Building a Myste... Er... Manor

 

Hooooldin' on... Hooooldin' it in...

Sarah McLachlan is like a bard if a bard had no appreciable skills besides making me feel terrible and soliciting money for the ASPCA. 

-ahem-

During session seven, the players were offered the deed to Tresendar Manor, or the ruins thereof, in support of their services to the town and general bad-assery overall. For a mere pooled 500GP (of which, the party did 250GP up front, and will work on the rest), the party now has a small plot of arable land, a dilapidated manor house, and some ramshackle servants quarters.

Elspeth discussed the matter with the members of the town that had the appropriate skills required for the project to get an estimate on repairs and refurbishing, provided enough workers were brought in to really go with it - 12,500GP over the course of six months/18 tendays, not including any "special requests" I can almost guarantee the players will make. 

Thanks to Dragon Age: Inquisition (I haven't lifted any story ideas or world building from there until now), which I'm replaying, I really wanted to give the players something to invest their treasure into, whilst also rewarding them for pacifying threats to the town in between doing their questing duties.It also makes a lot of sense that, being in one area for a time, they're not going to keep spending their nights in an inn. With Phandalin a secure base of operations, the manor now becomes almost an extra character for the party, as well as locking in some recurring NPCs, including the Nothic in the basement and several "sidekick" characters that'll be able to travel with the team or round out the manor's staff as/after it is built. Functionally, the manor would count as as guildhall where the party can store their gear, relax & plan between sessions, and subcontract other adventurers for fun and profit.

This will become a "living entry" in that I'll regularly update it as the party plans uses for the manor. Maybe a music room for Lenneth or a sparring yard for Besiljka? A forest grove temple for Gabriel? An altar memorial for Rafeal and Laucian? Rooms for new party members? What will they grow on the arable land? Will they build an army and become a power in the Realm? Noble lords and ladies, all? The sky is the limit once the base repairs are completed. 

Once the ground floor has been rebuilt, the party will have an initial and expandable living space. By default (at no extra charge, ie as part of the original reconstruction), the manor's first floor features;

Armory - enough space to store weapons and equipment for five militia or soldiers
Bedrooms, Three - two bedrooms are designed for single occupancy, private quarters. The third is much larger, and designed for up to four to cohabit comfortably. Regardless of which style, the furnishings are rough, but they include a straw bed or beds on a low frame, two chests of drawers per bed, and a mirror hanging on one wall. The bedclothes are made of rough wool, and the blanket is a patchwork quilt made of whatever was available. The single rooms each contain a writing desk and chair, a privy and a closet, whilst the larger room has a small roughly hewn table and multiple chairs.
Bath - this standard, sparsely furnished room contains a simple wooden tub built for up to three at a time and multiple chamber pots, along with some rough wooden benches for seating.
Common room - this plain room features bare floors with a few benches and walls with uninspiring artwork or tapestries. It's a solid room for gathering the party and a few associates to discuss business, but little more.
Dining hall - long, rough, rectangular tables and benches line this main hall, both at the edges and in the middle. A fireplace sits at one end of the room, providing warmth for those seated closest to it. The walls are adorned with weapons and banners of the party's allegiances, races, or professions.
Kitchen - This rudimentary stone kitchen centers around a fireplace. It includes a pantry, in which basic foodstuffs are stacked on shelves or hung from the ceiling. The kitchen includes pots and pans made of tin. A scullery provides storage for brooms and rags, along with a basin for washing dishes and laundry.
Storage - a partially-finished room, most likely with a bare stone floor, the party can store large amounts of junk or "thinks we might need" here.

The default manor, assuming the characters aren't spending every moment of their lives there & are actually out adventuring, requires a staff for upkeep and general maintenance. To start, 3 skilled and 5 unskilled hirelings are required for the basic guildhall functions, at a daily cost of 1GP and 4SP each respectively. The amount of staff required increases as the manor is expanded or specialized per the below. These initial hirelings are assumed to be whatever the party specifically decides they need, such as an unskilled peasant girl to serve as a maid or a skilled man-at-arms to work as a guard captain, or what the expansion requires, such as a cleric for a shrine. The manor itself requires 5GP in basic supply and material costs per tenday, increasing by 1GP per expansion or upgrade. So the default manor, once repaired and staffed fully, would require 165GP per month to stay in prime condition.

