mascot. People have legitimate problems but they always seem to change their minds thanks to the +174 diplomacy mod he has. Last time they were invaded he winked and turned the enemy army into a cult dedicated to himself with a wink, it’s kind of scary honestly.
Wu Jen No one knows for cares what his class is and everyone just wishes he would take a bath already.
Archivist Exactly the same as the wizard king except he built a temple at one point maybe, no one remembers what god he claims to worship. He’s more knowledgeable but way more neurotic and obsessive about finding spells for his book, which now had more paper than the Royal library.
Erudite Has spent the last 7 years with a great wyrm steel dragon chained in the basement. All he does all day is manifest psychic reformation and mind control spells before learning new sorcerer and cleric spells and using a thought bottle to reset his XP cost. Everyone is too afraid to interrupt him, and certainly too afraid to tell him that his army and generals defected after some Wizlockeriard winked at them. Everyone just hopes he finishes learned all the spells eventually.

MaxiDuRaritry
Telepath/thrallherd: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

wilphe
Beguiler
I mean she seems nice, but she's a Beguiler she can seem whatever she wants, but she's got skills and she has magic so she's quite an effective ruler. Some find it disconcerting that she is known to disguise herself and go amongst the people in Greek God / Henry V / Harun al Rashid mode, on the one hand this makes people quite polite to strangers and the city prospers and is crime is low. And what crime there is had better be non-violent, clever and be sure to cut her in on the take. Of course there are also rumours that she variously has apprentices, clones, pupils, friendly doppelgangers and whatever all pretending to be her in disguise. That's maybe she has been queen for well over a century despite being human - its considered unwise to speculate too loudly or publicly about that as such people have been known to disappear

Marshal
Everyone is encouraging everyone else all the time like a kindergarten teacher crossed with a drill sergeant. And because this became an ingrained cultural habit the kingdom has become very cooperative and close knit. On the downside, they don't like being out of earshot of each other or leaving the kingdom because all other nations seem to be full of aloof cold-hearted inhabitants so they tend towards xenophobia

Tohron
Artificer: Through provisioning powerful factions with useful equipment, his influence steadily grew, until he seemed like the natural head for his city-state's oligarchy. Upon taking the role, he sponsored heavy investment into for-profit magic item creation, reinvesting the proceeds into public works and further innovation. With the benefit of Skill Enhancement infusions and skill-boosting items, he can achieve proficiency in all the necessary skills a ruler should have on-demand, and the increasing prevalence of utility magic items amongst the populace has led to many of the neighboring regions voluntarily joining his newly-founded League. Soon they will be ready to commence interplanar harvesting expeditions, and boost their resource base even further.

Telonius
Warlock: Abdicates a few months after taking over. When all the courtiers started copying his style, and eldritch pacts started being normal and not edgy, it just took the joy out of it.

Dread Necromancer: Works out surprisingly well for the first few decades, with mindless undead taking care of the worst sorts of manual labor. But things start going wrong when there's a rise in Necropolitan conversion. Troubles keep mounting the more undead they have. Most undead don't take resources to maintain, but they do still take up space. Lots of inter-family conflict, too. Before, you knew that one jerk uncle would die eventually. Now he's there forever.

liquidformat
Barbarian The warlord, he built his country through a blood path of his enemies. He never set out to be the ruler of a country and doesn't much care to be one but now his only way out is death. He has little time for hangers on or people that speak flowery words and such people often find themselves loosing their heads. He is a man that respects and seeks out strength and skill and as such his kingdom is ruled by the skillful. The kingdom has a delicate balance of ever competing forces and the warlord is content to chastise all sides in their failures and stir the chaos to keep his rule 'stable'. The warlord instead focuses on his harem and new war fronts.

Druid The ruler of the forest kingdom is said to be old and wise, ruling with a balanced and careful hand. The lands are rich in food, herbs, furs, meat and lumber to fuel a heavily agrarian nation and utilizing magic to keep a balance between nature and its peoples. It is an ancient nation that has not changed much and does not readily accept change readily.

