Strongholds and Followers

Writing and Design: Matt Colville
The Siege of Castle Rend Adventure: James J. Haeck
Additional Design: Lars Bakke
Editing: Joshua Yearsley
Production: Anna Coulter, Lars Bakke
Art Direction: Anna Coulter, Jason Hasenauer
Graphic Design: Thomas Deeny and Mary McLain
Layout: Thomas Deeny
Cover font by: Thomas Schmuck
Cover Illustration: Conceptopolis
Illustration: Justin Cherry, Nick De Spain, Jason Hasenauer, Zachary Madere, Stephen Oakley, Anthony Sixto,
Conceptopolis, and VOLTA
Cartography: Jared Blando, Maxime de Plasse, and Miska Fredman
Special Thanks: Jeff Tidball, Matt Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Charles & Tammie Ryan, Luke Crane, Geoff Chandler, and
Steve Goldstein.
On the cover: Lady Avelina, Knight of the Coals, returns to Castle Dalrath to deliver her report to the Baron.

MCDM Productions is:

Lars Bakke: Development
Jerod Bennett: Technology
Matt Colville: Writing and Design
Anna Coulter: Production

Reach out to us on.

The @helloMCDM Twitter

The Community Discord: http://bit.ly/MCDM-Discord

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version
1.0a, Section 1(e), and not Open Content: The Inexorables, The Court of All Flesh, The Court of Arcadia, Alloy the City of Four
Elements, the Knights of Axiom, Lady Avelina Knight of the Coals, Korsoth Vastikan, Maladar Dictum, Bonebreaker Dorokor, Sir
Pelliton the Star Knight, the Knights of Three Roses, Gravesford, Castle Rend, Lord Saxton, Irdizavonax, Corovaxinar, Orvosortiax,
Lady Eweshtleth, Lady Czorgan, Lady Sariel, the Temple of Primordial Chaos, Vorsorikax the Far-Sighted, Monarchon, Mantis
Knight, Orchid Count, Oleander Dragon, Ash Marshal, Sidereal Vizier, Lord Rall, Baron Malgas, Uursovk and all Trademarks,
registered trademarks, proper names (characters, place names, monsters, organizations, etc.), dialogue, plots, story elements,
locations, characters, artwork, graphics, sidebars, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game
Content are not included in this declaration.)

Open Game Content: Appendix One: Warfare, which is clearly defined in this book, is Open Game Content as described in Section
1(d) of the License. No other portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without permission.

First Printing: December 2018 (This printing does not include corrections. The most up-to-date version will always be the PDF,
which will be continuously revised until we can’t bring ourselves to revise it no more.)

© 2018 MCDM Productions, LLC

Dedicated to the 28,918 Kickstarter backers who funded this book and
the 3,114 testers who helped make it suck less. We really hope you like this book!

“Big things have small beginnings.”
—Robert Bolt, Lawrence of Arabia screenplay

In 1985 I was fifteen and a sophomore at Cypress High School, and I spent the year in my computer science
class with Brad Thomas and Chris Steele talking about Elric and the Black Company and the Incarnations of
Immortality. They were friends outside of school, part of a larger group, but I was still hanging out with the kids
I grew up with in my apartment complex. I knew Chris and Brad played board games and roleplaying games,
and I wanted in.

At the end of the school year I signed their yearbooks: “If you guys get together to play games, give me a call.”
They did. About thirty seconds later, they were my best friends. It changed my life.

We spent that summer playing board games and RPGs and going to the mall, and the arcade, and hanging out
at the pool. It’s a time and place that has now been immortalized and paid homage to in popular fiction. When I
want to connect with my mother’s formative years, I watch American Graffiti, filmed one town over from where
she grew up. Folks looking for that same experience for my generation’s formative years watch Stranger Things.

It was easy for an adult back then watching us sitting around Dave Miles’ pool table rolling strange dice, lis-
tening to Rush, and pretending to be elves to imagine we were wasting our time. And not just adults, a lot of our
peers felt the same way. But I never did. I knew something worthwhile and remarkable would come out of the
hobby: a lifetime of creativity and memories and shared experiences doing something amazing with my friends
whom I loved. You don’t need YouTube or Kickstarter, it’s reward enough just ending up at the end of your life
being able to look back on the worlds you created and shared with your friends and the heroic adventures
you undertook. The hobby isn’t a means to an end, it is an end unto itself. And while the places and events and
people and things we create and meet in our secondary worlds are not real, one thing is.

Dreams are not real. Nothing that happens in a dream is real. With one exception. Chris Nolan wrote a whole
movie about it.

Inception takes place in dreams but it’s about movies. It argues that while all these people and places and
events are not real, something in film is. The emotions you feel watching a movie are real. That’s what gives
them meaning and value. When I watch Casablanca I fall in love with Ilsa every time. Generations of kids
watched The Adventures of Robin Hood and ran outside play-swordfighting. Because the emotions you feel at the
movies are real. Inception is using dreams to make a point about movies. And, I argue, RPGs.

Don’t let anyone tell you the hobby is a waste of time. Tell your friends you’re going to get together and play
tonight. Tell them you’re going to do something real.

Thanks to Chris Ashton and Phil Robb for running the best game development studio in the business. The work
we did together was real and vital.

Thanks to Robert Djordjevich for giving me my first break in video games, and the rest of the Pandemic Group:
Austin Baker, Wallace Huang, Chad Nicholas, Larra Paoilli, and Jeff Vaughn.

Thanks to Christian Moore and Owen Seyler for giving me my first job in games and for being great mentors.
And thanks to everyone else at Last Unicorn: Ross Issacs, George Vasilakos, Jay Longino, Inman Young, Charles
and Tammie Ryan, Jess Heinig, Jeff Tidball, Ken Hite, and Steve Long.

Thanks to Anna and Jerry and Lars for taking a crazy chance on MCDM.

Thanks to Mike Mearls, Chris Perkins, Jeremy Crawford, and the rest of the 5E DevTeam for synthesizing forty
years of RPG design into something new and fresh and fun to play and fun to design for.

And, lastly, my original GMs: John Mara, Brad Thomas, and Matt Thomas. The lessons they taught me from ’85 to
‘92 still pay off. And to the rest of The Group: Jim Murphy, Dave Miles, Mark Hobbs, Devlon and Geoff, Chris and
Craig, Jeff Houston, Matt Clyker, Paul LaPorte, Robert Harris, Travis Vail.

—Matthew Colville
Irvine, September 2018

A TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 FOLLOWERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

GM-Approved?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Alignment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Retainers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Ambassadors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
STRONGHOLDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Allies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Types of Stronghold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 THE SIEGE OF CASTLE REND. . . . 98
Acquiring a Stronghold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Extended Rest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Notes on This Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Power! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Preparing This Adventure. . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Keep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Adventure Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Major NPCs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
People Know It’s There. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Part 1: The Village of Gravesford. . . . . 104
Raising Units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Part 2: The Forest Rend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Part 3: The Ruins of Castle Rend. . . . . . 115
The Barbarian Camp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Part 4: The Siege of Castle Rend . . . . . 128
The Pirate Ship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
The Tower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Stats for NPCs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Spell Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Inventing a New Spell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Alternative Tower Rules: APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Towers by School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 New Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
The Temple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Demons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Devils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Concordance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Celestial Court. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Petitioning Your Deity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Court of All Flesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Druid Groves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The Court of Arcadia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
The Establishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Court of Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Rumors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Gemstone Dragons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Gathering Intel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Gemstone Dragonborn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Favors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Inexorables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Strongholds by Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The Ruler and the Land Are One. . . . . . . 40 Warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Demesne Effects and Anatomy of a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Stronghold Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Attack and Defense. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Class Feature Improvements . . . . . . . . . . 40 Power and Toughness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Different Classes, Morale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
No Hit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Different Followers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Creating Your Own Units. . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
When to Roll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Battle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Who Rolls?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Victory and Defeat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
The GM Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The Barbarian’s Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Simple Warfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
The Bard’s Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 New Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
The Cleric’s Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Druid’s Grove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Fighter’s Fortress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
The Monk’s Monastery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Paladin’s Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Ranger’s Lodge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The Rogue’s Tavern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Sorcerer’s Sanctum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Warlock’s Fane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Wizard’s Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Villain Strongholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Special Allies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

nce upon a time in the legions or artisan peasants, foreign ambassadors or
dim days of the hobby fellow adventuring heroes!
known as the 1970s,
the game assumed you Large-scale actions taken by your new army, your
played until you were stronghold, or your followers sometimes take months
about 7th level and or seasons. Also, your new abilities eventually run out
then built a stronghold. of juice, after which you must return to your demesne
There were no rules to refresh yourself. This is called an extended rest.
for this, nor was any
reason given for why To support these new options, the book comes with
the player or their character might want to do such many new systems, including rules for warfare, in
a thing. which units of soldiers clash; rules for concordance,
For those original players, building a stronghold was which allows any character to plead with their deity for
a self-evident good. It was just neat, and they assumed aid; rules for creating new magic items; and rules for
it would be obvious why you would want to do such a taking your retainers with you into combat without
thing. It meant your character was now interested in having to run an entire second character.
things besides killing orcs and acquiring gold. Trea-
sure was a means to an end. As your character grew GM-APPROVED?
in power, they became more concerned with the state
of the world. There were political conflicts and armies Talk to your GM to make sure these new rules are
and incursions from other dimensions, and a single allowed in their game. This book asks a lot of your GM,
fighter with a sword, even a very nice sword with its they are expected to:
own personality and special purpose, was not enough.
You needed an army, or new spells, or extraplanar allies. • Run NPC followers, including complex and
The game transitioned from local problems to powerful special allies.
national problems, to global problems. Eventually,
your 7th-level character fought a few wars or invented • Figure out which neighbors are happy or upset
a spell or two, and then retired. Typically around 13th with your growing power in the local area.
level. And that was it. The game had an end.
This book seeks to recreate that style of play, but in • Make combat harder, to compensate for your
a modern sense, by giving the players reasons to build new combat abilities.
strongholds. And we got a lotta reasons.
In this book you will find rules for four types of That’s a lot of work and your GM may have different
strongholds: keeps help you raise armies and improve plans for their game. They might be okay with some of
your fighting ability, temples help you summon these rules, but not others!
extraplanar allies to aid you in battle, towers let you
research new spells, and establishments let you col- ALIGNMENT
lect secrets and generate cash.
Every stronghold also improves your signature class This book references alignment a lot—don’t freak
feature, powering up your Bardic Inspiration or your out. It’s merely deployed as an organizational tool. A
monk’s Ki. Strongholds grant improved class features fun way of saying “allied” or “opposed.” And a way to
because they draw power from the land itself. categorize allies and monsters dramatically. Paladins
The local area around your stronghold is called your oppose chaos and evil, clerics embody good; these are
demesne (deh-MAIN). Within your demesne, your just cool ways of referring to the forces opposing or
character is now, if not ruler, certainly a very import- allied with the heroes.
ant person, so the power of the land manifests itself in
unusual ways in your favor. Feel free to recontextualize these references how-
Building a stronghold also inspires people, allowing ever you like. If you’re playing a…lawful neutral pal-
you to attract followers by rolling on a chart specific adin, perhaps opposing chaos is more important or
to your class. These followers could be mercenary useful to you than good or evil. Or maybe alignment
isn’t useful at all, in which case the player and the GM
can agree to use “allied” or “opposed.” Alignment was
originally invented as an excuse to yell at players who
were backstabbing other players by inventing “teams”
and requiring them to pick “our team” if they were
going to continue playing, so best not to take it too seri-
ously.

