These are tables for that specific archetype of Lord faced in classic old heroic adventures, which I have discovered (or possibly dreamed up) from the likes of the Water Margin, and Samurai Shamploo. The corrupt old men (and women I guess, and they don't have to be old) who are just kind of real dickheads, and deserve having their jaw-lines rearranged. You don't need a complex relationship with these guys to want to depose them. Great for levels 3 - 5 I'd say.
Each Corrupt Lord has their Vice, which partially determines their traits. They also have a pair of traits for their Lair, from which they rule. They are guarded by a group of Body Guards, and an Agent, who is in charge of the Lord's General City Watch/City Guard group. They also have d3 + 1 Outlaw Groups under their control.
The Vice of the Corrupt Lord
1 - Lust2 - Envy
3 - Gluttony
4 - Greed
5 - Pride
6 - Wrath
7 - Sloth
8 - Roll Twice More, Ignoring Further Rolls of 8
Traits
Has one Trait from the list of the Outlaw Traits, and the list of Traits based off of their Vice. If the lord has more than one Vice, pick which trait you like more for each of the four sub-categories.Pride
Active - If an attack misses the Corrupt Lord, they gain Temporary HP equal to half the damage the attack would have done
Passive - Their guards are all body doubles of themselves, and are nearly impossible to distinguish in battle
Deeds - The Corrupt Lord is exalting themselves to new heights, all at the expense of their people
Terrain - The Corrupt Lord's lair is littered with statues of themselves, the Corrupt Lord can see through their eyes and hear through their ears
Wrath
Combat - The Corrupt Lord can enter into a BERSERK RAGE!!!
Passive - The Corrupt Lord's guard fight as if they were 2HD higher than they are to avoid their Lord's wrath
Deeds - They are aggressively expanding their territory, and cracking down harshly on crime in their lands
Terrain - Their Lair isn't actually as sturdy as it looks, and the Guards and the Lord can burst through the walls without much effort
Sloth
Combat - The Corrupt Lord has extra Guards to fight for them instead
Passive - The Lair is supremely lavish, its disgustingly hard to move around because its all just a bit too overly designed
Deeds - The Lord neglects their duties, and the people are suffering for it
Terrain - In battle, the hordes of servants will just stick to the sidelines, but take non-damaging pot-shots at the heroes
Gluttony
Combat - The Corrupt Lord is supremely Obese, and as such gets +2 AC, 2 bonus Hit Dice worth of HP, and resistance to bludgeoning damage
Passive - All the Corrupt Lord's minions have 2 bonus Hit Dice worth of HP
Deeds - The Corrupt Lord enjoys the fruits of his people's labour, whilst they have literally only enough to keep working to support the Lord
Terrain - The topography of the Lord's lair is constantly changing, as a constantly writhing orgy of feasting and... other stuff. They just get in the way, and keep on getting in the way somehow.
Greed
Combat - The Lord has the best Equipment and Staff that money can buy
Passive - The Lord and Staff can offer nearly any bribe imaginable, and no bribe offered to them could ever really be enough for them
Deeds - The Lord taxes far too heavily, and then they even steal everything from those that can't afford to pay
Terrain - There's just... too much treasure everywhere. If you aren't careful, there's going to be a treasure-avalanche.
Envy
Combat - The Corrupt Lord just keeps stealing the weapons and abilities of those they fight and fight with.
Passive - They have just about everything they could possibly need or want in every place they could conceivably have it
Deeds - The Corrupt Lord just takes everything that's precious to anyone they can, even if they don't want it at all, they just can't help it.
