New Feudal Lifepaths

[Claymore]

Feudal Lifepaths

(Note: I’ve included these additional lifepaths to help GM’s preparing a Feudal fantasy campaign. Any skills noted with an ^ indicates a free skill which must be added to the character’s trait list. Any skill marked with a + indicates a Training skill.)

Villager Setting

Reeve*
*Requires the Elder Lifepath

Time: 10yrs, Trait: 1, Rps: 10, Stat: +1 Men

Leads: Villager, Outcast

Skills: (6pts) Soothing Platitudes, Oratory, Persuasion, Etiquette, Local History, Law, Peasant-wise, Ugly Truth.


Notes:
The Reeve is the Peasant leader of the village. He rules over the village moot, determines the crops to be planted, and keeps the community as a whole together, acting as their voice to the local lord. For this duty he has the privilege of eating at the lord’s Table. The village reeve is typically the senior (oldest) competent peasant in the village. A freeman cannot hold the position, only one bound to the land.

Village Idiot

Time: 3yrs, Trait: 2, Rps: 3, Stat:---,

Leads: Outcast, Villager, Servitude

Skills: (2pts) Being an Ass^, Theatrics, Falsehood

Notes:
Every village has one (and sometimes two or three).

Peasant Setting

Beadle*
*Requires the Yeoman Lifepath

Time: 6yrs, Trait: 2 Rps: 10, Stat: +1 Ph
Leads: Villager, Soldier, Outcast

Skills: (6pts) Keeping the Peace^, Law, Interrogation, Brawling, Appropriate Weapon, Observation+

Note: A beadle is the village constable, appointed by the lord to keep the peace within the community. A yeoman is typically given the position as an additional duty by the local lord.

Yeoman

Time: 4yrs, Trait: --Rps: 8, Stat: +1 Phy

Leads: Villager, Soldier, Outcast

Skills: (6pts) Appropriate Weapon, Farming, Shield+, Animal Husbandry, Wearing Armor+, Brawling.

Note:
A yeoman is a Freeman, who holds his land in exchange for 40 days of military service each year (up to 90 in times of war). When not serving as the lord’s man-at-arms during campaign, he is farming his lands and training for duty.

Petit Sergeant*
*Requires the Yeoman Lifepath

Time: 5yrs, Trait: 1, Rps: 10, Stat: +1 Phy

Leads: Villager, Soldier, Noble Court, Outcast

Skills: (8pts) Riding, Mounted Combat+, Appropriate Weapon, Shield+ Animal Husbandry, Wearing Armor, Farming.

Note:
A Petit Sergeant is a yeoman rich enough to afford a horse.

Noble Court Sub-Setting

Bailiff*
*Requires the Knight Lifepath

Time: 6yrs, Trait: 1, Rps: 25, Stat: +1 Men

Leads: Soldier, Noble, Outcast

Skills: (6pts) Skimming off the top^, Estate Management, Accounting, Appropriate Weapon, Shield+, Wearing Armor+.

Note:
A Bailiff is a person appointed by his lord to govern an area in his absence. Typically a knight, a bailiff earns a percentage of the revenue of the fief he administers, but does not own the land, and it will not pass down to an heir upon his death.

Sheriff

Time: 6yrs, Trait: 2, Rps: 20, Stat: +1 Men

Leads: Villager, Noble, Outcast

Skills: (6pts) Bureaucracy, Law, Intimidation, Appropriate Weapon, Interrogation, Etiquette, Observation+.

Note:
The Sheriff is the chief royal officer in the shire (a shire is a political division, rather than a lordly domain), responsible to the Lord Constable of the realm. Any free man convicted of a crime has the right of appeal to the shire court.

These rules were created using Luke's Lifepath generation guidelines.

Enjoy!

-Claymore

[luke]

these are great. I'm glad the LP Guidelines worked out. (It's hard to tell what works when you publish your notes.)


