Kingsblood

How would Andals describe someone with "Kingsblood"? It may be easier to describe what it means by the three types of kings that Andals have.

King
     This is the most basic title. This means that the proof that you have Kingsblood is in the fact that your father or ancestor has Kingsblood and that your right to rule is hereditary.
     Andalish inheritance laws are gavelkind, meaning that when the parents die all of their stuff is divided equally between all children. Sometimes this is primogeniture, where the oldest child receives a double share but this is uncommon. In this way, kingdoms often dissolve within a generation and why the title "king" is often synopsis with chieftians in areas of Mertagia and the wilder parts of the Broken Spires.
     Not ever child receives the title. In the first generation all children receive the title but after that, only first born children of a King (or Queen) receive the title. Additionally, someone can gain the title through marriage in the normal fashion but this is more out of respect then anything and they often lose the title if they divorce or their spouse dies.
      King is not a permanent title and can be lost through lose of honor. As a King, you honor and judgement is always in question and Kings often find that they fall quickly from grace.
      The Kingdom of Durlin is ruled principally by Kings by succession.



Rorick
     This is an Old Andalish word for "Red King" and this title means that someone has proven that they have Kingsblood through conquest. This title is a step up in prestige from King and is often given to chieftains that have managed to conquer a significant number of independent tribes. In effect, a Rorick has proven his Kingsblood by shedding other peoples'.
     Unlike a King, a Rorick's children are not Roricks, they become Kings, unless, of course, they go out and earn the title for themselves with fire and iron.
      A real world example of this is Napoleon Bonaparte, who usurped the title of King of France despite having no royal blood. On the Shield, Rorick's found kingdoms for a single generation that dissolve into petty states and then dissolve further into small tribes ruled by Kings. Leaders of the Kingdom of Rivil use the title of Rorick as to be elected the King of Rivil is to conquer the other houses, either by words or swords.





Scarin
      The most ancient and most honorable of the titles, Scarins prove their Kingsblood by the Fire of Kings, a crucible of the gawds that proves that those that go through it have the right to rule through divine mandate.
      The Fire of Kings taps into the ancient process of a Quest, where a person reenacts of myth to the point where they mantle the gawd and are transported to a mythological realm of power. Quests are done for a variety of reasons: sometimes it's to gain the favor of the divine, to learn a secret unknown to man, or to gain a magical weapon. Quests are highly dangerous and even the greatest heroes only survive about half the time. They are high risk, high reward.
      The Fire of Kings is sacred and little is known about what goes on once the candidate and his captains pass into the gawdsrealm but few survive. Those that do, however, are given the King's Mark and are named Scarin, having proven their Kingsblood by trial of the gawds.
      Anyone can undertake this ritual though it does require a gawdspeaker to initiate it. Because of this, a heroes who have decided to become king but have no army to speak of often take this route to start to garner support as those named Scarin often find people flocking to their banner.
      But just because someone is named Scarin doesn't mean that they found kingdoms. More often then not, they're beaten on the field of battle by Chieftains and Roricks or they're killed by political intrigue. Most Scarin end up just founding their own tribe.
      Still, some of tribes of the Free People require their chieftains to undergo the Fire of Kings before they're given leadership and Kings who are in fear of falling out of favor may go through the process to gain enough prestige to keep them in power. Bastards, too, who wish to rule their father's tribe after the death of all legitimate heirs are required to prove their Kingsblood in this fashion, though there are exceptions in cases similar to William the Bastard who became William the Conquer (Who, on the Shield, would be called William Rorick as well.)

What Kingsblood is Not
     It is important to note that gaining your title does not mean you gain Kingsblood. Kingsblood is not something you gain, even through the Fire of Kings, it is something you have and are born with. Thus, gaining a title like Scarin or Rorick does not give you extraordinary abilities to lead men, which is why many Scarins end up dead in a ditch.
     What these give you is Honor and Fame, which in turn makes it easier to attract followers and henchmen to their cause. It is then left to your natural ability to keep them together and forge a crown fitting a king.

