Lost Province House Rules
The Lost Province campaign makes use of rules for exploration and kingdom-building first laid out in Kingmaker and later updated in Ultimate Campaign and the online Pathfinder SRD. Deviations from those rules, and any other related house rules, are given here.
Material In Use
The Lost Province campaign uses some material beyond the Core Rulebook, but not everything in the Pathfinder SRD will be available. Consider this a 'master list' of material in use and allowed - I hope not to have to update this unless I've overlooked something significant and obvious. If in doubt, please ask!
Pathfinder Core Rulebook: It's the Core Rulebook; everything in here is okay for play.
Advanced Player's Guide: Most of the additional material in the APG will be in use and okay for play. Traits will be in use; hero points will not.
Advanced Race Guide: Additional races as noted in Races of the Phoenix Empire, and expanded options for core races. The exception to this is anything that references material from Ultimate Combat or Ultimate Magic - these books will not be in use, and character options that depend on material from these sources should be avoided.
Ultimate Campaign: As noted above, the exploration and kingdom-building rules. There probably won't be any call to use the other rules and subsystems and I would prefer to avoid making things any more complicated than is already the case.
Hex Size
Kingmaker describes each hex as measuring 12 miles between opposite corners and covering "just under 150 square miles of area," which doesn't quite add up. Ultimate Campaign and the SRD maintain the figure of 12 miles from corner to corner, and correct the area of each hex to just under 95 square miles.
The Lost Province campaign instead uses hexes that measure 12 miles from the centre of one edge to the centre of the opposite edge (or from the centre of one hex to the centre of any adjacent hex) and which cover an area just under 125 square miles each. There are a few reasons for this:
1) Edge-to-edge and centre-to-centre distances are more useful than corner-to-corner distances when handling exploration and travel;
2) The travel times listed in Ultimate Campaign and the SRD are more consistent with hexes of this size than those which are 12 miles corner-to-corner (closer to 10.5 miles edge-to-edge);
3) Many calculations involving area become easier with hexes of 125 square miles rather than 95 square miles.
Some approximate points of reference or comparison include:
8 hexes = 1,000 sq. miles: the size of Luxembourg.
77 hexes = 9,625 sq. miles: one Kingmaker wilderness map. The size of Macedonia.
241 hexes = 30,125 sq. miles: total area of the Lost Province campaign map. The size of the Czech Republic.
308 hexes = 38,500 sq. miles: all four Kingmaker wilderness maps. The size of South Korea.
Hex Claims and 'Border Patrols' (added 16/12/2015)
Although the PCs can find out what lies within a hex by exploring it, and can befriend, defeat, or otherwise deal with any creatures or dangers there in preparation for later claiming that hex for their kingdom, their knowledge of any given hex is only as up-to-date as their most recent foray into that hex, unless an exploration edict has traversed it, rumours from other travellers within that hex have reached them, or they have some other way of knowing about events there.
Claimed hexes can 'see' into adjacent unclaimed hexes and are aware of certain events in those hexes - for example, if a monster or a group of NPCs overtly occupies a vacant site (such as a ruin or lair) within that hex, or if a rival kingdom lays claim to it. Assume that local settlers are keeping watch over their own lands and a little ways beyond, that soldiers within that hex at a structure such as a Watchtower or Barracks are patrolling the kingdom's borders, etc.
With this in mind, within any kingdom turn the PCs' kingdom can only claim hexes that are adjacent to those controlled by the kingdom at the start of its turn, i.e. those hexes whose contents are known because they can be 'seen' from within a controlled hex. It is not possible to claim a hex 2 or more hexes away from controlled territory - events may have transpired since your last visit to that hex to make it impossible to claim.
NPC kingdoms operate under the same restrictions. However, within each step of the kingdom turn sequence, the PCs' kingdom always 'wins initiative' and has the option of acting first. For example, if both the PC's kingdom and an NPC kingdom are adjacent to an unclaimed hex, the PCs' kingdom performs step 2.2 of the kingdom turn sequence and has the option of claiming that hex before the NPC kingdom performs the same step of the kingdom turn sequence.
Terrain Improvements
Kingmaker has only rudimentary rules for terrain improvements (roads and farmlands) but Ultimate Campaign and the SRD develop this aspect of the kingdom-building rules rather further.
