To show his eternal gratitude the King offers one of your party the hand of his daughter...

Tell him I'm already married so I must refuse this highest honor, and certainly a man of his respectable status must understand.

(I'm not married)

Refuse.

By refusing one of the most beautiful and desired brides in the world, I have publicly stated that even she is not good enough for me.

After escaping the king's guard and death-squads, IMAGINE the quality of tail that'd come for me!

>LDR
>not having the court wizard make a paired item allowing back and forth teleportation
>not finishing every day by making a quick stop back over to your wife for a round or two in bed, falling asleep cuddling her and smelling her beautiful scent on top of luxurious bedding, to only pop back to the party well rested and ready for another day's adventuring.

Terror can only work for a certain time. If you want to build something, you have to get on people's good side. Otherwise, shit will just end up biting you in the ass at the smallest crack.
If you build useful and productive relationships, you won't have to impose yourself and act like the big bad school bully.
Just keep army ready at all times because it's your right as owner of your territory to defend it, but never be overtly offensive.

>Assuming the King only has one child.

>Otherwise, shit will just end up biting you in the ass at the smallest crack.

Murderhobos can reach godlike levels later on from all the killing shit and taking their stuff that they do, the King is basically making his grandkids demigods.

Even if he has two or three children, each one of those has potential to become the first step to forge alliances. There aren't only 2 kingdoms in the world (at least I hope) you're playing in.
And even without that fact, what would commoners say about a king that just hands off his daughter to a random adventurer?

The only way I could see that work is if in the party, there's someone of somehow high rank (like an Elven prince or something) that happens to have joined the quest.

>party are attacked in the night
>they all die while you're making sweet love to your bride

>what would commoners say about a king that just hands off his daughter to a random adventurer?

They would think he was a kind upright man who rewards heroic deeds instead of just trying to be political and power hungry. Hell, the whole thing might just be a PR stunt by the king to get the peasants to like him more.

Raise a flagon to whichever party member gets to marry the Thane's daughter, then dip out before my big ass orange mohawk ruins the mood.

What is he or she gonna do if I refuse? Kill me? When I'm the one who just killed the world-destroying with a super duper high powerlevel?

The random adventurer could be the strongest man in the world by a wide margin. He could kill the king and make himself the new ruler and there would be nobody who could stop him.

If you can do polymorph, you can do better than a horse.

>5 murderhobos killed kingdom wiping dragon or whatever
>king gives them a meh reward
>they now rampage and cause even more destruction than the dragon would have
The King may not want to take any chances. He can reason and appease the adventurers, so he will because he isn't going to be able to kill them if they think he's being cheap or selfish.

It's actually really clever.

If his daughter is really so desired, marrying her to one of the nobles would breed resentment from all the other nobles. But by marrying her off to a great Hero he is deeply "indebted" to he can pretend his hands were tied.

A high-level adventurer can be a useful addition to a Kingdom either way. Maybe he's a powerful mage who can start a royal magic academy to train (war)mages for the kingdom. Maybe he's just fucking strong and can become captain of the guard or join the army.

Don't underestimate the political influence of an adventurer either. There could be many nobles and kingdoms somewhat indebted to him. He could be an excellent ambassador to some elven kingdom of which he previously saved a high priestess. Who knows.

There's tons of other possibilities. Maybe the King suspects the adventurer has a powerful divine blessing. Maybe the King wishes to inject some raw power into his bloodline. Etc.

I wouldn't polymorph her into something that can easily murder me in case she doesn't like it. A horse is nice and manageable, and reliable.

It could just as easily be a situation where the Princess in question could have done something bad enough to warrant exile, but in a situation where straight up exiling her would create a political snafu among the nobility. So, instead, he rewards her hand to a member of the party for (insert grand heroic deed here; probably involves dragons) knowing that the party (or at the very least the soon to be husband) is capable enough to handle her shenanigans.

