Domain and Regency » Government » Able Assistance » Lieutenant
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The lieutenant, generally considered the highest-ranking of assistants, must be a trusted individual, often one known by the PC regent for some time. A regent does not just go out and hire a lieutenant ? lieutenants must be developed through years of loyal service and dedication.
Lieutenants and cohorts are very similar and a character can be both. The difference is that lieutenant is loyal to the domain while a cohort is loyal to the person. When a cohort is also a lieutenant, they are loyal to both. There are lieutenants who are loyal to the domain, but not the regent. New regents often inherit lieutenants along with the throne. These lieutenants are dutifully loyal to the interests of the realm but they may or may not be helpful or friendly to the ruler. Occasionally, a lieutenant believes or comes to believe that the ruler is a danger to the realm. But, in general, a lieutenant is servant of the ruler as the regent of the realm.
Trust is such an issue for a lieutenant because oft times he might rule a domain in his regent?s stead. Lieutenants can perform domain actions on behalf of their regents ? or on their own behalf, if their regents haven?t instructed or watched them closely enough. When a PC makes someone his lieutenant (usually using the Ceremony action), he creates a stand- in for himself. Should a PC regent go adventuring for an extended period of time or other circumstances dictate his absence, he likely will leave a lieutenant behind to administer affairs of state.
While the player usually determines the lieutenant?s activities during a domain turn (hence gaining an extra action every three months), the DM may have the lieutenant act on his own if he feels the behavior enhances the campaign storyline. One can think of the lieutenant as something of a regent himself. With more power and more individuality than most NPCs, he can affect a PC regent?s life dramatically and almost instantaneously. A betrayal or mistake made by a lieutenant can have drastic consequences for the PC regent, his allies, and his domain.

[top]Recruiting Lieutenants

Generally, when a ruler recruits a lieutenant, he is someone the ruler already knows and trusts. What that trust and relationship looks like is up to the DM and the players to work out precisely. Game styles and situations will vary too much for hard and fast rules to apply. Nevertheless, some general principles apply.
When the regent is ready to name his lieutenant, he performs a Ceremony action. During this action, the regent declares a character as having the authority to speak on the domain?s behalf.

[top]Powers of Lieutenants

A recognized lieutenant can stand in for the regent in almost any domain-level matter and is recognized as wielding the same authority as the regent himself. A domain?s heir is often a lieutenant first, but this need not be the case. A lieutenant character may spend character actions to provide bonuses to domain actions in the same way that the domain?s regent can. There is no limit to the number of lieutenants that a realm can have, but a clear system for determining the responsibilities and resolution of conflicts between them must exist.
The court of a powerful regent may have many trusted courtiers, but most courtiers have strictly defined responsibilities and checks and balances to keep them from overstepping their prerogatives. A domain's regent may, however, name one or more of his courtiers as his lieutenant(s). A domain's lieutenants are authorized to speak with the voice of the regent, even to the extent of waging war against a foreign nation, spending significant portions of the realms treasury, dispensing justice, making binding agreements, and other activities that are generally considered the prerogative of the regent alone. Thus a lieutenant can perform most domain actions with the same advantages that a regent receives when personally attending to domain actions and events.

[top]Inheriting Lieutenants

If a PC regent inherits a domain in which a lieutenant served the previous regent, the PC might acquire the lieutenant along with the rest of the domain. This possibility is completely up to the DM. If he thinks the NPC lieutenant has a good enough reason to stick around and serve the new regent, he will. Otherwise, he departs for greener pastures or perhaps retires and takes the role of an adviser.
When a PC regent inherits a lieutenant, he might actually acquire a lieutenant of greater ability than he normally might be able to attract. For example, a 12th-level ranger serves as lieutenant. The domain?s ruler dies or steps down, leaving the regency to his heir (the PC). Presumably, the heir has been groomed for this contingency. But the heir has achieved only 3rd level and, according to the rules, can?t have a 12th level cohort. The DM can handle this complication in several ways:
  • The lieutenant leaves

The faithful lieutenant steps down from his post. He may or may not recommend a successor? perhaps one of his own trusted henchmen? to take over the lieutenancy.
  • The lieutenant stays on as lieutenant

He desires to continue serving the PC regent and the realm in his full capacity. He still performs domain actions for the regent and deals with random events.
  • The lieutenant stays on as an adviser

Moving from being a lieutenant to an adviser is a kind of semi-retirement. The character goes from doing the work of the ruler to simply giving information to the ruler. If the style of the ruler and the lieutenant vary too much, the lieutenant may choose to avoid actions he finds improper and simply advise the ruler.
  • The lieutenant becomes a vassal

As part of the PC?s ascension, he grants the faithful lieutenant part of the domain to rule in his name. This solution works only with lieutenants who have bloodlines. The NPC lieutenant sticks around (at least in the general area) and is considered a vassal of the PC regent, but has his own problems to worry about. The PC regent can go to him for help or advice, and the DM has an excellent opportunity to involve him in adventures and domain actions when he wants to? and even better reason for not involving the former lieutenant when he doesn?t want to. This method also makes the new regent pay for the services of a high-level ally; he loses direct control over part of his realm in exchange for the high-level lieutenant?s loyalty and continued service.

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