It takes many skilled workers to build a keep or a tower or a theater. Commonly, one of these skilled laborers, impressed with the lord’s demeanor, will offer to serve the lord permanently, becoming a member of their retinue, living in the stronghold or the surrounding village after the rest of the workers return to their towns.
Each artisan in the lord’s service either grants the lord some benefit or improves the stronghold in some way.
Where Do Artisan Followers Come From?
Newly minted regents inspire people, but they also present an opportunity for other people to fulfill heretofore thwarted ambition.
The mason who sets up shop in a fighter’s keep was probably one of the folks who helped build it. It takes several masons to build or restore a keep. One of them naturally assumed a leadership position over the others, was trusted by the nascent lord, and stayed on when the project was done. The mason probably has family in a nearby town. Some of them might move to the village that slowly accumulates around the lord’s keep.
A tailor who joins a lord in their wilderness stronghold may be a local townsperson seeking greater glory, the opportunity to serve a baron or a count! Or they may be someone from the nearest big city who’s tired of serving folks who don’t appreciate their handiwork, hearing tell of a newly landed noble building a keep, and decides it is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a little fish in the great wide ocean. The tailor from the big city brings with them all the prejudices of civilization, but also all the knowledge that comes with it, knowledge of court intrigues and fashion.
Your Artisan’s Shop
Most artisans come with their own shop, which they set up for free and which starts at 1st level. You can pay to improve it based on the Artisan Shop Improvement Table. This process takes three months (one season), and you cannot pay more to speed this up. The maximum shop level is 5.
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | +3 | – |
| 2nd | +4 | 1,000 gp |
| 3rd | +5 | 1,500 gp |
| 4th | +6 | 2,000 gp |
| 5th | +7 | 2,500 gp |
Artisan Crafting
Some artisans can craft items for their shop. Artisan crafting uses the following rules:
- Researching recipes, and Crafting uses Stronghold Downtime
- All crafted items must be put in the artisans shop for sale to the general public.
- PCs may purchase these items at a 25% discount from the general public price. They, however, may not gift them or resell them in any fashion.
- The Alchemist
- The Blacksmith
- The Captain
- The Carpenter
- The Farmer
- The Mason
- The Miner
- The Sage
- The Scribe
- The Spy
- The Tailor
The alchemist is to the wizard as the blacksmith is to the fighter. Closely related disciplines that nonetheless require so much specialized knowledge it’s functionally impossible to be a master at both.
Alchemists are primarily useful for brewing potions, but many are also lorecrafty and well versed in obscure uses for various materials. Yes, an alarm spell requires a bell, but do you know what happens if you use a crystal bell crafted by an eladrin maiden? I don’t, but your alchemist might!
Many wizards began life as alchemists in service to a lord. Eventually frustrated by the limits of what alchemy can do, they set out to learn proper magic!
Alchemists are primarily useful for brewing potions, but many are also lorecrafty and well versed in obscure uses for various materials. Yes, an alarm spell requires a bell, but do you know what happens if you use a crystal bell crafted by an eladrin maiden? I don’t, but your alchemist might!
Many wizards began life as alchemists in service to a lord. Eventually frustrated by the limits of what alchemy can do, they set out to learn proper magic!
THE LABORATORY
The laboratory allows your alchemist, who is proficient in Alchemy, to craft 10% faster than normal per level of the laboratory.
A skilled blacksmith is one of the most valued and useful members of any town. Metal is difficult to extract from the ground, almost as difficult to process, and the ability to repair metal or beat it into a new and useful shape is akin to sorcery. Indeed, the blacksmith’s trade secrets are as closely guarded as any wizard’s tome.
A blacksmith is a great help when building your stronghold, but mostly for nails! Many stone fortifications benefit from wooden frames to hoist stones or build scaffolding, and these things need lots of nails. The amount of time a smith actually spends on weapons and armor in a normal village can be close to zero. Of course, a PC’s blacksmith is a different story…
A blacksmith is a great help when building your stronghold, but mostly for nails! Many stone fortifications benefit from wooden frames to hoist stones or build scaffolding, and these things need lots of nails. The amount of time a smith actually spends on weapons and armor in a normal village can be close to zero. Of course, a PC’s blacksmith is a different story…
THE SMITHY
Your blacksmith can forge magic arms and armor. Like with the alchemist, this requires the blacksmith to have some knowledge of the nature of magic, but they don’t need to be a wizard, thanks to the incredibly potent arcane power held within the materials used. The smithy allows your blacksmith, who is proficient in Smithing, to craft 10% faster than normal per level of the smithy.
