The keep stands atop a hill, a formidable presence that exudes power and protection. It serves as a symbol, declaring ownership over the land and its people, proclaiming, “This is mine, and I safeguard it.”
Of course, it’s entirely up to you—after all, it’s your keep. Feel free to place it in a valley or conceal it within a forest. However, it’s important to note that the statement above carries no moral judgment. Both benevolent and malevolent rulers could utter the same words, albeit for vastly different motives.
In general, constructing any type of stronghold makes a statement. However, a keep specifically serves as a military fortification. Unlike structures dedicated to research, spiritual pursuits, or economic activities, a keep is about one thing: raising and housing an army.
Historically, keeps were erected as defenses against invading armies, providing a secure and easily defensible base. The purpose of a keep is inherently tied to warfare, unlike other types of strongholds.
So, when you build a keep, it’s with the intention of assembling and accommodating your forces. It’s about protecting your people and ensuring your authority extends beyond your borders.
Raising Units
You can attract units by rolling on your class’s followers chart. Some classes, like the fighter and paladin, naturally draw in units more easily than others such as the wizard and sorcerer. However, even a warlock with a dark aura could potentially attract units with a favorable roll. Imagine the intrigue of an army rallying to serve a warlock!
Alternatively, you can spend gold to directly purchase units. However, acquiring units isn’t just a matter of spending money—it also entails ongoing expenses known as upkeep. While anyone with sufficient funds can maintain an army without a stronghold, it’s a costly endeavor. Napoleon famously managed it quite effectively until he was plagued by typhus.
A keep offers significant advantages in this regard. It reduces the cost of purchasing units by 10% per level and also slashes their upkeep costs by the same percentage. For instance, a 5th-level keep would cut both acquisition and maintenance expenses by 50%.
Upon completing a keep, you immediately gain a number of units equal to 2 plus the keep’s level. These newly raised units begin at Size 1d4. If you roll the same result twice, simply increase the unit’s Size by one. Importantly, all units raised from the keep share the ancestry of its owner.
Training
A keep implies an army, and training is essential for soldiers. As you train your troops, you also improve your own skills with weapons and armor, granting you the following bonuses based on your chosen specialization. You can only benefit from training with gear you are proficient in, and you can change your training during an extended rest.
- Light Armor Training: Gain advantage on Dexterity checks while wearing light armor.
- Medium Armor Training: Gain an extra 5 feet of movement while wearing medium armor, without provoking attacks of opportunity.
- Heavy Armor Training: Ranged attacks have disadvantage against you while wearing heavy armor, as projectiles bounce off or are deflected harmlessly.
- Bludgeoning Training: Target suffers disadvantage on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks until the start of your next turn when you score a critical hit.
- Finesse Training: React with a melee attack against an adjacent enemy who damages you with a melee weapon, using your finesse weapon.
- Piercing Training: Deal an additional 1d6 damage to creatures wearing heavy armor.
- Reach Training: If you hit with a reach weapon, you can move the target 5 feet while keeping them within your reach, without provoking attacks of opportunity.
- Shield Training: Succeeding in a weapon attack while wielding a shield allows you to push your target 5 feet away from you, without provoking attacks of opportunity.
- Slashing Training: Deal an extra 1d6 damage to creatures wearing light, natural, or no armor.
- Versatile Training: Gain +1 AC while wielding a versatile weapon in two hands.
| D100 | UNIT TYPE |
|---|---|
| 01 – 12 | Green Light Infantry |
| 13 – 24 | Green Medium Infantry |
| 25 – 34 | Regular Light Infantry |
| 35 – 44 | Regular Medium Infantry |
| 45 – 46 | Seasoned Medium Infantry |
| 47 – 48 | Seasoned Heavy Infantry |
| 49 – 57 | Green Light Archers |
| 58 – 66 | Green Medium Archers |
| 67 – 72 | Regular Light Infantry |
| 73 – 78 | Regular Medium Infantry |
| 79 – 86 | Regular Light Cavalry |
| 87 – 95 | Regular Medium Cavalry |
| 96 – 100 | Seasoned Light Cavalry |
Keep Variants
The Barbarian Camp
Barbarians are renowned for their aversion to keeps. In fact, they wouldn’t consider building one under any circumstances. To them, the notion of confining their forces within an immobile, walled structure seems utterly absurd. Barbarians are the reason why others build keeps; they embody the ethos of freedom and mobility.
