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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

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Appendix 2: Kingdoms

Settlements

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 540
A ruler's territory provides the canvas upon which they can build a kingdom, but the true art of leadership is displayed in how one establishes and develops the settlements where citizens gather and live out their lives. While individual citizens like trappers, hunters, fishers, and farmers might dwell alone or with their families in the outskirts of a settlement, the majority of a kingdom's people live within the villages, towns, cities, and metropolises built for them.

Settlement Level

In the Pathfinder RPG, a settlement's level is used primarily to determine potential jobs on offer for the Earn Income activity, and to determine what level of items are commonly available for sale in that community. For the purposes of Kingmaker, it's easiest to assume that a settlement created by the PCs using these rules has a settlement level equal to the number of blocks on the settlement's Urban Grid that are completely filled, but you should feel free to adjust these levels as makes sense for their campaign. The levels assigned to NPC settlements in this book (such as Restov, Varnhold, and Pitax) have been set as appropriate for the storyline and are not determined by the number of full city blocks.

The Urban Grid

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 540
The Urban Grid presents a simple graphical representation of a settlement (see page 633 for an example). The grid divides a settlement into 9 large districts (blocks) arranged in a 3-by-3 square. Each district itself comprises 4 individual neighborhoods (lots) arranged in a 2-by-2 square. It is these neighborhood lots in which you'll build structures to improve your settlement.

While the Urban Grid diagrams your settlement as a square, this is simply an organizational abstraction—it doesn't mean that your settlements are literally square. If it helps your sense of verisimilitude, feel free to cut up the Urban Grid and arrange blocks of four lots in any shape you wish. For a city hugging the shores of a great bay, you could draw out the bay and simply paste the blocks in a long row lining the coastline, or in any other arrangement that suits your taste.

Though the Urban Grid depicts 9 blocks for each settlement, the number of blocks in which you can build is limited by the settlement's category: a village consists of only a single block (and can thus host a maximum of only 4 lots of structures), while a city can expand to all 9 blocks (and can host up to 36 lots of structures). It's even possible for your settlement to become a metropolis, expanding to more than one Urban Grid! (See Settlement Types for complete details of settlement categories.)

Urban Grid Borders

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 540
The four sides of the Urban Grid are where you record the types of borders your settlement has. Land Borders: By default, all of your settlement's borders are unremarkable transitions from urban to hinterland—these are known as Land Borders. You take a cumulative –1 item penalty on Trade checks for each settlement in your kingdom that has no Land Borders, unless it has at least one Water Border with a Bridge.

Water Borders: When you place a settlement in a hex that has lake, river, or swamp terrain, you can locate it so that it has Water Borders. Water Borders provide natural defenses to your settlement during Warfare, and some structures can only be constructed in lots adjacent to Water Borders. However, crossing Water Borders that lack Bridges takes a long time (see Navigating an Urban Grid).

If a settlement has only Water Borders, it is on an island; until you build at least one Bridge, that settlement's influence is 0.

Walled Borders: Building Walls on your borders boosts your settlement's defense in certain events and in Warfare.

Navigating an Urban Grid

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
You can simulate travel in a settlement using the Urban Grid to approximate distances. Since moving through a settlement requires a character to follow twisting roads, navigate crowds, or endure minor distractions along the way, it takes 15 minutes to move from one lot to an adjacent lot, or to cross a border (including exiting the settlement). If the settlement has Paved Streets, this travel time is reduced to 5 minutes. Crossing a Water Border that doesn't have a Bridge takes an hour.

Settlement Types

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
As your kingdom levels up and your settlements grow, a settlement's type can change, providing different benefits and costs to your kingdom (see the table and descriptions below).

Settlement Types

SettlementSizePopulationLevelConsumptionMax. Item BonusInfluence
Village (1st)1 block400 or less11+10
Town (3rd)4 blocks401–2,0002–42+11 hex
City (9th)9 blocks2,001–25,0005–94+22 hexes
Metropolis (15th)10+ blocks25,001+10+6+33 hexes

Settlement

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
This indicates the type of settlement, with the minimum kingdom level to support such a settlement in parenthesis. Village: Settlements start as villages, consisting of a single block of 4 lots. When you Build a Structure in a lot, you must select a lot in that block.

Town: Once your kingdom is 3rd level and you've filled all four lots in your village, as long as your settlement is not Overcrowded, the next time you Build a Structure in a lot, you may choose a lot in any block adjacent to your current block. As you do so, your village becomes a town. A town consists of 2 to 4 blocks of 4 lots each. The blocks must be contiguous, but they need not be a square—they could form a T, L, or S shape if you like. When your kingdom gains its first town, gain 60 kingdom XP as a milestone award.