Cleric All know of the waring nations, the two great theocracies their shared boarder little more than a meat grinder for zealots of the two nations. One the one Side is the Saintess and the other the Dark Bishop. Like mirror images of each other stained in dark and light. Both have absolute rule and accepting no question of their righteous paths. Few outsiders visit the xenophobic nations and the few that do are held at arms length with great suspicion. Both nations are looked upon as black sheep by the world around them due to their policies of sending forth missionaries to spread their faith.

Samurai Not a lord, never a king, little more than someone else's whipping boy.

[Particle_Man]

What, no aristocrat?

[Dimers]

Psychic Rogue: Our ruler is Terror; there is no Ruler, only Laws. The Laws appeared under cover of darkness one fateful night. Since then, those who have disobeyed have vanished, or met with sourceless death, or more chillingly yet, abruptly changed their minds and recanted their wrongthinking. I daily affirm that the Laws are Fair and Just (that affirmation being required by one of the Laws) and that I have no interest in finding out what happens to the Goodwill Tithes we leave in shadow-obscured alleyways and sewer grates.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Reminds me of a 4e build that could stay completely invisible to everyone other than the victim while murdering someone in broad daylight. "Odin save us, that man is spurting blackened blood as if from necrotically-enhanced knife wounds!" "Well, sure, but obviously nobody is standing there attacking him."

[Max Caysey]

Inspired by a post about what class would a ruler be.
And the primary question to be asked: What type of ruler? And that's a whole separate tangent, that's kinda fun to postulate on.
And I'm happy to get everyone else's opinions and suggestions on how the rules would go.

Barbarian: Rule will be violent and short. His inner cabinet is made up of yes-men because all others were slain for invoking his rage. His first year of conquests against smaller neighbors goes well, before he starts thinking himself too big for his britches. He declares for Gawedi lands and is deposed by a vast army. The peoples he subjugated are freed.

Fighter: He was sent on campaign nearly 20 years ago, when a message arrived. His brother, the next in line, was dead. He returns to a home he barely recognizes any more, shouldering a burden that would crush lesser men. Though his talents lie everywhere but politics, he manages to keep the army professionally trained and ready for action. 10 years of poor to mediocre rule proceeds, with rebellions being stamped out by an increasingly tired iron fist. Thereafter, his uncle asked for him to abdicate the throne. The now-mercenary happily retreats to relative obscurity.

Bard: The Queen always had a talent for song and stories, though she didn't imagine herself being alone on the throne after a fateful assassination. The court is thrown into chaos, loosely controlled by her calming voice. Although wisdom was not her strong suit, she knew enough about enough to filter out the bad from the good courtiers, and to direct discussions in a productive manner. The rule was relatively stable, up to and through the political marriage that unified her small queendom with a greater empire.

Paladin: Born first in line, and blessed on the day of his birth by an angel's appearance, he joined the crusading force against goblin corruption and came back victorious. His men shone with a glory only comparable to that of his own. On his victory march home, he heals some of the sick and wounded peasants before heading to take his throne. His rule is righteous and powerful, if unwavering. Although he failed to fully uphold his pledge to eradicate crime and disease from his capital, there was a great reduction - truly an era of prosperity.

Cleric: Truly, it was the church's will that she rule the city state of Tiamatia. Being a capital of the faith of one of the most active gods in the multiverse, she oversaw the vast sums of tithes and sacrifices and conquests into the church's hoard. It was unfortunate that when the aspect of Tiamat was kill yet again, there were already 15 rival powers at her doorstep. To put simply: The hoard was no more.

Rogue: His rule was as that of a prophet - a break away faith of the regional power. Though he gained no powers through the "god" he was professing, he was very good at convincing others that he did - and of the righteousness of his teachings. He was so good, in fact, that the regional powers sought to have him killed. He escaped every trap and spell and adventurer group before going into hiding. He slowly infiltrates a very well positioned fort, even going so far as to disguise himself as a teacher to get into the inner sanctums of the fort. By the time he revealed himself, and deposed the previous ruler, most of the castle was already under his control. Although his rule is short thereafter, his new religion has subverted the local powers enough to where they were invaded by yet further afield powers.