The Young Kingdoms and the Free Peoples

     "An Andal is a barbarian at heart; his civilization and manners, no more then flimsy mask that he soon discards at the chance to return to his savage roots.

     Indeed, his kingdoms, his crowns, are piles of kindling, waiting for the smallest fire to be burned to the ground."

-Brahman Aabharana Munner Kaapu, Sacred Scribe at the Leiphisium

     Seen as little more then tribal savages by their peers, the Andal Kingdoms have forged their place in the world with iron and blood, crafting a new civilization in the wilderness.

     An Andal is an Andal whatever he calls himself but they generally divide themselves into Lowlanders, those originating in Mertagia and Wesswern, and Highlanders, those originating in the lands north of the Mountains of Mourn: the Sea of Stones, the Broken Spires, and the Camber Peaks.

     

     Lowlanders tend to be more xenophobic then their northern brothers. Years of being raided by Stone Clanners, Arpadians, Hobgoblins, Arran'aki, Oscians, and Grel have left them with a tainted view of others.

     Lowlanders stick to their ways and are seen as backwards and primative though they are accomplished rangers and survivalists.

     They are also the most populous of Andals and make up the bulk of the common folk in the Kingdom of Durlin and the entire Kingdom of Rivil.

     

     Highlanders reflect the land they come from: harsh and stoic. Early in their history, Highlanders learned to fight off their invaders by building hill forts and fortifying strong places. Because of this, Highland Andals have been able to set their own terms when dealing with others.

     Highlanders are not cosmopolitan in any sense of the word. In this sense they make good traders not because they have silver tongues, but because their know how to viciously control their market by sword and strength.

    Because of the rough terrain and poor weather conditions, Highlanders make up the ruling class of Durlin and the Kingdom of Balmorn.

The Danelaw

     Founded about 100 years ago by Raedwald the Thane, the Danelaw has become a powerhouse on the plains but suffers from a divided state, the Highlander nobility building their power on Lowlander backs.
     During his early youth, Raedwald attempted to usurp his lord's clan. Killing his king and marrying the queen, for Raedwald, it look liked everything was coming up daises. However, that wouldn't last, as the brother of the killed king, a petty leader himself from the next clan over, used his brother's murder to wage war and only a few years later, ousted Raedwald and his warriors.
     Traveling across the Shield as a mercenary for several years, Raedwald soon gathered together a band of loyal soldiers and traveled back to his homeland but instead of trying to take his clan back, Raedwald turned south and east to Wesswern, a stretch of river land between Ehikia and the Mountains of Mourn.
      Sailing down the Severn River, Raedwald used his considerable fortune to purchase a small area of land on which he founded his capital, Dangeld. Over the coming years Raewald and his kin spread their power the surrounding land, forging the Danelanw

      While all the citizens of the Danelaw are Andals, the divide between Highlander and Lowlander is no where more evident then in this kingdom. So much effort has been put into separating the two that have gone out of their way to change how they pronounce words and what they name their children. It's also agreed on by the Dukes that only a king with black hair and eyes can sit on the throne.
      Lately, there's been trouble for the kingdom. The Bastard's War has sundered the kingdom in two and now it lays a shadow of its former self. Still, its helmed by Charles the Hammer, of the House of Selwyn, a crafty and capable warrior and tactician and the kingdom may yet rise again.

