SKM Development: The Ruler part 2, the Fisher King

The issue with having stats for your leader, and having those stats affect the kingdom, is again, the spreadsheet.

We’ve already figured out two modifiers to incomes, specifically to resource income. One is raising too many people. One is potentially our leader and his proposed Ministry stat.

Now, in case you can’t see yesterday’s posts, I decided on the following stats.

Thew:  How physically tough is your leader?

Craft:  How magically tough is your leader?

Shrewd: How cagey are you / how good are you at doing roguish things?

Ministry:  How good are you at managing things?

Allure: What is your personal charisma?

Now, how do we actually apply those, without making this into a book keeping nightmare?

Well, firstly, I don’t think the addition of a third sheet for ‘ruler’ would be particularly daunting for a PC. Alternatively, we can make a ruler section on the spreadsheet. It’s just five stats (and maybe a class).

Secondly, what should each apply to?

Well, Allure might tie to morale. We haven’t figured out that mechanic yet though.

Craft, Thew  and Shrewd are direct combat scores, really representative of the ruler’s own capability for putting the hurt on people. Keep in mind that count intrigue, attacks by owlbears, demonic pleromas attacking are all events or adventures. So they can be dealt with on a case by case. Thew is not CK2’s martial, it’s not representative of how you’re both a badass and a tactical genius. The whole ‘tactical genius’ thing is really up to the player.

That leaves us with Ministry and Allure. Allure ironically could tie into military matters, but I think for simplicity it’s better that we don’t. Ministry however, Ministry should be pretty darn useful for Kingdom stuff.  I figure Ministry should be good for cutting down set costs and drawbacks (or increasing them if it’s too low).  Maybe let it increase your range on how far your troops can travel before incurring Subsistence drawbacks, maybe it decreases spoilage, maybe having it over a threshold means you can get away with a higher tax. 

And that’s the thought process I had. Thresholds. The ‘problem’ with thresholds is that if we make the cut off 10, then a guy with an 11 ministry is only better on paper from a guy with 10, but since we’re trying to keep our stats low, well, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Where this also ties in, is with the class system. Even in CK2, there are classes. They’re hidden, but they’re there, in the form of a character’s education background. Theologian, Failed Warrior, Grey Eminence, and so on. Each one a focus on a specific stat. Since we’re a fantasy RPG, lets instead have our classes modify the base 1d6 rolls of the players.

So let’s start with the “Holy Four,” as a thought experiment.

Fighter: +2 thew, -1 craft, +1 allure   

He’s a tougher guy. Not really focused on magic and spells. And peasants generally like a strong warrior king. After all, wizards are weird.

Wizard: +2 craft, -1 thew, +1 shrewd

Same mechanic. Same aiming for the ‘net increase.’ Not really focused on physical stuff. And he’s not so much a person people look up to, as someone cagey, partially for book learning.

Rogue:  +2 shrewd, -1 thew, +1 craft

All cage. Not super into muscle, and a little magical know-how there.

Priest: +2 ministry,  -1 thew, +1 allure

Knows how to administrate and take care of people. Still, somewhat bookish. And well, people respect a man of the cloth. King-priests are a thing after all.

Just an idea for the moment.

Might add on a barbarian/ranger type style thing later. I don't want too many different types.