t’s cool to have a place of arbitrary. You could easily have six kinds, or one for
your own. A headquar- each class. Or no “types,” just different abilities to buy
ters, a base. A castle, a a la carte. But I find these four get us 90% of what we
tower, a keep. need, with their variations getting us another 9%. And
for those players who want a stronghold not listed here,
It would be even better hopefully the variations are sufficient to help the GM
if your headquarters come up with a unique variant without much work.
did something cool for
you. Gave you some ACQUIRING A STRONGHOLD
useful ability, preferably
in combat, since that’s There are three basic ways for the party to acquire a
where a lot (not all!) of the game happens. It’s certainly stronghold: they are (in order of most expensive to
where the life and death stuff happens. least expensive) build a new one, renovate an old one,
It’s also nice to have a reason to hoard money. Delv- or receive one from a local noble.
ing deep into dark dungeons promises three rewards:
experience, magic items, and money. Building a Stronghold, Cost and Time
Experience is a self-evident good, as it makes your
character level up and gain power. The cost (in gold) and time to build (in days) for each
Magic items, likewise. They let you do cool things of the four strongholds are listed below. These are
your character would never normally be able to do. not based on any historical numbers mostly because
Money, though? What are we supposed to do with humans were building castles for about 600 years until
it? At least one edition granted players easy access to the invention of gunpowder made them obsolete and
creating magic items, a fine way to spend your money. there’s no reasonable way to translate those costs into
A side effect of this is the assumed presence of shops in a fantasy game. But even were we to pick a historical
sufficiently large cities where you can buy magic items. period as our baseline, there was no time in history
But the modern edition makes the opposite assump- that had bands of wizards and warlocks roaming the
tion. Players during the 5E playtest said they wanted countryside pillaging dragon hordes and coming back
magic to be rare, and the dev team listened. Magic to civilization with tens of thousands of gold pieces.
is rare and “magic shoppes” are not assumed in the
base game. Therefore any costs we derive must first be based in
Strongholds and their upgrades, therefore, give you the economies of a fantasy RPG. And that means they
a good reason to save your money. must cost a lot, but not take too long. If it takes 10
years to build your stronghold, no PC would ever do
TYPES OF STRONGHOLD it. Keeps and towers, temples and establishments each
have wildly different purposes with different costs and
There are four types of basic stronghold, one complex different times to build.
stronghold, and many varieties. Any character can
build or use any stronghold, although why a non-spell- Keeps are larger and more fortified for defensive
casting character might build a tower is an exercise left purposes and therefore take longer to build: 150 days.
to the reader. Maybe they have a spellcasting NPC ally!
Temples and towers are less fortified but still usu-
A keep is a martial stronghold for characters inter- ally made of stone and take 120 days to complete at
ested in raising armies and defending the local towns- 1st level.
folk. Barbarian camps and pirate ships are variations
on this. An establishment serves no defensive purpose, typ-
ically existing within a town or city with its own fortifi-
A tower is an arcane stronghold for doing spell cations. But your establishment is still well-constructed
research and learning battle magic. with basements, multiple floors, and probably secret
passages for you and your allies to escape out of…or in
A temple is a divine stronghold for summoning to! They take 90 days to complete.
extraplanar allies and learning battle magic. A druid’s
grove is a popular variation. Strongholds as Fortifications

An establishment is an espionage stronghold for Keeps, towers, and temples also count as Fortifications
sabotaging your enemies and generating revenue. in Warfare (see page 231 for the rules on Warfare).
These fortifications grant Morale bonuses to the sol-
A castle combines two or more of the above into a diers defending them in battle. They also have a Size
larger complex owned and run by multiple characters, representing the die used to track damage done to
each of whom can gain the mechanical benefits thereof. them, and a Toughness rating representing how hard
they are to damage. Because they don’t attack, they
Ultimately, the idea that there are four kinds of have no Attack, Defense, or Power ratings.
strongholds (and some variations of each) is completely

STRONGHOLD COST TO BUILD (GP) TIME TO BUILD (DAYS) FORTIFICATION BONUS
Keep 10,000 150 +2 Morale per level
Tower 8,000 120 +1 Morale per level
Temple 8,000 120 +1 Morale per level
6,000 90 —
Establishment

STRONGHOLD LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5
Keep 6 8 10 12 20
Tower 4 6 8 10 12
Temple 4 6 8 10 12
— — — — —
Establishment

TOUGHNESS PER LEVEL

STRONGHOLD LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5
Keep 22 24 26 28 30
Tower 18 20 22 24 26
Temple 18 20 22 24 26
— — — — —
Establishment

COST TO UPGRADE (GP)

STRONGHOLD LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5
Keep 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000
Tower 3,000 6,000 12,000 18,000
Temple 3,000 6,000 12,000 18,000
2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000
Establishment

TIME TO UPGRADE (DAYS)

STRONGHOLD LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5
Keep 50 100 150 200
Tower 40 80 120 160
Temple 40 80 120 160
30 60 90 120
Establishment

Upgrading Your Stronghold PAYING MORE TO GET
IT DONE FASTER
Once built, your stronghold can be upgraded by taking
more time and spending more money, as shown on Since building or repairing any stronghold requires
the charts on the previous page. You can spend more a labor force, it’s reasonable for players to conclude
money to build a larger stronghold from the start, but that hiring more artisans and laborers will speed up
there is no time or cost savings. the process!

Castles: Complex Strongholds To a small degree this is true, but the rules assume
your workers are working optimally, so adding more
A stronghold belongs to whoever pays for it, and they laborers will, paradoxically, cause it to take longer.
are its master. If Cail the Wizard builds a tower, he This is a fact as well-documented as it is oft-ig-
gets to decide who gains its benefits. He may allow his nored. The famous (real-world) book The Mythical
sorcerer or warlock pals to do spell research there… Man-Month details exactly what happens: Beyond
until one or both betrays him! Or he, them! Only one a certain point, the larger your network, the more
character can gain the benefit of a given stronghold at management it requires, the more communication
a time, and each character can only benefit from one it takes for everyone involved, and the harder it
stronghold ability at a time. becomes for any single worker to find the answer
to their question, get a task approved, or get
If multiple characters chip in to pay for a strong- unblocked (or even know who’s blocking them) on
hold—or one character just spends a lot of money—it is a process.
a castle and provides multiple benefits. Complex tasks
take proportionally more time and money than simple Therefore, we assume the times represent a group
ones, so a castle costs 10% more and takes 10% longer of workers getting the job done in a reasonably fast
for every basic stronghold function it incorporates. manner and that adding more people to the team
would just complicate things.
Jess, Anna, and Lars decide to pitch in together
and buy a castle. It will contain a keep, a temple, All the Avengers hang out at Avenger’s Mansion but at
and a tower. It will cost 33,800 gp and take 507 the end of the day, Tony Stark built that place and it and
days. That’s 10,000 gp for the keep and 8,000 Jarvis answer to him and when things go wrong he’s on
gp each for the tower and temple, 150 days for the hook for it.
the keep and 120 days each for the temple and
tower. Then an extra 30% on top (multiply time Finally, don’t presume that just because you as a
and cost each by 1.3) to account for the extra player think it would be a good idea for “all of us” to
work necessary to incorporate many functions build a stronghold together, that everyone else at the
in one structure. table agrees. In my experience, one or two players
may agree, one or two players won’t care, but one or
A castle cannot contain multiple of the same type of two players actually have their own ideas about what
stronghold. If you build a castle with two towers, for should be done with what they perceive as “their share
instance, only one of them grants the benefits of spell of the treasure.” Make sure you’ve polled the electorate
research. Also, a stronghold’s benefit only applies and listen to what they say. Folks who disagree often
to one character at a time. A character can switch keep their mouths shut just to avoid conflict, and this is
between which stronghold benefits they receive by a great recipe for breeding unhappy players.
taking an extended rest (page 15).
Narrative Reasons for
The purpose of the design is, on the one hand, to Different Costs and Times
somewhat model the real world where building a
movie theater and automotive plant in the same build- Of course, what seems reasonable to me may seem
ing would (one assumes) take longer than the time wildly unreasonable to you! Each GM’s campaign is dif-
to build each separately. For one thing the different ferent, and different in ways that cannot be predicted
kinds of strongholds have different requirements and or detected by any given designer.
therefore it takes more and different kinds of workers
to complete them and the more workers you have the Therefore, feel absolutely free to charge your play-
harder it is to coordinate them all. ers more or less, or speed up or slow down the time it
takes to fit both your idea of what’s reasonable, and the
But also, one goal of these rules is to give players precedents you’ve established for your game. To make
things to do in their downtime, and this is a period for
individual goals and initiative. Usually when one of my
players builds a stronghold, everyone hangs out there.

these decisions seem less like GM fiat and ground them At What Level Should Characters
in the rules and your game, consider the following. Get a Stronghold?

Strongholds take more or less time to construct There’s no correct answer to this, it is entirely up to the
based on the availability of local workers. Maybe GM. I’ve run games in which the PCs started at 1st level
recent events in your campaign have made laborers playing local nobles complete with strongholds and
and artisans scarce or plentiful! Whatever local prob- domains. I’ve run for groups who at 3rd level cleared
lem the players have recently dealt with, it may have out an overrun watchtower and claimed it as their base.
scared many valuable workers away from the area
(strongholds take more time). Or, with that problem As the GM, you can simply decide it would be fun
solved, maybe more workers are available and willing if the players started with or cleared out their own
to help our stalwart heroes (strongholds take less time)! stronghold at low levels. One of the great moments in
any campaign, for me, is just after the players de-orc
Strongholds may cost more if the local area turns out a ruined keep and realize, “Hey! We could make this
to be resource poor. It takes wood and stone to make a place our base!” This is the moment when the players
stronghold, and not just any wood or stone. start using the things they find in the world as their
own resources. The world feels real to them. They are
“Can’t build from this,” Arranel the Woodwright thinking about things besides killing monsters.
says, shaking her head. “Trees are all beech
around here. Can’t make a proper truss or Maybe the question is “At what level can the PCs
scaffold with beech. No block or tackle neither. afford to build their own stronghold?” That’s easy to
Rope’ll chew right through it.” figure out. We start by imagining the players want to
pool their money together to build a castle for 50,000
“And the stone here’s all got lime running through gold pieces.
it. Water table’s just a few feet down, I reckon,”
Galder of Chalk, the stonemason observes. So we scrubbed through the published adventures to
“Gonna have to send to Rest to get some proper figure out: when would the characters be able to afford
granite. Cost a pretty penny, that.” a keep? Well if they go through the official 5E Big Giant
Adventure…the answer is surprising. By 6th level in
So the costs may be more exorbitant than the rules the Big Giant Adventure, the players can have accumu-
imply. The reverse is also true! lated enough gold to buy a keep. Assuming they find all
the gold and roll average on random results.
“No gold, sorry to break it to you. Know you
ratcatchers love comin’ up gold. But plenty In practice, however, it difficult to find all the gold
of iron,” Zoran Steeleye, foreman of the mine, in an adventure, especially adventures with sandbox
says. “More’n enough to get you started on a elements, or branches. Different groups often come
proper keep.” out with wildly different amounts of cash from the
same adventure. 7th level, therefore, is a reason-
Circumstances both natural and political may con- able ­conclusion.
spire to make your campaign’s costs different from
these. Indeed, in some campaign worlds metal is as Do Not Assume the Adventure Will Suffice
rare as…a very rare thing! And we might imagine a
stronghold would be a very expensive proposition on Different editions treat gold differently. Some classic
that dead world under a black star. 1st Edition adventures award many tens of thousands
of gold at low levels (often in copper pieces, on purpose,
When Is It Done? to make the act of getting the gold back to civilization a
challenge in itself). Some adventures have hardly any
Keep in mind that a 1st-level keep is a simple motte- gold in them at all. Not only does this vary from edi-
and-bailey and would still appear to be “under con- tion to edition, it varies wildly from one adventure to
struction” when it is actually done. It can act as a another within an edition.
defensive stronghold well before it’s pretty and all
the finishing touches are complete. It may be hard to Therefore, Game Masters who think “my players
imagine Camelot being built in a little more than a year, will want a stronghold” should make sure they dump
but that’s because the structure we imagine with pink enough gold on the players to make it possible. The
walls and pennants flying is what you get long after the gold you award becomes a knob you turn to adjust
place was a functioning castle. when exactly the players can afford a stronghold of
their own. Assuming they need to buy the thing at all!
There are other options!

Repairing a Ruin If there are several (more than three, including
a dungeon level) levels with intact rooms, then this
As any druid worth their salt—or any other miner- is probably not a 1st-level stronghold. It could be a
als—will tell you: nature is pretty aggressive. Without 2nd-level or 3rd-level stronghold! GMs, remember in
proper upkeep, roots and vines and weather will take your generosity that strongholds cap out at 5th level.
their toll and in only a year a stronghold can require Letting players repair a ruin so that they end up with a
so much upkeep to get back in shape that it qualifies level 4 or 5 stronghold gives them immense power and
as a ruin. Practically, if the keep or tower or temple in little left to strive for.
your adventure has some crumbling walls and perhaps
a few rooms or entire floor exposed to the elements, it Awarding a Stronghold
is certainly a ruin.
Any local stronghold in good enough shape not to need
Repairing a ruin saves you half the time and cost repair actually belongs to someone. Legally. Some local
of the final stronghold. So repairing a ruined level 1 noble. It might be currently overrun by orcs, or even
keep would only cost 5,000 gold and take 75 days. sitting surrounded by forest overgrowth, forgotten. But
as soon as the party clears it out, it becomes unforgot-
It’s up to the GM to decide whether the ruin is a ten and the local duke or queen says, “Hey that’s mine.”
single-player stronghold or a castle that can serve as
a complex that contains some combination of basic Nobles get really persnickety when a bunch of rat-
strongholds within. catchers decide some stronghold in the noble’s terri-
tory is “theirs.” The local nobles start to feel like maybe
How badly ruined a stronghold is, is purely a judge- these itinerant campaigners are trying to muscle in on
ment call by the GM, but here are some guidelines. If it their cushy gig.
has multiple levels with any intact rooms, each level
saves another 500 gold in cost and 7 days off the total At the same time, nobles are not stupid—though they
time. If it has any wholly intact levels, each level may well be prideful, fearful, or full of hubris—so they
instead saves you 1,000 gp and 14 days. might realize any mercenary group powerful enough
to clear out the orcs would serve better as subjects
or allies than enemies.

