How do you stat out rulers such as kings and queens in your games?

delericho

Legend

• Nov 13, 2018

• #51

For the most part, I don't bother. I probably won't need those stats, and I have plenty of other things to do.

If I do need the stats, and I have time, I'll build the ruler as a unique NPC. If time doesn't permit, I'll grab something that looks about right - probably noble, or knight, or something.

As regards the 'level' of the ruler: I tend towards the view that most rulers in a pseudo-medieval realm should have at least some personal capability - magical assassins are just a bit too common to do without. That said, I also take the view that the PCs very quickly become the best of the best. So I'll probably put a ruler on a par with a level 5 PC, or thereabouts.

 

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T

Tormyr

Adventurer

• Nov 13, 2018

• #52

The Mad King's Banquet the fourth adventure in the War or the Burning Sky campaign saga, has a whole slew of nobles. Each noble has a CR that is calculated based on the DMG using what the creature "should" have rather than adjusting the stats to fit a certain CR.

There is a king with glamered plate armor and a +1 flail that is CR 3. He actually has a fighting background and united the kingdom.
7 of the 8 nobles have pitiful attacks, AC, and HP with CR ranging from 0 to 1/4. Five of them don't even have a unique stat block.
The last noble is a wizard with cold-based fireball and has a CR of 3 because of that damage and the shield spell boosting her AC.

 

Henry

Autoexreginated

• Nov 13, 2018

• #53

LordEntrails said:

Do you imagine Queen Elizabeth to be 20th level? Do you imagine her to have more hit points and a better attack bonus than the queen's guard at the gate to the palace? But, she probably has a few special traits like 'royal decree' and 'unflappable decorum'.

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Add to that Equestrian, Auto Mechanic (roughly Tech Level 7 in GURPS speak), and Certified Lunatic Wartime Driver. ;-)

 

BookBarbarian

Expert Long Rester

• Nov 13, 2018

• #54

LordEntrails said:

Do you imagine Queen Elizabeth to be 20th level? Do you imagine her to have more hit points and a better attack bonus than the queen's guard at the gate to the palace? But, she probably has a few special traits like 'royal decree' and 'unflappable decorum'.

Click to expand...

I wonder what Queen Victoria's We are Not Amused ability would look like. Immune to Tasha's Hideous Laughter for one thing.

 

M

MechaTarrasque

Hero

• Nov 13, 2018

• #55

Depends on what role I expect them to play. College of whisper bard (4 levels higher then when I expect the PC's to get into a fight [but with my murderhoboes, who can really tell?]) has been pretty helpful, since I try to make it hard for the PC's to get into a straight up brawl with the king or queen. I think I went through a period early in 5e where every noble was a rakasha or vampire, but I burned out on that.

In terms of power for military rulers, I tend towards the King Arthur/Lancelot (or King Randor/He-man) model where the royal has a champion (sometimes a Champion), unless it is a barbarian tribe, in which case the Big Kahuna will be whatever Barbarian seems appropriate.

 

R

Rya.Reisender

Explorer

• Nov 14, 2018

• #56

Most of the time I'd just use the noble stat block. The royal guards however, may be really powerful. I actually like the idea of "weak boss with strong guards".

However, if there's some history to the king of queen, then I'd put stats depending on that history. Maybe the king became king because he was the strongest of all. Or the queen was known to be a powerful wizard and maybe is only queen because she cast a powerful charm spell on the king.

 

TheCosmicKid

Hero

• Nov 14, 2018

• #57

delericho said:

As regards the 'level' of the ruler: I tend towards the view that most rulers in a pseudo-medieval realm should have at least some personal capability - magical assassins are just a bit too common to do without. That said, I also take the view that the PCs very quickly become the best of the best. So I'll probably put a ruler on a par with a level 5 PC, or thereabouts.

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I'm of the same mind. But not so much because of the "magical assassin" thing (we don't expect presidents and prime ministers to be badasses for fear of some well-equipped hostile special forces, the capabilities of which are arguably comparable to magic) as a general bias in the pseudomedieval culture's warrior ethos in favor of personal combat skill.

 

pming

Legend

• Nov 15, 2018

• #58

Hiya!

Well, 9 times out of 10 I do it this way:

Name
Age, Sex, Ht, Wt, Hair/Eye Colour, Distinguishing Marks
Stats (roll 3d6, in order)
Two Skills with +1 Proficiency
0-Level with 1d6hp

Done.

The other 1 out of 10 times:

I roll up an NPC using the PC rules.
Then assign a class level between 1 and 10 (or roll d10).
If the King/Queen is particularly important (re: key to a current Campaign Story), and the PC's are likely to deal with them in more than a simple "audience with the ruler" manner...then I tweak as appropriate to what I see the ruler as 'being' (re: I just pick stuff or make stuff up for them).

^_^

Paul L. Ming