Amassing an Army

[Xaov]

I have thought it would be very cool to have a character who had the intention of amassing his own army and having his own kingdom, peasant to royalty. Now if a character were to proceed with beginning his army while the campaign was still going on. How would you suggest the character did it. Would it be to 1) use the money gained from adventuring to start hiring mercs as part of his army, 2) go around to the various towns the adventurer's visit, use diplomacy and charisma check to try and influence the members of the city. Or would something else have to be done.


What suggestions could you give me about how to gain political influence.

 

[Christopher Lambert]

Go with #2.

In the crumbling of the Han dynasty in China, the "hero" Cao Cao recruited some noble family members, getting a few thousand soldiers (a paltry number) and charmed a rich guy into getting him some more mercenaries.

#1 won't work; you're away from the army for so long that soon you won't control it, plus you barely make enough money adventuring to give yourself an appropriate amount of gear* so you can't afford to pay soldiers, either.

* Someone did the math. Apparently you only end up with 80% of what you need, seeing how you have to sell most of the magical stuff you find at half price.

 

[barsoomcore]

Of course, if the local rulers have any brains to them, they'll have pretty significant laws in place about people hiring armsmen, gathering them in large groups, building fortifications and so on. And be reasonably serious about enforcing them.

And of course, nobody's going to follow you around if you can't feed them.

I would say, in a typical D&D setting, that your best bet is settling down in a frontier region where life isn't super-safe, and offering your service to the local lord -- if he'll help you build a fort out on the border, you'll keep infestations of monsters down, make it possible for farmers to live there, and gather an army as best you can that he can call on when he decides it's time to go to war (or when HIS boss calls on HIM).

If what you're hoping to have happen is that a bunch of self-sustaining people who know how to fight just suddenly start following you around, I would say, "I hope your DM is on your side with that one."



Actually, in any event, talk to your DM and make sure he/she knows what you want. But try to keep reasonable expectations -- nobody gives up house and home to follow someone just because they're charming -- or at least, not for very long, and they're usually not very happy when they find out they've been had. If you want your character to lead a grand army, they need to be able to supply that army with the things it needs to survive and thrive -- being in your army needs to be a better option than, say, NOT being in your army.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

While this activity is possible, it is also highly improbable and unlikely.

That said, battling and defeating an ancient red wyrm is improbably and unlikely...

...so, this is something that would definately take time. One thing it would certainly require is fame and respect and that only comes with time and (in game terms) a high level (if you're going from peasant as a noble would have respect and honor to start from and could muster one sooner).

As a peasant trying to be king, your first question is whether to start in a wilderness area or in a pre-established kingdom. Each has their pro's and their con's. For instance, in a wilderness area there is no truly established king or leader to block your rule (though the neighboring lords/kings would certainly not look kindly upon it). In a pre-established area, you can expect attempts at being arrested and even killed on a somewhat regular basis (especially at the beginning). Of course, in the country the people are use to their freedom and would certainly complain about someone trying to exert too much concern on their lives (they wouldn't object to paying someone to protect them most likely, but watch out about those laws you'll be imposing on them). In the kingdom, there are plenty of people but those people have pre-established guilds, churches, and other groupings. Some might be more then willing to help overthrow a king...as long as they recieve a cut of the riches afterwards.

That is the first problem.

After that, you have to get the reputation. As DM, something of this magnitude would have to wait until at least 7th level before the PC even started to really make the connections and those would definately have to be discrete. Not until 11th or 12th level would he actually really see anything of his plan probably begin to truly cement itself, including a base of operations to strike out from. It would be another five levels likely before he could truly wield an army on a one-on-one battle with the established ruler.

Ack...still totally off topic...

As an adventurer, I would definately start out with a base of operations. Gotta have something to call home and to begin to fortify - the leadership skill is a necessity. This way you have people to help run the place and you can increase those amounts with hired mercenaries (just remember that they are only loyal to the money and not yourself...some type of in game way to get people to help you would be even better - someone loyal to yourself).

All this while, a low profile has to be kept. The status quo does not want to be upset but will go to lengths to end this threat. At first it would likely be complaints to the lords and kings who might take diplomatic and economic approaches to ending the threat. To counter this, make sure you are more essential to these people then those other status quo people - perhaps in terms of information or providing natural resources at a reduced rate or by being married to their family or something.

At this stage, things are almost wholly political! Every action must be considered in its full scope and the consequences realized. If this is a game, this type of game will no longer be dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl.

Now, once established as a leader, you ought to become a beloved leader or a feared leader. If you're aiming to be king from the get go, then chances are you're more evil then good and would rather be a feared ruler. Make yourself feared, but not as feared as your neighbors. Here is where you spread rumors about the evils of your neighbors and what they've done...fake raids into your lands by your neighbors (hire mercenaries to attack some of your people and lands). The purpose of this: to have an enemy! This is the best way to unite your people is to make sure they hate someone else more then yourself.

All this time, make sure you keep making political connections. That army doesn't necessarily have to all be your troops, merely under your command.

At least, thats how I would start.

 

[painandgreed]

#1 isn't really an option for any but the smallest kingdoms. A decent sized kingdom is going to have literally an annual income of millions of GPs and a well established army and foritifications. Keep your money for emergencies that pop up once you do have an army.

#2 is a good one and probably workable. Maybe not easy but people have done it before in RL.

#3 Do it the old fashion way and marry the king's daughter after saving the kingdom.

#4 Go use your diplomacy on a neighboring king and convince him to fund your army and let you make yourself king.

I'd talk to your DM and explain everything and see what he thinks. First, you're going to need a country to take over and the DM probably has one in mind. If you're good, you're not about to convince everybody else to overthrough a perfectly good Paladin king for yourself. If you're evil, you'd have to go recruit monsters and humanoids along with traitors in the kingdom and then march your army into the kingdom to dispose the Paladin. If you're good and trying to overthrough an evil or cruel king, then you'll have a better chance of getting the population on your side. If you're evil in an evil kingdom, then you just have to be meaner and better than everybody else trying to crawl to the top.

 

[Xaov]

Intriguing. Keep them coming please.

 

[Saeviomagy]

The best thing to simulate this is probably:

Roleplay it a lot
Have a good charisma
Take the leadership feat

Voila. One mini-army.

If you can get your total leadership score up to 25, convince your DM to let you have epic leadership without going epic.

Given that the only thing this will get you is more low-level buddies, and that you can satisfy the requirements before epic anyway, he really shouldn't have a problem with it.

Finally - you CAN have more than that - but the leadership feat will provide you with loyal officers to control your army.

Also - your cohort could have leadership. And so could any 6th level followers you gain.