D&D 5E Members of a King's Council?

Trit One-Ear · Feb 1, 2017

Hey all,

My players are likely to meet up with a few if not all of the members of the King's Council in a session or two. Up to now, I've specifically left them vague and undefined, but figure it's time to lock these characters down!
So... what positions should the council have?

Stealing directly from ASoIaF, and adding my own twists to suit my campaign, thus far I have:

Military Advisor (possibly also the captain of the royal guard, but perhaps those are two different roles)
Political/diplomatic advisor
Spymaster
Financial advisor
Magic/mystic advisor
Religious advisor

Are there any positions I'm forgetting? Does this seem to cover the various areas in which a King could ask for advice? Would you as a player be happy with 5-7 advisors being introduced over one or two session?

Trit

Olive · Feb 1, 2017

I don't think it's necessarily that clearly defined - a king who fancies himself a great military leader might not have a military adviser for example, but I think that you've got it more or less right. The Chancellor/financial role is crucial.

Lackhand · Feb 1, 2017

I think you've got all you need, I'm just brainstorming for fun

Depending on local conditions, you might also consider "childhood friend" or "diplomatic baggage" or "spouse's family's token". I mean, the person would be the spymaster, but also a political appointee to make the spouse's family happy.
Duke of a large border region. Duchess of the breadbasket region. Most-powerful-baron from the council of barons. Elected representative from the Guild of Guilds.

Personal tutor. The king's children's tutor. Former nursemaid. Current lover. Kings are people too; remember to show the cracks between crown and brow.

Olive · Feb 1, 2017

[MENTION=36160]Lackhand[/MENTION] makes good points. Also remember that because of political considerations or incompetence/emotions on the part of the king, some of the people on the council might be rubbish at their jobs.

Azurewraith · Feb 1, 2017

I think you got it covered but I'll throw some more at you just incase it sparks something.
Agricultural advisor
A envoy from a foreign land
A noble. The king lost a bet with
Kings children
A people's voice type character
Architecture advisor.

Like I say you have everything that seems mandatory in there just spit balling.

Cap'n Kobold · Feb 1, 2017

How is the nation set up? If its pretty feudal, the king's council may be made up of the nobles or representatives of the various fiefdoms.

Others to include might be heirs-in-training attending to gain experience or rulership.

Generally, if there is any large power block that might dominate or be important to the country, they might have a representative. (Such representative might have official power on the council, an advisory role only, or just be allowed to sit in and hear discussions as a courtesy.)

Some members of the council might be part of other councils. For example there may be church, noble, and guild councils that send a single representative to the king's council.

The other way to consider it is that the members of any particular council might depend upon what that particular discussion is about, with relevant people being brought in and consulted as required.

Igwilly · Feb 1, 2017

If it's a more "modern" monarchy, elected politicians could be there, too.
I think the only one which I recommend for every monarchy is his/her teacher when he/she was a child. Probably will have no official power, but the king/queen would deeply respect him/her.

TallIan · Feb 1, 2017

Seems like you've covered the essentials. Though adding the heir apparent would definitely be good, it's a way for the king to ensure everyone knows who will succeed him. Alternately the king could be deliberately not appointing an heir apparent to discourage assassination attempts - though that is straying into story telling.

Powerful nobles (dukes), representatives of powerful groups (collaboration of Barrons, guild representatives), religious groups would all make good counsellors. There could be a lot of overlap with more specific roles, the leader of the council of barrens is also the financial advisor; the Duke with the biggest army is also the military advisor.

I would think that the official group would be quite large, but the actual day to day advisors would be very fluid depending on who is currently Inn favour, who is away attending thier own affairs, etc.

So I wouldn't worry too much about firming the group up, next time the PCs interact with them it could all be different.

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Trit One-Ear · Feb 1, 2017

Thanks for the responses all!
Glad to hear I have the basics covered, and now have some fun ideas to introduce some other potential political players.

For those who asked, a little background and detail on how the kingdom is set up:

The kingdom was formed ~150 years ago by unifying the local feudal lords against a common invading enemy. Since that time, there has been one king - King Breward, who mysteriously appears to be immortal. The feudal lords became dukes, retaining power over their old "kingdoms," but are ultimately loyal to the crown. (However, a major point in the campaign is a rising rebellion led by one such duke).
So while the dukes are powerful and influential nobles in their own rights, the King's Council is more specifically a body of advisors hand-picked by the king, to help him delegate in specific areas.
None of this is to say that some of those characters might not be related to dukes or other powerful nobles. But ideally, I think the Chancellor would deal directly with the Guildmasters, the Religious Advisor with the churches etc, then bring any relevant concerns or complaints to the King's attention.

Next step - come up with 5-7 fun characters for the heroes to interact with

This is the part I truly love.

Trit