Kingdom of Illien Reborn

     The Kingdom of Illien has its genesis centuries ago in a lowlander kingdom that was at constant war with the extinct kingdom of Umbria and the local Free Peoples.
     However, Illien today shares little in common with its ancestor. Its rulers are now the Avars: an Andalish sub-culture born from the blood and weapons of fire giants, who swept down from the Tail of Arshalaku and established themselves as conquerors.
     From there, Illien began to make its way north, spreading over the plains of Wesswern, only to come head to head with the young Danelaw. Over the coming century, the two powers would battle for supremacy.
     But in the end, the Danelaw proved to be the more formidable force.
     And thus Odo Plantier became Odo Avergnon, Duke of Illien.
     The Avers never forgot their defeat or their noble birthright, though near a century passed since Oswig the Bearded crushed their kingdom and it was only a matter of time before they took up their swords again.
     The Avergnon family flourish under Daneling rule, becoming as rich and power as the king. Now, they only needed a reason. And it came by the Bastard of Krew, the illegitimate son of Edmund Pentagen and his Arpadian mistress. After a riot left Duke Edmund dead, strung up by his genitals from the branches of the Sacred Yew, Krew was left in crisis.
     Duke Emeric Avergnon pressed the claim of his ward, Dyfad Pentagen, nephew of both Dukes, while King Charles of the Danelaw pressed the widow of Duke Edmund, Duchess Tsarmina's claim. Thus the Bastard's War began.
     The war tore the Kingdom of Durlin in two, but out of the ashes rose the Kingdom of Illien Reborn.

Kingdom of Balmorn

     Oldest of the kingdoms, Balmorians are rabble-rousing, booze-lovin' rebels without a cause. They respect strength and many deep clan alliances have started with both parties punching each other. It's said that the wet highlands breed fiery men.

     Balmorn is ruled by the Iron King who sits on the White Throne and is supported by a cadre of warrior Dukes. The first Iron King was Aed mac Cinaeda, who repelled a Grelish invasion by uniting a number of smaller clans.

     Mac Cinaeda King had a simply strategy for keeping his kingdom at peace: keep it at war. Known for constantly provoking anyone within spear reach, By this, his Dukes were too busy fighting others to bother fighting him. This tactic has proven effective ever since then.

     Balmorians are simple folk. They love their fighting, they love their booze, and they love their family. Balmorians don't desire conquest or to see new horizons, because they know that the most rewarding things in life are found within the home.

Kingdom of Rivil

     Despite only being founded 70 years ago, Rivil has become an economic powerhouse. Controlling the mouth of the Vos River and the entirety of Roskev Bay, Rivil has become a shipping center for the north seas.

     Starting with a blood-feud between the Houses of Lutkhovsky and Polavich, the two clans soon began to form a black hole that sucked all other nearby tribes into their ever increasing war. It looked like the only way it would end would be the death of everyone involved, however the feud seemed to be at a turning point when the leader of House Polavich died, leaving his uncle, Viktor the Blind, an exceedingly old man, to rule the house.

     Seeing the cracks in the foundation begin to occur, Lenon Lutkhovsky tried a direct attack on Vyskaya, the Polavich capital, committing his whole fleet to the assault, but Viktor the Blind was expecting this and trapped the fleet in the bay, winning a decisive victory at the Battle of Burnt Water.

     Shortly after, the Lutkhovsky capital was razed to the ground, the fields salted and the walls torn down. The feud had ended and in the ashes of the war, a new kingdom was born.

     The Kingdom of Rivil is a meritocracy with powerful Houses ruled by Princes. While most Houses formed from families, these families have little concept of traditional nobility, happily marrying their members to rich merchants and powerful reavers to gain their loyalty.

     Succession is decided by a King's Moot on the passing of the old High King and so Princes will vie for political power, scheming with plans within plans. Since it's founding, the Kingdom of Rivil has had 2 such Moots. The fortunes of the kingdom are still to be augured.

The Free Peoples

      The majority of Andal clan lands are still an untamed mess of warring factions who belong to no kingdom. In the wild places of Wesswern and Mertagia they still practice the ancient rites of manhood and the burning of kings.

       A Freeman is any Andal that belongs to one of these clans. The reason they haven't been incorporated into a nearby kingdom varies. Some that live next these powerhouses despite the idea of kneeling to another, while others treasure their independence. Still, the majority of Free Andals live so far away from crowns that they really have no opinion on them, the idea of a kingdom so out of their frame of reference it'd be like describing a space shuttle to an Amazon tribesmen.