The Ultimate Campaign terrain improvement rules indicate that mines, quarries, and sawmills cannot share hexes with other terrain improvements. I don't feel this entirely makes sense – while digging a quarry or open-cast mine into a hillside might prevent the use of that same hillside as farmland, it shouldn't prohibit the construction of forts, roads, watchtowers, or similar improvements nearby. Instead, the Lost Province campaign will treat these improvements as follows:
Farms, quarries, and mines should are considered mutually exclusive; you can only build one of these terrain improvements in any given hex. In addition, a fishery cannot be built in the same hex as a quarry or mine. Sawmills would also be considered mutually exclusive with farms, quarries, and mines, if not for the fact that they depend upon different terrain types and can't be built in the same hex anyway. A fishery can be built in the same hex as a farm or a sawmill, if the terrain would normally permit this.
Canals (added 22/10/2015)
The kingdom building rules presented in Ultimate Campaign state that "settlements in a hex with a Canal treat the hex as if it had a river." Further information in Ultimate Campaign suggests one other context in which a Canal is functionally identical to a river: enabling the creation of the Farm terrain improvement.
For reference, here are the ways in which a Canal is like a river:
Settlements: a Canal permits the construction of settlement buildings that depend upon the presence of a water or river settlement border, and converts one of a settlement's borders to a water or river border at no cost.
Trade Routes: a Canal allows the establishing of a trade route as though it were a river. A trade route counts each Canal hex normally, as though it were a river.
Travel: a Canal permits the passage of any watercraft normally able to navigate a river or lake.
And here are the ways in which a Canal is not like a river:
Fisheries: a Canal is not sufficient to enable to construction of a Fishery in a hex.
Kingdom Attributes: A Canal does not provide any benefit to a kingdom's Economy and Stability attributes.
Road Bridges: a Canal does not double the cost of a Road subsequently constructed in the same hex, nor does the presence of a Road in a hex modify the cost of a subsequent Canal. Assume that canals are uniformly narrower that natural rivers, with sturdy artificial banks that enable easy bridge construction.
Population
While the kingdom-building rules do not require PCs to track their kingdom's population, Kingmaker suggests a population of the kingdom's Size (in hexes) x 250, plus the total population of its settlements (250 per filled lot). In the Lost Province campaign, each terrain improvement in a hex is assumed to increase the kingdom's population by a further 250 people, as the wilderness is tamed and made steadily more habitable; assume that highways and forts, as upgraded roads and watchtowers respectively, count as 2 improvements each.
That 'Dance Hall' Business
Among the various buildings that Kingmaker PCs could include in their settlements was a brothel; at some point late in the production of Ultimate Campaign, it was decided to rename this to 'dance hall,' though its building icon and mechanical effects remained the same. Unfortunately, multiple references to 'brothel' still exist elsewhere in the settlement-building rules in Ultimate Campaign and the SRD. Assume the two are interchangeable; if you build one, it may be either, or some other, functionally equivalent establishment.
Starting From Scratch
The Lost Province campaign assumes the PCs are starting their kingdom from scratch, without the benefit of a grant, a charter, or a wealthy sponsor. With this in mind, the PCs' kingdom will initially enjoy a more beneficial exchange rate of gold to BP based on its size, as listed on Ultimate Campaign p. 205.
NPCs in Kingdom Government
When NPCs are recruited into leadership roles in a kingdom, the following house rules and considerations apply.
Most significantly, I'm using a modified version of Ultimate Campaign's Table 4-7: Event Type and Danger Level (p. 220) which now includes entries for, essentially, "NPC leader does something" and "NPC leader wants something," the ranges for which expand as the number of NPCs in your government grows.
Kingdom Experience Points
When a significant NPC agrees to join your kingdom and perform a leadership role, even if that NPC is not immediately placed into such a role, the party earns kingdom XP as though they had defeated that NPC in combat. Named, unique NPCs are generally considered significant; the PCs cannot "farm" XP by continuously hiring and firing level 1 commoners to fill vacant leadership roles, for example.
Preferred Roles
NPCs typically do not have traits and, in particular, do not have access to campaign traits. Instead, each NPC has a number of preferred roles, based on their personal history and overall competence. An NPC in one of his or her preferred roles grants a +1 bonus to the kingdom attribute that role modifies; for example, an NPC who prefers the Magister role grants adds their Intelligence or Charisma modifier +1 to the kingdom's Economy when placed in the Magister role. If an NPC's role allows them to modify multiple kingdom attributes (for example, a Ruler in a larger kingdom) the preferred role bonus applies to only one such attribute.