My one question is about the Yoeman and Petit Sergeant. Are you sure they can afford the heavier armors and thus qualify for Armor Training?

Just curious.

-abzu

[Claymore]

these are great. I'm glad the LP Guidelines worked out. (It's hard to tell what works when you publish your notes.)


My one question is about the Yoeman and Petit Sergeant. Are you sure they can afford the heavier armors and thus qualify for Armor Training?

Just curious.

-abzu

Typically, Yeomen and Petit Sergeants wore chain shirts (wealthy Yeomen would also have chain arms and leggings, otherwise they would have leather), a metal pot helm, and a shield. The problem is your resource rules really don’t cover partial armor purchases. I personally would wing it for my own campaign, saying mixed armor would cost an average of the two values, round up (and assume chest protection is the better armor). That would lower the cost of armor to 8, still making it unlikely a 14 year old would have the full Res to outfit himself with armor and weapons, but more than enough if the character took yeoman twice, or yeoman with another village lifepath. Also, being Yeomen rather than Chivalrics there are is normally not up to the same quality, being passed down through several generations (and using the poor quality costs).

Another thing with the resource rules I’ve always had problems with were the horse values. 12 Res for a warhorse is way too low, a good warhorse would typically cost 5000-8000 pennies, easily 20+ Res in BW. I assume a 12 Res warhorse is you basic cavalry (you can ride it into combat, but it won’t fight for you). With the better warhorses costing more.

-Claymore

[luke]

you are the first player to complain that war horses are too cheap.

anyway, i have a friend that wants to do an entire BW supplement on warhorses. Perhaps now that he knows there is an audience he'll be more inclined to go forward.

As for other equipment costs... I am not a big fan of the "get your gold, buy your stuff" method of character creation. It always seems characters either lack what they need or have an abundance of crap.

I tried to build a "take what you need" system with enough fluidity to accomodate the diversity of all of those damned lifepaths. Obviously some detail gets lost in the shuffle. If your campaign requires a modified resources list, by all means go ahead! Post it here, so others can follow your example. (Even I modify the rp costs for my individual campaigns. Usually to create incentive/disincentive where necessary.)

-abzu

[Claymore]

you are the first player to complain that war horses are too cheap.

anyway, i have a friend that wants to do an entire BW supplement on warhorses. Perhaps now that he knows there is an audience he'll be more inclined to go forward.

As for other equipment costs... I am not a big fan of the "get your gold, buy your stuff" method of character creation. It always seems characters either lack what they need or have an abundance of crap.

I tried to build a "take what you need" system with enough fluidity to accomodate the diversity of all of those damned lifepaths. Obviously some detail gets lost in the shuffle. If your campaign requires a modified resources list, by all means go ahead! Post it here, so others can follow your example. (Even I modify the rp costs for my individual campaigns. Usually to create incentive/disincentive where necessary.)

-abzu

Again, just by downgrading the armor to poor, or perhaps giving an additional +2 Res to each path (I don't think it would break them) could work well. I based my numbers on your lifepaths themselves, for example; calvalryman has both armor and mounted combat with 1 less resource point than the Petit Sergeant (I was afraid to go over LOL), therefore I consider your word final on how many Res each path should have.

BTW, Luke, if you think they are good enough, feel free to post them on the main page as rule additions, as well as incorperate them into future works. All I ask for an author credit for design :)

-Claymore

PS, if I can dig out my historical references on horse pricing in the middle ages, I'll post them.

[luke]

as you can see from the Credit Due pages of the books, I really do try to give all credit possible. Likely it would be a "Game Development" credit.

I just wanted to get that out there for everyone and anyone who has contributed to the game. I LOVE giving credit.

-abzu

[Claymore]

as you can see from the Credit Due pages of the books, I really do try to give all credit possible. Likely it would be a "Game Development" credit.

I just wanted to get that out there for everyone and anyone who has contributed to the game. I LOVE giving credit.

-abzu

More than enough :lol:

-Claymore