Lifestyle: Driftriver Estates & Hirelings

Citizens of Driftriver may start their careers living in the communal living space of the B.A.S.E. but as their power and means increase they may seek to build a home of their own within Driftriver, or join an existing household or stronghold. Doing so offers a number of benefits.

Downtime Lifestyles

Driftriver does not actively process lifestyle costs as described p. 157-158 of the Player's Handbook. Instead your lifestyle is a product of your living conditions. If you are living in the communal housing provided by B.A.S.E. your lifestyle is considered Poor. Living below this quality of life is a choice you may make. You acquire Lifestyle Points by living in an Estate with Amenities and Services. Your lifestyle directly impacts your character's well being in a number of ways.

Hit Die Bonuses

Living a higher quality lifestyle increases the maximum number of hit dice that your character has. This has no impact on hit points. If multiclassed you select the die.

Living Costs

Living a high quality lifestyle allows you to ignore minor expenses as these will simply be billed to your estate. Up to a certain amount of travel expense may be ignored.

Social Implications

Other creatures, civilized or not, may treat you differently based on your perceived social standing.

Legal Implications

Your lifestyle will change the way that the law will treat you. Poverty will increase suspicion of your behavior while perceived wealth will cause others to appease you.

Lifestyles

Roleplaying Your Lifestyle

The Lifestyles described in the PHB or in the table above are not the only ways you may choose to define your character's way of life. These impacts respond to specific levels of bonuses intended to encompass a character's apparent wealth, celebrity and social influence. While you may choose to eschew high society and live as a wild druid in a grove of perfect harmony the Lifestyle system attempts to represent a quality of life based on investments.

Lifestyles While Traveling?

Your lifestyle level is intended to continue while traveling. By being associated to an estate and being accustomed to a higher quality of life you find it easier to maintain the effects on the road. You keep your bonuses unless the plot of a session changes your circumstances per DM discretion.

Establishing an Estate & Residency

Starting an Estate

To establish an Estate you must have a character who is Contribution legal, meaning the character has 15 hours of game play time or DM reward time invested. You must then file an Estate Establishment in the #transaction-archives using the pinned format. You must invest at least 5,000 gold to establish an Estate.

Choose Carefully

You can only own one Estate on a character. Choosing to begin investing in your own property is a choice you should make carefully and after consulting with any allies you have.

Contributing to an Estate

To contribute to an Estate you must have a character who is Contribution legal, meaning the character has 15 hours of game play time or DM reward time invested. You must then file an Estate Contribution in the #transaction-archives using the pinned format. The money that you contribute to the Estate is nonrefundable and can not be recovered.

Estate Milestones

Map Point of Interest

After reaching 100,000 gold invested in your Estate you may request to be placed on the Driftriver map. For the near future all Estates must be in or immediately near the city of Driftriver. Airships and water ships may travel but must return to spend much of their time in the city. The district that your Estate is in must match its purpose to some extent, for example if you wish to establish a Bard College then it is very unlikely to be an appropriate match for the districts of Northbank or the Bantry.
To have your Estate added to the official map please speak with a member of the Driftriver staff and they will guide you through the process.

Discord Channels, Role and Emoji

When an Estate hits 100,000 gold invested it is capable of receiving a corresponding text channel in Discord. This channel will be placed in the Estates [RP] category and the Estate owner will have limited moderation control of the channel. Additionally an opt-in role will be created for the estate allowing users to volunteer to be associated with the estate. An emoji matching the Map Point of Interest will be added to the server's emojis, allowing the emoji to be used within Discord.

Residency

Characters may take residency in multiple locations, but the Estate owner is always a resident of their own Estate. When a character has residency in multiple homes they may only select one Estate from which to draw bonuses. For example if they live in a lavish Headquarters but also own an Airship which they use to travel to multiple locations then they may choose to take their bonuses from whichever Estate they have access to at the time.

