Rolls for Deus Vult 3 characters
Rolls for Deus Vult 3 Main Characters
Social rank was everything in medieval Europe.
You were born into a social standing, and you died in that same social standing, with exceptions to this rule serving to create romantic stories of peasants becoming knights, knights becoming dukes, and so forth. But in practice, a European died with the same familial rank they were born with.
It is argued that the Crusades were, unwittingly, an escape from this system.
As was stated in a popular film, "A man who, in France, had not a house, is, in the Holy Land, the master of a city. He who was the master of a city begs in the gutter. There, at the end of the world, you are not what you were born, but what you have it in yourself to be."
However, you are not yet at the end of the world, and the world is not fair. Everything you are and what you own, is due to blood, lineage.
If you are a knight, you owe your distant ancestors for riding into battle alongside Charles the Great, or to shrewd retainers who made themselves useful to their kings.
If you are a serf, you know nothing but servitude, and likely know of nothing beyond the few square miles of your home village, just like your forefathers.
Social rank, above all, determines three things in this roleplaying game:
- Who you are, where you come form, what life you have had until now, what skills you might have, etc.
- Your power and standing in the crusade. A knight is of the mounted warrior aristocracy, a caste of nobles that have come to dominate society. A bourgeoisie man who brings more men with him than a knight, still does not socially rank above him. To be truthful, all commoners, no matter how rich and gentle-born they are, are by tradition seen as little more than pig farmers and laborers.
- How many men you bring with you on crusade, how many you personally lead.
Ranks
-Noble-
- Princely: A prince or princess, a royal relative, a child of a previous king, reigning king, or of a previous emperor or reigning emperor. You have essentially given up any claim you may have had to the kingdom or empire, and have joined the crusade, perhaps with the king or emperor's support.
- Ducal: A duke, duchess, sibling of a duke/duchess, or child of a duke/duchess, from any Catholic European realm. Herzog, Marquis/Margrave/Markgraf and Landgrave/Landgraf also fall under this mechanical rank.
- Comital: A count, countess, sibling of a count/countess, or child of a count/countess, from any Catholic European realm. Viscounts, Earls, and Grafs also fall under this mechanical rank.
- Lordly: A feudal lord of the lowest rank. In France, they were often simply known as "seigneurs". In England, they were barons; in Germany, Freiherr.
- Knightly: A knight/sir/seigneur, lady wife or daughter of a knight, or an esquire/knightly son of a knight. Often have landownership under a count or lord, but sometimes are found without land and master. In some kingdoms, like in the Holy Roman Empire, there are large amounts of unlanded knights who are considered much lesser in rank than landed knights, but are very useful as retainers and loyal soldiers of a lord, king, or emperor. Specifically, the so-called unfree knights, or Ministeriales, of the Holy Roman Empire, though while considered socially commoners, fall under this rank bracket in practice.
-Common-
- Bourgeois: A member of the urban mercantile class. You may come from a family of successful artisans, merchants, bankers, or other such tradesmen of the growing middle class. You are considered not a noble, far from, but many among you are often just as wealthy and comfortable as lords in their castles if not more. Your family may even be one of several families who essentially rule the walled city you come from. Literacy is common, but not guaranteed.
- Free: A free peasant, sometimes a landowner if lucky; he pays his lord and usually provides labor for him, but he owns the house he lives on and can go where he pleases, and holds rights. Rare literacy.
- Servile: A unfree serf, a tenant on land that is not his, providing harsh labor and payless servitude to a lord or master of the noble class. They hold little rights. Guaranteed illiteracy. The vast majority of serfs in Western Europe had however become free peasants by the 1200's. Chances are if you're of the servile class, you've either be relieved of your fettered status by your master or a higher authority, or you've essentially run away.
The Knightly, Bourgeois, Free, and Servile ranks may be chosen for free, at will, without cost or roll.
The Lordly rank and upwards requires a roll:
1d100
91-100 = Princely
81-90 = Ducal
61-80 = Comital
41-60 = Lordly
1-40 = Knightly or Lower
Clergymen
The Church is, in one light, another arm of the aristocratic elite. But in another light, the Church virtually allows a child born of humble origins to become a bishop, elected by his peers to guide souls and, sometimes, rule a geographical fief with secular power. But usually, the hierarchy of the Church was filled with men born from noble families, a bishop often a brother to the nearby baron or count.
To the clergy of the Church, the crusade is a complex concept. The most literate, wise, and elite among them, above all, truly know the purpose of a crusade.