So typically the local noble will be very thankful and That kind of “well yes this document says the keep is
generous. A duke might nominate the most noble and yours but I, and my army really want it” conflict makes
trustworthy party member (favoring lawful good, or great drama! With lots of local powers lining up to see
lawful, or the same alignment as the noble) and invest who they should ally with, who’s going to be on the
them as baron. Congratulations! You’re a landed noble! winning side of any future conflict.

As democratic and egalitarian as the players may Generally, you’ll want to assume that the PCs’ actions
feel, unless your world is wildly different from a medi- have unintended consequences. When you build or
eval society, the local noble won’t be keen on the idea buy or clear out a tower and make it yours, you make
of an autonomous collective running a stronghold. The allies and enemies. You are upsetting the Steady State
players may feel like they collectively saved the noble’s World, and have created an Inciting Incident, for which
forgotten stronghold for them, but the noble does not see Running the Game #241.
recognize “an adventuring party” as a legitimate form
of government. There is typically no cost here—the stronghold is a
gift. The cost can be thought of as the risk to life and
So while many PCs can enjoy the benefits of a castle limb the players undertook. Though the local noble may
(i.e. a complex stronghold, one that belongs to many gift the PCs a stronghold that needs some repair, that’s
characters) as far as local politics are concerned, one pretty classic. The players imagine Greywall Keep as a
PC is responsible for it. When the local noble has a Camelot-esque castle with pink walls and strict laws
problem, it’s that PC who’s on the hook. governing precipitation, but when they arrive they will
discover the local noble was perhaps not as forthcom-
Furthermore, the local noble can simply award the ing with details as might be desired. Classic.
players a stronghold as payment for some service.
“Thank you for stopping that local death cult, here’s the Certifying Ownership
right and title to a small keep.” Now, this may be exactly
as it seems and the players just get a stronghold, no This is purely a tradition in my campaign, but as soon
strings attached. Not very dramatic though, is it? as the players begin getting a stronghold, I tell them
outright: they can spend the money, and it will get built,
In a situation like that, we expect there’s some reason but they don’t gain the benefit of it until they defend it in
the stronghold is available to be awarded. Maybe it’s a battle, as described more in Appendix Two: Warfare
ruin, and there may be some costs associated with get- (page 231). This is, usually, the first time the players
ting it up and running. Or it’s full of goblins. Or…oozes! have encountered the Warfare system, but so far over
Yeah that sounds dramatic. A cult of Orcus! Good luck! approximately six campaigns, the players have never
balked at this condition, and so far they have always
Ultimately the rule is there is always some “cost.” looked forward to the battle! Of course, your mileage
Either in gold or risk. Even a 100% no-strings-attached, may vary.
no-orc-infestation stronghold will have required the
players to do something incredibly risky beforehand, The idea here is that raising the metaphorical flag
adventure-wise, to earn the local noble’s favor. and saying “this place is mine” sends a signal to local
actors who heretofore took no notice of some low-level
Political Complications ratcatchers. But once you’d built a tower, keep, or
temple, suddenly you’re important enough to fear!
Something I’ve enjoyed doing in my own campaign is
putting a document granting right and title to a strong- Establishments attract less attention, certainly, but
hold to whosoever holds the deed. This is, certainly, even building a new inn or tavern sends a signal, in
ahistorical…but it is dramatic! which case it is the town itself, not the establish-
ment that comes under attack. Better start building
This throws an interesting monkey wrench into the some walls!
political landscape, since the dead king wrote this doc-
ument and therefore technically all the local nobility
must abide by it. But…is it really a good idea to have
some murderhobos running the show over there?

1 If you don’t know what Running the Game is, have I got a YouTube channel for you! I mean…I do. I literally have a YouTube channel for
you.

EXTENDED REST So your world, if you use this book, slowly trans-
forms into one where there are local powers. These
Strongholds grant special abilities, which quickly “powers” are usually nobility, but they can be any char-
run out of uses and must be recharged by taking an acters with power and an army. A wizard with a tower
extended rest. An extended rest requires spending a may only have a small hamlet outside, and that hamlet
week at your stronghold, touching base with your sub- has its own town council and the wizard doesn’t bother
jects and followers, and attending to your affairs. them. But if the local Baron needs arcane assistance,
it’s this wizard he turns to.
This rule exists for a couple of reasons. First, it rein-
forces verisimilitude. It’s unreasonable to expect a These nobles and powerful NPCs rule different
stronghold to grant its benefits indefinitely. A fighter areas, they have their own strongholds and armies and
who hasn’t visited their keep in years is indistinguish- their own subjects who work for them and will fight
able from a fighter without a stronghold! with them.

Second, they give players a good reason to return Local Powers
home and that grants you, the GM, the opportunity to
advance the politics of your campaign. It’s possible, via It’s easy to go overboard when worldbuilding and
sending or a diplomats pouch or just mundane messen- assume you need to have every detail mapped out.
gers on horseback, to advance your politics without Dozens of major and minor players, all the different
visiting your stronghold and, indeed, some of this barons and archmages and bishops and guildmasters
should be allowed, but major events and revelations can seem an insurmountable task.
are better handled in person and, should war break out,
a lord cannot command their troops from the bottom So don’t do that! You only really need three other
of a dungeon. local powers; an ally, an enemy, and someone who is
neither. We can add more as we play, but we only need
POWER! the three to get started.

Strongholds unbalance the game.2 A paladin with a The enemy lord serves an obvious purpose. They
fully upgraded stronghold has access to many more are a powerful threat by which the players can test
abilities than a paladin without one. This is by design. themselves. They are opposed to the players’ growing
It’s fine to let your players get ahead of the power curve; power for whatever reason.
you, the GM, have all the tools you need to challenge
them. You have access to all the monsters, and you can The ally, probably not as powerful as the player, but
make them nastier than usual. older and more experienced, helps the player under-
stand the nature of the political world they have found
To help rebalance things, we give villains and their themselves in. And, should push come to shove, the
minions their own stronghold abilities that are less allied lord can throw in with the player and contribute
complex—and therefore easier for an already overbur- their meager army to the cause.
dened GM to use—than the stronghold abilities of the
PCs. See “Villain Strongholds” on page 66. The neutral lord is someone with power, the power
to determine who will win in the coming conflict
STRONGHOLDS & POLITICS between the player and the enemy lord, but currently
on no one’s side. Known not to be an ally of the evil
Strongholds also represent a political framework. lord, but also not on the players’ side. It’s going to take
Many campaigns tick along nicely without anyone, some negotiation, roleplaying, maybe some favors to
including the GM, worrying about things like “who’s in sway them.
charge here?” Where “here” is “this area of the map”
or “this town” or “the area around the dungeon.” This This small framework of three NPCs gives you every-
is perfectly fine; many successful campaigns have run thing you need to start a moderately robust political
for years without anyone needing to worry about this. game. These characters do not appear by magic, they
These rules change those assumptions. Because a are NPCs that need to be introduced and developed like
Stronghold is also a symbol of power, it threatens any other.
other local lords. Even if your players have no martial
ambitions, if they attract a few units of light cavalry
suddenly they will start wondering “hey what can I do
with these?”

2 I think 5E is the best-designed edition of the game, but I also think some players overfocus on “balance” because they feel the
game is something to be “solved.” They expect a level of rigor more appropriate to a wargame or a card game. I don’t have those
expectations for an RPG.

The keep1 sits on a hill. It may be tall or squat, but it keeps were built as a defense against armies, a safe and
projects power. It protects. It is a symbol. It says “I am easily defensible location. But in all instances the keep
here, and this place is mine. These people, this land, is is related to war in a way the other strongholds are not.
under my protection.”
So, you build a keep because you want to raise an
Unless you don’t want it to be, of course—it’s your army and give them a place to stay and train.
keep, do what you want. Put your keep in a valley if
you like, hide it in a forest. But notice that the above RAISING UNITS
language makes no moral evaluation. A good ruler, an
evil one, might each say the same thing but for differ- You can attract a unit by rolling on your class’s fol-
ent reasons. lowers chart. Some classes are naturally more martial
than others—the fighter and paladin attract units
PEOPLE KNOW IT’S THERE more easily than the Wizard and Sorcerer. But even a
fell-countenanced warlock like Graves, the Empty One,
Let’s imagine you want to build a hidden keep—with- from my Shield of Gravesford campaign could attract a
out using powerful magics. This is ahistorical, so if one unit with a good roll. That would be a very interesting
of my players brought this up, I would explain to them army—come to pledge service to a warlock!
something of the nature and purpose of keeps, and how
hard (indeed, I think basically impossible) it is to build Furthermore, you can spend gold to just buy a unit. But
anything of this size and scale without everyone in the units not only cost money to buy, they also cost money
local area knowing. to maintain, called upkeep. Anyone with enough money
can maintain an army without a stronghold, it just costs a
It takes hundreds of workers months to build a keep, lot of money. Napoleon did it quite well and would have
even if you’re only repairing an existing fortification. gotten away with it if it weren’t for a plague of typhus.2
And those workers have homes and families, and while
they may eventually move onto your land—perhaps A keep reduces the cost to buy units by 10% per level,
because you are a good ruler, or just because it’s con- and it also reduces the upkeep of units by 10% per level.
venient to live near where they’re spending months This means a 5th-level keep reduces both the cost to
working—those people are going to talk about what buy units and their upkeep cost by 50%.
they’re building.
Upon finishing a keep, you gain units equal in
But if, after that, I saw the player still thought it number to 2 plus the keep level. At the GM’s dis-
would be cool to build a hidden keep, I would just ask, cretion, if you’re building a keep above 1st level, you
“Okay, cool, given that it’s going to take a lot of people could get your first unit when you begin construction,
to make it, how do you plan on keeping it secret?” I another unit halfway through, and the rest when it’s
wouldn’t say no; I would just give the player a chance complete. There could be good, dramatic reasons for
to think about it and be creative. Any answer they give this, and also it gives you a unit early that you can go
will bring opportunities for drama! annoy your neighbors with. And it’s perfectly reason-
able to presume the half-finished keep is complete
So in general, building any kind of stronghold makes enough to house some folks.
a statement. But a keep is a military fortification. It’s
not used for researching the mysteries of the universe, Which units arrive to pledge service is up to the GM,
or communing with the powers of creation, or raising but there’s a handy chart on the next page should they
money and learning secrets, it’s about raising an army. want to leave the choice to fate.
Giving your army somewhere to live. Protecting your
people and enforcing your will abroad. Historically, Newly raised units start at Size 1d4. If you get the
same result twice3, just increase the unit’s Size by one.

1 There’s a great, by which I mean deeply weird, movie from Michael Mann called The Keep about a bunch of Nazis accidently letting
a demon lose in Transylvania while an Eternal Man tries to stop them. This doesn’t have anything to do with these rules, but it’s my
book, you get my weirdness.

2 That’s real, by the way. Popularly, Napoleon blundered into Russia and lost because he, an experienced soldier who’d built an army
that kept mobile by foraging, somehow forgot about the phenomenon called “winter.” But in actuality Napoleon lost 80,000 men in
the first month of the campaign to typhus spread by lice. I suspect many victorious generals would have had a bad time if they lost
80,000 men to disease in one month.