      The Free People make up the bulk of the Andal population, being mostly Lowlanders but free Highland reavers that plunder the villages along the Broken Spires, but their fractured status means they wield very little politic power. Not that they care much as must don't desire empire or power but simply to make sure that they pass on to their children what was left to them by their fathers.



Naming Hints:
Durlin Nobility: Welsh and English
Durlin Commoner: Slavic
Balmorian: Scottich and Old Gaelic
Rivil: Polish and Russian
Free Andal: Anglo-Saxon

Module Armor Pieces

To reflect better the way that armor is done in this setting, there will no longer be full sets of armor that you buy, instead, you'll have to purchase each piece separately.

You have 4 armor slots that you'll need to buy pieces for: the legs, arms, chest, and helmet.
Each leg will be counted as one slot and each arm will be counted as one slot, so you don't need to buy a piece for you left and right arm, only your arms.

You'll need to keep track of each DR separately but you won't have to worry about hit locations as they;re the difference between your attack and the defender's total, which I keep track off, so I'll tell you where the blow lands.

This also means that you can use called shots to target unarmored portions of your opponent, in addition to the auxiliary effects found here.

The price is as follows:
Chest is base cost,
Arms and Legs are 1/2
Helmet is 1/4

You average Def and Initiative penalty (rounding towards legs).

You also average speed penalty (rounding towards arms).

Rathgin has picked out his armor set. He's chosen a Banded Mail helmet, Chain mail body and arms, and Studded Leather legs

The Defense penalty he receives is -4 (-4 for the Banded, -5  each for the Chain, and a -3 for the Studded, giving him an average Def penalty of -4.25, but since he's wearing Studded Leather on his legs, he rounds down to -4)

His Initiative penalty is +1 (+2 for Banded, +2 each for Chain, and a +1 for the Studded, averaging to 1.75 but rounded towards the legs)

Rathgin's speed penalty is +2 (+1 for Banded, +2 each for the Chain, and a +0 for the Studded, averaging to 1.5 but rounded towards the chain, since the cover his arms.

Movement penalties start at the highest penalty and moved down 1 category for every piece not penalized, or for every 2 penalized less then the highest penalty and made 1 category worse for every piece of armor penalized the same as the highest penalty. It can never be penalized more the highest penalty. This doesn't include helmets.

Rothgin's suit of armor has a movement penalty 75% max on jog, run, and sprint. His highest penalty is 75% from his Chain mail Chest. He's got his Studded Leather has no movement penalty so it would go to full but he also has his Chain mail Arms drags him back down to 75%.

If he wanted, Rothgin would swap out his arm piece for Studded Leather and then he'd have no movement penalty but he wants the extra protection knowing that his arms are going to receive a beating.

New Combat Manuever: Strike the Weapon

     While blades and weapons meet all the time in the melee, it's an entirely different matter to try and willfully strike your opponent's weapon in an attempt to break it but it is a tactic that was employed on the battlefield, especially against pole-arms.

     By forfeiting your attack you may instead choose to attack their weapon. Unlike attacking a weapon of someone that's holding you at bay to move it out of the way, this is a deliberate strike to deal damage. The attack is against the defender's shieldless defense +6.

     On a hit the attacker rolls a reduced damage die that's as follows:

• All piercing weapons only deal 1 point of damage
• All crushing weapons use the lower of their two damage dice
• All non-polearm hacking weapons deal the higher of their two damage dice
• All hacking pole arms use the lower of the two dice rolled and they drop the +3

      Weapon breakage rules are similar to shield breakage rules with pole arms being treated as bucklers in terms of breakage and every other weapon treated as medium shields. The more damage, the more likely you are to break the weapon

      If a weapon falls it's breakage save, it doesn't shatter but instead the strike lowers the quality of the weapon, depending on the amount of weapon failed by (as per the usual rules found on page 197 of the PHB). After -4 the weapon shatters and is useless.

Fighting Unarmed with 1 or 2 hands

    Normally when attacking with an unarmed attacked you add your FoS to the special results sum to determine if your move was successful. This is the case whether you use two hands or one, which seems a bit silly.