I think commoners would think highly of this, especially since it won't better their situation. In the end, the people mostly care about how much money they get at the end of each month. Because even if the king gets political, alliances will end up creating better commerce, economy will grow, new trades will be created, people will be able to make more money, new industries will appear and living conditions will improve as well.

He could still give them ranks in the nobility, or hand them jobs that will net them a good amount of wealth, ensuring a comfortable life and even being able to marry noble girls. That way, the whole party will be rightfully rewarded instead of just handing off a sweet reward to one of the guys and pebbles to the rest.

I can see where you're going and I've stated that it wouldn't be a problem IF said guy was to be a highborn man.

wouldn't*
Damn, I'm half-awake.

>73 year old monk
>monk

Not happening.

Would much rather insult a kingdom than insult God.

I assume my group of siblings would have a field day since my character has already been gangpressed into an arranged marrige with a princess. Our political alliances are looking good though my dragonblooded dynast is getting really pissy at his sidereal sister, lunar best friend and his solar mate basically considering his dick to be the only thing he camn contribute to saving the world.

I have money, celestial martial arts and two seperate armies damnit! I am not a sexslave to be sold.

Its a fun campaign.

The King gives the Princess to the leader of the adventurers and makes the others nobles. Like what would have happened to Griffith if he didn't fuck everything up for himself.

>I think commoners wouldn't think highly of this, especially since it won't better their situation. In the end, the people mostly care about how much money they get at the end of each month. Because even if the king gets political, alliances will end up creating better commerce, economy will grow, new trades will be created, people will be able to make more money, new industries will appear and living conditions will improve as well.

You think wrong. People don't make political desicions with their heads, they make them with their hearts. Especially uneducated people who don't really understand the ins and outs of the system. When they see him marrying his beautiful daughter off to some fat useless idiot who happens to be the son of a rich foreign ruler they'll either see a greedy man who would give his daughter away for gold or not understand it at all. Just the comings and goings of the nobility doing noble stuff. They don't really understand economics or how treaties will benefit them or their kids long term. When he marries his daughter to the gallant hero who stopped the dragon from burning their villages? That's a man with integrity, rewarding truly heroic actions.

>What would your current party/character do?
> Celebrate the acquisition of a camp follower
> And HER camp followers because we now have her royal entourage

I see what you mean. Still, I do not believe it's a sound action, and commoner filth shouldn't anyway be involved or even hear about political stuff. That shit happens backstage. Perhaps the king could make public speeches about the alliances and how shit will end up being good for the people. I dunno.

Lavender Characters: Xenidae is the only one wiht Ritualists, but I'm sure all could manage to bring the Lavender Cult to the kingdom. (Maybe not Goobride; then again, why is she offered the princess hand?)

Other CYOA characters I have on hand are mostly either from the Evil CYOA, Succubus (No John, you are the Demons) or Gifted. The later is a really bad idea, since they are all usperpowered murderhobos of some form; the Succubi probably tricked the King somehow and just get to breeding and taking women from throughout the capital or royal court; and the Demons tricked the King somehow. None of them would refuse.

That said, My ERP character Xenidae would accept.

or maybe they'll think you're gay

Man my current party is a group of epic adventures who has saved the world several time at this point.

And I already know the response my wizard would have. "Yeah sorry, no one is currently in the position to accept her as a wife. Your welcome anyways." And then would promptly teleport the party away.

Would the party be pissed or understanding?

Survey the tracts of land first

>Some shitiot career politician whose only talent is not getting murdered by his subordinates thinks I still have to take orders from him after I''ve already proven myself more competent than his entire country of dirt-farming illiterates put together.

If I wanted the stupid princess I'd have already taken her, you crown-wearing faggot.

Shit like this is why I stopped getting involved with royalty, their egos are so fragile it's a wonder they don't shatter from the stress of running a country.

Wonder why he thinks marriage to NE hobgoblin pirate is a smart move

>assuming that because the King is an NPC, that he HAS to be lower level than you.
>Implying he wouldn't have gone to BTFO the threat himself if he hadn't needed to personally make sure that the kingdom didn't burn down when his back was turned.
>Implying his advisors aren't his former adventuring party.

