Rules Index | GM Screen

GameMastery Guide / Adventures / Urban / The Shape of Civilization / Settlements in Play

The Settlement Stat Block

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 204
A settlement stat block is organized as follows.

Name: The settlement’s name is presented first.

Alignment and Type: A settlement’s alignment is the general alignment of its citizens and government— individuals who dwell therein can still be of any alignment, but the majority of its citizens should be within one step of the settlement’s overall alignment. Alignment influences a city’s modifiers (see page 206). The type is the size category the settlement falls into, be it thorp, hamlet, village, town (small or large), city (small or large), or metropolis. In most cases, rules play off of a settlement’s type rather than its exact population total. A settlement’s type determines many of its statistics (see Table 7–36: Settlement Statistics).

Modifiers: Settlements possess six modifiers that apply to specific skill checks made in the settlement. A settlement’s starting modifier values are determined by its type. This value is further adjusted by the settlement’s alignment, government, qualities, and disadvantages. Note that introducing settlement modifiers to your game will somewhat increase the complexity of skill checks by adding a variable modifier each time the PCs visit a new town or city—consider the use of these modifiers an optional rule.

Qualities: All settlements have a certain number of qualities that further adjust their statistics—think of qualities as feats for settlements. A settlement’s type determines how many qualities it can have.

Danger: A settlement’s danger value is a number that gives a general idea of how dangerous it is to live in the settlement. If you use the urban encounters charts on pages 212–213 for random encounters in your city (or any similar wandering monster chart that uses percentile dice and ranks its encounters from lowest CR to highest CR), use the modifier associated with the settlement’s danger value to adjust rolls on the encounter chart. A settlement’s base danger value depends on its type.

Disadvantages: Any disadvantages a settlement might be suffering from are listed on this line. A settlement can have any number of disadvantages you wish to inflict on it, although most settlements have no disadvantages.

Government: This entry lists how the settlement is governed and ruled. The type of government a settlement follows affects its statistics.

Population: This number represents the settlement’s population. Note that the exact number is flexible; a settlement’s actual population can swell on market days or dwindle during winter—this number lists the average population of the settlement. Note that this number is generally used for little more than flavor—since actual population totals fluctuate, it’s pointless to tether rules to this number. After the settlement’s total population, a breakdown of its racial mix is listed in parentheses.

Notable NPCs: This section lists any notable NPCs who live in the city, sorted by their role in the community, followed by their name and then their alignment, gender, race, class, and level in parentheses.

Base Value and Purchase Limit: This section lists the community’s base value for available magic items in gp. There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort. If an item is not available, a new check to determine if the item has become available can be made in 1 week. A settlement’s purchase limit is the most money a shop in the settlement can spend to purchase any single item from the PCs. If the PCs wish to sell an item worth more than a settlement’s purchase limit, they’ll either need to settle for a lower price, travel to a larger city, or (with the GM’s permission) search for a specific buyer in the city with deeper pockets. A settlement’s type sets its purchase limit.

Spellcasting: Unlike magic items, spellcasting for hire is listed separately from the town’s base value, since spellcasting is limited by the level of the available spellcasters in town. This line lists the highest-level spell available for purchase from spellcasters in town. Prices for spellcasting appear on page 159 of the Core Rulebook. A town’s base spellcasting level depends on its type.

Minor Items/Medium Items/Major Items: This line lists the number of magic items above a settlement’s base value that are available for purchase. In some city stat blocks, the actual items are listed in parentheses after the die range of items available—in this case, you can use these pre-rolled resources when the PCs first visit the city as the magic items available for sale on that visit. If the PCs return to that city at a later date, you can roll up new items as you see fit. See page 461 of the Core Rulebook for the number ranges determining how many items can be found in a community.

Table 7-36: Settlement Statistics

Type	Modifiers	Qualities	Danger	Base Value	Purchase Limit	Spellcasting
Thorp	-4	1	-10	50 gp	500 gp	1st
Hamlet	-2	1	-5	200 gp	1,000 gp	2nd
Village	-1	2	0	500 gp	2,500 gp	3rd
Small town	0	2	0	1,000 gp	5,000 gp	4th
Large town	0	3	5	2,000 gp	10,000 gp	5th
Small city	+1	4	5	4,000 gp	25,000 gp	6th
Large city	+2	5	10	8,000 gp	50,000 gp	7th
Metropolis	+4	6	10	16,000 gp	100,000 gp	8th

Table 7-37: Available Magic Items

Community Size	Base Value	Minor	Medium	Major
Thorp	50 gp	1d4 items	—	—
Hamlet	200 gp	1d6 items	—	—
Village	500 gp	2d4 items	1d4 items	—
Small town	1,000 gp	3d4 items	1d6 items	—
Large town	2,000 gp	3d4 items	2d4 items	1d4 items
Small city	4,000 gp	4d4 items	3d6 items	1d6 items
Large city	8,000 gp	4d4 items	3d4 items	2d4 items
Metropolis	16,000 gp	*	4d4 items	3d4 items

* In a metropolis, nearly all minor magic items are available.

Archives of Nethys

Rules Index | GM Screen

The Settlement Stat Block

Table 7-36: Settlement Statistics

Table 7-37: Available Magic Items