Discontent
Just as the kingdom as a whole may suffer unrest, so too may an NPC in government become discontent with the way things are running. Think of discontent as unrest specific to a particular NPC. Discontent has the following effects on NPCs:
- A discontent NPC in one of his or her preferred roles no longer grants the +1 preferred role bonus.
- A discontent NPC outside of his or her preferred roles instead suffers a -1 penalty to the attribute bonus they provide.
- Subtract the total number of discontent NPCs (not the totalled discontent values of all discontent NPCs) in leadership roles from all Economy, Loyalty, and Stability checks.
- NPCs recruited to the kingdom but not placed in leadership roles may still become discontent, but these NPCs do not affect kingdom checks.
- An NPC whose discontent climbs too high will abandon his or her leadership role and leave the kingdom.
The threshold of discontent beyond which an NPC will quit his or her post varies from one NPC to the next, and is not known to the PCs, but can generally be assumed to be significantly lower than the threshold of 20 unrest before a kingdom descends into anarchy. Gratuitous transgressions against an NPC or his or her interests may bypass the discontent rules entirely. Discontent, like unrest, can never be reduced below zero.
Likes and Goals
Most NPCs have particular goals which they will attempt to influence the kingdom towards. This might be claiming more territory, founding additional settlements, or something more unique. An NPC's goals may be represented as events, rolled randomly during the Event phase, or as periodic or continuous behaviour. An NPC whose attempts to advance his or her goals are frustrated may become discontent as detailed above. Accommodating an NPC's likes and goals in the running of your kingdom is the primary means of reducing discontent.
Dislikes
Most NPCs would prefer to avoid certain events or situations. They might discourage the kingdom from doing certain things, or they might find particular events, rolled randomly during the Event phase, to be especially upsetting. When something occurs that is called out as being especially disliked by an NPC, that NPC may become discontent as detailed above. In some cases an NPC's dislikes may mirror their likes and goals; an NPC with the goal of claiming more territory, for example, may well dislike the kingdom going too long without expanding.
Unique Traits and Benefits
Certain NPCs may provide additional unique benefits. For example, a studious wizard might research arcane spells or produce scrolls which are subsequently made available to PC spellcasters; a well-connected merchant might occasionally divert funds and resources to the PCs' kingdom. Details of these traits and benefits will be provided as and when particular NPCs are recruited.
Trade Edicts (Rewrite/House Rules) (added 26/01/2015) (DRAFT)
Trade edicts are special edicts that allow you to create a trade route with another kingdom, increasing your Economy and possibly the BP you gain every month. If the option rules for Fame and Infamy are in use, a successful trade route may also increase your kingdom's Fame, while the early termination of a trade route may raise your kingdom's Infamy.
To plan a trade route, select another kingdom as your trade partner and determine the distance in hexes from a settlement in your kingdom to a settlement in the target kingdom, tracing the path of the trade route rather than a direct line. a trade route can pass through grassland, desert, or any terrain that has a road or highway. If your settlement contains a Pier, the trade route can pass along rivers and coastal hexes. If your settlement contains a Waterfront, your trade route can pass through river, coastal, and water hexes.
Trade Route Length (TRL): Calculate the length of your trade route as follows, inclusive of the origin and destination hexes:
Roads or Rivers: 1 per hex
Deserts or Plains (without roads): 2 per hex
Highways or Water: 0.5 per hex; round a fractional total down as usual
Forests, Hills, Mountains, or Swamps (without roads): trade routes cannot cross these types of terrain
Route Modifier (RM): Count the number of hexes between the origin and destination settlements, inclusive, using the shortest possible route and ignoring the underlying terrain. Subtract this from the TRL to determine your route modifier, with a minimum value of 0; a very direct routes that makes use of highways or open water ran reduce the route modifier to nothing, but no further.
Length Modifier (LM): Determine which parts of your planned trade route pass through unclaimed, wilderness terrain, and which parts pass through lands claimed by other kingdoms, including the hex which contains the destination settlement. Also determine the number and size of any settlements other than the origin and destination settlements along the planned trade route; your own settlements and those of other kingdoms both count for this purpose. Then calculate your length modifier as follows:
Unclaimed/Wilderness: 1 per hex
Other Kingdoms: 0.5 per hex; round a fractional total down as usual
Settlements: 1 per district
The minimum length modifier for any trade route is 0, if you are trading goods from one of your settlements to a foreign settlement in an immediately adjacent hex.