Regions and Region Levels

Regions are defined areas which have inherent characteristics that impact nearby Estates. These values will be stored in the Driftriver Database and can be changed depending on the behaviors of our playerbase, or storylines driven by our DMs. Regions have the following characteristics which can have multiple levels:

Region Development Level

This Region characteristic represents the development of an area and suitability for habitation and the establishment of an Estate. This can be thought of as infrastructure, connections, friendliness of natives and anything which might make life easier. Each Development Level provides an equivalent amount of Lifestyle Points to an Estate. The City of Driftriver has a Development Level of 15, which provides 15 Lifestyle Points, meaning even a small house in Driftriver permits a Modest lifestyle. Moving into the wilderness may force you into a lesser lifestyle unless you have the means to overcome it, so be mindful of your choice of Region!

Region Hazard Level

This Region characteristic represents the existence and effects of hazards, stressors, or other natural deficits or challenges. This can be imagined as attempting to establish an Estate in a blighted swamp plagued by undead in which your Residents and Hirelings would have their very life force tugged at by the desecrated lands, all while suffering from an area of low natural beauty. Each Hazard Level reduces your effective Amenities by 10. A negative Amenities score can result in a penalty to total Lifestyle Points, degrading the quality of life of an Estate. While choosing to live in a remote desert area may appeal at first there can be drawbacks to building in a hazardous region!

Region Hostility Level

This Region characteristic represents the presence of hostile forces, fauna and flora. This is most often representative of hostile creatures which could threaten your Estate and which necessitate a suitable Defense to combat. Each Hostility Level requires 10 Defense to counteract, and for every Hostility level which is not mitigated by Estate Defense the Estate will suffer a penalty of 1 Lifestyle point. Without adequate defense your residents will suffer the effects of a diminished lifestyle and your Estate may be more vulnerable to attacks from outside forces. Moving your Estate into a region controlled by hostile ogres may threaten your quality of life or the Estate itself, be mindful of the threats ahead of you!

Region Fortification Level

This Region characteristic represents the presence of fortifications such as humanoid made defenses such castles, fortresses or even natural defensive formations such as mountain ranges or wide and deep rivers. In order to attack a region the Fortification level must be matched by an Estate’s offense level. Each Fortification Level requires 10 Offense to overcome. More details on this mechanic will be revealed later as we continue work on the War System!

Estates, Floorplans

Floorplans, Rooms, Structures, Beds, Hirelings, Jobs and More
The Estate system is built on a number of different resources, the combined effect of which is called an Estate. A character may own only one Estate. Estates have a number of critical components and characteristics, but in general a character begins by building a Floorplan which is a blueprint on which the Estate will be built. This can range from a small cottage to a massive castle headquarters and also includes ships of both the sea and the air. A selected Floorplan will dictate the maximum number of Rooms and the maximum Quality of rooms available in the Estate. Very large Floorplans will require a certain amount of Crew to maintain. Room Capacity is the maximum number of Structures which can be built in an Estate. Each Structure increases the maximum population of Residents and Hirelings permitted, while also offering additional benefits or resources such as Beds, Amenities and Defense. Beds can be assigned to Residents which are player characters who live within the Estate. Beds can also be assigned to Hirelings which are non-player characters who provide benefits and generate Services for Residents. The combination of Amenities and Services generated within an Estate determines the total Lifestyle Points of the Residents which determines their Lifestyle.

Floorplans

Floorplans are the blueprints of an Estate. Floorplans have the following characteristics: Gold Cost It costs gold to purchase land rights and construction materials. Larger constructions cost more gold. Room Capacity The maximum number of Structures that can be built in the Floorplan. Larger floorplans tend to be more expensive.

Max Lifestyle Points & Lifestyle

A comfortable life can be found in a house but the high life requires a fine Manor or better. Vehicle floorplans are mobile and limited in ability to support affluent lifestyles.

Max Quality

The maximum level of a Structure in this Floorplan. This characteristic represents the quality of furnishings, equipment and the comfort or productivity of the Structure. Each quality level multiplies the cost and benefits of the Structure and may grant new bonuses or effects.

