D&D 5E Want to help me conquer the Sword Coast, Restore Netheril, etc?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Okay, quick summary of the campaign:

My character is a Changeling Hexblade Warlock of level 4, almost level 5. My name is Chance, but I do not go by this at most times. I ride a pegasus in combat, named Flair, and use a +2 greatsword that is my Pact Weapon. My patron is Karsus, the ancient wizard that destroyed Netheril on accident. My long term goal is to restore Netheril in modern Toril, and making Karsus a deity.

So, the campaign started in Ascore, but it was covered by sand and a village is now built on top of it. I killed the mayor, took their place, and have militarized the city, now having an army of around 80 soldiers, 15 scouts as archers, and a group of Ogres that I got to side with us with some spellcasting trickery. (I disguised myself as an ogre sent by Vaprak, and ordered them to join my army)

We currently are in Hartsvale, just took Castle Hartwick, and are working with the ogres in the valley to conquer the rest of Hartsvale and beyond.

So, any ideas on how to conquer the Sword Coast and the rest of Faerun? I'm going to start by conquering the rest of Hartsvale and then the Silver Marches. I just could use any advice for tactics on how to claim other towns and civilizations, any battle tactics, recommendations for character choices in terms of Eldritch Invocations and feats and other options, and any general advice or thoughts you have for this.

 

[Zardnaar]

My plan was just to conquer a little bit. Rebuild one if the towns or expand/rule phandelver.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Quite frankly... if you have done all of what you have done with conquering the lands in the northern Marches all while still only a 4th level character... there appears to be a narrative and story aspect to your game that does not really seem to take character mechanics into account. Which is great that you have that! There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do all that stuff by 4th level. But the only reason I bring it up is because I don't think there's much meaningful advice or recommendations to be given to you regarding the game mechanics of your Hexblade to aid you in your further adventures. All that you have done has narratively been over and beyond the game mechanics of a 4th level character, so it's not like there's any one Feat or Invocation that would all of a sudden now have an impact on your story. You got to be a military conqueror through narrative and roleplay thus far... any further conquering of Faerun will probably come the same way.

"I claimed all of The North and become their King by the time I was 5th level. But just wait until I get Devil's Sight! Nothing will stop me then!!!" Heh heh!

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Is Imryth still alive? Since Ascore is her lair, you may have some problem on the homefront. Dont spread your resources too thin!

There's the nomads of the Anauroch and their Cormyrian allies that have opposed Thulantar the returned netherese city, same with the elves from Cormanthor and Evereska. You should probably do something about that.

The north doesnt have huge population of friendly humanoids, and those humanoids are part of an alliance with the most powerful cities on the wester side of the continent, so I dont really understand why you would conquer a wildland composed mostly of ogres and orcs, while these lands a contested by something like 3 ancient dragons (Gnawbones, Imryth and Klauth).

Since the ruins of your empire are in the Anauroch and that Karsus would need followers to become a god, taking over the desert and go for the Dalelands and the north of the Sea of Fallen Star instead.

As a side note: the previews of the next campaign by WotC shows a fallen Netherese city under the ice near Icewind Dale. You may want to conquer toward the Frozenfar instead of the Silvermarches.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Well Netheril ain't getting refounded unless someone learns how to cast, Proctiv's Move Mountain. Fortunately your patron is a bit of an expert on that.

As for strategy, you already figured it out. You are a Changeling so go steal the identity of someone more powerful than the town's mayor.

I would say that the simplest medium term plan is to conquer a few small towns the conventional way and generally make yourself a menace on the borders of some more militaristic polity. Eventually some great lord or general comes with a serious army to put you down once and for all. Sneak into their camp and supplant this head-honcho like a good little changeling, and you have then traded up for what is probably a larger and better trained and provisioned army than whatever you can raise up in Hartsvale. Have your old army surrender to your new one, and your new persona suddenly become aware of some plot at home which requires them to march right back to their capital and institute martial law, possibly even recruiting the troops of their recently defeated foe, whose dastardly mayor abandoned them on the eve of battle.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

As for your troups...well...you wont go far with 100 soldiers. Maybe try to convert some disciples of Shar right now, because sooner of latter you will have to deal with the worshipers of the actual goddess of the Shadow weave.

Also, the Netherese are sill active in the Plane of Shadow/Shadowfell: a ritual to bring some shadovars to help you could be useful.

IMHO, your final plan should be to ally all magocracies of the continent under one god of magic and a single Empire.

1) Ally with the shadovars
2) Regroup with the Thayvian force in the North (Neverwinter's Dread Ring), once you are in power, ally them with the Thayvian restoration instead of Tam.
3) Push toward the north of sea of Fallen Star, maybe ally yourself with the Zents and the Warlock-Knight of Vaasa, take Damara and Narfell.
4) Offer full independence to the Witches of Rashemen in exchange from the safe passage trough their lands.
5) Zsass Tam should still be weak from the Death Curse: take over Thay, have their undead forces push west toward the old Ismakari lands.
6) Ally and regroup with the Deep Ismakari. Uses their technology as a bargaining chip to buy the independent drow cities in the Shining south. There should not be much resistance from the weak nations of the South.
7) Ally with Halruaa, depending on their post-spellplague situation.
8) March west toward Sarmarak (sp?), the land of Illusionist and take over.
9) You now have: undead and shadow forces, access to thayvian spell canons, Ismakari technologies, Halruaa flying ships and powerful illusions to cloak your final push.
10) From the South, march North (if you have a navy, you could take Lantan for extra technologies) and take the Sword Coast city city, maybe stopping to ally with Larloch in the Heartlands. Use the flying ships to move quickly. The Dragon Cult could be an ally if you can guarantee a place for their Dracolich in your empire.

