Lieutenants

[Joel Parrish]

Speaking of spy lieutenants, how does everyone treat the Lieutenants action?
Do your regents always find exactly who they are looking for or do they come
up wrong. Since it takes a full Action(month) to look for an Lt. I usually
let them find the type of character they are looking for, but maybe not
exactly (missing one or two skills the regent was looking for), since there
is no GB cost. If the regent is willing to spend GB on the action, I give
them better lieutenants according to how much they spend. I do this because
my players were trying to create an army of super Lts, and I had to do
something to curb their power. Plus, if they don't spend any GB on them, I
will sometimes throw a disloyal Lt. or a spy/traitor in their midst, due to
the fact that maybe they didn't screen as carefully. Any sugesstions?

[chrys murphy]

Joel Parrish wrote:
>
> Speaking of spy lieutenants, how does everyone treat the Lieutenants action?
> Do your regents always find exactly who they are looking for or do they come
> up wrong. Since it takes a full Action(month) to look for an Lt. I usually
> let them find the type of character they are looking for, but maybe not
> exactly (missing one or two skills the regent was looking for), since there
> is no GB cost. If the regent is willing to spend GB on the action, I give
> them better lieutenants according to how much they spend. I do this because
> my players were trying to create an army of super Lts, and I had to do
> something to curb their power. Plus, if they don't spend any GB on them, I
> will sometimes throw a disloyal Lt. or a spy/traitor in their midst, due to
> the fact that maybe they didn't screen as carefully. Any sugesstions?
> ************************************************** *************************
> > When one of my players takes the Lieutenant Action, they specify what
class of character they want to attract and I then make a check to see
how many potential applicants they receive.
This check is based on the Regent's Bloodline, Domain Strength and
Charisma as follows:
1: Make a Charisma Check, the better the success, the more applicants
(Failure means only 1 Applicant)
2: Bloodline Strength and Domain Strength determine the levels of these
applicants and whether they have a bloodline. The greater the Bloodline
of the Regent and hence the more famous the family, and the Domain
Strength - how powerful and prestigious the Realm - will help determine
these factors. I.E. A Regent with a Great Bloodline will attract more
powerful Lieutenants than a Regent with a Minor Bloodline.
Once you have determined how many applicants there are, provide the
Regent with a list of the applicants and have him choose the one he
wishes to make a Lieutenant and then Make the Charisma Check to see if
he succeeds.
If the check is a success, the Regent has a new Lieutenant, if it fails,
some or all of the applicants may stay around for a period - and, of
course, if the Regents wants to, he can always hire some as Henchmen.

Hope this gives you a few ideas.

As to super Lieutenants, spending extra GB's may increase the number of
applicants attracted, but I would not let it improve the success chance
- - unless, as you say, you want to plant an agent in their midst (good
idea by the way)

[James Ruhland]

Ok, so this is gonna seem like a "duh" question, prolly (which is why I've
waited to ask it). Regarding Lt actions I've always been under the belief
that you get one Lt action, period (I.E. no matter how many Lt.s you have).
I still think that's true but I read some stuff, somewhere (gotta find the
source & page #s...) that seem to imply that you can have your Louies
perform the usual # of "character" actions (I.E. Reasurch, Adventure, Ply
Trade; not "Lieutanant" though; it would be kinda strange if your louies
started getting louies of their own...), but are still limited to one Lt
Domain/Realm action.
So, which is the case? On the one hand, it's kinda strange having them
loaf around doing squat most of the time (especially if you have several
louies; means that some years one or two may just do NOTHING). But on the
other hand. . .Hmmmn.
Any thoughts? Anyone? Anyone? What-do Economics?

[James Ruhland]

>
> As for what the lieutenants do when they don't do the Lt. Action,
well they have a life of their own don't they.
>
Hey! If I wanted them to have a life then I'd have issued one. (Hmmmn. .
.brings to mind two new Character actions: Get a Life (success based upon
Cha, I suppose) and Live Life.
But, IMO, my Lts should have as much (or as little) of a life as I do.
This is their job, after all (not loafing. What they wanna do on their own
time is their business, but IMO, 9-5 at least, not once in awhile.)

[James Ruhland]

>
> As for what the lieutenants do when they don't do the Lt. Action,
well they have a life of their own don't they.
>
Ok, seriously, though, that's kinda what I'm getting at. They don't just go
into the attic for storage when you're not using them for Realm/Domain
actions, right? So then can you send the blighters on Adventures, encourage
them to Reasurch for you, etc? Or are they just totally worthless
"employees" most of the time?
After all, no one's expecting them to give up clubbing & hitting the
brothels at night, but during the day they should be diligent, duitiful
minions.

[Jim Cooper]

James Ruhland wrote:
>
>

IMHO:

Anyone who is not a regent gets one action a domain turn. Therefore, if
a louie gets a command on high from his boss, his action is pretty much
decided on for this turn. Character action or no, this louie only gets
ONE action (which his boss decided for him). If his boss doesn't tell
him what to do, the louie is free to do what the louie pleases (like
agitate against that loser boss and steal the realm right from under his
nose! >:-D MWUHAHAHAHA !!!)