Crew Requirements

Larger floorplans require care and maintenance while Vehicle floorplans require significant crews to operate. Crew requirements are satisfied by Hirelings. The requirements for vehicle floorplans significantly increase the costs of operation.

Floorplans

(†) Vehicle, Ship: These vehicles are detailed in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. The Small Fleet floorplan can be thought of as any combination of ships summing 50 rooms, such as a warship and 2 keelboats, 2 sailing ships and a keelboat, or a warship and a sailing ship, or any other such valid combination. This Large Fleet floorplan can be thought of as any combination of ships summing 70 rooms, such as 2 warships and a keelboat, a warship and 2 sailing ships, 3 sailing ships and a keelboat, or any other such valid combination. (ª) Vehicle, Air Ship: This vehicle is detailed in Unearthed Arcana: Of Ships and Sea. The Zeppelin Longship Floorplan is the equivalent of a Longship statblock that is capable of flying at the 5 mph travel rate of a Longship. The Astral Corvette Floorplan is the equivalent of the Warship statblock that is capable of flying at 10 mph, is 10 feet deeper, and has a hull HP of 700. The Astral Cruiser Floorplan is the equivalent of the Warship statblock that is capable of flying at 10 mph, is 20 feet deeper, and has a hull HP of 900.

Upgrading Your Estate

All housing and hireling systems are designed to be upgraded with no loss as long as the floorplan type stays the same. Land Estates (Cottages to Headquarters) may upgrade or downgrade amongst each other, water ships (Keelboat to Warship) may upgrade or downgrade amongst each other and Airships may not be changed. You can reconstruct the Estate at will.

Estates, Structures

Structures

Where a Floorplan determines the outline of an Estate it is the Structures which determine most of the benefits. Each Structure requires 1 Room Capacity and increases the maximum number of Residents and Hirelings allowed in an Estate by 1 by providing them room to work and live. Structures also provide benefits which increase as the Quality of the construction increases, multiplying some of the benefits it offers while multiplying the cost. This allows Estates to improve their quality of life while still using their Room Capacity efficiently. Structures have the following characteristics:

Gold Cost

Structures have an inherent cost of construction. This gold purchases furnishings, fixtures and materials.

Amenities

Amenities represent the comforts generated by your Structures and improve the Lifestyle of Residents.

Defense

Defense represents the security of your Estate. Some Structures improve the defense of an Estate which protects from threats ranging from wildlife to military action.

Benefits

Structures offer a wide variety of benefits, many of which are unique to their particular design. Benefits which scale will be represented by [#/#/#/#/#] where Quality progresses from 1. Basic to 5. Idyllic. Benefits for non-numeric progression schemes, such as the Chamber of Communication, are cumulative and Residents gain all benefits.

Quality Cost Multiplier Table

Bedroom Structures

Bedrooms are a necessity for any Estate. These rooms provide living space for Residents. Increasing the number of Beds in an Estate will allow more people to live together but will also reduce the number of Rooms available for other benefits. A crowded Estate may also find it difficult to balance their Amenities and Services across a large number of Residents.

Bedroom Structures Table

Amenities Structures

These Structures are designed to improve the quality of life of Residents. These choices offer a high quantity of Amenities which produce Lifestyle Points. Many of these Structures provide other minor benefits which improve physical or mental health. Amenities Structure Table

Utility Structures

Utility Structures provide minor Amenities bonuses while offering other significant benefits. These choices create places for Residents and Hirelings to work, enhancing their productivity or granting them an appropriate place to store things.

Utilities Structure Table

Defense Structures

Defense Structures focus on improving the Defense of an Estate.

Defense Structure Table

One Size Does Not Fit All

Your Estate may be a collection of many smaller buildings like a plantation, a single impressive manor or even a fortified castle. There is no limit to creativity or interpretation on the construction of an estate.
Whether a treetop medley of interconnected perches fit for a family of Aarakocra or a subterranean network of warrens fit for a clan of kobolds or dwarves the possibilities are endless.