3 Actually very likely, as some units are simply much more common than others

All units raised are of the same ancestry as the owner UNITS RAISED BY KEEP
of the keep.
D100 UNIT TYPE
Use the rules in Creating Your Own Units (page 01–12 Green Light Infantry
235) to build the unit cards once you know which unit 13–24 Green Medium Infantry
you’ve attracted. 25–34 Regular Light Infantry
35–44 Regular Medium Infantry
Jess’s elf cleric Lady Sariel builds a keep, attracts 45–46 Seasoned Medium Infantry
a unit of Regular Light Infantry, and then rolls 47–48 Seasoned Heavy Infantry
again, getting another unit of Regular Light 49–57 Green Light Archers
Infantry. She still only has one unit, but it’s now 58–66 Green Medium Archers
Size 1d6 instead of Size 1d4. 67–72 Regular Light Archers
73–78 Regular Medium Archers
TRAINING 79–86 Regular Light Cavalry
87–95 Regular Medium Cavalry
A keep means an army, and an army requires training! 96–100 Seasoned Light Cavalry
As you train your soldiers, you get better with your
own gear, gaining the following bonuses based on the Versatile Training: While wielding a versatile
weapons or armor that you use. Choose one of the fol- weapon in two hands, you gain +1 AC.
lowing training benefits.
THE BARBARIAN CAMP
You cannot gain the benefit of training from armor,
shields, or weapons you are not proficient in. You can Barbarians are famous for keeps! In that under no
change which training you receive during an extended circumstance would they ever build one. They are
rest (page 15). why other people build keeps! To a barbarian, the
idea of putting all your men in an immobile walled jail
Light Armor Training: You have advantage on Dex- seems ridiculous.
terity checks while wearing light armor.
Of course, strictly speaking anyone can build any
Medium Armor Training: You gain 5 feet of extra stronghold. And what counts as a “barbarian” has
movement while wearing medium armor. This move- nothing to do with what’s on your character sheet. You
ment does not provoke attacks of opportunity.4 can easily be a fighter or ranger who looks and behaves
in a classical barbarian mode.
Heavy Armor Training: You learn to present your
most heavily armored facing to your foes. Ranged BARBARIAN UNITS
attacks have disadvantage against you as crossbow
bolts bounce and acid arrows splash harmlessly (some- D12 BARBARIAN UNITS
times) off your armor. 1–3 Green Light Infantry
4–6 Regular Light Infantry
Bludgeoning Training: When you score a critical 7–8 Green Light Archers
hit, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls, saving 9–10 Regular Light Archers
throws, and skill checks until the start of your next turn. 11 Regular Light Cavalry
12 Seasoned Light Cavalry
Finesse Training: When an adjacent enemy dam-
ages you with a melee weapon, you may, as a reaction,
make a melee attack against them with your wielded
finesse weapon.

Piercing Training: You deal an extra 1d6 damage to
creatures wearing heavy armor.

Reach Training: If you hit with a reach weapon, you
can move the target 5 feet, but they must remain within
your reach. This movement does not provoke attacks
of opportunity.

Shield Training: If you succeed in a weapon attack
while wielding a shield, you can push your target 5
feet away from you. This movement does not provoke
attacks of opportunity.

Slashing Training: You deal an extra 1d6 damage to
creatures wearing light, natural, or no armor.

4 In other words, you can move one more square, and you can choose any one square in your movement that you can leave without
provoking.

But if you want a rampaging horde, you want a bar- fed and housed. The Mongols had mobile
barian camp. Accept no substitutes. smithies and carpenter shops!
• It raises units just like a keep, but using the
Substitutes for a Barbarian Camp Barbarian Units chart on the previous page.
• It grants no discount to upkeep.
These rules show how a mobile stronghold behaves • It can move a number of provinces5 per season
based on certain assumptions about a Rampaging Horde. inversely proportional to its size. A 1st-level
With a little imagination, we can easily picture any barbarian camp can move 5 provinces per
number of other strongholds that might use these rules. season. A 5th-level camp, only one. As long
as all their units are Light, they do not suffer
A druid might decide to go on the warpath, Awaken movement penalties for moving in Wilderness.
the Trees, and lead them to war! Do the Awakened But they do suffer normal movement penalties
Trees have a permanent stronghold? They could, but based on terrain.
they could just as easily have a mobile camp! • If a Barbarian camp spends one season in a
civilized province, the owner of that province
A monk might eschew a permanent stronghold and must make an Unrest check against DC 13. If
instead wander the land, inciting the peasantry to take the Development Level of the Province is
up arms against their tyrannical lords and join her. Did greater than the level of the Barbarian camp,
Joan of Arc have a permanent fortification? Or was she the roll has advantage. If it is less, then the roll
basically leading a barbarian horde? has disadvantage.

A barbarian camp functions as a keep with the fol- If the province fails its Unrest check, it loses
lowing differences: one development level. If this reduces it to 0 it
reverts to Wilderness and no longer produces
• It still costs gold, but half as much. Temporary resources for its owner.
wells must be dug, skins for tents must be
constantly made and repaired. Weapons and Of course, spending a season there means
armor still need repairs. Large tents require withstanding the owner’s own armies. We’re
many wooden stakes. And foraging includes basically talking about an invasion.
buying food off the locals as well as stealing it.
When you’re on the move, you basically have
to do everything all the time to keep everyone

5 Provinces, Unrest, Population Centers, and Development Levels are all in Kingdoms & Warfare. I know it’s kinda bogus to put rules in
here you can’t use yet, but I didn’t want the benefits of a Barbarian camp spread out over two books.

THE PIRATE SHIP

Another variation of the Keep is the dreaded Pirate
Ship. The Pirate Ship (a galleon, but one dedicated
to piracy) is a mobile stronghold like the Barbarian
camp. But while the Barbarian camp gets slower the
larger it is, a Pirate Ship gets faster! Its larger sails
resist the wind much more efficiently than the larger
hull drags through the water.1

The Pirate Ship functions as a Keep with the follow-
ing differences.

• It attracts units just like a keep, but with
restrictions to their Size. The ship may not
carry units larger than Size 1d6. If rolling
on the Units Raised by Keep chart (page
17) would produce a unit larger than Size
1d6, roll again. The ship can hold and no
more units than its stronghold level. A fully
upgraded Pirate Ship (level 5) could therefore
carry five units. There is no restriction on the
type of units a Pirate Ship may carry.

• The ship can move five sea hexes per day,2
plus one hex per level of the ship.

• If the ship sacks (i.e wins a battle against) a
port settlement, the settlement’s Develop-
ment Level is downgraded by one.

• Spending a week in a port settlement gener-
ates 100 gp.

1 This is actually true. The development of larger sails and the
ability to tack into the wind led to the development of the
galleon, which was faster than its smaller cousins. Galleons
became so big, and could carry so much gold and spice, they
became easy pickings for enemy privateers, and thus was the
age of piracy born.

2 Assuming a 24-mile hex.

Magic is dangerous. Unpredictable. But there’s some- that, do you need those rules? They’re mostly just guide-
thing even more dangerous: magical research. This is lines for how much damage spells do at which level.
why wizards and other arcane spellcasters put their
towers far away from civilization: so they can experi- Spell research should be fun, and one of the reasons
ment, and if they summon something with a number it’s fun is that it’s unpredictable. My all-time favorite
of tentacles and eyeballs that can only be expressed chart is the old Potion Miscibility table, which I wanted
through the use of imaginary numbers, the only person to roll on not because really good things could happen,
who ends up wearing their organs on the outside is the but because really good things and really bad things
hapless wizard who failed to say all the right words in could happen! Sometimes simultaneously! Any result
the right order. was exciting and dramatic, and even if my character
exploded, I would have been delighted.
Mind you, lots of big fantasy cities have towers full
of wizards, but I always assume that comes with the This spell research system is all about rolling on
danger of occasionally summoning hordes of unspeak- charts, because in my experience as a player, when I
able monstrosities from the World Below. I mean, see charts like the Potion Miscibility table or the Wild
you’ve got all these knights sitting around, might as Magic chart, or the old-school Wand of Wonder chart, I
well give them something to do! just want to roll on them.

Founding a tower unlocks battle magic1 for them and In this book, all the results of spell research benefit
grants the arcane spellcaster the power to research the caster, but not all of them are equally useful, and
new spells! And if you use our rules, there is a 0% some of them are Weird. But because these benefits
chance things could go wrong. Well, it’s close to 0%, I are rewards for building a stronghold, there are no
don’t know your GM. bad results.

SPELL RESEARCH INVENTING A NEW SPELL

We know player characters can invent spells—we see Inventing a new spell from scratch is sort of a pain in
them throughout the text of the core game. Famous the ass and hard to balance and requires a unique com-
wizard PCs in the 1970s and the spells their players bination of player ingenuity and GM balancing that can
invented have been with us for the entire history of be a lot of work and not all of it fun.
the game.
But researching an existing spell? Taking a here-
So we know it can be done, and it has been done, tofore boring spell and making it do something extra
but back in the day the player would just tell the GM and neat and maybe weird? Going into your research
what their idea for a spell was, and the GM would come laboratory and not knowing exactly what you’re going
up with some suitably dangerous and heroic quest to to get when you come out? That’s magical. Here’s how
acquire the ingredients and lore for the research, and it works.
then, quest complete, the GM would figure out the level
of the spell to balance it. Pick a Spell

You can still do this and, indeed, you don’t really You can only research arcane spells, not divine spells—
need rules for it. It’s the kind of thing you do because gods get really bitchy if you start trying to monkey with
there are no rules for it. their ineffable Will. This means the spell must be on the
spell list of the bard, eldritch knight, wizard, warlock,
The core books have rules for creating new spells, or sorcerer. 5th Edition doesn’t really have the clear
but they’re in the back and I don’t get the sense they’re division of arcane and divine spells, but you’ll notice
widely used. They also rely on a combination of player that it doesn’t give clerics or druids or paladins access
initiative (first, think of a new spell that isn’t already to spells with someone’s name in the title. Named spells
covered by one of the hundreds in the game) and GM are apparently, unique to “arcane spellcasters,” and we
approval (and the GM has to find a way to balance it, like that tradition.
which is probably not fun), and if you’re already doing

1 Described in Kingdoms & Warfare.

The GM can, of course, allow a divine character To research a spell, the magic-user must spend 1
to research spells, and why not. It’s just not the month, plus 1 week per level of the spell, minus 1
default assumption. week per level of their tower.

You must be able to cast the spell you want to Graves builds a tower and calls it the Helltower.
research, and the spell can’t have a proper name in it. He decides it would be nice if his vampiric touch
spell was better than normal vampiric touches.
You may choose to research a cantrip, but the Vampiric Touch is a 3rd-level spell, and the Hell-
researched cantrip will be a 1st-level spell (see Casting tower is a 1st-level tower. Thus, researching it will
the Spell on page 27). take 6 weeks: the base time of 4 weeks, plus 3
weeks because vampiric touch is a 3rd-level spell,
Pick the Target of the Spell minus 1 week because his tower is 1st level.

These categories aren’t comprehensive, but broadly Find the Chart, Roll or Pick
applicable. Some spells may fall under multiple cate-
gories. “Does damage” applies to many spells that also After picking the spell and its target, and researching
fit elsewhere on the list. The goal is to let the player it for the appropriate time, the magic-user rolls a d8
choose the category, and the GM interprets the exact on the chart corresponding to its effect to discover the
target broadly. result of their research. This is the default use of these
rules and tends to produce the best result.
The target of the spell can be:
If the GM and player agree, the player can just choose
• Yourself or one ally the effect they want—though this is much more prone
• One enemy to abuse. And, of course, the GM can roll for the player.
• All bad guys in an area This is a very old-school way of doing things, and while
• All allies in an area it may seem less satisfying for the player, it lets the GM
• The spell does damage curate the result.

Some spells don’t fit into any of these categories, typ- The GM might, for instance, know or strongly suspect
ically ones that bestow knowledge or that summon or that one of the possible results would just be less satis-
create things. For such spells, the above list has enough fying for the player and make sure that result doesn’t
effects that you could easily choose something from it come up. They might still roll! And just pick the next
or even create a unique list by picking and choosing or previous result on the list if they get an unsatisfac-
effects below for a player to roll, but we recommend tory result.
“yourself or one ally” for spells that don’t otherwise
fit a category since presumably the spellcaster is ben- The player spent a lot of their character’s money and
efitting in some way from the spell. time to get this, so while some weird results can be fun,
and the player should be reminded they can do more
Research research later, the ultimate goal is to give the player a
fun reward.
Researching a spell takes time and money. The money
is spent buying arcane materials to use as prospective Some of these results are weird. This is by design,
components. Many potential components must be meant to reinforce the idea that magic is unpredictable.
tested to determine which is the proper one for this It’s not a science. That’s why they call it magic.
new spell. Special tomes must be procured describing
the creation of the original spell, pointing the way
towards a means to modify it.

The time spent takes 8 hours of every day, six days
a week. The arcanist is able to take breaks a few times
each day to speak with their lieutenant and command
their followers, oversee the construction of their tower,
but they spend the required time in research. If this
time is interrupted, the new spells slips from their
mind and they must start again.

THE SPELL TARGETS YOU OR ONE ALLY

D8 SPELL EFFECT

1 Empowering: For 10 minutes, a random ability score of the target increases to 20.

2 Regenerating: For the spell’s duration, the target regains hit points equal to your spellcasting modifier at the
start of each round.

3 Mindful: For 10 minutes, the target may use your spellcasting ability modifier for all saving throws.

4 Omniscient: For 10 minutes, the target grows a third eye that reveals hidden, disguised, and invisible creatures
within 60 feet, but not objects on other planes.