It's like you don't into OD&D and AD&D.

If he were a former adventurer he'd know what sort of position he's putting me in and be less of a touchy little bitch about it. This inbred motherfucker got that cushy throne through inheritance and I don't want his genes mucking up my line.

>Be Paladin
>King marries you to his daughter
>Through numerous events later you find out the princess is adopted, is a daughter of Iggwilv, and a horrible necromancer, the king was under control and him marrying you to her was his last act of freewill under his geassed cursed limitations
>But you've got to fuck her soon, and you're sure she's going to use your holy seed in some kind of awful blood ritual
>But you can't smite, you're being drowned in belligerent politics, and time-consuming social activities that hamper you from doing your sacred duty

Wife is Necromancer witch-queen spawn, wat do?

My current character is going to accept delighted.

And then plan to murder all of the kings sons so his new wife will inherit the throne. In the meantime, he is going to use his newfound power as the son in law of the king to become the greatest general of the kingdom. All so he can eventually overthrow his wife and take all the titles and lands for himself.

>Playing D&D

>>But you can't smite
There is never a situation where you can't Smite the evil, only ones where you're too cowardly to do so.

Remember that you answer to a higher authority. Politics are nothing. Smite, and be rewarded in the afterlife for your sacrifice.

...I'm playing a Wookiee. I can think of some problems with this arrangement.

My half orc ranger would accept cautiously, she's a little shy.
My dwarf cleric would consider if her deity would mind, but would probably accept

t. Good dawi

Well, why not marry her? She's fucking rich!

Wait, one important question: Is she attractive?

I dunno man, my games usually have time jumps between them. We start a new quest with the DM telling us how much time it's been since the end of the last adventure and asking us what our characters have been doing. As a result, a bunch of our characters have families and businesses and shit.

Asking the King if he is serious with that. I mean, not that I am complaining, but in my party the canidates would be
a) the arrogant androgynous semi-shota noble,
b) the barbaric dwarfen smith with tourette syndrome,
c) the nihilistic firn elf witch, that steals constantly
d) the lazy ranger that is constantly annoyed from everyone and everything
Not that anyone in the group wouln't like to get power, but at that point is as a player would ask our DM, if the king like his daugther at all.

How pattable is the princess?

How endearingly haughty?

>What would your current party/character do?
My cleric whom I roleplay as a paladin and who through a lack of character building basically became an idealized version of myself would refuse, insults be damned. The realm is saved, good has persevered and the feelings of some spoiled brat won't change this. Yes, I'm autistic.

Is Eugenics a thing in this setting? If so, I can imagine the advantage of the royal line being mixed with the blood of some super adventurer who can creat lightning and summon demons and shit. That might be more valuable than a few more square kilometers of land.

pfft no way fag

Draw porn already, Plague

Even if the party for whatever reason said no, both the Cleric and Warlock would say yes, despite being women themselves and would probably strong-arm the Ranger into being the husband.
The Warlock has basically set herself up as Troll Moses, originally to gather a quick army and has come to truly care about her loyal, offish legions.
Meanwhile our base of operations out in the wilds has gathered a fair few followers, ex-bandits, homeless and the ilk, that we now have something like a shanty town city-state which our Cleric has made her mission to build into an actual town or even city.
Having a Princess and Prince-Consort with us would lend actual legitimacy towards our goals.
To keep the Princess safe we could petition for a troop of foot soldiers or guards who could then help keep the peace in our town and help ween us from our relikance on expensive mercenaries and paying off active bandits.
This would also give us legal cover to bring the Trolls together from across the lands and migrate into the unoccupied mountains and caves behind our now shanty principality.

Of course, such ease of fulfilling our long term goals is precisely why the DM would never allow this.
We must continue to elk out our meager scraps and pray our DM hasn't decided to suddenly pull 'rocks falls, everyone you ever loved or cared for dies'.

