D&D General A old roleplaying magazine had ideas for either buying or earning a title. Why not allow a character that earns a title to pay to upgrade it?

[JMISBEST]

I've been thinking. Back in the 80's A roleplaying magazine had ideas for either buying or earning a title. Why not allow a character that earns a title to pay to upgrade his title to a higher 1?. See below for a example

If A very Rich Male Pc saves A Princess and is rewarded by being made A Fairly Senior Baron who rules A Fairly Large Barony what's to stop him using roughly 60% of his fortune to upgrade his title to Senior Baron and use most of the rest to upgrade his domain into A Large Barony?

 

[Morrus]

Nothing stops him.

 

[Dioltach]

If I remember correctly, one of the Counts of Normandy, back when they were being sneered at by the rest of the French nobility for being barbarous Northmen, just decided to call himself Duke. And he had enough clout to make it stick.

So what I'm saying is, noble titles have always been fairly fluid.

 

[ilgatto]

I've been thinking. Back in the 80's A roleplaying magazine had ideas for either buying or earning a title. Why not allow a character that earns a title to pay to upgrade his title to a higher 1?. See below for a example

If A very Rich Male Pc saves A Princess and is rewarded by being made A Fairly Senior Baron who rules A Fairly Large Barony what's to stop him using roughly 60% of his fortune to upgrade his title to Senior Baron and use most of the rest to upgrade his domain into A Large Barony?

If I remember correctly, one of the Counts of Normandy, back when they were being sneered at by the rest of the French nobility for being barbarous Northmen, just decided to call himself Duke. And he had enough clout to make it stick.

So what I'm saying is, noble titles have always been fairly fluid.

Supposing that a "fairly senior baron" and a "senior baron" are a thing, and not an indication of age, I guess that just leaves the question of whether his neighbors will allow him to upgrade his domain to a larger barony.

 

[Umbran]

If A very Rich Male Pc

And, you know, if the PC is female, just too bad?

If you are running titles as merely part of an economic system, what you suggest is fine.

If, by getting a title, the PC is entering a politics role playing game, just paying money shouldn't cut it, any more than by just laying out cash, the dungeon of the Namless Necromancer can be vanquished.

 

[ilgatto]

And, you know, if the PC is female, just too bad?

 

[JMISBEST]

And, you know, if the PC is female, just too bad?

If you are running titles as merely part of an economic system, what you suggest is fine.

If, by getting a title, the PC is entering a politics role playing game, just paying money shouldn't cut it, any more than by just laying out cash, the dungeon of the Namless Necromancer can be vanquished.

Nothing against female Pcs I decided to pick a gender at random and I picked male

 

[jmartkdr2]

Technically a baroness could become a countess by just up and buying more land, if someone was willing to sell. (Unlikely in those parts of history when titles meant more than just land ownership.)

On the other hand, selling titles not attached to land as a way for the crown to get some cash has historical precedent (baronettes).

On the third hand, joining a war to get some more land from foreign places and thus upgrading your title was a very common activity back in the day.

So cash for land for title was technically an option just never a popular one.

 

[Dioltach]

So cash for land for title was technically an option just never a popular one.

The more popular route, I believe, was to find a lawless area and loot and plunder it until the local authorities decided that the easiest solution was to grant you the legitimacy of a title, and then tax you.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

If I remember correctly, one of the Counts of Normandy, back when they were being sneered at by the rest of the French nobility for being barbarous Northmen, just decided to call himself Duke. And he had enough clout to make it stick.

So what I'm saying is, noble titles have always been fairly fluid.

Well, yeah!

Sometimes, you don't buy the title. You EARN the title.