No Marshal? Or Legendary Tactician?

[SangoProduction]

No Marshal? Or Legendary Tactician?

I fully encourage you to do them. It would kinda kill the joy if I did everything, and left nothing for anyone else.

[Maat Mons]

I imagine that most Barbarians would hate sycophants and be far more prone to killing them than anyone they respected. I don’t think a Barbarian’s rule is likely to be plagued by yes-men. More likely, all his advisors will be brave and fierce warriors… who don’t really know anything about running a country either.

Since Bards can’t be Lawful, I imagine rule by one would see an overall loosening of regulations.

Clerics are so all-over-the-place, depending on deity worshiped, that I don’t think it makes sense to consider this class as a single case.



Druid: Millions perish in wake of program to convert all cropland and cities back to forests.

[Rleonardh]

Conan the barbarian had a rogue fighter mage in a party, why not have that also as king, just add divine like pelor.

I keep seeing cleric all over the place... Not really guys take good or neutral leaning lawful that's a great deal of gods plus most natural gods only thing left is the evil ones and they will be against you but so what evil always will be.

Fighters same as barbarian.

Bard would actually be a great ruler, skills magic and giberness.

Druid kinda hard to be ruler. But I can see a nature and growth of kingdom that benefits all.

Cleric see barbarian.

Monk yah no

Paladin see cleric

Rogue I can see a robin hood king author combo.

Sorcerer/wizard that scares me the most as it is the greatest potential for good and evil here.

[Particle_Man]

Monk Some are thrust into greatness. One of those was the 6th child of the last monarch. This was a child who had sought enlightenment in a quiet monastery and had lived quietly there for years when word arrived that their family had perished in a brutal civil war. Bringing calm and stability, diplomacy and wisdom, with both a keen understanding of others and a quite useful immunity to poison and resistance to harmful magic, Quiet Pool in the Sunrise was a humble but effective monarch, never seeking personal aggrandizement or wealth, and always turning their thoughts to how to use effective laws to bring stability and peace to the kingdom as they had already brought it to their own soul. Because of them, the kingdom knew peace and order that lasted even a century beyond the monarch’s own reign.

[Jervis]

Wizard No sense of right or wrong and will casually rewrite reality to get rid of a minor inconvenience. All of the kingdoms resources are diverted to magic item crafting and spell research. That said, everyone is living on a flying city that no one but the king knows how to operate. So complaining isn’t a good idea. Any hostility is met with a fate worse than death. At least the libraries are well stocked.

Sorcerer Tries to do the same thing as the wizard king but doesn’t quite measure up. Unless they’re from Athas, in which case they turn into a dragon and rule like a living god.

Sha’ir Very angry no one knows what his class is and always assume he’s a wizard, cleric, warlock, bard, or some strange multiclass no one but Kobolds can decipher. That said he’s pretty chill and his familiar is the kingdom mascot. People have legitimate problems but they always seem to change their minds thanks to the +174 diplomacy mod he has. Last time they were invaded he winked and turned the enemy army into a cult dedicated to himself with a wink, it’s kind of scary honestly.

Wu Jen No one knows for cares what his class is and everyone just wishes he would take a bath already.

Archivist Exactly the same as the wizard king except he built a temple at one point maybe, no one remembers what god he claims to worship. He’s more knowledgeable but way more neurotic and obsessive about finding spells for his book, which now had more paper than the Royal library.

