Out of curiosity (or rather my own amusement), I tried my hand at fleshing out interactions between a PC running a dominion, rival nobles, and their liege. Randomizations do not intend to replace role-played encounters between a vassal and its feudal lord. Events can generate outcomes between NPC nobles and their ruler, and produce a backstory. They may bridge an information gap in a fantasy setting where few political figures are defined. For example, counts or dukes command authority over some number of knights, untitled petty nobles, gentry, and other fantasy dominion holders (as defined in the D&D game), to whom they entrust parts of their own lands and authority in exchange for feudal obligations.
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| Feudal Homage Ceremony, ©2005 Santillana del Pacífico S.A. de Ediciones |
Setting Up
1. Flesh out the Liege: Develop its personality and D&D stats. Sketch out what drives the liege. Pick one or two drives, or roll 2d8: 1. Ego, 2. Greed, 3. Honor, 4. Glory & Posterity, 5. Piety, 6. Frivolous Pursuits, 7. Power, 8. Knowledge (ancient lore, magic, science, political intelligence), etc. Is the liege benevolent and fair or a tyrant? This and personality affect how the liege reacts to situations at the DM’s discretion.
2. Define the Number of Vassals and their Natures (fighters, clerics, magic-users, monsters, etc.). Depending on the status of the liege (baron, count, or duke), the so-called vassals may be obscure petty nobles, castellans, lords of the manors, knights (etc.), to whom a common liege has entrusted a small dominion, such as a village and surrounding farmland, a stronghold, or a manor (as defined in mediaeval terms). For example, Duke William of Normandy stood as the liege lord of about 180 barons around 1066. A Norman baron might command some 5 to 40 knights entrusted with baronial land, and so on.
3. Establish a Pecking Order: The liege may favor some dominion holders because of possible family ties, their track records, D&D alignments, dominion size/population/strategic value, experience levels, etc. It’s about whom the liege favors and who is more likely to have the liege’s ear. Give each one a starting value from 5 to 15 (called POV for Pecking Order’s Value, or Point of View if you prefer), with 18+ being very influential and 0 or worse enjoying no clout at all (short of being dispossessed of one’s dominion). Assign a 9 to a new PC dominion holder.
4. Adjustments: Add the dominion holder’s Charisma modifier (if known) to its POV. Add +1 if the dominion holder and the liege favor the same character class. Incur a −1 penalty for certain differences (Cleric vs. Magic-User, Fighter vs. Thief, Dwarf vs. Elf, etc.) Be creative with this.
5. Political Environment: Define simple relations between each of the PC’s dominion-holding peers and how they feel about the PC (positive, neutral, or negative). Any specific motivations are up to the DM; some may be allies while others could be hated rivals forming cliques competing for the liege’s favor. Important: Pick which of these vassals are immediate neighbors of the PC’s dominion.
6. Mental Self-Flagellation: Read Oathbreakers, ©2024 Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry, HarperCollins Publishers, to get a good feel for liege and vassal conflicts in the Carolingian era.
Events & Outcomes
Plenty of things can go right or awry while performing the duties of a dominion holder. A list of events follows below for the DM to consider. Random numbers are included if needed; roll once per month for one of the liege’s other vassals (up to 4 audiences if the liege is a powerful noble with many solicitous vassals). The DM determines separately events concerning a PC and when they occur.
01-03. Attendance at Court: +1 POV for appearing at the liege's castle for major holiday feasts to demonstrate public loyalty and witness royal or ducal decrees. −1 POV for failing to attend without a valid excuse. Double the effect if the liege’s drive is Ego or Frivolous Pursuits.
04-12. Badmouthing a Rival: Using whatever method the DM approves (once per encounter). If successful, reduce the rival’s POV −1. If it fails, the instigator incurs a −1 POV penalty. Double if the liege’s drive is Honor.
13-15. Bravery or Clemency: +1 POV for performing an act of personal bravery or forgiveness on a battlefield in the liege’s name; −1 for demonstrating poor tactical sense, cowardice, or lack of spiritual faith (refusing mercy, unwarranted brutality, failure to thank otherworldly powers, etc.). Double if the liege’s drive is Honor, Glory and Posterity, or Piety.
16-18. Defeating a Notorious Monstrous Foe: +1 POV for succeeding with style and panache, or +2 POV if the vassal provides a tapestry showing the liege to be the illustrious slayer. −1 POV for news spreading about the vassal’s failure to defeat the monstrous foe. Double if the liege’s drive is Glory and Posterity.
19-21. Defeating Troublemakers: +1 POV for mercilessly crushing bandits, pirates, slavers, raiders, rampaging monsters, etc. −1 POV if the liege fails to quell the troublemakers after the liege requested the vassal’s intervention. Double if the liege’s drive is Power.