Terrain - They and their guards have plenty of human shields; the people the Lord has kidnapped over the years
Lust
Combat - The weapons used by the Lord and their Guards are designed primarily to cause the maximum amount of pain they can
Passive - The Lord makes secret pacts with unearthly beings behind closed doors
Deeds - The Lord will have as much power as they possibly can, by any method possible, any method
Terrain - The Lair of the Lord has everything that you've been told you can't have, everything that you aren't allowed to want
Traits of the Corrupt Lord's Lair
The Traits of the Lord's lair are split into two sections, Positive, which are the strengths the Lord will leverage against the Party, and Negative, which the Party can use for counter-leverage. Each Lair has one of each.Positive Traits
1 - Riddled with Secret Passages
2 - Adorned with Many Watch Towers
3 - Sprinkled with Many Deadly Traps
4 - Defended by Tamed Monsters
5 - Run about with Mystical Sigils and Wards
6 - Rigged with a Dead Man Switch
7 - Just Crawling with Guards
8 - Almost impossible to Approach Unseen
9 - Almost impossible to Approach except by the Front Door
10 - Much of the actual Lair is Underground
11 - The Lair rises High Up into the Air
12 - Many of the Main Causeways are Retractable
Negative Traits
1 - The Servantry are easily turned against their Master
2 - There is a Secret Entrance into the Lair
3 - Guards are forbidden in parts of the Lair for some reason
4 - There are a number of Unguarded Passages that allow travel within the Lair
5 - There are a number of easy access points in the roof that are unwatched
6 - One of the Major Locks in the Palace is Broken
7 - There is a Large are relatively defenseless Powder Store
8 - There is a Powerful Ally in the Lair's Dungeons
9 - The Changing of the Guard is extremely predictable
10 - The Changing of the Guard is hopelessly chaotic
11 - The Supplies that enter the side-gate aren't checked all that rigorously
12 - The Lair has strangely weak foundations
The Fighting Style of the Corrupt Lord
Corrupt Lords with the Vice of Wrath or Pride roll with advantage, Lords with the Vice of Sloth and Gluttony roll with disadvantage.1 - Throne-Bound: They use support magics, and order their Guards around
2 - Hanging Back: They use reach weapons or ranged attacks, and support their guards from behind
3 - Guarded: They fight in Phalanx formation with their guards, and redirect attacks onto them too
4 - Front Line: They lead from the front in heavy armour, and with heavy weapons
The Body-Guards of the Corrupt Lord
The Body Guards are the Corrupt Lord's last line of defence, and never leave their side. In general, the group of Body Guards should have about 12 Hit Dice spread among their number.1 - An Archmage with d3 Arcane Servitors
2 - Ironclad Warriors (2d6)
3 - Monstrously Skilled Glaive-Masters (2d4)
4 - Spell-Breakers (2d3)
5 - Inhumanly Fast Assassins (2d3)
6 - Supremely Bemuscled Pugilists (2d4)
7 - Revenent Knights (2d6)
8 - Iron-Oath Paladins (2d4)
9 - Black Magic Occultists (2d6)
10 - A Dominated Monster
11 - A Horde of Guards, altogether too many Guards
12 - A Cadre of Elite Snipers (2d4)
The Agent of the Corrupt Lord
The Agent is the Right-Hand person of the Corrupt Lord, in charge of the Lord's soldiery in practice if not in actuality. In all likelihood, the real power behind the throne.
Agents have both a Profession and a Trait.
The Agent's Profession
1 - A Supremely Well Equiped Bounty Hunter2 - A Ruthlessly Dogmatic Inquisitor
3 - A Man-Hunting Ranger
4 - A Sycophantic Court Wizard
5 - A Brutal Swordsmaster
6 - A Scheming and Conniving Vizier
Traits of the Agent of the Corrupt Lord
1 - Haven't realised how much they don't need the Lord
2 - Addicted to some vice, gambling, drink, drugs, or the like
3 - Not above taking bribes, large bribes
4 - Harbour some small sympathies for the blighted people of the land
5 - Have some significant person they would do anything for
6 - Have a dark secret they can't afford to have exposed
7 - Plotting their own coup against the Lord, missing a few crucial pieces...
8 - In deep with some other party, using the Lord for protection
9 - Obsessed with honour, and will serve whoever can best them at their own game
10 - A coward at heart, will flee when the fight turns against them
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