5 Levitating: For 10 minutes, the target gains a fly speed of 10 feet.

6 Invulnerable: Until the start of their next turn, the target is immune to all damage.

Topologically Ambiguous: For 10 minutes, there is a one-third chance at the start of each round that the
target can teleport 10 feet as a bonus action. The odds of teleporting are cumulative (33% chance on the
7 first round, 66% on the second, 100% on the third), but the odds reset each time the target teleports. The

target can choose not to teleport, but if they do so, the odds still reset.

Blazing: Until the start of their next turn, the target’s movement leaves a trail of fire that lasts for the
8 spell’s duration and does 3d6 damage (Dexterity save for half) to anyone who begins their turn in it or moves

into or through it.

THE SPELL TARGETS ALLIES

D8 SPELL EFFECT

1 Dexterous: For 10 minutes, the targets’ movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

2 Accelerating: For 10 minutes, before taking an action, the targets can move an extra half of their movement.

3 Energizing: Until the start of their next turn, the target adds your spellcasting modifier to their attack rolls
and spellcasting DC.

Oracular: For 10 minutes, the target can see which items within 60 feet are magical, can see the effects of
4 persistent spells, and can make a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to know exactly what those items or

5 Fated: Until the start of their next turn, targets may reroll damage rolls and may take the new roll.

6 Vengeful: For 10 minutes, targets gain a reaction they may use to attack any enemies who damage them.

7 Revealing: Until the start of their next turn, targets always roll natural 20s on Perception checks.

8 Gloating: For 10 minutes, any target who drops an enemy to 0 hit points gains a move action or attack action.

THE SPELL TARGETS ONE ENEMY

D8 SPELL EFFECT

1 Betraying: The target immediately attacks another target of your choice.

2 Beguiling: The target does not recognize you as an enemy. Until the start of your next turn, your attacks
against them have advantage, and they have disadvantage on saving throws against your spells.

3 Distracting: On their next turn, the target can move or attack, but not both.

4 Elucidating: The target blurts out a closely held secret.

5 Stupefying: The target’s Intelligence decreases to 3 until the start of their next turn.

6 Illuminating: Until the start of their next turn, the target glows, granting advantage on all attacks against
them and illuminating any hidden allies standing adjacent to them.

7 Confusing: The target’s next attack targets a random legal target. They will use their movement on their next
turn to get closer to that target if necessary.

8 Exposing: The target’s clothing and armor disappear until the start of their next turn. Adjust AC and abilities
accordingly.

THE SPELL TARGETS SEVERAL ENEMIES

D8 SPELL EFFECT
1 Overwhelming: Affected targets are knocked prone.
2 Thunderous: Affected targets are pushed 10 feet back.
3 Defiling: Roll 1d6. All affected targets take that much damage, and you gain temporary hit points equal to the
4 total damage done to the targets.
5 Immobilizing: Roots the targets to their current spots until the start of their next turn. They are grappled.
6 Blinding: Flesh grows over the targets’ eyeballs. They are blind for one round per tower level.
Hideous: Until the start of their next turn, affected targets’ arms mutate into tentacles. They drop their weapons.
7 If they don’t have arms, they grow them, flailing ineffectually, missing attacks and failing to cast spells.
Enfeebling: Targets gain vulnerability to fire, ice, electricity, or acid—chosen each time the spell is cast—for one
8 round per tower level.
Telekinetic: Move all affected targets 10 feet in any one direction. If moved 10 feet up, each target takes 1d6
bludgeoning damage when they fall back down and must make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone

Does Damage • (Psychic) Hallucinating: On their next turn,
the targets perceive allies as enemies and
Find your damage type on the list below. enemies as allies, and act accordingly.

• (Acid) Melting: Objects carried by the • (Radiant) Dazzling: Each target is blind until
target are hit and take damage equal to the the end of its next turn.
spell’s damage.
• (Slashing) Wounding: Each target takes 1d10
• (Bludgeoning) Sundering: For the spell’s dura- damage at the end of its next turn.
tion, armor worn by the targets degrades by 2.
Sundering effects do not stack. • (Thunder) Concussive: The targets are pushed
20 feet back.
• (Cold) Chilling: Affected targets are grappled
until the end of their next turn. “I Got a Result I Don’t Like”

• (Fire) Incinerating: Affected targets continue Alright, look. The whole point of this system is to reward
to burn, taking an extra 1d6 damage at the your players for spending the time and money (and
start of each round until they spend an action frankly, just having the desire) to build a stronghold, so
extinguishing the flames. if you think there’s any danger your player might reject
the result, maybe just let them pick. Or roll behind the
• (Force) Detonating: Affected targets are screen for them and make sure they get a result you
knocked prone. On their next turn, they must know they’ll like.
make a Wisdom saving throw to stand up. On
their following turn, they may stand up nor- The whole point of rolling is to make the result seem
mally without making a save. like fate. Like it came from forces beyond you or your
player’s control. It helps trick us into feeling like the
• (Lightning) Shocking: Affected targets have rules are describing a real world. But that sense of veri-
disadvantage on all saving throws until the similitude isn’t as important as the player feeling like
end of your next turn. they got a cool reward for their effort.

• (Necrotic) Unholy:2 1d4 ghouls rise from the
ground, each anywhere you choose within 30
feet. They obey your commands for a number
of rounds equal to your spellcasting modifier,
then crumble to dust.

• (Piercing) Puncturing: For 10 minutes, weapon
attacks against affected targets score critical
hits on attack rolls of 15 or higher.3

• (Poison) Nauseating: Affected targets forgo
their next turn, spending it vomiting.

2 Yeah I know some folks don’t consider raising the dead to be evil or “unholy.”
3 In other words, your spell creates a “weak spot” in the target’s armor or hide that others can exploit.

More Research Casting the Spell

A given spell can only be modified by research once, Now the magic-user has their own spell! Velorin’s
and a given magic-user can only modify a number of blazing gaseous form! Elemein’s overwhelming hypnotic
spells equal to their tower level. pattern! The level of the final spell is one higher than
the level of the original spell.
Spell research cannot grant you access to spell
levels your class does not have. You may research a If the target of a spell saves against it, the modifier
4th-level spell to produce a 5th-level spell you cannot automatically fails. If the target of a betraying charm
cast yet, but will be able to once you level up—your person makes their Wisdom save against the charm,
research shows the spells exists, but you haven’t prop- they do not suffer the “betraying” effect.
erly mastered it yet. However, you cannot research a
5th-level spell, producing a 6th-level spell, if your class The effects of a modified spell cannot be combined
can never access 6th-level spells. with the effects of the unmodified spell. The temporary
hit points gained from mindful enhance ability do not
Besides these limits, the player is free to do more stack with enhance ability for instance. An enlarged
research later. The GM should let the player live with character cannot be further enlarged by casting regen-
the new spell for a while and, if they don’t like the erating enlarge.
result, “forget” that research and work on another
spell. The goal is to empower the players and make Spells that can be cast as a ritual can be modified,
their stronghold feel powerful and useful! but this does not change the duration of their effect.
Empowering Commune cast as a ritual takes 10 minutes
If the player likes the result, they should be free to cast, but the Empowering benefit still only lasts 10
to choose the same spell modifier for subsequent minutes after that.
spell research.
There’s one other restriction: the magic-user can
Reginam researches arcane eye (spell affects only cast the spell a number of times equal to their
yourself or an ally), rolls on the appropriate chart, spellcasting modifier. Once they do, they must take an
and gets a 4. Omniscient! Perfect! She now has extended rest if they want to cast the spell again.
Reginam’s omniscient eye, and the effects dove-
tail well. Future Use of the Spell

Upon returning to her tower after adventur- As the magic-user casts the spell and learns its new
ing, she decides to research haste, and after nature, the GM may discover the spell is perhaps not as
spending the time researching it, she simply useful as everyone might like, or it might be too useful.
choose to apply omniscient to haste without The GM is free to modify the spell over time, adjusting
rolling, because her player feels like it makes a its effects, changing the spell level. This represents the
good combo. magic-user’s changing understanding of the spell. Effi-
ciencies are discovered. Some elements of the arcane
Once a character has a signature spell, especially formula, once clear, begin to slip from the spellcast-
after they’ve used it in the wild a few times, rumors of er’s mind as the spell itself twists and writhes under
its existence begin to circulate and eventually it’s pos- human attention.
sible, even inevitable, that another spellcaster might
reverse-engineer how this custom spell was done and Once the GM deems the spell to be grown up and
duplicate it. Scrolls of Reginam’s omniscient eye might ready to enter the wide world outside the magic-user
begin circulating. Enemy spellcasters might start using and their tower, and presuming the player is also happy
it against the heroes! with it—remember, balance aside, the final result of
this process is a reward for the player—the GM may
Your character is automatically resistant to the effects decree that the spell is now well studied and available
of any spell you research. Reginam, therefore, has to other spellcasters to learn, and it can be scribed onto
advantage on saving throws against Reginam’s omni- scrolls and copied into spellbooks.
scient eye. It will still work, even against the wizard
who invented it! It’s just much less likely to work. Congratulations, you have added to the growing
body of spellcraft knowledge! May the gods have mercy
on your victims!

ALTERNATIVE TOWER RULES: Velorin finishes his tower and dedicates it to
TOWERS BY SCHOOL necromancy. He memorizes bestow curse at 3rd
level, but when he casts it, it behaves in all other
Here are some simple rules for towers by school, in ways like a 4th-level spell, extending the dura-
case you don’t like the spell research system. tion to “concentration.”

Upon finishing a tower, the magic-user must dedicate All the necromancy spells he casts that day are
it to one of the eight schools of magic. It is traditional cast as though they were one level higher. But
to give your tower a name based on the school—like, if because his tower is only 1st level, he cannot pre-
you choose Divination, you might call your stronghold pare his necromantic spells this way again until
a Tower of Prophecy. Necromancy…well, a Tower of he spends a week in his tower. After upgrading
Necromancy is pretty cool, but also the Tower of Death to a 2nd-level tower, he may now spend 2 days
is pretty badass. Or the Black Tower, or the Tower of casting necromantic spells at higher level.
Pale Flesh. You get the idea.
You could, of course, decide that towers in your
A magic-user who studies at their tower for a campaign grant both these benefits and spell research
week can prepare and cast spells from their tower’s (see below).
school as if the spell were cast at one level higher.
In other words, fireball, studied by a 5th-level warlock Optional Rule: Effort
with an evocation tower, would cast as a 4th-level spell
and do an extra 1d6 damage, even though the warlock Another method I’ve used and enjoyed allows the
was using a 3rd-level slot. magic-user to cast their specialist spells as though they
were one level higher with no limit (other than the
A magic-user can only prepare spells in this way normal limits of spells by level per day), but each time
a number of times equal to the level of their tower they cast a spell at a higher level, they must make a
(so typically once when starting out). After this, they Constitution check of DC 10 plus the spell’s level. If
must return home and spend a week researching in they fail, they suffer one level of exhaustion. A full rest
their tower. removes one level of exhaustion.

The priest, the warlock, the druid all share something in don’t pay very close attention and don’t have time to
common. They do not get their power through knowl- evaluate the subtleties of situational ethics.
edge and study alone, but through access to a higher
power. A deity, extraplanar being, or force of nature. PETITIONING YOUR DEITY
The telepathic Wild Men of Ix, for instance, worship
Bale, the ever-raging tempest-maelstrom that lies in The number-one way to lose concordance is to use it.
the ocean between Vasloria and Rioja, north of the As an action, you can petition your deity for aid.
Ixian island chain. Sages claim the maelstrom is a hole The GM3 rolls percentile dice and, depending on
between worlds, but the Ixian stormspeaker shamans your character’s concordance, you may receive aid, be
call Bale their god. They pray to it…and their prayers ignored, or punished for your repeated badgering. The
are answered with druidic spells and incantations. gods can help you, but they get really annoyed when
you pester them. Each time you petition your god and
Divine spellcasters have little use for a tower or make a concordance roll, you lose some concordance
a keep, but they do build temples. Some are mighty depending on the result you get (with no loss if you
churches, some are underground shrines to their dark attract a servitor).
god, and some are simple pools of crystal water sur-
rounded by green trees and blessed by rays of sunlight. Then there’s a temporary penalty based on the number
of times you’ve petitioned in the last week. Anyone can
Though temples come in many forms, they all share petition their deity and hope to get a reply, but unless
the same basic function. They grant the supplicant a you’ve been busting your ass (or have a temple), there’s
direct line to the object of their worship, and the super- a good chance you’ll be cursed just for being annoying.
natural entity they call on grants them rewards in
exchange for faithful service including access to battle Calculating Concordance
magic1, and the temporary aid of a servitor depending
on the character’s concordance. Before rolling, the GM calculates the PC’s concordance,
a measure of how pleased their power is with them.
CONCORDANCE This may be a running tally the GM has kept over the
course of the adventure or calculated on the spot. The
The measure of how pleased your deity2 is with you is following bonuses apply to the roll.
called concordance. If your deity is pleased enough
to reward you, then you are referred to as “in concor- Temporary Bonuses and Penalties
dance” with your deity. If they are not pleased, then
you are out of concordance. Typically, there is no way These bonuses and penalties only apply to the next roll
to know whether you’re in or out before you petition the PC makes.
your deity. Your concordance is known only to your GM.
CIRCUMSTANCE BONUS
Every deed you do that furthers your god’s ethos Desecrated an enemy altar +10
increases your concordance and makes your god more Thwarted an enemy priest +5
likely to grant you a boon in battle. Failing to uphold your Converted a follower +5
patron’s ethos has a similarly negative con­sequence. A Converted an enemy priest +15
cleric’s Divine Intervention is a much-improved version Thwarted an enemy minion +1
of this same ability. Concordance is available to everyone Consecrated an altar +10
but has a downside and only grants specific rewards. Left an enemy altar intact -15
Divine Intervention only works for Clerics, has no down- Failed to uphold the tenets of the deity -5
side and can potentially fix any problem. Aided an enemy priest -10

The gods consider it your responsibility to know
right from wrong. If you are tricked by an enemy into
doing their bidding, the gods are just as angry at you as
they would be if you helped the enemy willingly. They

1 Described in Kingdoms & Warfare.
2 Or whatever. I can’t keep writing “deity or power or abstract concept,” you get the idea.
3 Of course, the GM can let the player roll! Just be aware, a 100 is just as likely as a 1.

