Blog (A5E) Build A Stronghold

[Tonguez]

So, I want to look at the stronghold types separately from the example groupings. We don't have the full write-up, but we can guesstimate based on the example lists.

• Dwelling — Hut, apartment, house, manor, mansion, palace
• Encampment — Campsite, cabin, bandit camp, army camp, forbidden forest, hidden village
• Farm — Garden, farm, ranch, plantation
• Fort — Bunker, stockade, keep, castle, fortress, citadel
• Business — Cart, tavern, shop, emporium
• Guildhouse — Guildhouse
• Crafting — Workshop, crafting hall, manufacturer
• Training — Training room, dojo, practice fields
• Study — Personal library, laboratory, mage's tower, school, university
• Holy site — Sacred tree, sacred grove, temple, cathedral, basilica
• Misc — pyramid(?), great pyramid(?), menagerie(?)
• Animal Collections [extrapolating on menagerie] — Petting room, animal garden, menagerie, zoo
• Headquarters [alternate approach to guildhouse] — Hideout, guildhouse(?), council hall, throne room
• Hospice — Medicine room, surgery, treatment center, hospital

Aside from the ones that I'm not entirely sure of the categorization for, I added a few extra categories that came to mind:

• Animal Collections, because (while trying to figure out where to fit the menagerie) I was reminded of a rakshasa in one adventure with his own underground zoo of monsters, as well as other stories that come to mind of people keeping exotic animals. Suitable for an Animal Handling focus. Might use Menagerie as the category name.
• Headquarters, because nothing else seemed to connect to the guildhouse, but a secret hideout and a throne room seemed like they should have something. It could be that the Guildhouse can stand on its own, and Headquarters can remain for those other types. This feels iffy in a lot of ways.
• Hospice for medical treatment and healing. Suitable for a Medicine focus.

Thoughts? Expectations?

I think there comes a point it which listing all possibilities becomes a distraction from the intent - and in this case without knowing the full intent it becomes even harder to comment.

Take for instance Encampment - I’d assume it refers to temporary/mobile settlements (ie camps) but that excludes ’Forbidden forests’, Hidden Villages and Cabins (btw how are cabins different to huts?).

In Encampments you have bandits hiding in caves, army tent camps, Saami style Lavvu and Mongol Ger/Yurt.
(Although according to legend the Ger of Ghengis Khan was 30 ft diameter and carried on a cart pul;led by 22 Oxen - so is that a Grade 8 Encampment?)

I think adding Menagerie is a good idea but I;m not so sure if Headquarters needs to be added as distinct from Guidehall or Cathedral or Palace, all of which can serve the function of ‘Headquarters’.

That said grouping things according to Function (or in this case the Stat bonus) might be useful. Pathfinder uses Building Attributes across

• Residential
• Bureaucratic
• Trade & Production Con+
• Education Int +
• Military. Str+
• Religious Wis +
• Entertainment Cha +
• Civil Dex +
• Wilderness*

*I’d put sacred groves and forbidden forest as their own Wilderness category (as Druid/Fey Stronghold) distinct from built religious structures (altar, dolmen, shrine, tomb, church, cathedral, pyramid, ziggurat etc)

 

[Kinematics]

I think there comes a point it which listing all possibilities becomes a distraction from the intent - and in this case without knowing the full intent it becomes even harder to comment.

Agreed.

Take for instance Encampment - I’d assume it refers to temporary/mobile settlements (ie camps) but that excludes ’Forbidden forests’, Hidden Villages and Cabins (btw how are cabins different to huts?).

Forbidden Forest was actually one I really wasn't sure what to do with, but eventually put in its spot so as not to add extra waffling in my post. (Clearly that didn't help.)

It's sort of a cross between encampment and religious site, but not actually religious. It would probably fit better with whatever pyramids are supposed to be, however since I'm not entirely sure what type of category pyramids are supposed to fall under, it's hard to be sure.

Cabin was put in as something sized between campsite and bandit camp. It's certainly not the best descriptor, and could easily be removed.

Hidden Village was more of an extension of Forbidden Forest, actually. Since I put Forbidden Forest under Encampment, that's where Hidden Village fell as well. However on reconsideration, it's probably not a good choice.

Hidden Village is what it says on the tin: Those mysterious villages hidden away from the world, often in spooky forests or isolated islands, and in some way cut off from the outside world. ... Actually, that's more like one of the special environments (underwater, mountaintop, island, etc). So yeah, that definitely should be removed, as it's misconstruing what the stronghold actually is.

I think adding Menagerie is a good idea but I;m not so sure if Headquarters needs to be added as distinct from Guidehall or Cathedral or Palace, all of which can serve the function of ‘Headquarters’.

Yeah, I was iffy about that section. Will remove it.

Entertainment Cha +

Oh, that's an interesting category. Carnivals, circuses, theaters, etc.

*I’d put sacred groves and forbidden forest as their own Wilderness category (as Druid/Fey Stronghold) distinct from built religious structures (altar, dolmen, shrine, tomb, church, cathedral, pyramid, ziggurat etc)

And yeah, that's a good idea. Though I don't know that I'd put pyramids with them. Pyramids do work with tombs, catacombs, and ziggurats, though. Still iffy on that as a category.

 

[Kinematics]

Just remembered something else I intended to comment on.

The grade 4 Farm trait makes it so that when healing with hit dice, any roll below a 4 becomes a 4. How (if at all) does this interact with the Durable feat, which makes it so that any roll below 2x Con modifier is raised to 2x Con modifier?

For example, I have a barbarian with Durable and 20 Con. Any roll below a 10 becomes a 10. Would the Farm feature then just have no effect at all?

 

[tetrasodium]

Just remembered something else I intended to comment on.

The grade 4 Farm trait makes it so that when healing with hit dice, any roll below a 4 becomes a 4. How (if at all) does this interact with the Durable feat, which makes it so that any roll below 2x Con modifier is raised to 2x Con modifier?

For example, I have a barbarian with Durable and 20 Con. Any roll below a 10 becomes a 10. Would the Farm feature then just have no effect at all?

that barbarian outgrew it. The interaction is no different from the belt if giant strength where you get no benefit to strength if your strength is equal or greater to what it grants. I've seen systems where things can make a roll under x equal x & it's a good mechanic that works well.