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Are there rules for maintaining a staffed fortification/stronghold? Rules for how much a staff of that nature will likely cost?

So, you aren't as likely to spend all your money on magic gear like past editions, and one new thing you can spend all those ill-gotten gains on is a stronghold — perhaps as the base of a mercenary company, or maybe a mini-kingdom from D&D's Birthright campaign setting of old. But such a construction will be spendy, and paying all the staff, too, while you can only be so much of a group of murder-hobos, or get so many reward-purses from the King.

While it's nice of them to give us this option, are there real ways to consistently make enough gold to keep paying for it, before you deplete the local dungeons and have all the king's gold?

SevenSidedDie
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Venkelos
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    Since RPG.se isn't a discussion forum, questions can't invite people to have a discussion about anything. However, there is a solid non-discussion question here, so I've removed all the invitations to chat and left the question that can actually be answered here. If you have a problem to solve, RPG.se was invented to be better than discussion forums for that; if you want to participate in a discussion on a topic, RPG.se explicitly doesn't try to be good for that, and you should still use a discussion forum or [chat] for such things. – SevenSidedDie Aug 09 '16 at 18:02
  • (Again, we invite you to take the [tour]. It may clarify a lot of things about what RPG.se is and isn't.) – SevenSidedDie Aug 09 '16 at 18:10
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    I feel like the questions of "how much does staffing a fortification" and "are there ways to make enough gold to keep paying for it" are different enough to require severing. One is trivially answered with a few DMG lookups; the other delves into theories of setting construction, perhaps a look into the history of taxation.... I've therefore voted to put this question on hold as "too broad." – nitsua60 Aug 09 '16 at 18:21
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    Related, on how much a party might expect to make as day-adventurers. – nitsua60 Aug 09 '16 at 18:23
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    Related, on another way for adventurers to make money on the side. – nitsua60 Aug 09 '16 at 18:24
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    OK, so this is a variety of questions. Are there rules for hiring staff (for fortifications)? For building one in the first place (the subject includes this)? Is doing so "practical?" (That's probably pure opinion). How do you make money to pay for it over time? (Adventure? Get a job? This is interlaced with a variety of assumptions, like it must cost so much to do so that you would "deplete the region of gold.") What exactly is your key question? – mxyzplk Aug 09 '16 at 18:31

2 Answers2

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Yes, there is a way to price it out. The DMG contains a downtime activity for constructing a stronghold which includes various types, prices, and construction times. On the same page, in the previous section, there is also a guide showing the expenses related to maintaining various properties- including all of the items mentioned in the building a stronghold downtime activity! That table shows the staffing you'd need of both skilled and unskilled hirelings to keep it running. The daily wages for each can be found in the PHB under Services in the equipment chapter.

  • I do not have the books on me atm. If anyone would be so kind as to edit this to provide page numbers, it would be appreciated. Otherwise, I'll add them when I get home.

No, there is no rules structure system which provides regular income capable of reliably sustaining any type of property. There is a good reason for this: the whole point of D&D is to go adventuring. If you can just make money arbitrarily and rule over your land in peace, there's not much reason to go dungeon delving. (Unless your DM is fairly creative and dumps adventure in your lap everywhere you go) That said, there's plenty of roleplay based ways of raking in regular income. For example, if you manage to earn yourself a landed noble title, in a feudal medieval setting you should have the right to tax the people. Or you could blackmail a noble to pay tribute. That could sustain your property while you're out slaying dragons. You need to work with the DM on this kind of thing. Make sure that the whole point is to get your character out adventuring again rather than fidgeting with his finances to sustain his property.

JAMalcolmson
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  • Oh sure, I can see that. So long as you leave some money at the place, to cover your expected expenses, while you're gone, and come back, when you are done, with whatever loot you acquired, I don't see this "vaguery" as a problem. I'd also definitely rather go fight the good fight, defeat the BBEG, and use those gains to cover whatever, then play Sims. ;) – Venkelos Aug 09 '16 at 18:24
  • I interpreted your question as "can all the rules for strongholds in 5e be compiled for easy use?" to which the answer is yes. – JAMalcolmson Aug 09 '16 at 20:26
  • Also, if someone wants to switch from dragon hunting into noble landowner simulator, that might be fun for some people too ;) – Gerino Aug 10 '16 at 09:27
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Yes, there is a section covering both construction and staffing of several types of fortification in the DMG.

Adventurer income in D&D 5e is typically from adventuring. Magic item creation and mundane crafting or business ownership are not nearly as profitable if using the base assumptions put forth in the core rule books.

Derek Stucki
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  • So makes me want to ask "so, what should the 'average' haul from a 'typical' job be, for a party?", to see what the average group could afford to own/maintain, but that really is all opinion, and dependent on way too many variables. Hmm... – Venkelos Aug 09 '16 at 18:18
  • There are quite specific guidelines for this in the DMG. That said, they are guidelines, not rules. You can choose to give your PCs enough, more than enough, or not quite enough, depending on the campaign you want to run. – Derek Stucki Aug 10 '16 at 02:29