The experienced soldier tired of campaigning abroad, the watch commander sick of fighting endless crime in the big city. Any captain used to command might retire their post when they hear tell of a new lord or lady with a keep or tower to defend.
Like other artisans, captains sometimes come from local villages the heroes saved. More than other artisans, the captain knows how hard an adventurer’s job is. If you saved the village from the conspiracy of lizardmen in the swamp, the local watch captain may well decide it would be better to serve you than continue taking abuse from the town council, none of whom have ever lifted a sword. Captains like serving characters who act rather than deliberate.
A captain can also serve ably as your lieutenant if you haven’t yet rolled a retainer. Your captain will serve your domain while you adventure, protecting your interests and negotiating on your behalf to the best of their ability.
Like all followers, the captain is loyal, but unlike the others, there’s iron in the glove. With the power and authority to wage war, you may return to find your keep under siege. Its only defense: the strategy and tactics of your captain.
A captain does not automatically come with an army! It’s entirely possible to recruit a captain in spite of having no troops, no army for them to lead. This is of little concern to the captain—they’re certain you will need an army eventually, especially now that you’ve raised this lovely stronghold.
Your barracks can upgrade a number of units equal to its level. It begins at 1st level (one unit affected) and can be upgraded to 5th level (5 units affected). The units affected are chosen at the start of a battle and cannot be changed until the next battle.
Like other artisans, captains sometimes come from local villages the heroes saved. More than other artisans, the captain knows how hard an adventurer’s job is. If you saved the village from the conspiracy of lizardmen in the swamp, the local watch captain may well decide it would be better to serve you than continue taking abuse from the town council, none of whom have ever lifted a sword. Captains like serving characters who act rather than deliberate.
A captain can also serve ably as your lieutenant if you haven’t yet rolled a retainer. Your captain will serve your domain while you adventure, protecting your interests and negotiating on your behalf to the best of their ability.
Like all followers, the captain is loyal, but unlike the others, there’s iron in the glove. With the power and authority to wage war, you may return to find your keep under siege. Its only defense: the strategy and tactics of your captain.
A captain does not automatically come with an army! It’s entirely possible to recruit a captain in spite of having no troops, no army for them to lead. This is of little concern to the captain—they’re certain you will need an army eventually, especially now that you’ve raised this lovely stronghold.
THE CAPTAIN’S SHOP: THE BARRACKS
The first thing your captain does is supervise construction of a barracks. Your barracks temporarily upgrades the experience level of some number of units by one—green units become regular, regular units become seasoned, etc.Your barracks can upgrade a number of units equal to its level. It begins at 1st level (one unit affected) and can be upgraded to 5th level (5 units affected). The units affected are chosen at the start of a battle and cannot be changed until the next battle.
You could build a stone keep or castle without the aid of wood scaffolding, but you wouldn’t want to. A woodwright’s frames, blocks and tackle, scaffolding, all help your laborers, making ten men work like fifty.
And of course, many of the structures in and around a stronghold are made of or use wood in their walls and frames. A thirty-foot-tall hollow cylinder of stone is a granary. Put some joists, frames, two floors, and some stairs in, and now you’ve got a tower that folk can live in!
And of course, many of the structures in and around a stronghold are made of or use wood in their walls and frames. A thirty-foot-tall hollow cylinder of stone is a granary. Put some joists, frames, two floors, and some stairs in, and now you’ve got a tower that folk can live in!
THE CARPENTER’S SHOP
Carpenters lower the cost to build and upkeep siege engines by 10% per level of their shop, and they let you improve your stronghold 10% faster per level of the shop.
Build a stronghold, attract a few farmers, and pretty soon you have a village! That’s how new towns get started.
As carpenters harvest the trees around your stronghold, exposing fertile earth, farmers come to work the land. They bring with them trade, roads, order. Without farms and farmers, your stronghold is just a mysterious tower in the middle of the forest, little known and avoided by locals. With farmers, it’s the beginning of a town. Part of the great network of civilization.
The buildings, shops, and homes we associate with a village begin as a market, temporarily erected by the local farmers at the crossroads by the stronghold. From here they sell their excess production, the taxes of which benefit the lord, which benefits everyone.