     When fighting with ONE HAND, you add your damage modifier from strength to your special results sum. In this case it acts like a reduced FoS and doesn't add anymore to the damage.

     When fighting with TWO HANDS, you'll add your full FoS, just like normal.

New Combat Manuever: Power Attack

     Commonly called "Baseballing", Power Attacks allow a trade of accuracy and defense for power.

     While an Aggressive Attack is a series of feints designed to open an oppenent up, a Power Attack is a series of aggressive swings forcing an oppenent to move out of the way or get his head caved in. Power Attacking is also used to try and smash shields and weapons.

     While Power Attacking, you receive a -3 to Attack and Def in exchange for an additional none penetrating damage die. If the weapon has two different damage die, use the larger of the two.

     If you hit, you also add the difference between your FoS and their's for determining knock-backs.

     Like Attacking Aggressively, if your oppenent has Given Ground or Scampered Back, the Power Attack's damage is halved.

      Example: Red and Blue are locked in epic struggle. Red is growing angry and so he switches to a move offensive fighting style: he decides to start Power Attacking with his long sword.
      On the first round of attacks Red swings and gets a 15 on his roll. Blue counters but only gets a 13 so the attack lands.
      Red's damage would normally be 2d8p+3 (Red's got a strength of 15/73) but because he Power Attacked he instead rolls 2d8p+1d8+3 for damage. he rolls a 3, 2, and 8 on his dice. Even though he rolled an 8 on a d8, it doesn't penetrate because it was his bonus die from Power Attacking, so his total is 13, not too shabby but again, because he was baseball batting his attack, he adds the difference between his FoS (+8) and Blue's (+3) to determine whether or not it was a knock back.
      So the total was 13 damage but 18 for knock-back, sending Blue staggering back against the onslaught.

      The next round of attacks go by and Red attacks again with a Power Attack. This time Blue Gives Ground, but his defense only ends up totaling 7 against Red's 11. Red rolls a 5, 6, 4, giving him a total to damage of 18 but because Blue moved back, Blue only takes 9, however Red's total for knock-back was 14, meaning that Blue's managed to hold his ground. And, hey, at least he didn't take the full 21 damage.

Ranged Combat Breakdown

Ranged combat can be tricky especially if you pick a bow.

Here's the reason:

While traveling it is impractical to keep your bow strung for a long period of time. If you're GM is vindictive (like any good GM) he'll slowly have your bow lose it's power and then if you'll be out 75 sp (if you picked up the longbow), which is a bummer. So that means that you'll be walking around with your bow unstrung.

So at the beginning of combat, if you are caught with your pants down (and let's face it, this will be 75-90% of the encounters you'll have), you'll have to string your bow and then wait your full weapon speed to shoot. This could leave you basically inactive for the first 20-30 seconds of combat, which at lower levels is practically the entire combat.

You can toss the bow aside but that means you'll have to settle for a thrown weapon or a sling.

Personally, I love the sling. Easy to ready, it's a great go-to for weaker characters and it does a moderate damage with a pretty good range. However, it'll never have the range or the damage that a bow will.

So really, the sling is great starter weapon and I usually grab it for my weaker fighters and thieves. It's not great for a character that plans on being a mainly ranged weapon as the more BPs you spend on it, the less you get in return.

You could always pick up a thrown weapon but you should be aware of a few things:

The strength bonus you get for thrown weapons doesn't make any sense. If you have strength penalty, your thrown becomes less powerful by getting a running start. You might argue to the GM that you should always get your strength bonus and then get a +3 to damage if you get a jogging start.

That makes them more effective overall.

Additionally, there is a knife and a throwing knife. A hand-ax and a throwing ax. While it is heavy implied in the rules that they are, in fact, the same weapon, it never actually makes the connection. If you can convince your GM to make them one in the same, they have the added bonus of switching from melee to ranged without having to wait your full weapon speed to attack it somebody engages you.

