Main Page » Domain action summary » Decree action

This action is summarized in Domain action descriptions. This page expands upon the basic BRCS description and adds various alternative interpretations and options.

[top]Basic


You make an administrative decision with regard to your domain or a declaration to other domains. There is no domain action check for a decree action. A decree cannot directly affect another regent's domain, change the level of a holding (this would be a Contest action), or change the attitude of the populace (this would be an Agitate action). Example decrees might including the raising of a vassal to a new noble rank or position, a declaration of support for some party or another in a conflict, the grant of permissions to a noble or military order, a declaration of war, an increase in taxes (if the variable taxation variant is in use), the declaration of a new holiday or public event, or any similar action.
Decrees often take the form of laws ? whether laws for the realm or for particular holdings. For example, a temple holding may declare that it is immoral to enlist in a realm regent's army. If the temple holding controls all of the religion in the province, virtually all of the people will be hesitant to disobey the church, making it very difficult ? if not impossible ? for the realm regent to recruit troops in the province. Decrees often lose effectiveness over time unless actions are spent to keep the decree fresh in everyone's mind. Ancient decrees might be ignored entirely until someone takes the effort to restore it to circulation.

[top]Expanded


The decree action is mechanically a catch-all for any action that doesn't seem to be covered by the existing domain action types. As such the odds of success, costs, and any side-effects, are likely to be highly variable and subject to GM whim - ideally proposed decrees would be discussed with the GM in advance to minimize surprises.
The risk/cost of the action should be matched as far as possible, although a high DC is not necessarily balancing if repeat attempts are possible. The following variants indicate some potential actions.

[top]Note


As a decree is the issuance of a law, proclamation, etc, they can generally only affect landed holdings, not source holdings. It is possible however that a wizard's source holding could consist of the following of nature spirits, assistance of fey, etc and so potentially a source holder could issue a decree which affected a source domain.
In 2e, decree's were free actions, with success and consequences as ruled by the GM, and only 1-2 decrees were possible each season. The following variants are based on [[BRCS]] and other D&D 3e conversions.

[top]Variants

[top]Fund raising


A regent can raise funds outside of the usual holding income. Mechanically the effect is the same whether this fund raising occurs due to reduced costs (half pay for the troops this season for failing to capture Ansien!) or due to increased income.
Taxes are often irregular in a Medieval world, special taxes to raise a ransom, on the knighting of a son, marriage of a daughter, etc are to be expected. Taxes can however cause unrest if they are seen as arbitrary or onerous. Where taxes are directed at specific groups such as members of another human tribe, members of a particular guild or temple, etc., the unrest is likely to be limited to that particular group.
The income raised could be as follows:
  • ([[BRCS]]) DC 10. Court Action. 1d6 GB
  • Raise 1 GB per 3 holding levels or 1 RP per 2 holding levels. DC 10 is to raise income from a random source, DC 15 to choose the source of the funds - internal (cost savings), the general populace, a trade route running across the domain or a specific landed holding type, DC20 to raise funds from specified holdings only (max 1 GB per 3 holding levels of the targeted domain within the area of overlapping influence).
  • (Ruins of Empire). DC 10. Court action. 1d6 GB. -1 prosperity to the province the following season.

In general, to prevent abuse the action should have side effects - reduced domain morale, increased likelihood of random events such as unrest, great captains, etc. Good role-playing, explanations for the taxes, etc should reduce penalties but not eliminate them.

[top]Making waves


Sometimes a decree can be used to cause trouble for a neighboring regent, although the recipient is likely to be vengeful - unlike an Intrigue action, the decree is open and cannot be secretive. In general a good description could cause a minor relevant (banditry, flooding, etc) random event can be created for a neighboring regent, or the decree could cause an existing event to worsen.
  • (RoE) DC 5 - 15 depending on the severity of the effect and existing local conditions, failure will generally result in a minor event of the same type in the regent's domain.


[top]Oppose an action by a regent


Opposing a standard action. Add 2 (1d4 under 2e) to the DC of the action to reflect the personal involvement of the regent in addition to any DC modifications for the PC's holdings - on the downside the opposition cannot be concealed and the opposing regent will know that the PC domain has opposed them. If the PC regent does not have any holdings in the province in which the opposing regent will perform the action, then the PC will have to explain how their decree could have effect.

[top]Support an action


The regent could support an action in a province in which they have influence by passing relevant laws, sending rivals away on 'important missions', convincing allies to support the action, etc.
  • (RoE) DC 10. +2 to the DC roll on the specified action within your domain.



Tags for this Page

Similar Pages

  1. Decree
    By BRadmin in forum Main
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 08-09-2009, 11:38 AM
  2. Adventure action
    By AndrewTall in forum Main
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 12-01-2007, 10:12 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

Posting Permissions
  • You may not create new articles
  • You may not edit articles
  • You may not protect articles
  • You may not post comments
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your comments
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.