The Illusion of Nobility in D&D

Comments · 411

• FL

  @FlameyTheGm · 6 months ago · pinned

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• SH

  @ShawnHCorey · 6 months ago

  Why would the local noble hire a bunch of randos to deal with 11 goblins?<br><br>1. They&apos;re cheaper than guards.<br><br>2. It keeps them busy instead of causing trouble on your lands.<br><br>3. Nobody cares if they die.<br><br>4. If hired discretely, you have plausible deniability.<br><br>5. Your neighbours are threatening you so you need your guards at home.<br><br>6. The goblins are minions; you need someone to probe the location and find out how tough it is.

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• CO

  @Coid · 6 months ago

  Back in the 3.5 era, the general thought was that if the king was not an archmage or a warrior powerful enough to kill a dragon with a soup spoon, then he either was directly related to someone like that or looking to marry off a relative to the first acceptable &nbsp;powerful adventurer in order to make their power secure against the supernatural threats of the D&amp;D world.

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• GO

  @Gobslime · 6 months ago

  I wish renown was more prominent and fleshed out in D&amp;D. Reputation is a huge thing and having the party grow famous or infamous from their actions is super cool. <br><br>Nobles starting with higher renown isn&apos;t game breaking. And them owning a small manor or house isn&apos;t broken, either! Letting them feel important in specific locations and hated in others is what opens up a ton of plots for just one background. <br><br>Dungeoneers nobles get their choice of a house, ship, large wagon, or small airship. It never really broke anything and makes them feel like they at least had money at one point.

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• MA

  @martylund8411 · 6 months ago

  Mercenaries are simultaneously valuable and expendible.

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• JA

  @Jattis_World · 6 months ago

  Another thing to keep in mind, nobles are middle management. &nbsp;They are put there to make sure the farms are producing food or the docks are pulling in trade. &nbsp;If they aren&apos;t looking after the people, the people revolt. &nbsp;If they don&apos;t produce results, nobles above them start asking questions and look to replace you.

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• FI

  @FireBowProductions · 6 months ago

  This is a great enhancement to how I build my kingdoms/countries. I always make sure I have a source of metal, timber, and farms for stability. Now I&apos;ve got another layer to add. Thanks Flamey.

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• RI

  @richardb4665 · 6 months ago

  When playing an NPC noble, I always play them as very friendly, and knowledgeable about the party. &nbsp;Really solid politicians who know how to get people to like them. &nbsp; Because... that is their job.

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• TH

  @thelorewright · 6 months ago

  I tend to write my nobility like how it was built in 1800&apos;s Sweden. Nobility with prestigious titles they gained centuries ago marrying merchants who have the money to fund their lifestyles and mages with the spell power to make sure the noble families remain in power.

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• BE

  @beybas5381 · 6 months ago

  I wouldn&apos;t actually agree that magic makes medieval warfare and hierarchy obsolete.<br>Nobles at the top had both the obligation and the opportunity to fight in conflicts - they did not have to toil away in the fields in order to feed themselves, instead they trained and organized military campaigns etc. Also this position allowed them to buy arms, horses, employ and feed less noble fighters.<br>This kind of pyramid structure means that the existence of mages requires a lot of resources too - institutuions, teachers, artisans, that also do not feed themselves like peasnts do. So yes, its possible that noble knights would be war mages, but imo does not change everything drastically.<br>Also, if you stick to the stereotypes of frail mages that cannot wear armor they become even more valueable and risky to use in battle. Because by DnD rules most not high level magic is quite short range - spells like Firebolt, Fireball and others have maximum distance of about 150 feet, while a squad of archers (historically) had effective range of 600 feet if not more. <br>I think this also justifies the existence of actual DnD parties that would act like small strike groups - extremely effective and powerful, but almost only in close range, at least in classical medieval warfare, and not dungeon crawl or something like it.

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• AN

  @angrybeyondallreason · 6 months ago (edited)

  My DM has addressed some of these concerns by simply readjusting currencies. Copper is the common coinage for everyday items. Silver is used for bulk trading and for highly specialized and magical gear. Gold is the currency of nobles, used to construct buildings and hire armies. Players will normally only have access to copper and silver, with gold being a super special exclusive reward. One gold piece for instance allowed us to construct a new wing for our home base (that still needs further investments to furnish and equip). Some silver will buy a fire sword or a sending stone. And some copper pieces will buy you lunch and some rope. Highly intuitive, scales power via an in-game mechanic. Helps that my character comes from middle nobility who really can&apos;t afford to hand him free cash since they need to feed people and build roads. He&apos;s also just a cinnamon roll who hates bothering his loving parents for favors, but that won&apos;t be every noble character.

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• JO

  @joelsasmad · 6 months ago (edited)

  The opening sounds less like Nobility lacking power and more like the DM just not putting in the effort to develop why the senerio would make sense.

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