Who Can Rule a Stronghold in AD&D?

This is something interesting that came up when I was messing around with the AD&D DMG's Appendix B to create a sandbox (okay, many sandboxes - I have a problem).

As I've described many times on this blog, when using Appendix B to stock a sandbox, I roll on the Inhabitation table to determine the placement of settlements, castles (which I will call strongholds), and ruins:

Generally, three out of 100 "spaces" (6-mile hexes, in my case) will contain a stronghold. To determine the type of stronghold and who rules it, we are directed to the Castle Tables in Appendix C:

Strongholds can be ruled by bandits, brigands, berserkers, dervishes, or characters/"character-type NPCs". Deserted strongholds (which I generally rule to be ruins, not proper strongholds of good construction) can also be inhabited by monsters (or totally deserted).

Bandits, brigands, berserkers, and dervishes are all "men" - that is, humans. Character-types, I figure, can be of any race which is available to the players. So if I determine that a stronghold is ruled by such a character, before I determine that character's class, I roll on this table (found earlier in Appendix C) to determine the character's race:

80% of characters will be human, 5% will be dwarves, 5% will be elves, 2% will be gnomes, 5% will be half-elves, 2% will be halflings, and 1% will be half-orcs. You can actually simplify this by making it one roll, like so:

    d100      Race of Individual
    01-80     Human
    81-85     Dwarf
    86-90     Elf
    91-95     Half-elf
    96-97     Gnome
    98-99     Halfling
    100        Half-orc

I'll then determine the class of the character by rolling on Castle Sub-Table II.B., limiting myself to those classes which are available to that race.

But there's a problem - characters can only build strongholds beginning at a certain level, and demihuman races have level limits, as outlined in the PHB:

So the question is - which demihuman characters can actually rule strongholds in AD&D? Let's find out.

The Cleric can establish a "place of worship" and attract followers at 8th level, and at 9th level can construct a religious stronghold (presumably, they would build out the existing place of worship into a stronghold, not start an entirely new construction, but this isn't made explicitly clear):

While Castle Sub-Table II.B. states that clerics who rule wilderness strongholds will be from 9th to 12th level, I would allow them to be 8th level as well, with the caveat that these are not proper religious strongholds but the lesser "places of worship".

Aside from humans, player character half-elves and half-orcs can be clerics, but they are limited to 5th and 4th level, respectively, so they can build neither places of worship nor religious strongholds. Dwarf, elf, and gnome NPCs can also be clerics, but player characters cannot - I would personally ignore this as I don't really see the logic. Dwarves are limited to 8th level and elves and gnomes are both limited to 7th level. Dwarf clerics can build places of worship but not religious strongholds. Elf and gnome clerics can build neither. Only human clerics can build religious strongholds.

The Druid does not dwell permanently in castles, but at 11th level they can "inhabit building complexes set in woodlands and similar natural surroundings":

This is not a castle per se, but I would still count it as a stronghold. I imagine it being like the druid grove in Baldur's Gate 3, which is very much a stronghold.

Castle Sub-Table II.B. states that druids who rule strongholds will be 12th to 13th level, but I would allow them to be 11th level as well.

Only human and half-elf player characters can be druids, and half-elf druids have no level limit, so they can construct and live in such building complexes just as human druids can. Halfling NPCs can be druids, but are limited to 6th level, so they cannot.

The Fighter can establish a freehold ("some type of castle") at 9th level:

A player character of any race can become a fighter, but gnomes and halflings are limited to 6th level, elves to 7th level, and half-elves to 8th level - none of them can build a stronghold as a fighter. Dwarf fighters are limited to 9th level (but they must have Strength higher than 17), and half-orc fighters are limited to 10th - they can both build strongholds.

The Paladin can only be human. It isn't clear when exactly they can build a stronghold, but they can at some point. However, it can only be of the small type (a small shell keep, tower, moat house, or friary):

I assume that, as a sub-class of fighter, they construct their strongholds at 9th level (this is consistent with Castle Sub-Table II.B., which lists the lowest-level paladin with a stronghold as being 9th level, though as I've already demonstrated - and will continue to demonstrate - that table is not entirely reliable).