City: Once your kingdom is 9th level and you've filled in at least two lots in each of your town's 4 blocks, if your settlement is not Overcrowded, you may choose a lot anywhere on the Urban Grid when you Build a Structure in a lot. The first time you do so, the town transitions into a city. When your kingdom gains its first city, gain 80 kingdom XP as a milestone award.

Metropolis: When your kingdom reaches 15th level and you have filled at least two lots on each block in your city, if your settlement is not Overcrowded, you may expand into a metropolis by adding a second Urban Grid. (You may instead continue filling in the remaining lots and remain a city.) At this point, you can place new structures into any lot you wish in the newly added Urban Grid. You can add additional Urban Grids each time you have built at least two lots of structures in every available block and are not Overcrowded, but there are no further settlement types beyond metropolis to achieve. When your kingdom gains its first metropolis, gain 120 kingdom XP as a milestone award.

Size

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
This indicates the maximum number of blocks the settlement can occupy in an Urban Grid.

Population

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
A settlement's exact population is intentionally left abstract, but if you wish to estimate the numbers, you can use the values here as guidelines. Population density increases as a Settlement grows. In a village, each completed lot has an average population of 100 people or less. A town's average population increases to 125 people per completed lot, whereas a city's average population per lot increases to around 700. A metropolis can have an average population per completed lot of 1,000 people or more.

Level

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
The settlement's level generally falls within the range listed here, and is always equal to the number of blocks that have at least one structure (to a maximum of 20). A settlement level is separate from the kingdom level and is primarily used to determine potential jobs in the settlement. A settlement's level also suggests what sort of magic items might be commonly available for purchase at shops or the market (subject to GM adjudication).

Consumption

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 541
Consumption is a numerical value that indicates the Food commodities the settlement requires in order to remain viable and functional. The number given here shows the settlement's base consumption; specific structures in the settlements can increase or decrease its Consumption.

Maximum Item Bonus

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 542
Many structures within a settlement grant an item bonus to specific kingdom activities. Normally, item bonuses do not stack, but if you build multiple structures of the same type in the same settlement, their item bonuses stack up to this limit. In a case where two settlements have overlapping influences from identical structures, only the higher item bonus from a single settlement's structures applies.

Influence

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 542
A settlement's influence area is the area around a settlement where meaningful economic and productive activity can occur, as well as where the settlement's beneficial effects extend. The numeric value indicates the number of hexes that the settlement's influence extends. Thus, a village only influences the hex it's located in, while a town influences all adjacent hexes. If a settlement has only Water Borders and no Bridges, that settlement's influence is 0 regardless of its settlement type.

Certain activities and the impact of some kingdom events are limited to a settlement's influence. Structures in a settlement that provide a specific item bonus do so to all of the claimed hexes influenced by their settlement. (Structures in your capital city provide that bonus to all of the kingdom's claimed hexes, regardless of the capital's influence.)

Hexes not claimed by your kingdom are never part of your settlements' influence areas, even if they are within the distance noted above. A hex can be influenced by multiple settlements.

Founding a Village

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 542
Your kingdom's first settlement is automatically founded in Step 8 of Kingdom Creation. You can found new settlements and expand on existing settlements during the Civic Activities step of the Activity phase of the Kingdom turn.

When you found a village, follow the four steps presented below to get started.

Step 1: Select a Hex

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 542
Select a Claimed Hex in your kingdom that doesn't already have a settlement as the site for your new settlement. Work with your GM to select the specific location of your settlement within the hex. If it contains lake, river, or swamp terrain, take into consideration the number of Water Borders you have in mind for your settlement.

Step 2: Establish your Village

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 542
You must first Clear the Hex to prepare it for your village. Since Clear Hex is a Region activity that can only happen during Step 2 of the activity phase of a Kingdom turn, and Establish Settlement is a Leadership activity that can only happen during Step 1, you have to wait until the Kingdom turn after you Clear the Hex to actually found the settlement. This simulates the time that it takes to prepare, such as setting up temporary quarters or tent cities, digging sanitation trenches, gathering materials, and managing all the other small tasks to get things ready to build.

If your hex contains lake, river, or swamp terrain, you may choose which of its borders are Land Borders and which are Water Borders (see Urban Grid Borders). On the Urban Grid, check the “Water” box next to as many of its borders as you like; you cannot change this decision later.

If your hex contains Ruins or a Structure, you can incorporate that building into your settlement at a reduced cost (for Ruins) or for free (for Structures). The exact type of structure is indicated in that hex's encounter text in Chapter 2—the GM has full information about these structures and ruins and how they can impact settlements.

Step 3: Name your Village

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 543
Each settlement needs a name. Some leaders name settlements after themselves or their families, but the name can be anything suitable for the campaign and agreeable to the PCs.

Step 4: Start Building!

