My group is gearing up to take a fully operational stronghold by force, do they get xp from is? is xp as if they have build it (1/2 gold value, and lost if they lose it in the future)? or do they have to conform with future land revenue and the mass combat xp?
In othe question: how should i determine what kind of tresure (if any) should a stronghold of a given domain have?
I believe the rules as written are that only the person who spent money on the stronghold gains XP, and they lose that XP if the stronghold is taken, but can regain it by recapturing it.
That being said, the reward for conquering a stronghold is that you get to start collecting revenue from it (or install a vassal who will pay you tribute) without having to pay for the stronghold.
I think I would be likely to consider a conquered, operational stronghold loot as per Domains at War and split it up amongst the army using the rules there.
It’s an item that has a market value; whether they use it or sell it, it’s still loot. (Of course, this also means that the army would expect their share! If the leaders don’t want the castle pillaged, they better either pay out of their own pockets or accept the morale penalties. If the castle is pillaged, you can just reduce its stronghold value by the GP pillaged.)
As for treasure, D@W has some comments on this in the form of supplies and expected gold lying around to pay expenses. I don’t remember exactly what they are offhand, though.
D@W:c, pg 65, Pillaging Supply Bases.
One month's wages and supplies equal to one month's supply for the opposing army, which is presumably the garrison of the domain in this situation.
Might be worth checking Sakkara to see how that's outfitted - that's a great resource for seeing how a stronghold is run.
Thanks, ill think i will go with Aryxymaraki and cosidered loot to be divided with the army, taking a stronghold is quite hard, and cosidering that is an orc domain they will more likekly destroy the realm more than ruling it.
Yet, my question will be in that case: how much of the game will it break to give xp for that?
Eh, I don't think you'd break anything. In the particular case of them razing the stronghold, I'd look to the domain pillaging rules in D@W:C and see what comes out of that, if they're going to be salting the earth and such.
Worst case? Running around tearing down orc strongholds becomes the party's go-to M.O. - in which case you get to turn it around into a best case of the orcs getting wise and laying an awesome trap.
For my own campaign, it would depend on whether they were sacking the Stronghold or seizing it. If sacking it, I would use the rules for domain looting. In conquering it, I would grant the new Lord XP as if they had constructed it - as far as I'm concerned a new stronghold is a new stronghold, regardless of how you acquired it.
In one part of my Lost Lands campaigns, one of the groups will be attempting Rappan Athuk and as a lead-in to that, the founder of the adventuring group came in to posession of the title deed to a nearby castle along with its domain/title. However in order to reap the full benefits from this they had to first liberate it from the goblins and gnolls that were currently occupying it and then they will need to repair it.
I worked out the full construction cost of the castle and (given its current state of disrepair and abuse at the hands of the previous tennents) came up with a repair bill and estimated timescale to complete the work. My intention is to award the group leader (the castle owner and titular domain controller) XP based only on the cost of the repairs and only on the understanding that the domain must be 'repacified'. Given that the party have only just squeaked into 2nd level and the estimated bill is somewhere north of 72,000gp, coupled with the fact that the region is pretty much at the arse-end of nowhere - its going to be a fairly long while before they are able to reap any of those rewards. The new lord and his party seem somewhat disheartened but the players are (I think) looking forward to the challenge...