>ACCEPTING GRATITUDE IS MANDATORY
What is this, 1984? Unless the offer is public, I don't have to shit, and even then I can refuse, albeit in oblique form.

>Get to marry a hot girl, retire from shitty dangerous adventuring, escape from his cunt party and provide protection from his military general father who may or may not be out to kill him

Definitely take the marriage

no

The princess is our boss.
And we personally don't get along with her parents at all.
In fact the Princess being our boss is the entire reason we haven't been brainwashed into 'loyal' servants yet.

Wow, there is something going on behind the scenes and I don't think I like it.

>Implying that Player Characters are not the single best investment around.

My human Paladin is 58, married and has grown sons. The rest of the party are female or inhuman monsters or both fucking Ryan.

We're probably a ways away from ending this war, however, so while I'd marry off a son today (probably the one that joined the order I founded, he's the most well adjusted, personally powerful, and strong willed), I suppose that the GM might kill off my wife in the interim.

My current party would all look to me, the paladin, for the decision, since they are a bunch of dicks that I have to keep in line. Politely.

What my character would do is graciously accept, but the king needs to realise that my character's first loyalty must be to the goddess he swore to serve. Plus said goddess already banged him, as long as the princess is all right with that.

Do you even Medieval Politics?

While they were united under the banner of the King, the nobility typically held most of the cards in their hands when it came time to deal due to their members making up the bulk of the Kingdom's military forces. Power only truly began to become centralized under the Kings when they were able to sway the unwashed masses and bring them to their side. By "championing" the people, the king could build himself a solid base of power to keep the nobility in check. And we see this reflected in modern times - where Kings and Queens were able to do such a consolidation of power, they're still around as figureheads and cultural icons, rather than violently deposed in the transition to a liberal democratic system.

So, by marrying one of his daughters to a man the people love, the King consolidates his traditional power base, and helps to ensure the survival of his line centuries down the road.

I am the party sorcerer. I do the talking and the fucking, not the taking of responsibility after the fucking. Let the barbarian deal with it.

Let's go down the list of the party:

Paladin: swore a sacred oath to never marry.
Cleric: married to the party bard.
Barbarian: has a shielddwarven wife already, his clan's marriages are for life.
Rogue: married to the daughter of a very wealthy merchant, has three children.
Bard: married to the party cleric.

This is gonna be awkward. Like, the barbarian is probably the best option here, but that's just a question of distance, and in this setting polygamy is emphatically NOT a thing.

I play a woman
In historical 16th century Spain

Not gonna happen

>I wouldn't polymorph her into something that can easily murder me in case she doesn't like it.
>A horse is nice and manageable

>Bard
>Married to the Cleric
>Cleric
>Married to the Bard

Your party is very different from mine.

The cleric worships the god of music and entertainment, who also looks like David Bowie. The bard is a fervent follower of said god. It was a match made in heaven. Well. A match made in Elysium, would be more accurate.

>Just keep army ready at all times because it's your right as owner of your territory to defend it, but never be overtly offensive.
>Rights
I'm a king, you retard. I have the right to whatever I say.

>never be overtly offensive.
How do you think we got this land in the first place?

Imposing your values on medieval societies and being an AnCap - two flavours of retardation that really don't go well together.

Are you implying that experience is genetic?

If anyone is going to get married, they'll have to talk to the Inquisitor who controls the party. Then while they're trying to cut through the mountains of red tape it takes to get hold of an Inquisitor, use inquisitorial authorisations/flamers to gtfo a planet that is apparantly ruled by a man insane enough to want to marry his daughter to a group of blood-soaked sororitas, stormtroopers, hive scum and death cultists.

>marrying your daughter off to an immensely powerful warrior capable of slaying interplanar demons and has the adoration and love of the entire kingdom as well as no current political ties or alliances is a bad move

nice try user

Let's see. Party reaction in both games where this scenario fits would probably be "meh" or "okay."