Permanent Bonuses THE CONCORDANCE CHART

These bonuses apply to every roll. ROLL RESULT ADJUSTMENT

CIRCUMSTANCE BONUS 01–20 Cursed! For the next –20
+1% minute, whenever you make
Each Character Level +15% 21–65 –15
-10% an attack roll or a saving
Owns a Temple 66–75 –10
-10% throw, you must roll a d4
Each time the PC petitioned in the last 76–84 –10
85–94 and subtract the number –10
week 95–104 rolled from the result of –15
105–109 your attack roll or saving –20
Each servitor type the PC summoned in the 110–114 –25
throw. –30
last week 115+
Ignored. Things could have
Of course, the GM can just ask the player to keep the been worse.
running tally. So when they petition their deity, the GM
asks, “Okay, what have you done for your god since the Blessed. For the next
last time you called upon them?” The GM is always free minute, if you make an
to agree, disagree, or add their own bonuses or penal-
ties. Only the GM knows what the gods’ real attitude is, attack roll or a saving
bonuses be damned.
throw, you may roll a
It is entirely possible to get a concordance over 130% d4 and add the number
between the roll and your bonus, in which case you get
the 130% result. You can have negative concordance, rolled to the result of
which gives a penalty to your roll, but your result your attack roll or saving
cannot be below 1.
throw.
The Servitor Chart
Type I Servitor
If your concordance result grants you a servitor, deter-
mine which servitor arrives by choosing one from the Type II Servitor
column you rolled.
Type III Servitor
The servitor you choose must be within your char-
acter or deity’s purview and be approved by the GM. Type IV Servitor
No matter how pious your lawful good paladin is, your
Type V Servitor

Type VI Servitor

god will not grant you a demon, devil, or undead and
probably nothing from Arcadia or Primordius.

The character who summoned the servitor is infor-
mally referred to as the “summoner” or the “petitioner”
or more formally “the concordant.” The latter term is
what the servitors usually use.

SOURCE TYPE I TYPE II TYPE III TYPE IV TYPE V TYPE VI
Court of Arcadia Mantis Knight Orchid Count Monarchon Oleander Ash Marshall Sidereal
Dragon
(fey) Princip Authority Virtue Dominion Throne Vizier
The Celestial Host
Fire Mote Source of Pillar of Knight of Seraph
(celestials) Earth Water Air
The Elemental Baron Malgas Storm High Templar
Space Korsoth The Queen Lord Rall Magistrate of Dust
Templars Lesser Vastikan of Bones Maladar
(elementals) Change Fate Uursovk Dictum
Court of All Flesh Marilith Death Time Nature
(aberrations) Barbed Devil Oni Hezrou
The Inexorables Vrock Glabrezu Lesser Balor
(constructs) Wraith 2 Bearded Lesser Erinyes Chain Devil
2 Ghasts, 1 Ghost, Bone Devil Horned Devil
Demons (fiends) Devils 3 Ghouls 2 Ghasts 1 Wraith, 1 Ghost,
2 Wights 2 Ghasts 2 Wights
Devils (fiends)

Picking a Chart for the Player DRUID GROVES

GMs, one option you have is to let the player roll, but A variant temple, the druid’s grove4 gives up the bonus
you decide which row they’re rolling on. The unpredict- to concordance for owning a temple in exchange for
ability of this can be a lot of fun, but be sure to choose installing a powerful spell, including spells you don’t
thoughtfully. A druid who opposes law (like, roads and know or which might not be on the druid spell list, into
civilizations) would obviously be in accord with the the grove making it permanent.
Court of Arcadia, but the Court of All Flesh also opposes
law. Which servitor arrives may say a lot about the The druid chooses one spell from the list below
character doing the petitioning! and spends a month in meditation. If the powers that
grant them their spells are pleased with their work,
Using Your Servitor they permanently install the spell the druid requested,
which can be cast once per period listed in the Grove
The summoned creature is referred to as a servitor. It Spells table.
arrives ready to fight and die, perhaps resentfully, for
the concordant. Regardless of its attitude, a servitor GROVE SPELLS
only remains on the same plane as the concordant for
four rounds plus one round per level of your strong- SPELL CASTING LIMIT
hold, returning to their home dimension forthwith. Reincarnate Once per Season
Servitors who are killed in the Mundane World leave Once per Season
their bodies behind, and their essence returns to their Foresight Once per Month
home plane to reform there. Greater Restoration Once per Month

Servitors often bring word from the power the con- Heal Once per Year
cordant serves, informing them of unknown dangers or Ressurection
otherwise making cryptic pronouncements. Feel free to
imbue the servitor with personality and give them the
chance, during combat, to interact with the heroes.

4 We use the term “grove” both for this variant Temple and as a generic, narrative term for a Druid’s stronghold later in the book.

The spell belongs to the grove but is cast by the druid. you this boon if you undertake this quest for me,” and
The grove must be continuously tended. Leaving the the NPC cast as the character who must scurry around,
grove untended for a month causes it to revert to wild trying to earn the favor of our hero!
nature and the spell dissipates. The Druid who founded
the grove doesn’t have to be the one to tend it, a lieu-
tenant or follower will do.

The druid may still summon servitors using con-
cordance, they just don’t gain a bonus to the roll for
owning a temple. The grove uses different rules with
different benefits.

The installation of a high-level spell grants the druid
who tends the grove power and authority. Local barons
and lords may visit hoping the druid will aid them and
cast the spell in their benefit. This is a great opportunity
for some classical “tit-for-tat” plotting, but now it is the
PC who holds the power, and pronounces “I will grant

Not all strongholds are mighty fortresses made of RUMORS
stone. If you’re a rogue or bard, you have little use for
an army, or your own bespoke spell, or…well actually, During an adventure or in the lead-up to one, you can
being able to summon allies in combat would be pretty spend some money and collect some rumors about the
nice, but then you’d have to pledge service to a deity, quest you’re about to go on. The cost is 100 gp per estab-
and you’re not really the “follow through with your lishment level.
agreements” type. You prefer people owing you favors,
not the other way round. On a successful Gather Intel check (see below), you
learn the name of one kind of creature you’ll be fight-
A business is much better! Businesses can be small ing (goblins, bandits, dragons, oozes, etc.) and roughly
and lucrative and, best of all, give no indication of what how many there will be (a few, a dozen, dozens, a score,
really goes on there. A legitimate business that hides scores, etc.). During the adventure, those creatures
your covert operation is called a “front,” by the way. will be vulnerable to damage from your attacks, for a
But here, we’ll call it an establishment. number of attacks equal to your establishment level.

An establishment does two things: it makes money In addition, the GM can choose to reveal any of
and gathers information, often from the same people the following:
it’s making money off. Your establishment could be
an inn or a general store, both classic examples. Or it • The location of a secret door or a hidden
could be a blacksmith’s shop! Why not? So you don’t entrance or exit
know anything about blacksmithing, so what? You
can hire a blacksmith who will be very happy to have • The location and nature of a trap
someplace warm and dry and well equipped to do their • A description of one riddle or puzzle
business in! • The location and description of one powerful

Meanwhile, you make it a point to listen to all the magic item
interesting things the customers unwittingly reveal to
the smith. Or you could stay away from the shop com- It may seem like this is taking the fun out of the
pletely, have the blacksmith come to you with your part adventure, but for the player with the establishment
of the profits and whatever juicy tidbits folks were fool- it will seem like the opposite. It will make them feel
ish enough to reveal. The better your front, the more awesome, and at the end of the day, you can always add
likely folks are to speak openly there. more traps and secret doors!

Revenue THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY

Each season (or every four months, depending on the Yeah! That’s sort of the point. But look at it this
calendar of your campaign world), your establishment way: is it substantively more than your character
generates 1,000 gp per establishment level. gets from adventuring? Not in my experience. And
apart from other things in this book, what exactly
If your establishment is part of a castle, you can use is there to spend money on? It’s not like gold all by
this money to upgrade your castle, no problem. itself makes your character more effective in combat
or harder to hit, nor does it solve problems in the
dungeon or elsewhere. For many players, simply
having a lot of money is a fun fantasy all by itself.

The strongholds are designed so the PCs each have
a different kind and they all work together. The
rogue can raise money but has no army, the fighter
wants an army but an army costs money, etc.

GATHERING INTEL Making the Check

Investigation allows you to do detective work, learning Gather Intel is a skill granted by your establishment,
the whereabouts and activities of individuals, but orga- and it uses your stronghold level as its maximum bonus
nizations are larger and more complex. By collecting a instead of an ability modifier.1 So, a 1st-level establish-
little information from everyone who visits, your estab- ment would let you make Gather Intel checks at a max-
lishment lets you spy on organizations and people. This imum bonus of +1. You are automatically proficient in
is represented by your Gather Intel skill, gained if you Gather Intel if you have an establishment and add your
own an establishment. proficiency modifier.

Intel lets you know what your enemies are up to, Gathering intel costs money—it’s expensive to pay
along with your allies and those organizations—guilds, folks to spy on people! It costs 100 gp per level of your
orders, countries, and such—who claim to be neutral. establishment. Larger establishments with larger
What you learn is up to the GM. It will be useful but bonuses have more people to pay! For each increment
highly generalized. For example, “The Monks of White of 100 gp you pay, you gain a +1 bonus to the check. No,
Fire know you recovered the sword of a million years you can’t pay nothing to roll at +0.
and they’re planning on taking it from you,” or “The
king is closing trade across the southern border.” Jennifer has a 3rd-level establishment (a gen-
Okay, that’s good to know, but it’s narrative. There’s no eral store). If she pays 300 gp, she can make a
mechanic tied to these things. Gather Intel check at +3. She cannot pay 400 gp
to get +4, because she is limited by the level of
Organizations her establishment. But she could choose to pay
200 gp to get +2 to her roll.
An organization is any collection of people who agree
to common rules and hierarchy in order to further You may make a number of Gather Intel checks
some agenda, goal, or philosophy. An order of knights, per season equal to your establishment level, but you
a wizards’ college, a thieves’ guild, a duchy, a barony, a cannot make more than one check against the same
church—though not a single church building, but the organization during the same season.
network of priests and acolytes who all believe in the
same doctrine. Setting the DC

You don’t have to know an organization exists to Some organizations are easier to spy on than others!
gather intel on it! In fact, that is a classic use of the Players, when you specify the organization you’re
Gather Intel skill! “I think there’s a conspiracy to infil- spying on, the GM sets the DC based on the criteria in
trate the Knights of the White Hart, but I don’t know by this section, and you only get results for the organiza-
whom. Can I make a roll?” tion you named, not the smaller organizations it con-
trols.
The GM knows the nature of this villainous orga-
nization and can set the DC accordingly and let the Exactly how these factors determine the DC of the
player roll. If they succeed, they learn the name of the Gather Intel check is up to the GM, just as there are no
organization and possibly something about its makeup hard and fast rules for what counts as “difficult” lore
and goals. for character making an Arcana check.