Not All Rooms Are Created Equal

The concept of a Room is loosely defined. While it is unlikely that the average bedroom will be larger than 15' x 15' to 30' x 30' at the largest or so a Feast Hall or Garden may be quite a large Structure. While the limit is undefined to permit creativity the limits of the size of an Estate and any Structures should rely on common sense.

Estate Spells

Magical Defenses

Estate owners can seek the skills of powerful spellcasters to enhance their homes. These spells can be woven to harden the Defense of the Estate and can also provide numerous other benefits dependent on the spells themselves. Please consult the spell text for the potential benefits of these options. Estate Spells, Costs and Effects

Qualifying Estates

While many of these spells may not normally be cast on any moving object or surface you may cast these things on Estates which satisfy the requirements. This means you could create an Airship with a permanent gate, for example which could permit a large number of individuals to make travel to a beachhead established by the Airship. Note that this works both ways, should the airship be captured then foes may be able to infiltrate the gate and gain access to your headquarters.

Defense & Offense

The Defense and Offense systems of the Estate rules are currently in a development phase. The full rules for War will be coming in a future season of Driftriver. These scores will be critical in the following ways:

Defense

• Establishing an Estate outside of Driftriver's borders.
• Defending oneself from potential attacks of the wilderness or borderlands.
• Determining if your troops can maintain supply lines in hostile territory.
• Determining if your Estate is able to be attacked by hostile powers.
• Determining the degree of success when defending in War activity.

Offense

• Determining if you are capable of attacking hostile forces in an effort to destroy them.
• Determining the degree of success when waging hostile War activity.

War Development

• Driftriver is working on the concept of War as a later season goal once the community is better developed and better able to afford Wars. Until then there will be few if any cases where Estates can be attacked.

The Impacts of War

• Unless you are actively involved in offensive war against hostile forces you need not worry about your Estate coming under threat. For players who are interested in War the risks will be real, and Estates may be diminished or destroyed.

Driftriver Hirelings

The busy adventurers of the Driftriver often find themselves away from home for extended periods of time on business both official and personal. In their absence their estates may be managed by hirelings. Administrators, domestics, women and men-at-arms, servants, vassals and aides can work together to ensure the safety and maintenance of the modern adventurer's luxuries and lifestyle.

Hirelings

Hirelings are non-player characters, represented by humanoid creatures of CR3 or below, who contract with a player character adventurer contingent on the ownership of an Estate per the Estate system. Hirelings are contracted in perpetuity, until the destruction of the estate or until the death of the hireling. Hirelings must be provided with a handsome signing fee, and then be provided with appropriate workspace represented by a built structure room.
Hirelings serve multiple purposes, providing adventurers with Services and potential mechanical and role-playing benefits. A noblewoman interested in flaunting her wealth may establish a handsome estate with many domestic servants while an outlaw may fill a hideout with a gang of bandits he can rely on if he was ever tracked to his base. The average adventurer may choose to bring on a mixture of hirelings, from a chef to prepare their meals, a courier to deliver their missives, or a squire to maintain their knightly accoutrements.

Signing A Hireling

Driftriver is a rapidly growing city known for opportunity. Travelers from nearby thorpes, towns and cities have heard of the safety and wealth of the growing city-state. Opportunists seeking a new life may be willing to contract with an adventurer in hope of one day being part of a brighter future. Of course bringing these travelers to Driftriver comes with a cost, which increases with the level of talents offered by the individual.
Hirelings may be selected from the list provided in the Codex of Content.

Signing Bonuses

In order to attract talent to your estate you must be willing to offer a competitive and hefty sum of gold to fund the hireling's move and establish their life in Driftriver.
The signing bonus of a hireling is equal to:
The CR of the creature statblock x 1000GP
With a minimum cost of 500 GP instituted for any CR0 to CR1/2 creatures.
This is a one time cost, and once paid the hireling will work for the contract holder in perpetuity, until death, or dismissal.