Darren

[James Ruhland]

>
> IMHO:
>
> Anyone who is not a regent gets one action a domain turn.
>
Hmmmmn. . .that doesn't sound right. You mean unblooded and Scion
(non-Regent PCs even) only get one action per turn?

[Memnoch]

- -----Original Message-----
From: James Ruhland
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 1998 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Lieutenants

> Ok, so this is gonna seem like a "duh" question, prolly (which is why I've
>waited to ask it). Regarding Lt actions I've always been under the belief
>that you get one Lt action, period (I.E. no matter how many Lt.s you have).
> I still think that's true but I read some stuff, somewhere (gotta find the
>source & page #s...) that seem to imply that you can have your Louies
>perform the usual # of "character" actions (I.E. Reasurch, Adventure, Ply
>Trade; not "Lieutanant" though; it would be kinda strange if your louies
>started getting louies of their own...), but are still limited to one Lt
>Domain/Realm action.

The "case" is that you are absolutely correct. The Regent can have his
Lieutenant do 1 domain/realm action once per domain turn regardless of how
many Lt's that he/she/it may have. Each of those Lt's however, can do 2-3
"character" actions per domain turn (depending on if the regent assigns a
domain action to one of the Lt's or not) on their own. So If a Mage regent
has 3 Lt's, he can have one cast a realm spell for him, and have him use the
remaining two months in spell research, while the remaining two can do
adventure actions: i.e. spell research etc for their 3 character actions.
At least this is how I read it in the rulebook under Lt's....

> So, which is the case? On the one hand, it's kinda strange having them
>loaf around doing squat most of the time (especially if you have several
>louies; means that some years one or two may just do NOTHING). But on the
>other hand. . .Hmmmn.
> Any thoughts? Anyone? Anyone? What-do Economics?
>************************************************* **************************
>>'unsubscribe birthright' as the body of the message.
>

[Mark A Vandermeulen]

On Wed, 18 Mar 1998, James Ruhland wrote:

> Hmmmmn. . .that doesn't sound right. You mean unblooded and Scion
> (non-Regent PCs even) only get one action per turn?

That's how I've always interpreted it: a non-regent can do 3 character
actions in a 3-month season, or can do ONE realm action during that time.
The lieutennant simply doesn't have all the benefits that the regent does:
she has no Regency, cannot fully access the entire state bureacracy the
way a regent does (after all, the regent is usually doing something ELSE
with that bureacracy during that time), has significantly less clout with
key players in the affair, and is subject to the petty jealousies and
manipulations of other underlings. Thus, it just takes longer to do such
things if you're not the king (literally or figuratively).
An interesting exception that I've occasionally used when time was of
the essence was give the lieutennant a reduced chance of getting their
action done in a shorter amount of time: each month, the lieutennant makes
the roll, but begins with a goal of 3 or less on the d20, the second month
has a goal of 6, and the third month has the normal goal of 10.
Afterwards, successive months add a +1 bonus to the roll, unless a 20 is
rolled at any time, in which case the lieutennant has failed (in any case
RP and GB costs must be spent again on the next season if you desire to
continue).
On the other hand, I have been considering allowing regents to utilize
more than one lieutennant per turn. After all, there seem to be few
physical limitations to why you can't have more than one lientennant "in
the field" (except for diminishing returns with access to increasingly
stretched state resources and bureacracy mentioned above). My though was
something like this:
CHA bonus Lieutennant actions/Domain turn
16 +1
17 +1
18 +2
19(+) +3

With the proviso that any lieutennant action beyond the first costs DOUBLE
the RP and GB price (although regents can and should choose to double the
lower of the two costs, if applicable). If this were to be abused, I might
consider the possibility of increasing the chances to roll a "Great
Captain" random event.

Comments?

Mark VanderMeulen
vander+@pitt.edu

[Jim Cooper]

James Ruhland wrote:
>
> >
> > IMHO:
> >
> > Anyone who is not a regent gets one action a domain turn.
> >
> Hmmmmn. . .that doesn't sound right. You mean unblooded and Scion
> (non-Regent PCs even) only get one action per turn?
>
OOOPSSS!!! I MEANT to say that a nonregent can only get one
*Domain/Realm* action a domain turn, IF a regent is willing to spend the
RPs and money for it. So yes, according to the rules, a regent can only
get one action from one louie per domain turn. Now, according to the
rules, a regent can only exercise this option once per domain turn, but
it doesn't say that you can't tell your louies to do other
CHARACTER/FREE actions for you or your domain every turn. Thus you can
only get one lieutenant to do one domain/realm action for you in a turn,
but you can could conceivably get all your lieutenants to say, adventure
to solve X number of random events in your domain.

Or you can just say 'screw the rules', this is my campaign and I'll do
what I want with it. :-D Thats always a free action (and thus, anyone
can do it!)

Darren