Range How Big Is the Organization? Bigger organizations
are easier to spy on than smaller ones, because large
Obviously you can’t use your establishment to deduce organizations have more members and therefore more
the existence of organizations on the other side of the opportunities to eavesdrop on, blackmail, or infil-
world. Your establishment is only effective against trate them.
organizations operating within 24 miles times its estab-
lishment level. On many maps, a hex is 24 miles from Some organizations contain organizations of their
side to side. own. A church may sponsor a secret order of knights.
Spying on the church is easy—it’s a big organization
So, a 1st-level establishment could spy on organiza- that operates out in the open. But that Gather Intel
tions in its hex and in the six hexes around it (a one-hex check won’t tell you what the covert knights are up to.
radius). A 2nd-level establishment could spy on its hex If you want to know that, you’ll have to tell your GM
and the 18 closest hexes (a two-hex radius). before you roll, and they’ll set the DC higher as a result.

1 Because you’re not actually there gathering the intel—the establishment and its employees do it while you’re adventuring.

Is the Organization Covert? Covert organizations Results
are harder to spy on. They work to hide their operations
as a matter of course. Duchies and churches are, as a Remember that the benefits of a stronghold are a
rule, public institutions, and normal people can expect reward for spending money and time. So the results
to at least be able to find and petition their agents, even of a successful Gather Intel check should be useful,
if such an organization is tyrannical and unlikely to “actionable,” meaning they should give information
heed any such petition. They’re pretty easy to spy on. that helps the players make a plan, or develop a strat-
egy, or advance the plot.
In contrast, even large, known covert organizations
such as Nine Silver, the guild of spies and assassins in Avoid confirming suspicions. In other words, if a
Capital, are still covert. People know they exist! But player says, “I think the Order of Five Stars is secretly
they have no idea how to contact them or even who in league with the baron,” and they roll well, do not
belongs to them. merely say, “Yes that’s true.” That is deeply unsatisfy-
ing, since the player already suspected that.
How Protective Is the Organization? Does the orga-
nization know they’re being spied on? Do they have Instead, give them something to act on. “Yes, it seems
counterintelligence agents who actively oppose the like they are in league. Your people overheard a con-
player’s spies? A thieves’ guild is much, much harder versation that only makes sense if the wizard Luris is
to spy on than a merchants’ guild, and powerful rulers selling information to the baron.”
can deploy highly trained agents to prevent enemies
from spying on them. Hey now, that is actionable. Maybe you just made up
that wizard, that’s fine! That’s your job! But now the
player has something to do.

Your players will make a Gather Intel check, and you’ll Back at the start of this chapter we said you probably
give them some juicy bit of knowledge, but of course had little use for an army or a modified spell, but if you
you’re not going to tell them everything. Which means did, shouldn’t you be able to spend a little money, help
they’re going to ask for more. They’ll want to drill down someone out, and earn a favor from them? According
on what you said and pursue it. “Where did I get this to these rules…yes! You temporarily gain the benefit of
info? Who told it to me?” another stronghold! Once per season, you may spend
1,000 gp to choose a favor below. To do this, you must
This just makes your life as GM more complicated know someone with the appropriate stronghold who
because we GMs, of course, have no idea exactly who considers you an ally.
their spies heard this from, and if we’re suddenly
faced with the responsibility of not only inventing an The Keep
NPC who we didn’t know about five seconds ago, but
also figuring out the entire signal path of how this NPC You can buy mercenary units equal in number to your
knows what they know and who they got it from, then establishment level. But because your establishment is
we’re going to want to ditch this whole system because not a Keep, upkeep on these units costs 50% more. You
it just makes more problems than solutions. can keep these units for as long as you pay the upkeep.
The units are housed in temporary barracks2 outside
So when your players inevitably ask, “How exactly the city or town your establishment is in.
do I know this?” there’s one easy answer: “Someone
who works for you, someone you trust, overheard it, This is a one-time purchase. If you want to buy more
but they don’t remember who said it.” units, you must pay for another favor.

You can even play it out. When the player, out of The Tower
character, asks, “How do I know this?” You can respond
in character. “Don’t know, ma’am. I was workin’ the Choose a modified spell researched by an NPC ally or
shop and overheard it. Ooh it musta been a week or other party member. You can cast that modified spell
more ago?” a number of times equal to your establishment level
before you forget it. Once you forget it, you must pay
The player may not be satisfied by that and may for another favor in order to cast it again.
even try to subvert the system by giving orders to their
employees to, like, write everything down or keep a The Temple
journal. At this point, it is perfectly appropriate to tell
them, “This is the limit of what your stronghold can Choose an allied NPC or party member with a temple.
do.” No point in misleading them—just give it to them You can petition their deity and use their concordance
straight. They are looking for a degree of specificity this once. If you summon a servitor, it remains for a number
system does not support. of rounds equal to your establishment level.

The best character to deliver the results of the Gather The money for the favor goes to the ally. A PC ally
Intel check to the PC is the PC’s lieutenant. This is the could refuse to grant the favor but they cannot change
character who runs the establishment while the PC how much the favor costs. They may want to negoti-
is out adventuring and who is a trusted NPC. When ate better terms, or get something else in return, but
pressed, “how did you get this information?” the lieu- the benefits of the favor originate from the establish-
tenant can shrug and say “I didn’t collect it personally, ment and the power of the network of people in your
one of the workers we employ overheard it.” employ to lie, manipulate, and double-deal so that the
folks granting the favor think it was their idea. A PC
If the player is persistent and really wants to dig ally therefore might want to name their own terms, (“I
down and get more details, that may be reasonable, but will grant you this favor if. ”) but if they accept the
it might also require more work on your part to invent payment, the establishment’s owner gets the favor. As
an answer. In which case that’s a good reason to ask for a rule, an NPC ally will not try to negotiate. They will
another Gather Intel check. accept the money and the PCs gains the favor.

2 If you attract a Captain as a follower, they will supervise the construction of a permanent barracks that improves your army regardless
of what kind of stronghold you built.

Strongholds by Class

Regardless of whether you build a keep, a tower, a DEMESNE EFFECTS AND
temple, or an establishment, your stronghold improves STRONGHOLD ACTIONS
your signature class ability, and attracts followers
based on your class. The power of a stronghold changes the land around it
in dramatic and sometimes mechanically interesting
The stronghold for each class has a dramatic ways. As the regent of the land, you’ll gain new abili-
name—a “bard’s theater,” a “monk’s monastery.” But ties that only work within your stronghold, the nexus
these names are merely examples chosen for flavor, of your power. These stronghold actions are epic! But
you are free to imagine and name your stronghold in don’t worry, GMs—stronghold actions only work inside
whatever manner seems best to you. Maybe your bard the stronghold (unless otherwise noted), so there’s
owns a library! Fantastic excuse to get folks coming no danger the player will use them to unbalance
in and out each dropping off useful nuggets of infor- your game.
mation. Maybe your barbarian prefers calling it their
Horde rather than a camp! It’s entirely up to you. Building a stronghold makes a statement. You make
allies, but also enemies. Having some of those enemies
Furthermore, many of the following abilities refer- attack the player in their stronghold, perhaps infiltrat-
ence alignment, but that’s purely because I’m old-fash- ing it under cover of night, perhaps gaining entrance
ioned and prefer the era when paladins fought for good, under guise of some diplomatic or trade mission, gives
and I always assume warlocks are sinister. Feel free to the player a chance to feel really badass, which is a core
reinterpret the abilities so they benefit you and your element of this fantasy we’re all engaging with.
allies and harm your enemies, however they’re defined.
Whenever a stronghold action or demense effect
THE RULER AND THE LAND ARE ONE prompts a saving throw, its DC is the stronghold
owner’s spellcasting DC, unless otherwise noted.
Owning a stronghold, leading people, inspires you and
grants you insight. It also allows you to draw power Players may be tempted to abuse their stronghold
from the land itself. The land you protect serves you actions, using them to show off in inappropriate cir-
just as the workers who built your keep, and you in cumstances. Should they abuse this privilege, they may
turn protect the land just as you protect your peasants find the land they serve and which grants them this
and serfs.1 power has limited resources and even less patience.

This mystical connection manifests in actual power. CLASS FEATURE IMPROVEMENTS
When your druid takes on the form of a bear and gains
fire breath, or your paladin’s sword cuts through the Founding a stronghold improves your class’ signature
enemy defenses, this is the power of the land itself feature as your new demesne grants you power. Typi-
coursing through you. Rewarding you for your protec- cally this improved class feature has a limited number
tion of it. of uses (based on your stronghold level, usually) after
which you must take an extended rest (page 15) to
The ruler feels this and knows when the land is ill. refresh the ability.
The connection between the ruler and their land is real
and palpable. Multiclass characters can choose any one of their
class abilities to improve, and change this selection
The area governed by a stronghold is called a after an extended rest.
demesne (deh-MAYNE) and grows as the stronghold
does, expanding the owner’s rule in a radius of hexes DIFFERENT CLASSES,
equal to the stronghold level. Kingdoms & Warfare will DIFFERENT FOLLOWERS
have many more rules for this. The system in both
books assumes a 24-mile hex, so all powers affect a Each class has its own unique follower chart, listed
12-mile radius per stronghold level. below. These charts make certain assumptions about
how the different classes are each perceived by society.
Two classes may be equally effective in combat, but
that doesn’t say anything about how the local artisans
or infantry company feel about them.

1 Not very egalitarian, but accurate. Besides, the traditional relationship between the lord and the people who worked the land was a
lot less exploitative than people think.

Some classes have a wider range of results. Paladins WHO ROLLS?
can gain more different followers than Sorcerers. This
reflects how normal people view the different classes. This book assumes the player rolls on their own chart.
Paladins and fighters and clerics tend to be respected, The problem with this, of course, is that the results are
trusted. If they have spells, they often use them to help random. There may be some results that you know the
and heal. But peasants don’t react well to sorcery, to player wouldn’t like, or that you think are a bad fit for
arcane knowledge Man Was Not Meant to Know! your campaign or the current adventure. In this case,
you have a couple options.
The follower options for each class reflect this. Mar-
tial classes are more likely to get military units, while Make a Unique Chart
classes that use sorcery and delve into hidden places
or research forgotten lore are more likely to get special There are enough examples here that if you wanted to,
allies (page 67). say, cut the idea of units entirely, you could just fill in
the gap by adding some more followers or expanding
These cultural assumptions reflect the default Fanta- some of the ranges on the roll results. If you know some
syland campaign setting, but the assumptions of your results will be problematic in your world or for your
setting may be very different. GMs, you can adjust players, you can just cut them, replace them, and/or
these charts to reflect your world’s assumptions or adjust the numbers.
even let players roll on a chart for a different class if it
makes more sense! Ultimately, you could even create an entirely custom
chart for a given player. This can be a lot of fun, and
Multiclass characters can roll on any chart for hopefully there are enough examples here that you’ll
which they have class levels. feel like you could do this pretty easily if you wanted to.

The follower charts in this chapter are meant to The GM Rolls
inspire you, not limit you. They are based on assump-
tions, some of which you may not agree with! For This option solves a lot of problems because you can
instance, I tend to think of rangers and rogues as being roll behind the screen and just choose a follower for the
sneaky, guerilla-type characters, so in this system they player, ignoring the roll. This is called lying. Don’t make
cannot attract an agent of law like a paladin. But I don’t that face—all of the game is a fiction, and your job as a
know your campaign or your characters! By all means, GM is to curate the experience of it using the rules as a
if you think your player’s ranger would attract a pal- lingua franca between you and the players.
adin follower, feel free to change their follower chart.
Or just award them a paladin follower. No need to roll! Like all such choices, including the choice of what
adventure to run, or which monsters to use, or how a
WHEN TO ROLL given NPC will react, this option gives you the power
to curate the experience and pick something you know
The GM decides when the player gets to roll on a fol- both the player will like and won’t unbalance your
lower chart. Here are some typical times to roll: game or make your life hard. And if the player believes
the die roll was real, all the better.
• When the PC spends the money for a strong-
hold and starts construction Of course, the player has to be okay with this. If they
feel like it’s their roll, then taking it away removes some
• When construction of the stronghold finishes of their belief in the result, and belief is all we have in
• When the PC improves (i.e., levels up) a fin- this business of GMing. You really need to know your
players to make this work.
ished stronghold
• When the PC levels up No Rolls, You Just Pick

GMs, you’re free to combine these rules, letting I have done this, it can work, it just depends on your
the player roll when they improve their stronghold player and knowing what the juice is for them. If the
and when they level their character up, for example. juice—the reason they built a stronghold—is that they
It’s more about pacing than anything else. I think a want to roll on the chart and see the result and know
good pace is one roll to attract followers per 32-page (or believe, which is just as good for our purposes) that
adventure, or once per chapter in a major hard- this is the real result, then they need to roll on the chart.
cover ­adventure.
But if it seems like they’re not really interested in
Multiclass characters can roll on any chart for which actually rolling, only in the result, then you can just
they have levels. If you are a multiclass paladin/cleric, pick something for them. “As work finishes on your
for instance, you can roll on either the paladin or cleric tower, you see an elf standing at the edge of the clear-
chart. You make this decision each time you roll. ing, watching…” That elf is their new follower! No
roll needed!