All throwing weapons have the same main benefit: they are fast as sin. Most you can draw and throw in under 10 seconds.

Javelin has the greatest range and range of damage but is a bit slower then the others and less likely to actually penetrate.

The throwing ax is a nice medium. It's biggest strength is that it does a fair amount of shield damage, meaning that if you're pretty swole and get a running start, you can put a dent in someone's shield.

The throwing knife is the quickest out of the three but does the least amount of damage.

I usually pick up the javelin or throwing ax for my stronger fighters, while I tend to favor the throwing knife for my more manly thieves as it doubles as a melee weapon in case someone closes with them.

The last are the crossbows. To be fair, I don't have a lot of experience with them. Crossbows roughly equal to bows except for their reloading time which is a pain. The best use for crossbows, I've found, is for NPC peons forming some sort of blockage. Since only one has to fire it, you have maybe 5 additional NPCs all reloading crossbows. Forming a battery of about 20-30 men, you can effectively lay down a constant fire.

Crossbows popularity came from the fact that it was easier and quicker to train men to use them.

I would only recommend crossbows to players that have a small following of NPCs to reload for them.

If you're set on bows, you'll find that the first few levels will be frustrating as you'll have to pull out and string your bow, which will delay when you can enter the fray.

There's a few things you can do to counter act that:

Ditch the armor entirely.

If you do then you automatically drop an initiative die.

If you're not an elf, you can pick up the Improved Awareness talent. The talent doesn't stack with class or race bonuses to the initiative die but it doesn't say anything about not stacking with the bonus gained from not wearing armor.

That means that you are starting combat at two lower initiative die (a d12 becomes a d6, which is pretty awesome). That means you'll be able to act quicker then almost everyone.

If you do go this route, I also recommend picking up the Dodge talent so that you get your Dex vs ranged attacks. That'll make it a little harder to hit you.

That won't completely negate the time you have to wait to string your bow but it'll certain be a huge improvement. Ditching your armor is not a bad strategy but YOU WILL BE SCREWED IF YOU GET INTO MELEE COMBAT.

So keep in mind the exit: that depends on the type of campaign but if you're in the forest a lot then go for Grel. Full speed through the underbrush paired with hiking/road marching plus long distance running and you will never have to worry about being caught.

Bows greatest strength is their range and damage. A long bow is the hardest hitting, quickest, and farthest reaching weapon in the book. Grab the Advanced Sighting and you gain roughly an additional 50 feet of range from which to tag your enemy.

Once you invest the BPs into specialization then you can get your shooting down to 6 seconds per shot. It's getting there that's tough.

The real difference between short bows and long bows are their proficiencies cost (which doesn't matter to you as a cleric of the Patient Arrow) and the fact that Long bow costs twice at much, which means that you won't be able to buy your long-ranged death-dealer unless you purposely stash BPs away to cash in for... while... cash. Less BPs means less talents and specializations which means you'll be less effective out of the gate.

You'll need a minimum of 15 BPs to afford a long bow without dipping into your other starting SPs. That's enough to get you +2 in everything on your bow. Pretty good if you ask me.

You can also go the route of borrowing cash from other players. I had a player do this. His reason was that his ranger was the body guard of the rogue and that the rogue wanted him to have the best equipment. This tied their backstories together and tickled my soft stop as GM, so I allowed it. This allowed him to save his precious BPs to make him a better archer.

If that doesn't suit you or your GM says no, then you can try to save some BPs by relying on your starting cash roll to mitigate the cost. It's a risk but you might be able to save enough BPs to get maybe an additional +1.

Always pick up Advanced Sighting with your bow. It's great. You can also use it to rationalize it being able to see farther and you might convince your GM to give you an extra something-something on Observation checks that require you to see you long distances. I'm a pretty hard-ass GM and even I thought it made sense.

Well, this has become a regular essay and I'm so sorry that this ballooned into the monstrosity that it's become. I hope it was helpful at the very least. We can also talk about what you can do in melee to not get curb-stomped.