The Ranger can construct strongholds much the same as fighters:

That is, rangers can build strongholds at 9th level. This makes me more confident in my assumptions about the paladin, since both are fighter sub-classes. Again, Castle Sub-Table II.B. omits 9th level rangers (it includes only rangers of 10th to 13th level).

Aside from humans, only half-elves can be rangers, and they are limited to 8th level, so they cannot build strongholds.

The Magic-User can construct a stronghold at 12th level:

Castle Sub-Table II.B. incorrectly lists 11th level magic-users as potential stronghold rulers (it includes levels 11 to 14, but should probably be levels 12 to 15).

Aside from humans, only elves and half-elves can be magic-users, and they are limited to 11th and 8th level, respectively, so they cannot build strongholds.

It is not clear from the PHB whether the Illusionist can build a stronghold, but since they are a sub-class of the magic-user and are included on Castle Sub-Table II.B., I assume that they can, and that they follow the same rule as the magic-user (that is, they can build a stronghold at 12th level).

Castle Sub-Table II.B. includes illusionists of 10th to 13th level, but like the magic-user, it should probably be 12th to 15th level instead. It's also worth noting that illusionists' strongholds "will often be covered by an illusion to appear as a mound of rock, a ruined place, or a huge castle". Neat!

Only humans and gnomes can be illusionists. Gnome illusionists are limited to 7th level, so they cannot build strongholds.

The Thief can build a stronghold, but it must be "a tower or fortified building of the small castle type" and "within, or not more than a mile distant from, a town or city":

This means that you will never encounter a thief's stronghold in the wilderness.

It sounds like the thief can build the stronghold at any level, but can only establish a gang (i.e., attract followers) at 10th level, so for the purposes of this exercise I'll say they can build the stronghold at that level as well. 

This is consistent with Castle Sub-Table II.B., which lists the lowest-level stronghold-ruling thief as 10th level (although it is worth pointing out that since I use 6-mile hexes and a thief's stronghold can only be 1 mile distant from a town or city, I will never have a hex containing a thief's stronghold - if you instead use Gygax's scale of 1-mile hexes, the table works just fine, but the thief's stronghold must be in a hex adjacent to a town or city).

Anyone can be a thief, but half-orc thieves are limited to 8th level, so they cannot construct strongholds. Dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, and halfling thieves have no level limit and so can construct strongholds.

The Assassin is tricky, but essentially, they have two types of "stronghold" - a guild headquarters in a large town or big city, "typically a warehouse or other nondescript structure", and a second headquarters "of any form - cavern, castle, monastery, palace, temple" which (presumably) may also be in a large town or big city, but "if it is a large and obvious place...must be located well away from all communities":

The assassin must be 14th level to rule the former and 15th level to rule the latter (15th is the level cap for assassins). 

Castle Sub-Table II.B. lists the assassin stronghold ruler's level as 14th (and only 14th) level. As with the thief, this works with Gygax's scale of 1-mile hexes, but the assassin's stronghold must be in a hex adjacent to a town or city. 

Since I again use 6-mile hexes, 14th level assassins can only rule guildhalls which are "always within a large town or big city", and only 15th level assassins can rule wilderness strongholds, my version of the table should include only 15th level assassins.

Dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, half-orcs, and humans can be assassins. Dwarves, elves, gnomes, and half-elves are limited to 9th, 10th, 8th, and 11th level respectively, and cannot rule strongholds. Half-orcs and humans have no level limit and can rule strongholds.

The Monk can build a stronghold at 8th level, but it must be a monastery or monastery-like headquarters:

Castle Sub-Table II.B. states that "Monks' strongholds will usually be monasteries, resembling a type of enlarged moat house, having fewer of the defensive constructions of a typical castle - but being nonetheless formidable." I take this to mean that monks can only build castles of the small variety, specifically moat houses or friaries.