Of course, in strict terms, anyone can construct any type of stronghold. Additionally, what defines a “barbarian” has nothing to do with the specifics on your character sheet. You could easily play as a fighter or ranger who embodies the classical barbarian ethos. However, if you seek to lead a rampaging horde, then a barbarian camp is the only true choice. Accept no substitutes.
Alternatives to a Barbarian Camp
These rules outline the behavior of a mobile stronghold, primarily based on assumptions about a Rampaging Horde. With a bit of creativity, we can envision numerous other types of strongholds that could utilize similar mechanics.
For instance:
- A druid might embark on a warpath, awakening the trees and rallying them to battle! Do these awakened trees need a permanent stronghold? They could, but they might just as easily operate from a mobile camp.
- A monk might reject the idea of a fixed stronghold and instead roam the land, inspiring peasants to rise against oppressive rulers and join their cause. Did Joan of Arc rely on a permanent fortification? Or was she essentially leading a barbarian horde?
A barbarian camp essentially functions as a keep, but with some distinct differences:
- The operation of a barbarian camp still incurs expenses, albeit at half the rate of a permanent stronghold. This includes the cost of temporary wells, tent maintenance, weapon and armor repairs, as well as the procurement of food through both legitimate means and theft. The constant mobility of the camp demands continuous effort to ensure the welfare of its inhabitants, much like the practices observed by the Mongols, who even had mobile smithies and carpenter shops.
- Similar to a keep, a barbarian camp can raise units, but it uses the Barbarian Units chart outlined below.
- Unlike a keep, a barbarian camp offers no discount on upkeep costs.
- The camp’s movement capabilities vary based on its level, allowing it to traverse a number of provinces per season, with the limit decreasing as its level increases. While moving through wilderness areas with all Light units, the camp does not incur movement penalties. However, regular terrain-based penalties still apply.
- If a barbarian camp spends a season in a civilized province, the province’s owner must make an Unrest check against a DC of 13. This check’s outcome is influenced by the province’s Development Level compared to the level of the barbarian camp. Failure results in the province losing one development level, potentially reverting to wilderness and ceasing to produce resources for its owner.
- Spending a season in a civilized province also entails confronting the owner’s armies, essentially resembling an invasion scenario.
| D12 | BARBARIAN UNITS |
|---|---|
| 1 – 3 | Green Light Infantry |
| 4 – 6 | Regular Light Infantry |
| 7 – 8 | Green Light Archers |
| 9 – 10 | Regular Light Archers |
| 11 | Regular Light Cavalry |
| 12 | Seasoned Light Calvary |
The Pirate Ship
Another variation of the Keep is the feared Pirate Ship. Unlike the Barbarian camp, which slows down as it grows in size, a Pirate Ship actually becomes faster as it increases in size. This is due to the larger sails of the ship, which resist the wind more efficiently than the larger hull drags through the water.
The Pirate Ship operates similarly to a Keep with the following distinctions:
- It attracts units like a keep, but with limitations on their size. The ship may not accommodate units larger than Size 1d6. If rolling on the Units Raised by Keep chart would produce a unit larger than Size 1d6, roll again. The ship can hold no more units than its stronghold level. For instance, a fully upgraded Pirate Ship (level 5) could carry five units. There are no restrictions on the type of units a Pirate Ship may carry.
- The ship can sail five sea hexes per day, plus one hex per level of the ship.
- If the ship successfully sacks a port settlement, the settlement’s Development Level is downgraded by one.
- Spending a week in a port settlement generates 100 gp for the crew.