Fallowers

[steph]

Hey guys .....
A knight in my game  beginning to gain momentum . It just conquered a castle and will need more soldiers . How you handle that? The knight has to pay soldiers ( fallowers perks ) with its character points? Or as for the equipment he can pay the soldiers with cash ?

 

What would be the difference between a soldier purchased with Character Points ( perks , fallowers ) and a soldier buy with money. In game terms

 

Steph

[bluesguy]

This has only happened a couple of times in my game and this is what I would do:

 

• Followers (Perk) - I would definitely treat these as a full blown NPC (characteristics, skills, powers, complications, etc) and personalities.
  • Literary examples: Sam is Frodo's follower.  He is totally loyal to Frodo.  It might be argued to that Lancelot is a follower of King Arthur's. 
  • Game Terms:  Remember if a follower is killed those character points are gone.  That is a big deal.  So if in your game PCs rarely die then I would expect a follower falls into that same category.  I would expect that a follower is very unlikely to have a morale failure.
• Hirelings (purchased with coin) - Basically the 'faceless/nameless' mob.  I would still build the character up but they wouldn't have nearly as many skills and abilities and once I had one built every hireling would be exactly the same.
  • Literary examples:  The army following Aragon to Mordor's gates are 'hirelings'.  They are part of a nameless/faceless vast army.
  • Game Terms: When a hireling dies the PC will not lose character points.  I would also imagine they are much less loyal and are more likely to run during a fight.

No matter what I would make sure the players know how much they are going to have to pay to keep followers and/or hirelings paid, feed, housed, equipped, etc.

[dmjalund]

aren't Fallowers there to make sure farmland gets a chance to rest and recover?

[Lucius]

 

I would say, if you are not making the knight pay points for the castle, the knight shouldn't have to pay points for the soldiers.

 

But hired help is "easy come, easy go;" morale and loyalty may sometimes be called into question, etc. If the player WANTS to spend character points for one or more followers, they can get a much more reliable henchman, have more input into how the follower character is built, etc.

 

There is a third way, by the way, using Summon. Here's an example.

 

Leadership: (Total: 261 Active Cost, 31 Real Cost) Summon 8 200-point creatures, Loyal (+1/2), Variable Advantage (+1/2 Advantages; Limited Group of Advantages; Expanded Class, extend Time Limit, Extra Tasks; +3/4), Time Limit (1 Month; +2 1/2) (261 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Week (-2 1/2), No Conscious Control (-2), Extra Time (1 Day, Only to Activate, -2), Arrives Under Own Power (-1/2), Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale (-1/2) (Real Cost: 31)

Due to natural charisma, hard earned reputation, or for some other reason, your character tends to attract powerful people or creatures as followers.

 

Also, you could use a Perk such as "Rank" or "Noble" and say that this includes a certain number of automatic followers, whose reliability and capability will be somewhere between those bought as Followers and those hired for coin.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Followed by a palindromedary

[steph]

I would say, if you are not making the knight pay points for the castle, the knight shouldn't have to pay points for the soldiers.

 

But hired help is "easy come, easy go;" morale and loyalty may sometimes be called into question, etc. If the player WANTS to spend character points for one or more followers, they can get a much more reliable henchman, have more input into how the follower character is built, etc.

 

There is a third way, by the way, using Summon. Here's an example.

 

Leadership: (Total: 261 Active Cost, 31 Real Cost) Summon 8 200-point creatures, Loyal (+1/2), Variable Advantage (+1/2 Advantages; Limited Group of Advantages; Expanded Class, extend Time Limit, Extra Tasks; +3/4), Time Limit (1 Month; +2 1/2) (261 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Week (-2 1/2), No Conscious Control (-2), Extra Time (1 Day, Only to Activate, -2), Arrives Under Own Power (-1/2), Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale (-1/2) (Real Cost: 31)

Due to natural charisma, hard earned reputation, or for some other reason, your character tends to attract powerful people or creatures as followers.

 

Also, you could use a Perk such as "Rank" or "Noble" and say that this includes a certain number of automatic followers, whose reliability and capability will be somewhere between those bought as Followers and those hired for coin.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Followed by a palindromedary

[steph]

Also, you could use a Perk such as "Rank" or "Noble" and say that this includes a certain number of automatic followers, whose reliability and capability will be somewhere between those bought as Followers and those hired for coin.

 

How fallowers each rank of nobility should give in your opinion. In a realistic historical context

 

2- Knight 

4 - Baron

6 - count

8 - duke

10 - prince

15 - King

[steph]

By the way guys thank you for your answers

 

S

[Lucius]

Also, you could use a Perk such as "Rank" or "Noble" and say that this includes a certain number of automatic followers, whose reliability and capability will be somewhere between those bought as Followers and those hired for coin.

 

How fallowers each rank of nobility should give in your opinion. In a realistic historical context

 

2- Knight 

4 - Baron

6 - count

8 - duke

10 - prince

15 - King

 

I may come back toKnight, but right now I'm baron of ideas how to count up the followers for each noble title, other than to say most will also be duke castles and lands and there is no doubt a correlation between lands and strongholds and number of retainers.

If you can find a game like Chivalry and Sorcery or other explicitly medieval game I am sure it prince up the information you are seeKing.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary suggests that a knight should have a squire or two, and each 2 pts added to Rank should double the number of followers.

[steph]

Lucius i love the idea to use summon for the military force of a noble.

[Steve]

I wonder, could you put something like this Summon ability on a Base? Perhaps there are rallying points that attract capable defenders (like Camelot or the temples of a holy order). Those summoned are not so much loyal to a specific person but to an ideal/cause that is represented by that place. They will listen to the person in charge of that place as part of their loyalty to it, so long as that leader seems to be in line with the tenets that the place represents.

 

Likewise, there could be sinkholes of evil that attract like-minded beings. 

[Lucius]

I wonder, could you put something like this Summon ability on a Base? Perhaps there are rallying points that attract capable defenders (like Camelot or the temples of a holy order). Those summoned are not so much loyal to a specific person but to an ideal/cause that is represented by that place. They will listen to the person in charge of that place as part of their loyalty to it, so long as that leader seems to be in line with the tenets that the place represents.

 

Likewise, there could be sinkholes of evil that attract like-minded beings.

That's an intriguing idea. I would probably be inclined to say a Summoning attached to a Base will produce Summonees who stay near the base, mostly.....but that's just my first thought, I could see changing my mind about it.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wants an anti-Summon power to repel dislike-minded beings.

[eepjr24]

The palindromedary wants an anti-Summon power to repel dislike-minded beings.

 

Hrm. Mega Scale Teleport or XDM, UAA only to return beings to whence they came?