Castle Sub-Table II.B. includes monks of 9th to 12th level, omitting 8th level monks just as it omits 11th level druids and 9th level paladins.

Only humans can be monks.

The Bard is of course a special case. The description of the class does not explicitly state that they can build strongholds, but they are included in Castle Sub-Table II.B., so we must assume that they can.

Bards begin as fighters, then become thieves between 5th and 7th level - they must make the switch before attaining 8th level as a fighter, so they cannot build a stronghold as a fighter does at 9th level. They can attain 5th to 9th level as thieves, then must become druids - again, they cannot build a stronghold as a thief does at 10th level. Once they become a druid, they begin progression as a bard. They have their own experience table but are treated as druids of the same level (kind of - after 12th level they remain a 12th level druid until 23rd level when they finally become a 13th level druid).

Thus, I would assume that bards abide by the same rule as druids when it comes to building strongholds - that is, they can do so at 11th level, but it must be a building complex in a wilderness or natural setting.

UPDATE (January 12th, 2026): Bards will only construct a stronghold at 23rd level:

Only humans and half-elves can be bards.

Here is a summary of my findings - Who Can Rule a Stronghold in AD&D:

• Clerics: Dwarf clerics of 8th level only and human clerics of 8th level and above can rule places of worship, and human clerics of 9th level and above can rule religious strongholds.
• Druids: Half-elf and human druids of 11th level and above can rule building complexes set in woodlands and similar natural surroundings.
• Fighters: Dwarf fighters of 9th level only, half-orc fighters of 9th or 10th level, and human fighters of 9th level and above can rule strongholds of any type.
• Paladins: Human paladins of 9th level and above can rule small strongholds only.
• Rangers: Human rangers of 9th level and above can rule strongholds of any type.
• Magic-Users: Human magic-users of 12th level and above can rule strongholds of any type.
• Illusionists: Human illusionists of 12th level and above can rule strongholds of any type. They are usually covered by an illusion which makes them appear to be something else.
• Thieves: Dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, and human thieves of 10th level and above can rule small strongholds only, and they must be within or no more than a mile distant from a town or city.
• Assassins: Half-orc and human assassins of 14th level can rule a guild headquarters (a nondescript location, not a castle of any type) which must be within a large town or big city, and half-orc and human assassins of 15th level can rule a headquarters of any type (cavern, castle, monastery, palace, temple, etc.). It can be in a town or city but must be located away from all communities if it is a large and obvious place.
• Monks: Human monks of 8th level and above can rule a moat house or friary.
• Bards: Half-elf and human bards of 23rd level can rule a stronghold of any sort.

Here is a different summary sorted instead by race:

• Dwarves: Can rule as clerics (places of worship only), fighters, and thieves.
• Elves: Can rule as thieves only.
• Gnomes: Can rule as thieves only.
• Half-elves: Can rule as druids, thieves, and bards.
• Halflings: Can rule as thieves only.
• Half-orcs: Can rule as fighters, thieves, and assassins.
• Humans: Can rules as any class.

You could determine who rules a stronghold at least two ways: Do you roll to determine the ruler's race or class first? If I roll first for race and determine that the ruler of a wilderness stronghold is a human, for example, they could be of any class. If I instead determine they're a half-orc, they can only be a fighter or Grandfather/Grandmother assassin. If I roll first for class and determine that the ruler is a paladin or monk, for example, they can only be a human. If they're instead a cleric, they could be a human or a dwarf.

I'm not sure which is better, but I'm leaning towards determining class first. Just remember that thieves and most assassins don't live in the wilderness and druids and assassin Grandfathers/Grandmothers don't usually live in cities.

It is worth noting that deserted strongholds (which I treat as stronghold ruins) can be inhabited (like a monster lair) by dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings, even if these types can't rule strongholds as most classes. The wilderness encounter tables in Appendix C include these demihumans under "rough" terrain, which I believe is where you're meant to roll when populating a "castle" of the "deserted (monster therein)" type (the footnote to the tables describes "rough" as including "ruins within up to five miles of the party").