You have create a mighty Theological-Magocracy powered by the most advanced technologies in the world. You are now playing a Final Fantasy games or a Warcraft 3 game with the Undeads!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Is Imryth still alive? Since Ascore is her lair, you may have some problem on the homefront. Dont spread your resources too thin!

Quick correction, her lair isn't in Ascore, it's a bit of distance away from it. She is dead, though, and her children moved into her lair.

There's the nomads of the Anauroch and their Cormyrian allies that have opposed Thulantar the returned netherese city, same with the elves from Cormanthor and Evereska. You should probably do something about that.

Yeah, this will be a problem. Any advice?

The north doesnt have huge population of friendly humanoids, and those humanoids are part of an alliance with the most powerful cities on the wester side of the continent, so I dont really understand why you would conquer a wildland composed mostly of ogres and orcs, while these lands a contested by something like 3 ancient dragons (Gnawbones, Imryth and Klauth).

We're starting in the north, as in the north-east there are a few settlements with relatively small population and not many armies. The Lord's Alliance will be a huge problem to deal with, but thankfully Sundabar and Everlund have "Brexited" out of the alliance, so they shouldn't be super difficult to take.

Since the ruins of your empire are in the Anauroch and that Karsus would need followers to become a god, taking over the desert and go for the Dalelands and the north of the Sea of Fallen Star instead.

Yeah. There are also ruins scattered across the North and other areas of Faerun that we will eventually have to claim. Karse is in the High Forest, which will be difficult to conquer. Waterdeep is build atop of Skullport, which was a Netherese settlement. Warlock's Crypt will also be a major problem. Any advice on how to take these?

As a side note: the previews of the next campaign by WotC shows a fallen Netherese city under the ice near Icewind Dale. You may want to conquer toward the Frozenfar instead of the Silvermarches.

We'll do both, then, if there are netherese ruins near there.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Well Netheril ain't getting refounded unless someone learns how to cast, Proctiv's Move Mountain. Fortunately your patron is a bit of an expert on that.

Yes, and thankfully Mystra's ban on epic magic ended after Midnight adopted the position of Mystra. We will have to find a Mythallar in order to cast it as well, so that'll be difficult.

As for strategy, you already figured it out. You are a Changeling so go steal the identity of someone more powerful than the town's mayor.

Yes, this is a good tactic, but I've already used it once, and my character flaw is "I never use the same scam twice". For ideas on how to get others to join us, I was thinking possible seduction, proposed ambassadorship gone wrong, and stuff like that. Any ideas on how to get people to join my nation without doing the "assassinate, replace, redo" tactic?

I would say that the simplest medium term plan is to conquer a few small towns the conventional way and generally make yourself a menace on the borders of some more militaristic polity.

Yep, I'm doing this. (Our army has a formation which I got from the romans, the "shield tortoise" to grant 3/4ths cover.)

Eventually some great lord or general comes with a serious army to put you down once and for all. Sneak into their camp and supplant this head-honcho like a good little changeling, and you have then traded up for what is probably a larger and better trained and provisioned army than whatever you can raise up in Hartsvale. Have your old army surrender to your new one, and your new persona suddenly become aware of some plot at home which requires them to march right back to their capital and institute martial law, possibly even recruiting the troops of their recently defeated foe, whose dastardly mayor abandoned them on the eve of battle.

Thanks, this helps. (We also have an apprentice mage on our side with disguise self, so they can take my place while I'm incognito in the enemy ranks.)

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

As for your troups...well...you wont go far with 100 soldiers. Maybe try to convert some disciples of Shar right now, because sooner of latter you will have to deal with the worshipers of the actual goddess of the Shadow weave.

Well, we're kind of going to start worshipping Karsus soon, so I don't know about this.

Also, the Netherese are sill active in the Plane of Shadow/Shadowfell: a ritual to bring some shadovars to help you could be useful.

I thought they died. Didn't their floating city crash into Myth Drannor?

You have create a mighty Theological-Magocracy powered by the most advanced technologies in the world. You are now playing a Final Fantasy games or a Warcraft 3 game with the Undeads!

Thanks for this plan. I'll try to do the "take-over-Thay" once I get to high enough level.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Quite frankly... if you have done all of what you have done with conquering the lands in the northern Marches all while still only a 4th level character... there appears to be a narrative and story aspect to your game that does not really seem to take character mechanics into account. Which is great that you have that! There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do all that stuff by 4th level. But the only reason I bring it up is because I don't think there's much meaningful advice or recommendations to be given to you regarding the game mechanics of your Hexblade to aid you in your further adventures. All that you have done has narratively been over and beyond the game mechanics of a 4th level character, so it's not like there's any one Feat or Invocation that would all of a sudden now have an impact on your story. You got to be a military conqueror through narrative and roleplay thus far... any further conquering of Faerun will probably come the same way.

"I claimed all of The North and become their King by the time I was 5th level. But just wait until I get Devil's Sight! Nothing will stop me then!!!" Heh heh!

Yes, we do have a variant rule for mass combat, where we group up the army into groups of 10, just to simplify combat a bit. We've also had to do some improv with turning commoners to guards to soldiers, and other NPCs from the MM and VGtM.

I mainly am looking for recommendations on Eldritch Invocations, Feats, and other character options I can take to be able to stand against some of the more powerful NPCs in the Sword Coast. I also would appreciate battle tactics or what parts of the north I should take first.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions so far.