As carpenters harvest the trees around your stronghold, exposing fertile earth, farmers come to work the land. They bring with them trade, roads, order. Without farms and farmers, your stronghold is just a mysterious tower in the middle of the forest, little known and avoided by locals. With farmers, it’s the beginning of a town. Part of the great network of civilization.
The buildings, shops, and homes we associate with a village begin as a market, temporarily erected by the local farmers at the crossroads by the stronghold. From here they sell their excess production, the taxes of which benefit the lord, which benefits everyone.
THE MARKET
Farmers represent a substantive technological improvement over hunting and gathering. A farm with crops and domesticated animals can produce many times the food required to sustain the farmer’s family. The excess is traded via carters who regularly pass through and buy and sell at the local market. Taxing this commerce provides income for the lord of the stronghold. The stronghold produces 100 gp per season per farmer on your land. Farmers also enjoy having a place to drink ale, talk, and relax after a hard day’s work before they return home to their families. This place is called a tavern, and thus is a small town born.
Getting a stronghold built in the first place requires a mason, probably several. It’s perfectly natural for one to stay around after the thing is done and continue in the lord’s service, going from a hired hand to a permanent fixture.
Having a mason on staff means you pay nothing to repair your stronghold after a siege. Your mason will make free repairs worth 250 gp per quarry level per week. A 3rd-level quarry therefore makes free repairs worth 750 gp per week (250 × 3 per week).
Masons decrease the time required to improve your stronghold by 10% per quarry level. This time decrease can be combined with the carpenter’s benefit.
THE QUARRY
If you attract a mason, there must be a quarry somewhere nearby. This is the equivalent of the artisan’s shop. The quarry starts at 1st level, and the lord can improve it like any other shop.Having a mason on staff means you pay nothing to repair your stronghold after a siege. Your mason will make free repairs worth 250 gp per quarry level per week. A 3rd-level quarry therefore makes free repairs worth 750 gp per week (250 × 3 per week).
Masons decrease the time required to improve your stronghold by 10% per quarry level. This time decrease can be combined with the carpenter’s benefit.
If you’re lucky enough to place your stronghold near a source of metal—which, it turns out, you did if you attract a miner—such as a natural cave or a valley dug by an ancient river, you can extract metal near the surface.
An experienced miner can survey the terrain in a moment and tell what kind of rock you’re on, what kind of ore can be found underneath, and how long it will take and costly it will be to extract. They bring with them their own experienced crew and often their families. As many as thirty men and women could be working your mine by the end of the first season.
An experienced miner can survey the terrain in a moment and tell what kind of rock you’re on, what kind of ore can be found underneath, and how long it will take and costly it will be to extract. They bring with them their own experienced crew and often their families. As many as thirty men and women could be working your mine by the end of the first season.
THE MINE
The ore extracted from your mine is valuable, and you can sell what you don’t use in improving your stronghold and the weapons and armor of your units. A mine produces 500 gp per season. In addition, a mine improves the equipment of some number of your units by one level—a light unit becomes medium, medium becomes heavy, etc. This bonus can be applied to one unit per mine level, as it includes the time and cost of maintaining their improved equipment.
Every artisan carries with them a long list of skills and traditions that help them craft their wares. But for the sage, knowledge isn’t a means to an end—knowledge is an end unto itself. Each sage is not only an expert in a wide array of obscure subjects, but also part of a large network of fellow sages, scribes, and librarians, a constant and largely secret flow of information going back and forth.
Your sage grants you access to the Sage profession ability. If your sage doesn’t know the answer to your question, they know where the answer can be found.
Obviously, you’ll need to tell your sage what foes you’ll soon go up against. If you know exactly the kind of monster you’re about to fight, and your sage has the time to do the research, you gain one of the following advantages in combat against that type of creature:
Your sage also knows the location of the nearest codex. It may be hidden in a ruin within a few miles of your stronghold, or it may be a hundred miles away in the library of the king’s archmage. But your sage knows its whereabouts.
Your sage grants you access to the Sage profession ability. If your sage doesn’t know the answer to your question, they know where the answer can be found.
THE LIBRARY
Give your sage a week to search the library and cross-reference the various scrolls, tomes, and codices within, and they can give you secret knowledge of the enemies you plan to fight.Obviously, you’ll need to tell your sage what foes you’ll soon go up against. If you know exactly the kind of monster you’re about to fight, and your sage has the time to do the research, you gain one of the following advantages in combat against that type of creature:
- You have advantage on your next attack roll against such a creature.