22-24. Dowry for the Eldest Daughter: Providing a financial levy to help pay for the wedding and dowry of the liege's eldest daughter upon her marriage. +1 POV for an adequate payment; −1 POV otherwise. Double if the liege’s drive is Greed.
25-27. Exploration: +1 POV for naming a wilderness geographical feature after the liege’s name, seizing exotic plunder for the liege, delivering a reliable map or navigation rutter to the liege, or converting natives to the liege’s faith. −1 POV if an exploration yields none of the above. Double if the liege’s drive is Ego, Greed, Knowledge, or Piety (as appropriate).
28-30. Fealty and Homage: +1 POV for performing the solemn, public ritual of kneeling, placing hands between the lord's hands, and swearing a sacred oath of loyalty to uphold the lord's honor above all others. −1 POV for failing to complete the ritual when it was expected. Double if the liege’s drive is either Ego, Honor, or Power.
31-33. Feudal Expectations: +1 POV for serving loyally in the field for the expected feudal term (up to 40 days per year) at the vassal's own expense, or −1 for failing to meet expectations. Double if the liege’s drive is Glory and Posterity or Power.
34-36. Fund or Win the Liege’s Tourney: +1 POV for accomplishing either. −1 if failing to fund the tourney after being solicited, or for performing remarkably poorly at the tourney in the face of a rival of the liege. Double if the liege’s drive is (as appropriate) Ego, Greed, Honor, or Frivolous Pursuits.
37-39. Guardianship: Allowing the liege to control or vet who the vassal (or the vassal's heirs) married, ensuring the estate didn't accidentally fall into the hands of a rival lord. +1 POV, or −1 when failing to offer such control when it was expected. Double if the liege’s drive is Power.
40-42. Hospitality (Purveyance or Gîte): Providing free food, lodging, and entertainment for the liege, his family, and his massive traveling retinue whenever they passed through the vassal's estate. +1 POV, or −1 for failing to meet the liege’s expectations. Double if the liege’s drive is Greed, Honor, or Power. Add an extra +1 POV (after doubling) if the vassal spent all dominion funds while endeavoring to satisfy the liege.
43-45. Hostage Exchange: Offering the vassal's own children to be raised in the liege’s court. While framed as an honor and an education, it practically served as a guarantee against rebellion. +1 POV, or −1 for failing to make the offer when it was expected. Double if the liege’s drive is Power.
46-48. Increasing the Dominion’s Financial Worth: In other words, paying significantly more taxes or other dues than expected. +1 POV, or −1 if failing to pay the expected dues, −2 if failing to pay anything at all. Double if the liege’s drive is Greed or Power.
49-51. Increasing the Dominion’s Military Strength: Use the War Machine mechanics. +1 POV, or −1 if the dominion’s armed forces have been reduced significantly for any reason. Double if the liege’s drive is Power, or Glory and Posterity.
52-54. Knighting of the Eldest Child: Contributing a significant financial gift to fund lavish celebrations and equipment when the liege's eldest child is raised to knighthood. +1 POV, −1 for failing to come up to expectations. Double if the liege’s drive is Greed or Honor.
55-57. Law Enforcement: +1 POV for settling unrest or an uprising among the dominion’s population or for helping with the same in the liege’s lands; −1 for failing to meet expectations. Double if the liege’s drive is Power.
58-60. Legal Counsel: +1 POV for sitting on the lord's court registry to act as a juror, passing judgment on legal disputes between other vassals, or helping draft local legislation. −1 for failing to show up when summoned or compromising the rule of law and political stability. Double if the liege’s drive is Honor or Power.
61-63. Library Expansion: +1 POV for enlarging the liege’s library with valuable works. −1 if the liege deems the books to be of low value or interest. Double if the liege’s drive is Greed, Piety, Frivolous Pursuits, or Knowledge (as appropriate).
64-66. Marrying a Favored Member of the Liege’s Family: +1 POV if the vassal’s original POV was 18 or higher, −1 otherwise. Double if the liege’s drive is Honor or Frivolous Pursuits. A liege may forbid such a union if the vassal’s original POV was below 18. If the vassal and the paramour elope, the liege declares the dominion in a state of rebellion (−10 POV).
67-69. Minstrelsy: +1 POV for delighting the liege’s court with poetry, singing, music, tales of chivalry or courtly love, clever jokes, or political satire for the amusement of feudal lords and ladies. −1 POV if the performance falls flat (failed a Charisma or Skill check). Double if the liege’s drive is Frivolous Pursuits.