THE BARBARIAN’S CAMP BARBARIAN FOLLOWERS

The barbarian’s camp promises good food and drink as D100 FOLLOWER
well as contests of strength and bravery, creating one 01–06 Elite Light Infantry (Size 1d8), Unit
or more of the following effects at the GM’s discretion. 07–12 Veteran Medium Cavalry (Size 1d4), Unit
13–15 Regular Light Airborne (Size 1d4), Unit
Demesne Effects 16–17 Exarch (3th Level), Retainer
18–24 Warlord (3rd Level), Retainer
• Ale within the barbarian’s demesne is particu- 25–29 Skinwalker (3rd Level), Retainer
larly refreshing, bringing good cheer with no 30–34 Beast Lord (3rd Level), Retainer
hangovers the next day no matter how much 35–41 Necromancer (3rd Level), Retainer
is consumed. 42–47 Swordmaster (5th Level), Retainer
48–52 Diabolist (5th Level), Retainer
• Wildlife within the barbarian’s demesne grows 53–55 Tracker (7th Level), Retainer
especially large and fierce, migrating as the 56–60 Blacksmith
camp moves. 61–65 Miner
66–70 Sage
• Poisons brought into the barbarian’s demesne 71–75 Hobgoblin Ambassador
neutralize within the hour. No such cowardly 76–80 Gnoll Ambassador
“civilized” forms of death are permitted. Roll on the Special Allies table
81–100 (page 67)
Stronghold Actions
Their followers tend to be martial and savage.
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the barbar- Barbarians can attract units, but they tend to be light
ian takes a stronghold action with one of the following and Barbarians don’t go in much for leading large
effects. They must be in the same hex or province as armies. Big armies require a lot of organization and
their stronghold and cannot use the same effect again discipline neither of which barbarians’ classically
until after a short rest. value overmuch.
• You issue forth a mighty “Yawp!” that causes all
Barbarian retainers tend to be followers at home
enemies within 60 feet to become frightened with nature, savagery, and chaos. Barbarians look
until initiative count 20 on the next round. skeptically upon knights, but welcome those who make
• You rage, and your allies gain the benefits of pacts with dark forces or serve the tempest of nature.
your rage as long as those allies aren’t wearing
heavy armor. Few artisans are eager to live amongst a barbarian
• You cast chain lighting2 with a DC equal to 8 camp, mostly blacksmiths and miners, but barbarians
plus your proficiency modifier, plus your Con- tend to go places and do things other regents would
stitution modifier. You may do this even while never dream of, making life as a barbarian’s servant an
raging, and this does not end your rage. attractive prospect for sage.

Class Feature Improvement: The ambassadors they attract tend to represent
Chieftain’s Rage nearby humanoid tribes who do not automatically
see a barbarian tribe as an enemy, just because they
Whenever you reduce an enemy to 0 hit points, you are led by a human or elf or dwarf. To the local gnolls
can choose to make a second attack or take a free or hobgoblins, a barbarian camp is just another local
movement. You can do this a number of times equal tribe, and could make a powerful ally.
to your stronghold level, after which you must take an
extended rest to refresh this ability.

A Barbarian’s Followers

Barbarians prefer followers who are independent and
don’t require a lot of oversight. They don’t classically
attract a large retinue, they don’t usually build great
keeps to house their staff and servants. A barbarian’s
follower must be at home in wild places, willing and
able to relocate quickly and live by their wits.

2 That’s right. Even though Barbarians can’t cast spells, nature comes to their aid in their stronghold.

THE BARD’S THEATER BARD FOLLOWERS

The bard’s theater promises drama and entertainment! D100 FOLLOWER
Poetry and song. But also rumor and intrigue! It creates 01–03 Veteran Light Infantry (Size 1d6), Unit
one or more of the following effects at the GM’s discre- 04–06 Regular Light Cavalry (Size 1d4), Unit
tion. 07–09 Seasoned Light Archers (Size 1d4), Unit
Regular Light Airborne (Size 1d4), Unit
Demesne Effects 10 Enchanter (3rd Level), Retainer
11 Curate (3rd Level), Retainer
• Whenever the wind blows through the trees 12 Healer (3rd Level), Retainer
in the bard’s demesne, music plays. Hooves on 13 Knight-sorcerer (3rd Level), Retainer
roads beat out a complex rhythm. 14–15 Beast Lord (3rd Level), Retainer
16–18 Knight-sorcerer (5th Level), Retainer
• Folks who live for a week in the bard’s demesne 19–20 Illusionist (5th Level), Retainer
find themselves ending conversations with 21–23 Chaos Mage (5th Level), Retainer
rhyming couplets. 24–27 Cutpurse (5th Level), Retainer
28–31 Thaumaturgist (7th Level), Retainer
• Thunder can be counted on to roll whenever 32–34 Executioner (7th Level), Retainer
someone in the bard’s demesne says something 35–37 Shaper (7th Level), Retainer
dramatic. Ravens obediently alight on nearby 38–40 Farmer
branches when it is dramatically expected 41–42 Mason
of them. 43–44 Blacksmith
45–46 Carpenter
Stronghold Actions 47–48 Scribe
49–51 Sage
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the bard 52–54 Tailor
takes a stronghold action with one of the following 55–57 Alchemist
effects. The bard must be in the same hex or province 58–60 Spy
as their stronghold and cannot use the same effect 61–63 Captain
again until after a short rest. 64–65 Elf Ambassador
• Until initiative count 20 on the next round, 66–71 Dwarf Ambassador
72–75 Dragonborn Ambassador
all inspiration dice produce their maximum 76–78 Gnome Ambassador
result when rolled, followed by the sounding 79–84 Orc Ambassador
of a two-note chord: one root note and another 85 Roll on the Special Allies table
a fifth higher than the root. (page 67)
• A three-piece band arrives singing your 86–100
praises. Until initiative count 20 on the next
turn, enemies make saving throws against
your magic by rolling three d20s and using the
worst of the three. The band has exceptionally
good rhythm and world-class lute fingering,
and the singer has an unusually high voice.
• You regain all inspiration dice.

Class Feature Improvement:
Encouraging Inspiration

While an ally has unspent inspiration their proficiency
bonus increases by +1. This applies to a number of
inspiration dice equal to your stronghold level, after
which you must take an extended rest to refresh
this ability.

THE CLERIC’S CHURCH CLERIC FOLLOWERS

The cleric’s church is a bastion of faith for believers D100 FOLLOWER
and adherents to their deity’s laws, and a symbol of 01–04 Regular Light Infantry (Size 1d8), Unit
resistance against those forces that oppose the cleric’s 05–07 Regular Medium Infantry (Size 1d6), Unit
god, creating one or more of the following effects at the 08–10 Seasoned Medium Infantry (Size 1d6), Unit
GM’s discretion. 11–13 Regular Heavy Infantry (Size 1d6), Unit
14–15 Regular Light Cavalry (Size 1d6), Unit
Demesne Effects 16–17 Regular Medium Cavalry (Size 1d4), Unit
18–19 Seasoned Heavy Cavalry (Size 1d4), Unit
• Folks who live in the cleric’s demesne are Regular Medium Archers (Size 1d4), Unit
immune to disease. 20 Loremaster (3rd Level), Retainer
21 Troubadour-warrior (3rd Level), Retainer
• The cleric can hear the prayers of those living 22 Swordmaster (3rd Level), Retainer
in their demesne who are in concordance with 23 Tracker (3rd Level), Retainer
the cleric’s deity. 24–25 Warlord (3rd Level), Retainer
26–28 Knight-sorcerer (5th Level), Retainer
• While the cleric is hale, the weather in their 29–30 Mystic (5th Level), Retainer
demesne is fair. If the cleric is wounded or suf- 31–33 Guild Adept (5th Level), Retainer
fering, the weather turns foul. For this effect 34–37 Acolyte of the Way (5th Level), Retainer
to happen, the cleric merely has to be on the 38–41 Justicar (5th Level), Retainer
same plane as their demesne. 42–44 Enchanter (7th Level), Retainer
45–47 Cavalier (7th Level), Retainer
Stronghold Actions 48–50 Farmers
51–52 Mason
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the cleric 53–55 Blacksmith
takes a stronghold action to cause one of the following 56–58 Carpenter
effects. The cleric must be in the same hex or province 59–60 Miner
as their stronghold, and can’t use the same effect two 61–62 Scribe
rounds in a row: 63–65 Sage
• All enemies within 30 feet must succeed on a 66–68 Tailor
69–70 Elf Ambassador
Constitution saving throw or suffer the effects 71–75 Dwarf Ambassador
of the contagion spell. 76–80 Gnome Ambassador
• Shafts of golden light stab down from the sky, 81–85 Roll on the Special Allies table
penetrating walls and ceilings. The beams (page 67)
target all undead, demons, and devils within 86–100
60 feet of you, even those hidden or invisible.
Targets must succeed on a Wisdom saving
throw or be annihilated.
• You and all allies in the stronghold recover all
Hit Dice and gain 30 temporary hit points.

Class Feature Improvement:
Manifest Divinity

When using your Channel Divinity class feature, all
allies within 30 feet regain 3d8 hit points. You can do
this a number of times equal to your stronghold level,
after which you must take an extended rest to refresh
this ability.

THE DRUID’S GROVE3 DRUID FOLLOWERS

The druid’s grove is a symbol of nature’s beauty and D100 FOLLOWER
power, creating one or more of the following effects at 01–05 Regular Medium Infantry (Size 1d6), Unit
the GM’s discretion. 06–10 Seasoned Medium Airborne (Size 1d4), Unit
Loremaster (3rd Level), Retainer
Demesne Effects 11 Warden (3rd Level), Retainer
12 Elemental Acolyte (3rd Level), Retainer
• Local birds and mammals in the druid’s 13–19 Chaos Mage (3rd Level), Retainer
demesne can speak Common and Elven. They 20–24 Conjurer (5th Level), Retainer
enjoy talking to new people but will try to find 25–29 Exarch (5th Level), Retainer
and warn the druid if suspicious strangers 30–36 Spirit Warden (5th Level), Retainer
enter the demesne. 37–42 Knight of the Green Order (7th Level),
Retainer
• Nuts, fruits, and vegetables grown naturally 43–47 Beast Lord (7th Level), Retainer
(i.e., not farmed or cultivated) in the druid’s Farmer
demesne grant those who eat them the effect of 48–50 Alchemist
goodberry. If taken outside the demesne, they 51–55 Sage
lose this effect. 56–60 Elf Ambassador
61–65 Gnome Ambassador
• No roads or trails in the druid’s demesne last 66–71 Lizardfolk Ambassador
more than a day. However, allies and the units 72–77 Roll on the Fey Allies chart (page 67)
of allies can pass through the demesne as 78–80 Roll on the Special Allies table
though there were roads. 81–85 (page 67)

Stronghold Actions 86–100

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the druid A Druid’s Followers
takes a stronghold action to cause one of the following
effects. The druid must be in the same hex or province Living between civilization and wilderness, the druid
as their stronghold, and can’t use the same effect again attracts followers willing to put up with a life devoted
until after a short rest. to the health and well-being of nature, defending it and
• Grasping vines rise from the ground for 1 learning its secrets. Few are willing to walk this path but
those who do are totally devoted to the druid’s service.
minute. Every enemy within 60 feet must make
a Dexterity saving throw or be restrained for Druids care little for the command and upkeep of
the duration, taking 3d8 damage at the start large armies, preferring to use battle magic to raise
of each of their rounds from stabbing thorns. special units when necessary. This being said, they are
At the end of its turn, an affected enemy can one of the classes that can attract flying units, often
make another saving throw to escape. hawkriders or units mounted on giant owls.
• You cast banishment on an enemy, sending
them to Arcadia on a failed save. Few artisans are interested in a life lived outside
• You summon 1d4+1 shambling mounds who civilization, but druids are spellcasters and loremasters
fight for you for 1 minute. so it’s natural for alchemists, sages, and scribes to
pledge service in exchange for greater knowledge.
Class Feature Improvement:
Savage Shape Ambassadors who wish to join a druid’s retinue are
usually fey, or aligned with them, or creatures who
When you assume your Wild Shape, choose a damage prefer the swamps and bogs that druids are naturally
type of fire, cold, or poison. While in your Wild Shape attracted to as sources of power. And druids have their
form, you gain a breath weapon of that type. As a bonus own short list of special allies they may recruit from
action on your turn, you can exhale gas of the chosen among the fey creatures of the wood.
damage type in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that
area must make a Constitution saving throw against
your spell DC, taking 4d6 damage of the chosen type on
a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. You
can do this a number of times equal to your stronghold
level, after which you must take an extended rest to
refresh this ability.

3 This is a notional, narrative term. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re using the alternate temple rules for a druid’s grove.