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 543
Your brand new village is now ready to grow! A village must fill a single block of 4 lots before it can expand, so select one block on the Urban Grid for your village's development. Each Kingdom turn, during the Civic Activities step of its Activity phase, your settlement has one Civic activity, which can be used to Build Structure.

Structures

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 543
You build structures using the Build Structure activity during the Civic Activities step of the Activity phase of the Kingdom turn.

When you build in a lot within one of your settlements, you're rarely literally constructing a single building. While an arena or cathedral might stand alone as a towering edifice, most lots represent a number of buildings whose focus is to support the type of improvement that lot supports. For example, a brewery could represent a collection of brewers and bottlers and the families who support them, while a luxury merchant would represent several specialized stores. Even sprawling, sizable improvements like dumps, cemeteries, or parks might include nearby dwellings or cottages for those who tend and manage the area or live along its margins.

Residential Lots and Overcrowding: While almost every structure presumably includes a small amount of lodging, you need to build Residential lots in order to give your citizens enough places to live. You do so by building a structure that has the Residential trait in a chosen lot. Settlements require a number of Residential lots equal to the number of blocks that have any structures built within them, although these residential lots need not be located one per block. For example, when a village expands to a town, it initially occupies 2 blocks. It needs 2 Residential lots in total among those 2 blocks, either both in one block or one in each block. A settlement without this minimum number of Residential lots is Overcrowded (mark the “Overcrowded” box on your Urban Grid) and generates 1 Unrest for the kingdom during the Upkeep phase of each Kingdom turn.

Reduced to Rubble: It's possible for structures in a settlement to be reduced to rubble by a failed attempt to Demolish a structure or a poor result from a kingdom event. When a structure is reduced to rubble, replace the lots the structure once occupied on the Urban Grid with rubble. Having rubble in a lot doesn't itself impact a kingdom's Unrest or other statistics negatively, but it does prevent you from building in those lots. You must Demolish that lot before you can build there again. When a single lot that contains part of a multi-lot structure is reduced to rubble, each of the lots that contained that structure are replaced with individual lots of rubble.

Structure Descriptions

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 543
Structures are described in the following format.

Structure Name Level

A structure's level indicates the minimum kingdom level required to build it. Each structure has traits that convey its properties. The Building trait indicates the structure is a collection of indoor sites, while the Yard trait indicates the structure is primarily an outdoor site. Infrastructure indicates that the structure benefits all lots in an Urban Grid without occupying a lot. (For a metropolis, this means you'll need to build Infrastructure separately for each Urban Grid that makes up the settlement.) The Edifice trait grants its benefits to a settlement only once; if you build that structure an additional time in the same settlement, it's purely cosmetic. A Residential structure helps house the settlement's citizens; a settlement requires at least one Residential lot per block to avoid being Overcrowded. The Famous trait increases your Fame score when the structure is built, while the Infamous trait does the same for your Infamy score. Some structures have both Famous and Infamous traits; in this case apply the one that matches your kingdom's preference (see Fame and Infamy). A short textual description rounds out the top of the structure stat block.
Lots The number of contiguous lots that the structure occupies on the Urban Grid; Cost The cost in RP and Commodities (if any) you must spend before attempting the Build Structure check.
Construction This entry lists the required skill, proficiency rank, and DC for the Build Structure check.
Upgrade From/Upgrade To Some structures can be upgraded into a more advanced form of the existing structure, such as upgrading a Shrine into a Temple. If you upgrade a structure, subtract the RP and Commodity cost used to build the original structure from the cost of the new structure. When the new structure is complete, its effects replace those of the previous structure. You can't upgrade a structure to one that occupies more lots if there isn't space in the block for the new structure's size. (You do not need to build the lesser form of a structure before you build the advanced form.)
Item Bonus This entry indicates any item bonuses the structure grants to specific activities made within the settlement's influence—or within the borders of your kingdom if the settlement is your capital. These bonuses are item bonuses, but they stack with those granted by identical structures within the same settlement, up to that settlement's maximum item bonus.
Ruin Some structures negatively impact society. If this structure does so, it will increase one or more of your kingdom's Ruins when constructed; this increase only happens once, when the structure is built. Increases to Ruin in this way aren't removed if the structure is later demolished.
Effects All additional game effects the structure grants to your kingdom are listed here. In many cases, these effects grant item bonuses to PCs while they are in the settlement, but unlike those granted by the Item Bonus above, item bonuses found in this section of the stat block do not stack with other item bonuses. Unless stated otherwise, effects in this section apply only within this settlement; they do not apply to areas influenced by this settlement.

Settlement Structures

Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 544
Presented below are stat blocks for a wide range of structures that serve a variety of purposes in settlements, both to bolster kingdom statistics and PC resources. Encourage your PCs to come up with flavorful specific names for individual structures they create!