70-72. Mystery Unraveled: +1 POV for solving a mystery of the liege’s interest (about the family’s history, the fate of some legendary item, a murder, a conspiracy, etc.) −1 if the tale is proven to be false. Double if the liege’s drive is Piety or Knowledge (as appropriate).
73-75. Ransom Payment: If the liege was captured in battle or abducted, the vassal is expected to contribute heavily to secure the lord's freedom. +1 POV, −1 for failing to meet expectations. Double if the liege’s drive is Greed or Honor.
76-78. Religious Fervor: +1 POV for funding a temple of the liege’s faith, bankrolling a crusade sponsored by the liege, securing salvation for the liege's soul, or swearing an oath on holy relics; −1 for failing to accomplish a deed of devotion when it was expected. Double if the liege’s drive is Piety.
79-81. Schooling: +1 POV for sponsoring the construction of a school or wizardly tower. −1 POV if the project fails. Double if the liege’s drive is: Piety, Knowledge, or Glory and Posterity.
82-91. Sucking Up: +1 POV for stroking the liege’s narcissism. The liege gets an Int or Wis check minus the vassal’s Cha bonus to sense the vassal’s sincerity. +1 POV if the check fails, −1 otherwise. Double if the liege’s drive is Ego, or Glory and Posterity.
92-94. Valuable Gift: +1 POV for sharing a substantial share of an adventure’s treasure, including money, gems, jewelry, trophies, objets d’art, fine weapons and armor, warhorses, an exotic or fantastic monster previously captured, spells, magical items of significant worth to the liege, the return of a lost hereditary heirloom, an item of significant magic or religious meaning; −1 POV for failing to share (if it came to the liege’s attention) or if the liege is disappointed. Double if the liege’s drive is Ego, Greed, Glory and Posterity, Frivolous Pursuits, Knowledge, or Piety (as appropriate to the nature of the gift).
95-97. Valuable Service I: +1 POV for performing a great service to a favored member of the liege’s family; −1 POV instead if the favor benefits a relative the liege disapproves of (if the matter is discovered). Double if the liege’s drive is Power.
98-00. Valuable Service II: +1 POV for performing a great service to the liege (anything worthwhile at the DM’s discretion, including a dangerous spy mission or a crucial act of religious significance to the liege). Double if the nature of the service is relevant to the liege’s drive, including Piety and Knowledge.
Gaining an Audience with a Liege
To prevent doling out too many POV bonuses and penalties, PC and NPC dominion holders have limited opportunities for private audiences to appeal for help, badmouth each other, or just suck up to their master. Unless summoned, a vassal must roll an Audience check to obtain private access to its liege. Roll a d20 under the vassal's POV score (add the vassal’s Charisma bonus, if any, to its POV score).
Far-Reaching Consequences
At the DM’s discretion, a POV of 18+ may earn a vassal the opportunity to marry into the liege’s family, receive extra land from the liege, become a trusted advisor, or obtain a title of office at the liege’s court (Seneschal or Lord High Steward, Marshal or Constable, Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Household, Lord Treasurer, Grand Falconer or Master of the Hunt, Master Spy, Wizard of the Court, Lord or Lady of the Faith, etc.). Other changes in status might be more appropriate for commoners, such as moving from untitled gentry to petty nobility, knighthood, or baronetcy. Any time a liege confers a benefit, the vassal’s POV drops −5 points. In its hopefully long life, a vassal may reach a POV of 18+ multiple times, or fail catastrophically (usually only once). Treachery is often fatal. A POV below zero results in the liege attempting to expel the vassal from entrusted lands. A tyrannical liege might seek to send a disappointing former vassal to a monastery or a convent, or order its execution. A benevolent liege might instead bestow a pardon and send a former vassal on a quest (or a crusade) to regain lost honor and status.
Rivalries and Alliances
A simple tool defines relations between vassals (positive, neutral, or negative). They also feature a POV score with their liege. This creates a political environment where some vassals come together because they share a dislike of a common rival (and the latter’s clique, if any). A PC land-holder needs to investigate and roleplay relations with nearby peers. With some effort, the PC’s player ought to know some or all of the other vassals' dispositions (positive, neutral, or negative) and their POV scores, and play accordingly.
Unfriendly vassals might run a whisper campaign to harm a PC’s prospects with its liege (looking for chances to badmouth the PC), or vice versa. A PC might establish its own faction of like-minded vassals endeavoring to influence their liege. At worst, vassals might engage in political intrigues, sabotage, raids, armed conflict, or assassinations. At best, they could gain enough influence with the liege to placate rivals and earn favors, all the while adventuring, as any self-respecting D&D character should.