Initial Investment and Investment Modifier (IM): Your kingdom must invest a certain minimum amount into the initial trade expedition using this trade route. The minimum initial investment is (Economy/10) BP or 5 BP, whichever is higher; larger kingdoms requite greater volumes of trade in order to turn a meaningful profit, but tiny kingdoms may struggle to produce enough of a surplus to support trade. Paying this minimum initial investment gives you an investment modifier of 1; this is used when calculating the benefits of a successful trade route. You may invest more than this minimum amount in order to increase the benefits of a successful trade route; for every additional multiple of the minimum initial investment that you pay, the trade route's investment modifier increases by 1. For example, a kingdom with an Economy of 87 must invest at least 8 BP in any potential trade route, but one that can afford to invest 24 BP has an investment modifier of 3 for that route of it is successfully established.
Escorts (EM): A trade expedition can be provided with additional guards to assist in its safe passage through dangerous wilderness areas, and with diplomatic and financial experts to help navigate the bureaucracies of foreign kingdoms, all of which increases the expedition's chance of successfully establishing a trade route. Sending these escorts with your trade expedition provides you with an escort modifier, which can be applied to one or more of your kingdom's statistics when you attempt to determine the success of your trade route. Escorts cost 1+(TRL/10) BP for an escort modifier of +1 to one kingdom statistic of your choice (Economy, Loyalty, or Stability). To apply your escort modifier to additional kingdom statistics, pay +1 BP per additional kingdom statistic you wish it to cover. If you want an escort modifier greater than +1, multiply its cost by the desired modifier. You cannot hire multiple sets of escorts to provide different escort modifiers to different kingdom statistics. For example, a trade route of length 22 will cost 3 BP for escorts that provide a +1 escort modifier to Loyalty alone; 5 BP for escorts that provide a +1 escort modifier to Economy, Loyalty, and Stability; 9 BP for escorts that provide a +3 modifier to Stability alone; or 8 BP for escorts that provide a +2 modifier to Economy and Loyalty.
Establishing a trade route takes 1 hex per day along roads and rivers (upstream), 2 along coastlines, and 4 along water or rivers (downstream). If the journey requires 30 days or fewer, its benefits, if successful, apply from the end of the Event Phase of the turn in which the expedition was dispatched. If the journey requires more than 30 days, do not determine its success or failure, or apply its benefits, until the end of the Event Phase of the turn in which the expedition reaches its destination.
Success or Failure
Once your expedition arrives at its destination, attempt an Economy check, a Loyalty check, and a Stability check. Calculate the DC as follows; if settlement modifiers are being calculated, apply the Corruption and Productivity modifiers of the originating settlement.
DC = Control DC + Corruption + RM + LM – Productivity
Apply your EM, if any, to the appropriate kingdom statistics when attempting these checks.
No successes: the expedition is a total loss. Either it fails to reach its destination, falling prey to monsters and bandits along the route, or there is no market for its goods. Fame decreases by 1, and unrest increases by 1d4.
1 success: the expedition is unable to establish a trade route, but is able to sell its goods elsewhere for (IM)d4 BP.
2 successes: the trade route is established. Your Treasury increases by (2IM)d4 BP. Your economy increases by IM for the duration of the trade route.
3 successes: the trade route is a great success. You Treasury increases by 1+(2IM)+(TRL/10)d4 BP. Your economy increases by 1+IM+(TRL/10) for the duration of the trade route. If the optional rules for Fame and Infamy are being used, Fame increases by 1.
An established trade route provides its benefits to Economy (and, optionally, Loyalty) for 1 year, after which it may be established again (by sending a new trade expedition) or abandoned.
Special Trade Routes
A kingdom can have one of each of the following special types of trade route. Each type requires certain buildings in your settlement, and each increases the Economy bonus from a successful trade route. Whether a trade route is special or standard must be determined when the trade route is first established; a standard trade route cannot become a special trade route once established, nor may one type of special trade route become another.
Food: If your kingdom has surplus production from farms and fisheries that reduces its Consumption to below 0, you may export food. a successful food trade route increases Economy by 1 for every 10 Farms and Fisheries in the kingdom; this benefit is lost in any month that Farms and Fisheries do not reduce Consumption below 0. You must have at least 1 Granary and 1 Stockyard in the origin settlement.
Goods: The trade route transports goods such as weapons and textiles. Count all Guildhalls, Smithies, Shops, Trade Shops, and Tanneries in the origin settlement and divide by 10; a successful goods trade route increases Economy by this amount. You must have at least 1 Guildhall in the origin settlement.