Erudite Has spent the last 7 years with a great wyrm steel dragon chained in the basement. All he does all day is manifest psychic reformation and mind control spells before learning new sorcerer and cleric spells and using a thought bottle to reset his XP cost. Everyone is too afraid to interrupt him, and certainly too afraid to tell him that his army and generals defected after some Wizlockeriard winked at them. Everyone just hopes he finishes learned all the spells eventually.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Telepath/thrallherd: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

[Max Caysey]

Wizard No sense of right or wrong and will casually rewrite reality to get rid of a minor inconvenience. All of the kingdoms resources are diverted to magic item crafting and spell research. That said, everyone is living on a flying city that no one but the king knows how to operate. So complaining isn’t a good idea. Any hostility is met with a fate worse than death. At least the libraries are well stocked.

Sorcerer Tries to do the same thing as the wizard king but doesn’t quite measure up. Unless they’re from Athas, in which case they turn into a dragon and rule like a living god.

Sha’ir Very angry no one knows what his class is and always assume he’s a wizard, cleric, warlock, bard, or some strange multiclass no one but Kobolds can decipher. That said he’s pretty chill and his familiar is the kingdom mascot. People have legitimate problems but they always seem to change their minds thanks to the +174 diplomacy mod he has. Last time they were invaded he winked and turned the enemy army into a cult dedicated to himself with a wink, it’s kind of scary honestly.

Wu Jen No one knows for cares what his class is and everyone just wishes he would take a bath already.

Archivist Exactly the same as the wizard king except he built a temple at one point maybe, no one remembers what god he claims to worship. He’s more knowledgeable but way more neurotic and obsessive about finding spells for his book, which now had more paper than the Royal library.

Erudite Has spent the last 7 years with a great wyrm steel dragon chained in the basement. All he does all day is manifest psychic reformation and mind control spells before learning new sorcerer and cleric spells and using a thought bottle to reset his XP cost. Everyone is too afraid to interrupt him, and certainly too afraid to tell him that his army and generals defected after some Wizlockeriard winked at them. Everyone just hopes he finishes learned all the spells eventually.

Remember wizards print gold with the fabricate spell! So that rule has more of less unlimited funds!

[wilphe]

Beguiler

I mean she seems nice, but she's a Beguiler she can seem whatever she wants, but she's got skills and she has magic so she's quite an effective ruler.

Some find it disconcerting that she is known to disguise herself and go amongst the people in Greek God / Henry V / Harun al Rashid mode, on the one hand this makes people quite polite to strangers and the city prospers and is crime is low.

And what crime there is had better be non-violent, clever and be sure to cut her in on the take.

Of course there are also rumours that she variously has apprentices, clones, pupils, friendly doppelgangers and whatever all pretending to be her in disguise.

That's maybe she has been queen for well over a century despite being human - its considered unwise to speculate too loudly or publicly about that as such people have been known to disappear

[wilphe]

Marshal

Everyone is encouraging everyone else all the time like a kindergarden teacher crossed with a drill sergeant

And because this became an ingrained cultural habit the kingdom has become very cooperative and closeknit

On the downside, they don't like being out of earshot of each other or leaving the kingdom because all other nations seem to be full of aloof cold-hearted inhabitants so they tend towards xenophobia

[Jervis]

Marshal

Everyone is encouraging everyone else all the time like a kindergarden teacher crossed with a drill sergeant

And because this became an ingrained cultural habit the kingdom has become very cooperative and closeknit

On the downside, they don't like being out of earshot of each other or leaving the kingdom because all other nations seem to be full of aloof cold-hearted inhabitants so they tend towards xenophobia

All tasks are done in groups of no less than 6, and all citizens have a charisma of 16 or more. You get to know people with different auras very well and every team is organized such that all skill checks have a bonus of +3. Sounds like a cozy place honestly.

Marshal is one of those classes that doesn’t hold up that well for a PC at high levels since it’s so front loaded and scales wide instead of up, but for NPCs or as a dip its nice. And honestly it’s a fun class, you’re almost as good a skill monkey as a bard and you can passively make your team better by existing. One of the characters on my RPG bucket list is a Sha’ir Marshal gestalt.

[wilphe]

Now I want to build the Marshall equivalent of the Tippyverse and see how much you can leverage this.