Manor/Guildhall Upgrades	Construction Cost	Skilled Hirelings	Unskilled Hirelings
Alchemical Lab	3000GP	+1	+0
Artificer's Chambers	3000GP	+1	+1
Bedroom, Single	1000GP	+0	+1/2 (1 per 2 bedrooms)
Bedroom, Group	1500GP	+0	+1
Expansion, Armory	2000GP	+1	+2
Expansion, Bath	1000GP	+0	+1
Expansion, Common Room	1500GP	+0	+0
Expansion, Dining Hall	2000GP	+0	+1
Expansion, Kitchen	1500GP	+1	+1
External, Hireling's Quarters	2000GP	+0	+1
External, Practice Grounds	3000GP	+1	+0
External, Stables	1500GP	+0	+1
Jail	1000GP	+0	+1
Library	2000GP	+1	+0
Shrine	3000GP	+1	+1
Smithy	2000GP	+1	+1
Specialized Room	2000GP	+0	+1

Skilled hirelings would be treated as prominent NPCs and would be built via the Sidekick rules in Tasha's, at two levels below the party's APL. Unskilled hirelings won't have the same level of design, most likely just receiving a name. Named/class NPCs as skilled hirelings can also be taken by the party "into the field" as needed, again via Sidekick rules. When doing so, the party is limited to one NPC at a time, they'll be treated as two levels lower than party APL, and their "room feature" will be unavailable during that time. However, their daily gold cost will also be removed from the manor fees for however many days they are with the party.

Once so many upgrades have been achieved, not counting ones listed as external, the manor's second floor will need to be finished at a cost of 10000GP and taking three months/9 tendays. If upgrades also fill this floor, a smaller third floor can be added at a cost of 5000GP and a month/3 tendays of time. Ground floor can contain 15 rooms, the second floor can contain 10, and the third 5. The land surrounding the manor can have a total of 10 external upgrades.

Each type of room has a function beyond just aesthetics.

Alchemical Lab - Staffed by an NPC alchemist, possibly an Izzet goblin or a Golgari shaman, the lab can produce potions for the party to use at a rate of four per tenday. Party rolls a d100 for rarity of the potion: 1 - 60 generates a common potion, 61 - 85 an uncommon, 86 to 95 a rare, and 96 - 100 very rare. Party can also bring potions they find back for appraisal, and any potion they sacrifice to the alchemist will be added to the list. See below.
Common Potions
Potion of Lesser Healing
Potion of Climbing
Uncommon Potions
Potion of Poison
Potion of Water Breathing
Potion of Animal Friendship
Potion of Growth
Potion of Greater Healing
Rare Potions
Elixir of Health
Potion of Heroism
Potion of Mind Reading
Potion of Clairvoyance
Potion of Invulnerability
Very Rare Potions
Potion of Vitality
Potion of Superior Healing
Potion of Flying
Potion of Supreme Healing

Artificer's Chambers - More than a smithy, this individual can enchant weapons and armor to make them minor magic items, or take magic items and improve them further. This has a cost in gold and materials based on what the player's want, to be determined as the campaign progresses. Artificer NPC unlocked.

Bedroom, Single - Allows the party to have one more NPC/skilled hireling in their pool of sidekicks.

Bedroom, Group - The party can cram two more NPCs/skilled hirelings into the manor, but beware, for sharing space sometimes leads to conflict.

Expansion, Armory - Each armory expansion allows an additional five soldier or militia members worth of weapons and equipment. A new NPC master-at-arms will be available at this point.

Expansion, Bath - Improves the existing bath to be able to accommodate more individuals, and allows partitions for a modicum of privacy. Mostly a roleplaying enhancement currently, but may have a mechanical benefit later. Like advantage on any Charisma checks made within so many days of using. Being clean is nice, yo.

Expansion, Common Room - More people can gather, thus allowing better rolls for any checks involving groups of people, like Song of Healing to be more effective, or inspirational speeches or some shit.

Expansion, Dining Hall - Bigger and better feasts unlocked. May relate to health type checks.

Expansion, Kitchen - Better organized kitchen with access to more food storage and cooking. Again, mechanical benefit forthcoming. A cook NPC mayhaps?

External, Hireling's Quarters - Each expansion accounts for four more unskilled hirelings to be housed, without needing them to take up bedroom space inside the manor.

External, Practice Grounds - Will generate combat XP, allow for learning of different Feats maybe, and will give any soldiers or militia members a better combat score or something similar. Drill master NPC.

External, Stables - Allows the party access to mounts, whether horses or something more exotic.

Jail - A place to store prisoners, will give a bonus to interrogation roles and the like.

Library - Books and more books and even more books! Behold the wonders of the written word. Will give Advantage on Religion or Arcana checks. Magus NPC, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard.

Shrine - A religious place, which can be forest themed or sea themed or really any type of God that the party agrees to. Allows for a cleric NPC who can cast up to third level healing spells as the party needs and as the God wills it. Deus vult!

Smithy - Repairs the party's damaged weapons and armor, as well as crafting nonmagical metal items for the party. Comes with a surly blacksmith NPC/hireling.

Specialized Room - A room tailored to the party's skills and needs. For instance, a music room with instruments for the party can aid to Performance checks, but specifically for Lenneth, it can provide a boost to any bard-related spell.

***Special thanks to Reddit for starting the ball rolling on rebuilding costs, and further thanks to David Dias & his "The Guildhall" from DMs Guildhall. Recommended purchase.***