One guy in one party is from a noble house fallen on hard times, so he'd probably be quite happy by such an arrangement. The other guy is a halfling bard, so probably no need to say more. My character is an investigator, and also female. She'd probably decline for obvious reasons if the offer were made directly to her. Not that marriage would stop the consulting detective business.

In the other party, I can see the elf wizard overthinking it and saying we shouldn't accept because reasons, but then we should because other reasons and he'll keep debating it, mostly with himself, long after everyone else stopped caring. My character fancies herself to be a dragon, so she'd be happy to have a princess all to herself. There would possibly be a bit of "but we're both girls", not that it'd stop her, but it would be pointed out as odd.

>an immensely powerful warrior capable of slaying interplanar demons
that sounds an awful lot like shitty D&D-style high fantasy, user

If she's rich, you can fix unattractive.

>implying that in a D&D world the ability to beat a dragon to death with a tea cozy wouldn't be considered highly important to any noble

If we're talking about fantasy RPGs, all nobles are either high level adventurers or get married off to high level adventurers, nobles that spend time on foppish and sedentary nonsense get killed super hard by those that trained in sorcery or swordery.

>rogue keeps rolling in downtime
>turns out he's stealing the item and fucking your wife

By what if smiting is part of the ritual as a sacrifice to the death God? The ritual requires the user's daughter as a sacrifice to be slain by her righteous husband.

>paladin out to establish a name and legacy for himself
If the job is done, marry her and retire. More good can be done funding the next generation than I could do myself.

Graciously accept and crank the charm up to 11.
"I know giving your hand to a minor knight can't have been your first choice. I hope in time that this can grow to be more than an arranged marriage between two complete strangers. That one day you might bla bla bla true love, bla bla bla wait till you're ready, bla bla bla chivalry and stuff." All the while I'm imagining how sweet it'll be to sit on that throne and all the changes I'm going to make when it's mine. From the son of an ex mercinary turned woodworker and a kitsune witch to a motherfucking king. Not a bad run in life. Even more so seeing as age will never kill me so this country is gonna have to deal with me in one guise or another for a very, very long time. (Mythic tier immortality and literally all the kitsune feats.)

Take her hand. My CN necro will use it to create a hand of glory with which to raise an ancient evil from the dead.

And my other character would be the total flip of that. A big, nasty half-vamp flind gnoll. with his 4 int and 30 str it'd pretty much be the party's full time job to make sure the idiot murder dog didn't hurt the princess and get them all marked for death... again.

"No donk you can't mate with the princess, remember what happened to that little wood elf that got slipped the love potion?"
"She make donk feel good!"
"And almost died! Seriously, even magic couldn't fix what you did to her... lady parts."
*hyena laughter*

She'd think about the ramifications of this event, try to figure out a solution to defuse it without much hubbub, maybe contemplate throwing the party's Dio-knockoff at it, reason that neither Di0 or Jokke Joukahainen really work for this and take the plunge herself.

And then, in private, try to either get the marriage called off or desperately find info about this king so they don't accidently change the past when princess inevitably follows them back into the future.

Well my current character is going to outlive her by generations so that's a bit of an issue.

Maybe he's got a lot of daughters, man.

ambitious kek

It's like I've always said.

Whether it be caving in a robbers skull with a throwing axe, and explaining why to the cops later, or defending your throne from a magically empowered adventurer it all boils down to the same thing. If you're not strong or smart enough to be able to protect your shit, you didn't deserve to have it in the first place.

It's never specified what the party/character actually did. Maybe he literally saved the kingdom from becoming a blighted wasteland that would never recover, or killed an entire invading army single handedly.

Don't be a prick.

>crippled shadowrun orc

Okay firstly, who the fuck still has a monarchy

Secondly, where the fuck are my credsticks

And sexy, don't forget sexy.

B-But i'm a girl.

What could be better than that?

>be a girl
>marry the princess
>neither of you care if the other has affairs on the side
>live with her in the palace enjoying the boundless wealth of royalty while fugging the most handsome knights in the realm

Thats exactly why it's such a huge gift you massive fucking retard.