Room & Board

Hirelings must be provided with in regards to their livelihood. The concept of room and board for Hirelings is abstracted into the idea of having sufficient rooms within your Estate. It is up to the Estate owner to determine if hirelings live on the Estate or commute to work; no additional cost is incurred for having hirelings live on site other than their signing bonus and having sufficient room slots built.
The maximum number of hirelings that may populate an Estate is equal to to total number of rooms in the Estate. This number may increase through expansion or additional construction. If the number of rooms decreases for any reason any hirelings in excess must be dismissed.

Promoting a Hireling

Over time a Hireling may prove themself to be an integral member of the estate. In these cases the estate holder may promote a hireling to a higher statblock. Simply select a new statblock in the Estate Sheet.

Dismissing a Hireling

Hirelings may be dismissed at any time. When dismissed the value gold value returns to the Estate unless the hireling was killed.

Rights of Hirelings

Hirelings are people, with personalities and dreams of their own. As the master of an estate you should consider how your character may interact with hirelings. Hirelings are not slaves, they are willing employees, and should be treated in accordance with local laws. A capable and generous master will be celebrated, while a miserly or cruel master may draw the attention of the guard.

Benefits Of Hirelings

Services

Many hirelings provide Services which contribute to Lifestyle Points. Most hirelings are hired into service for the express purpose of making the life of Residents better and easier.

Estate Defense & Combat

If an Estate comes under attack for any reason the hirelings will attempt to defend it dependent on their Job Assignment. The hirelings will obey the limitations of their statblocks and may be controlled by the Estate Owner or a designated Resident.

Other Benefits

Hirelings often provide other benefits which ease the life of Residents. Whether that be producing rations, ammunition or providing the expertise to operate a complex Structure it is important to have a wide variety of hirelings to meet the needs of the modern adventurer.

Job Assignments

Hirelings may be assigned to a number of different tasks to the benefit of the estate holder and the members of that Estate. A hireling may only have one Job within the Estate.

Limited Combat Potential

Hirelings may not be used for combat outside of the defense of the Estate. This may change in later seasons of Driftriver as we consider War Games.

Custom Ordered

No products generated by hirelings may be sold or traded under any circumstances.
Job Assignments Tables

Permitted Statblocks

The permitted statblocks are listed in the Bestiary of the Codex of Content. The options are also limited within the Estate Sheet.

Building Your Entourage

Driftriver is a growing city and a bustling crossroads of travel and activity. As the prestige of Driftriver grows, it has the potential to draw hirelings from all walks of life. Will you build a frontier church, and spread the word of your god? Or a cult? Perhaps you'll settle a hidden camp of bandits? How does a circus filled with performers and bards strike your fancy? If you need even more fancy then an entourage of posh nobles may be more your social status. But if fancy is the last thing you want perhaps a small tribe of orcs to call you chief is your true calling. What will your closest friends say about you?
Hirelings should have a reason for answering your call, it is important to consider their purpose, culture and training when scouting talent. You may select a statblock from the table below to represent the hireling, which comes with varying abilities, skills and training. For many you may select the race, but they should be selected from player character selectable races per the Codex of Content.
Prospective hirelings should find your offer enticing and aligned with their goals. While there are no limits: use common sense when considering hirelings. A druid is unlikely to thrive as an engineer working in a downtown Driftriver bungalow. However, a bard working as an entertainer in a noble manor may revel in their work.

Calculating Lifestyle

Now that your Estate has every necessary component it is possible to determine the Lifestyle of your Residents.

Lifestyle from Amenities

The maximum Lifestyle Points from Amenities is the Maximum of:

• Number of Amenities, Utility or Defense Structures providing Amenities
• 24

The number of Lifestyle Points generated is the minimum of:

• The maximum calculated above
• Total Amenities / Resident Count

Lifestyle from Services

The maximum Lifestyle Points from Services is the Maximum of:

• Number of Hirelings providing Services
• 12

The number of Lifestyle Points generated is the minimum of:

• The maximum calculated above
• Total Services / Resident Count

Final Lifestyle Points The final Lifestyle Points is the sum of the two calculations above, with each value rounded down.