Luxuries: This trade route carries exotic goods such as art, musical instruments, books, spices, dyes, and magic items. Count all Alchemists, Caster's Towers, Exotic Artisans, Herbalists, Luxury Stores, and Magic Shops in the origin settlement and divide by 10; a successful luxuries trade route increases Economy by that amount. You must have at least 1 Luxury Store in the origin settlement.
Raw Materials: This trade route carries common raw materials such as lumber, stone, ore, or metal. a successful raw materials trade route increases Economy by 1 for every 10 Mines, Quarries, and Sawmills in the kingdom. You must have at least 1 Foundry in the origin settlement to count Mines.
Trade Route Limitations
There are certain limitations on how many trade routes a kingdom may establish, as follows.
1 Trade Route Origin per Settlement District: Each of your settlement districts may only act as the origin settlement for one trade route. A settlement large enough to span multiple districts may act as the origin settlement for as many trade routes as it has districts.
1 Trade Route Destination per Settlement District: Each foreign settlement district may only act as the destination settlement for one trade route; a city of any given size may only support a certain amount of foreign trade. A settlement large enough to span multiple districts may act as the destination settlement for as many trade routes as it has districts.
1 of each Special Trade Route: As noted above, a kingdom may only maintain one of each type of special trade route.
Knowledge of Trade Routes
It may not be immediately apparent that a foreign settlement is already the destination of a trade route from a third party.
If you establish an Embassy in a foreign settlement, your diplomats can keep advised you of any trade routes that start or end in that settlement, and when they are due to expire.
If you establish a Treaty with a foreign kingdom, you may negotiate to share information regarding trade routes. In a balanced treaty, the party with the advantage gets to decide whether or not information about trade routes is shared (either making such a request, or rejecting a request from the other party), and both parties share the same information with each other. In an unbalanced treaty, the party with the advantage may demand to see the disadvantaged party's trade route information, but need not share its own trade route information in kind.
Visiting a foreign settlement or establishing a correspondence with an NPC in a foreign settlement may also reveal to you information about trade routes that start or end in that settlement.
None of these options will tell you what Economy bonus a particular trade route grants.
Terminating Trade Routes
A kingdom may terminate a trade route early during the edict phase. Terminating a trade route is not considered a special edict and does not prevent the kingdom from issuing a new Diplomatic, Exploration, Trade, or Vassalage edict in the same turn. A kingdom may wish to terminate a trade route in order to establish a more advantageous trade route, either from a different origin settlement, or to a different destination settlement, or as a different type of special trade route.
Effects Abroad: Terminating a trade route generates ill feeling in the destination settlement. The DC of Economy, Stability, and Loyalty checks made to establish a subsequent trade route with that settlement increases by 1 for each month by which the trade edict was truncated. This penalty diminishes by 1 each month.
Effects at Home: If you immediately and successfully establish a new trade route which provides an Economy bonus at least equal to the trade route you have just terminated, there is no ill effect at home. Otherwise, attempt an Economy check, a Loyalty check, and a Stability check, increasing the DC of each check by the number of months by which the trade edict was truncated; this should be done during the Edict Phase, if you are making no attempt to establish a new trade route or if your trade expedition will not arrive until the next turn, or during the Event Phase, if your attempt to establish a new trade route fails or if the new, successful trade route results in an Economy loss compared to the terminated trade route.
3 successes: Unrest increases by 1.
2 successes: Unrest increases by 1d4 or the Economy loss, whichever is lesser.
1 success: Unrest increases by 1d4 or the Economy loss, whichever is greater.
No successes: Unrest increases by 1d4 + the Economy loss.
Competing Trade Routes
If two or more trade expeditions reach a settlement in the same turn, but that settlement is only large enough to support one additional trade route, the Economy, Loyalty, and Stability checks are considered opposed checks. Each kingdom must attempt to equal or exceed the DC of its own check, and also to beat the result of the opposing kingdom's check.
Any attempt that fails versus its target DC is considered a failure, regardless of whether or not it beats the opposing kingdom's check, or whether the opposing kingdom succeeds or fails in its own check. Otherwise, a kingdom achieves a number of successes equal to the number of opposed rolls it wins. A kingdom that succeeds versus the target DC of at least 1 check, but fails to beat the results of the opposing kingdom's checks, achieves a result equivalent to 1 success.
If you attempt to establish a trade route with a foreign settlement that can support no more trade routes, attempt Economy, Loyalty, and Stability checks as normal, but the best possible result you can achieve is equivalent to 1 success. You also learn when the settlement's established trade route(s) will expire.