So I'm starting my first campaign and I have a PK with a Stewardship skill of 12 straight out of the gate. I understand that his manor will be run by his steward/wife since he is off adventuring, so what use is this skill to a knight and how might I be able to let him make use of it?

Perhaps a successful stewardship roll on his part may provide a positive modifier to a less experienced steward in his annual roll (much as an army commander's battle roll influences the unit commanders roll)?

Thanks!

If he is not adventuring all the time, or just short adventures, he might be able to forfeit with a steward altogether, or even marry a wife who is not that good with Stewardship. I think as long as you are around during the year, you are only getting -2 per season maximum, if you are absent for more than a month during the season. So imagining a normal summer campaign, he would still roll with 12-2=10. Not too bad. Of course, if he manages to get caught and spends the whole year away, his manor would suffer tremendously. Best to put some money aside for an emergency steward hiring, and instructions to that effect if he is not back from one of his adventures in a reasonable time.

Another thing is for the Lord to tap this guy for some chief stewarding duties of his own. Inspect the Lord's manors and see if any of the regular stewards is cheating, etc, or even place some of the Lord's manors under this knight's care, in which case, the Lord would probably not tap the guy for any long campaigns, but more like border patrols and such. Which can be good or bad (Battles bring lots of glory).

Excellent idea! Thanks so much!

You are quite welcome. :)

As for your idea of allowing an overseeing steward to give a bonus to the stewards under his care... I'd be hesitant about this. I know Greg posted a similar idea for a higher noble wife in the past (like the Countess overseeing the manor stewards), but I can't find it off the bat.

In any case, I'd make sure that the benefit is not huge and that there is a downside to it, too. Off the top of my head, I'd probably go with something like this:

Overseeing Stewards
- You normally trust your stewards to do what needs to be done, and you don't interfere with their work too much. However, if they really screw up, you are there to correct the mistake... maybe.
- If the Steward Fumbles his/her stewardship roll, the Chief Steward is allowed to roll his/her own Stewardship (perhaps with -1 / 5 manors, or something like that):
-- Critical: Improve the result by two steps (i.e. from fumble to success).
-- Success: Improve the result by one step (fumble -> failure).
-- Failure: No change, you missed it too.
-- Fumble: Not only did you miss it, but you interfered with the work of another steward! Worsen the result by one step (success -> failure).

This would mean that normally, there is not that much of a benefit from a chief steward to a single or even a couple of manors, but when you are talking about tens of them, those fumbles start cropping up and a Chief Steward starts to be useful.

Alternatively, something like this might work:
Chief Steward's Roll: Effect on the underling stewards
Critical: +5 to Stewardship
Success: +1 to Stewardship
Failure: -1 to Stewardship
Fumble: -5 to Stewardship

The bonus is small enough that again, it is not really worth the PKs' while to have a Chief Steward if they have like one or two manors. Again, economies of scale help.

I like the first idea better, as it only comes to play if the underling steward fumbles, and keeps the rolls that much fewer in a Winter Phase.

I agree, I like the first idea, though they all got me thinking. I might end of doing a combination as I see what works in the game (fortunately my players are cool with on-the-fly rule changes if something's not working realistically). Right now there's a temporary fix because we rolled on the family history tables and found that the mother of the PK I mentioned above is still alive and has not remarried. She has a very respectable Stewardship and has been managing the manor for years, so I didn't see any reason why she wouldn't continue doing so unless she became bedridden or the PK married.

I agree, I like the first idea, though they all got me thinking. I might end of doing a combination as I see what works in the game (fortunately my players are cool with on-the-fly rule changes if something's not working realistically). Right now there's a temporary fix because we rolled on the family history tables and found that the mother of the PK I mentioned above is still alive and has not remarried. She has a very respectable Stewardship and has been managing the manor for years, so I didn't see any reason why she wouldn't continue doing so unless she became bedridden or the PK married.



Even if is she is bedridden she still run the household. If she only lucid part of the time divide her steward skil by 4 and add as a bonus to the stewards

Even if is she is bedridden she still run the household. If she only lucid part of the time divide her steward skil by 4 and add as a bonus to the stewards


Not According to the rules. Once a character is bedridden (Any stat at 3 or less) they are done. People start ignoring them. "Don't listen to the daft old woman, she's senile"
or just
"Lady Maude says this must be done."
"Sure. I'll get it done before she gets out of bed to check it..."