To some, it is a righteous cause to bring land, specifically holy lands, into the embrace of Christendom. To the observant, it is a way to vent the violent energies of the knights and nobles of the land against a foreign enemy instead of the common people. But does it achieve a truly righteous cause? Is it not a sin a to kill? Though stifled and cautious, it is a topic of quiet debate and discussion in the cells of monasteries, in the naves of cathedrals, and in the halls of the Pope's palace.
Clergymen often see themselves as spiritual guides of the people, guardians of souls, and arbors of the Church's canon.
To go on crusade is to shepherd the souls who undertake it, and to aid in the martial effort.
-Ecclesiastic-
- Princely-Episcopal: Bishops and Archbishops, known as Prince-Bishops and Prince-Archbishops respectively, who have temporal power over their diocese as well as ecclesiastical, ruling temporal/secular realms like the counts and dukes around them and are usually highly autonomous from their secular liege. They are common in the Holy Roman Empire.
- Episcopal: Bishops (and Archbishops) whose ecclesiastical authority spans over an episcopal see, known as a bishopric or a diocese. Bishops are the leaders of the Church on a regional level, and are seen as having "full priesthood", descended in theory from the Apostles of Christ. The framework of bishops is what makes Christianity into an organized Church under the Pope in Rome. They do not have temporal/secular power like the counts and dukes around them, and only have religious authority as a pillar beside the secular feudal authority of their diocese's area.
- Clerical: Priests and deacons, coming from a local parish of a village or town, subordinate in the Church hierarchy to the authority of the Bishop, who is subordinate to the Pope in Rome.
- Monastic: An abbot, prior, or monk belonging to a monastery or monastic order, an abbess, prioress, or nun belonging to an abbey or monastic order, or a friar/sister of a mendicant order. Monastic life is full of contemplation, prayer, reading, and writing, while mendicant expands upon that into the territory of alms-giving, helping the common folk in their travels, and spreading the word of God.
Episcopal and Princely ranks must be rolled. Clerical and Monastic are free.
1d100
81-100 = Princely-Episcopal
61-80 = Episcopal
1-60 = Clerical or Monastic
Manpower Rolls
Servile, Clerical, and Monastic ranks cannot start with any men behind them.
Princely .. Troops: 1d50x90 +1000 (1,090-5,500)
Ducal .. Troops: 1d50x80 +1500 (1,580-5,500)
Comital .. Troops: 1d50x80 +1000 (1,080-5,000)
Lordly .. Troops: 1d50x50 +800 (850-3,300)
Knightly .. Troops: 1d10x100 +100 (200-1,200)
Bourgeois .. Troops: 1d10x50 +50 (100-550)
Free .. Troops: 1d25 +25 (25-50)
Servile .. Troops: 0
Princely-Episcopal .. Troops: 1d50x80 +1000 (1,080-5,000)
Episcopal .. Troops: 1d50x50 +200 (250-2,700)
Clerical .. Troops: 0
Monastic .. Troops: 0
When you are rolled your manpower, you should use that to consider your character's background and origin.
Are their lands wealthy, or were they wealthy otherwise? A wealthy count can be stronger than a poor duke.
Likewise, different generations along a same dynasty of a county or duchy can be varied in wealth and power and prestige, often depending on the ability and actions of the title holder of that generation. Try to avoid being the vassal of a another player if you are rolled more crusaders than they, just out of player courtesy (unless they say it's fine). Beyond that, an army brought on crusade doesn't actually reflect the power of that character back home; A rich duke may not necessarily bring everything to bear, feeling it better to preserve the majority of his family's assets, while a small lord from Flandres might sell off his castle to a bishop or a burgher and amass an impressive following knights and soldiers.
Composition
Princely .. 15% Footmen, 15% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 25% Men-at-Arms, 30% Knights.
Ducal .. 15% Footmen, 15% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 25% Men-at-Arms, 30% Knights.
Comital .. 15% Footmen, 15% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 25% Men-at-Arms, 30% Knights.
Lordly .. 20% Footmen, 20% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 20% Men-at-Arms, 25% Knights.
Knightly .. 20% Footmen, 20% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 20% Men-at-Arms, 25% Knights.
Bourgeois .. 25% Footmen, 40% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 20% Men-at-Arms
Free .. 40% Footmen, 40% Spearmen, 20% Bowmen
Princely-Episcopal .. 20% Footmen, 20% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 25% Men-at-Arms, 20% Knights.
Episcopal .. 20% Footmen, 20% Spearmen, 15% Bowmen, 25% Men-at-Arms, 20% Knights.
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Originally Posted by Ace_General
