S
Sunseeker
Guest
Or they could be the uppity 6th son of an incredibly wealthy Lord who knows he's not going to get anything when dad dies so he's spending as much of the family coin as possible on hookers and blow.
D&D 5E How do you handle PC nobles?
- Thread starter Derren
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Or they could be the uppity 6th son of an incredibly wealthy Lord who knows he's not going to get anything when dad dies so he's spending as much of the family coin as possible on hookers and blow.
Well as i am currently playing a noble, the one i mentioned in this thread before, he has different motivations. Surely he does want power, but there is a reason behind why he wants that power.
Celebrim
Legend
Noble title at the rank of knight doesn't necessarily mean much. Mostly it entitles you to go around armed, challenge other nobles to combat, and a better class of death in the event you are found guilty of a crime. In my game (3e base) it gives the player a +3 bonus on most social skill checks provided the other party knows and respects your title.
That isn't to say that being a noble can't have a lot of advantages, but generally you have to be above the bottom of the feudal hierarchy. The biggest advantage of having a noble in the party is the umbrella of legal and social protection this extends over the rest of the party, who are assumed to be his retainers. I find it desirable after a certain point to have at least one member of the party have a noble title to give some color to why the party is most of the time being allowed to roam around towns armed like small armies. Also, it can occasionally be a useful plot hook to have the PC nobles presumed liege lord order him to do something.
That isn't to say that being a noble can't have a lot of advantages, but generally you have to be above the bottom of the feudal hierarchy. The biggest advantage of having a noble in the party is the umbrella of legal and social protection this extends over the rest of the party, who are assumed to be his retainers. I find it desirable after a certain point to have at least one member of the party have a noble title to give some color to why the party is most of the time being allowed to roam around towns armed like small armies. Also, it can occasionally be a useful plot hook to have the PC nobles presumed liege lord order him to do something.
If you like science fiction, check out Babylon 5, the TV series, and the Centauri. They give being a noble quite a personality, and the show encompasses motivations of proving one's self as well as placing it in a backdrop of corruption at court, inter-house rivalries, and the prestige to come from military conquests. One of my players named his paladin after Vir, who is like the lone guy always trying to do good, without any gray area as his senior and protege, Molari, would say is how the world is in reality.
Everybody seems to shove that show into my face... Everyone at least in my play group.
But yeah i can imagine how to act as a douchebag noble, i've seen it in one piece, the fifth element movie (the bad guy seemed noblish enough for me), bastardly corporate leaders in other movies and so on
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You should really watch the show. While Londo, the noble, does have the typical "arrogant, power hungry noble" phase he, like most other characters, do grow quite a lot during the show so that any single generalization don't do them justice.
TheDungeonTomb
Villager
sorry not ment to write in you post so i will make my own post about this. again sorry i tryed to see if i could Delete this
so how do you handle a Feature: Position of Privilege in the noble background.
will a lets say a human from the Dessert land fare to the south be as reconniced and aceptet all the way in the land to the North ? or will he be aceptet and have all ears and so on in his own land region ?
so how do you handle a Feature: Position of Privilege in the noble background.
will a lets say a human from the Dessert land fare to the south be as reconniced and aceptet all the way in the land to the North ? or will he be aceptet and have all ears and so on in his own land region ?
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If you have an upper-crust background, you get more social perks, but you also get more quests dumped in your lap (noblesse oblige, after all), more enemies gunning for your family, and more rivals gunning for you personally. Also, the whole party tends to benefit from your privileges, which cuts down on intraparty tensions.
You can, of course, skip out on your obligations (not so much the enemies) to go slumming with your lower-class adventuring buddies. Of course, this also means giving up most of the perks; you don't get the benefits of being a noble if nobody knows you are one, and being the black sheep of the family means the family is much less vigilant on your behalf. Take your pick.
My current campaign is set in a republic, so it's a moot point.
You can, of course, skip out on your obligations (not so much the enemies) to go slumming with your lower-class adventuring buddies. Of course, this also means giving up most of the perks; you don't get the benefits of being a noble if nobody knows you are one, and being the black sheep of the family means the family is much less vigilant on your behalf. Take your pick.
My current campaign is set in a republic, so it's a moot point.
I thought that being the third son or daughter would give you a greater reason to hire an assassin so you could then become the first and not have to enter a monastery/nunnery or marry a nasty older person.
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