- You have the benefit to skill checks

- They can also worker longer and harder

- You have bonus to saves so disease is easier to resist

- Occupational health and safety is better (Dexterity boost, saves, DR, a whole bunch of stuff)

- People have a bonus to base move (so transport is easier). Also are their rules anywhere for generating power from a treadmill?

- And if you can find a domestic species with INT3 that can understand language (or craft Magic Items that do so) then they get effected too

[Tohron]

Artificer: Through provisioning powerful factions with useful equipment, his influence steadily grew, until he seemed like the natural head for his city-state's oligarchy. Upon taking the role, he sponsored heavy investment into for-profit magic item creation, reinvesting the proceeds into public works and further innovation. With the benefit of Skill Enhancement infusions and skill-boosting items, he can achieve proficiency in all the necessary skills a ruler should have on-demand, and the increasing prevalence of utility magic items amongst the populace has led to many of the neighboring regions voluntarily joining his newly-founded League. Soon they will be ready to commence interplanar harvesting expeditions, and boost their resource base even further.

[Telonius]

Warlock: Abdicates a few months after taking over. When all the courtiers started copying his style, and eldritch pacts started being normal and not edgy, it just took the joy out of it.

Dread Necromancer: Works out surprisingly well for the first few decades, with mindless undead taking care of the worst sorts of manual labor. But things start going wrong when there's a rise in Necropolitan conversion. Troubles keep mounting the more undead they have. Most undead don't take resources to maintain, but they do still take up space. Lots of inter-family conflict, too. Before, you knew that one jerk uncle would die eventually. Now he's there forever.

[liquidformat]

Barbarian The warlord, he built his country through a blood path of his enemies. He never set out to be the ruler of a country and doesn't much care to be one but now his only way out is death. He has little time for hangers on or people that speak flowery words and such people often find themselves loosing their heads. He is a man that respects and seeks out strength and skill and as such his kingdom is ruled by the skillful. The kingdom has a delicate balance of ever competing forces and the warlord is content to chastise all sides in their failures and stir the chaos to keep his rule 'stable'. The warlord instead focuses on his harem and new war fronts.

Druid The ruler of the forest kingdom is said to be old and wise, ruling with a balanced and careful hand. The lands are rich in food, herbs, furs, meat and lumber to fuel a heavily agrarian nation and utilizing magic to keep a balance between nature and its peoples. It is an ancient nation that has not changed much and does not readily accept change readily.

Cleric All know of the waring nations, the two great theocracies their shared boarder little more than a meat grinder for zealots of the two nations. One the one Side is the Saintess and the other the Dark Bishop. Like mirror images of each other stained in dark and light. Both have absolute rule and accepting no question of their righteous paths. Few outsiders visit the xenophobic nations and the few that do are held at arms length with great suspicion. Both nations are looked upon as black sheep by the world around them due to their policies of sending forth missionaries to spread their faith.

Samurai Not a lord, never a king, little more than someone else's whipping boy.

[Telonius]

Samurai: Has taken control after some disaster wiped out the ruling family. (Plague, assassins, eaten by grues). How his rule would be, depends on whether there are any surviving members of the former rulers' family. If there's an underaged kid, the Samurai is acting as regent, and the rule is harsh. He considers it a personal dishonor that he allowed the previous lord to die, and he's not going to make the same mistake twice. He's going to hand the kid a safe, secure kingdom even if it kills him.

If there were no survivors, he's the strongest one left standing, and he's made a vow to protect the people as his former Lord would have. Very tradition-bound, but he's serving the people now, not the royal family.

[liquidformat]

Samurai: Has taken control after some disaster wiped out the ruling family. (Plague, assassins, eaten by grues).

In the second two cases he would commit Seppuku. The former case seems reasonable...

[Yael]

MaxiDuRaritry
Telepath/thrallherd: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Fear is freedom! Subjugation is liberation! Contradiction is truth! These are the truths of this world!

I'm sorry, had to post this.

[SangoProduction]

OK. Phew. I think I got everyone's rulers in. Lost internet for like... a week.