- You negate one resistance on your next attack roll against such a creature.
- Such a creature has disadvantage on its next saving throw against your spells or abilities.
Your sage also knows the location of the nearest codex. It may be hidden in a ruin within a few miles of your stronghold, or it may be a hundred miles away in the library of the king’s archmage. But your sage knows its whereabouts.
Fingers stained black with ink, the scribe is not an author but a craftsman. Part tanner, part alchemist, the scribe spends their time curing hide for vellum and mixing rare chemicals for inks.
In a pretechnological world, the ability to read and write is neither common nor particularly valued. Heralds post and read proclamations, a constable or reeve might be able to read enough words in the typical legal document to make it out, but otherwise the act of letter-writing is reserved for priests and wizards and educated city-folk.
Scribes therefore also act as aides for diplomatic communications. When the lord wants to send a message to their allies, the scribe is summoned.
Scribes are expected to be conversant in many written languages and capable of translating rare and obscure or dead languages found in the kinds of tomes recovered from ruins and dungeons. But of course the most valued use of a scribe for the adventuring lord is the crafting of scrolls!
If a spellcaster of appropriate level is present for at least an hour, a scribe can craft a magic scroll in a fraction of the time it would take a wizard or sorcerer to do it alone. The time and cost are both reduced by 10% per level of the tannery. The tannery allows your scribe, who is proficient in scrollscribing, to craft 10% faster than normal per level of the smithy.
In a pretechnological world, the ability to read and write is neither common nor particularly valued. Heralds post and read proclamations, a constable or reeve might be able to read enough words in the typical legal document to make it out, but otherwise the act of letter-writing is reserved for priests and wizards and educated city-folk.
Scribes therefore also act as aides for diplomatic communications. When the lord wants to send a message to their allies, the scribe is summoned.
Scribes are expected to be conversant in many written languages and capable of translating rare and obscure or dead languages found in the kinds of tomes recovered from ruins and dungeons. But of course the most valued use of a scribe for the adventuring lord is the crafting of scrolls!
THE TANNERY
Magical scrolls require rare and unique chemicals to make inks as well as special tanning techniques to cure the vellum in a tannery. All parchment is made from cured animal hide, but vellum is especially durable, resistant to both flame and water, and well suited to holding the unique inks used in a magical scroll without running or fading over time. A scribe would never consider inking onto paper. A paper scroll wouldn’t survive long in the conditions the typical adventuring lord is used to.If a spellcaster of appropriate level is present for at least an hour, a scribe can craft a magic scroll in a fraction of the time it would take a wizard or sorcerer to do it alone. The time and cost are both reduced by 10% per level of the tannery. The tannery allows your scribe, who is proficient in scrollscribing, to craft 10% faster than normal per level of the smithy.
An establishment lets you know what’s going on in the local area. What the other nobles, guilds, churches, and secret societies are up to. But stare too long into the abyss, and you may notice it stares back.
In addition, your spy knows which nearby folk might be interested in signing on to your service. Each time you roll on your followers chart, the spy lets you increase or decrease your roll by up to 3 plus 1 per level of your network. By this method you gain some measure of control over whom you recruit.
THE NETWORK
Your spy makes it much harder for your enemies and even your allies to know what you’re up to. Your spy increases the DC for agents spying on you by 3 plus 1 per level of your spy’s network.In addition, your spy knows which nearby folk might be interested in signing on to your service. Each time you roll on your followers chart, the spy lets you increase or decrease your roll by up to 3 plus 1 per level of your network. By this method you gain some measure of control over whom you recruit.
A tailor’s job is literally to make you look good. They are experts in fashion and keep up to date on all the latest trends, not just in clothing but also style and taste and manners.
Having a tailor in your retinue means you not only look good, but you also know how to act, know better how to create the reactions you’re looking for in your allies and your enemies. Subtle changes to appearance and behavior act as a force multiplier for your natural charisma.
Not every regent yearns for a good tailor. The barbarian considers such finery a sign of the corrupt and decadent cancer men call civilization. But many rulers consider a good tailor a necessity.
Having a tailor in your retinue means you not only look good, but you also know how to act, know better how to create the reactions you’re looking for in your allies and your enemies. Subtle changes to appearance and behavior act as a force multiplier for your natural charisma.
Not every regent yearns for a good tailor. The barbarian considers such finery a sign of the corrupt and decadent cancer men call civilization. But many rulers consider a good tailor a necessity.