What this suggests is that individual elves, gnomes, and halflings, for whatever reason, don't build wilderness strongholds, but enclaves of them may move into such places once they're abandoned.

Interestingly, all four of these demihuman types can lair in such castles in uninhabited/wilderness areas, but only dwarves and gnomes lair in them in inhabited/patrolled area. In other words, if there's a road to the dungeon, elves and halflings won't hang out there - not on the surface, anyway. I wonder why that is.

On Character Creation

It behooves any Dungeon Master to write out their character creation rules for their players. I include these rules in the same document as any house rules I might be using. Obviously, if character creation in the game adheres to the rules laid out in the Player's Handbook, this isn't strictly necessary. 

While character options (races, classes and subclasses, backgrounds, feats, spells, etc.) presented in later supplements (and in the PHB, page 163, in the case of feats and multiclassing) often include a disclaimer that they are options only at the DM's discretion, in my experience, players will often assume that every published option is available to them regardless of the campaign unless the DM makes the (un)available options explicit. Thus it's important to have at least a bulleted list with general guidelines (or, a short conversation between DM and players). 

This post summarizes the character creation rules I use in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons (and some thoughts on how to use them for other versions of the game).

Choose a Race

The player can choose what race their character will be, or they can roll on a table to randomly determine this. The table is as follows:

d20

1-13      Human

14-17    Roll d6 (1-2: Elf; 3-4: Dwarf; 5-6: Halfling)

18-19    Roll d10 (1-2: Dragonborn; 3-4: Gnome; 5-6: Half-elf; 7-8: Half-orc; 9-10 Tiefling)

20         Anything else

If the player chooses to randomly roll, they can add +1 to an ability score of their choice after determining ability scores.

The conceit of this table is thus: 

• I want the races in the Player's Handbook to be most common (thus why "Anything else" makes up only 5% of the table).
• Of those in the PHB, I want humans to be most common (65%).
• Of the remaining races, the latter five are specifically called out in the PHB as being uncommon, so elves, dwarves, and halflings must be the "secondary" races to humans (20%), where the latter five are tertiary (10%).

A DM can easily take these same percentages and change the races associated with each to suit their setting. If the game is OD&D, I would omit everything except humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings. In AD&D, I would also include gnomes and half-elves, and the final 5% might be the various race options found in the edition's many splat books (if I wanted to ruin my game by allowing players to make firbolgs, pixies, ogre magi, and the like, which I've done in the past). 

My guiding star is that whatever's in the PHB should be most common, and all supplemental options should be relatively rare, but this can vary by setting. For example, I have a separate setting where these "common" races are all but extinct, and "monstrous" races are the predominant inhabitants, and I use the more granular d100 to create a table with a greater array of race options inspired by the Monster Manual. The point of providing a table like this is that the players can instantly get an idea of what races are most common as well as what others are present in the setting. The exact composition of races and their rarities is important only to the individual campaign.

The actual percentage breakdowns are modified from certain tables in AD&D, namely random encounter tables (where common, uncommon, rare, and very rare monsters are typically broken up almost exactly like this, 65/20/10/5). I use this same breakdown for my own random encounters. 

At the DM's option, the percentages provided to players can also be used when creating NPCs, ensuring that the racial distribution of NPCs is similar to that of player characters. 

I grant a +1 to an ability score for rolling on the table because I want to incentivize players to randomize character creation. Most of my character creation rules attempt to incentivize this. This is an attempt to make party composition more interesting and varied than the characters the players might tend to create. (Interesting and varied, in this case, is relative to the usual choices made by the players - obviously this method creates a lot of human PCs, which is certainly less varied, though not inherently less interesting, than a party consisting of a tiefling, dragonborn, automaton, half-hag, and owl person. But if the players in that group always make those exact characters, this method is meant to encourage them to try something else.)

I've been in too many games where each player essentially makes the same character every time, and I wanted to try to break up those habits. If the players want to continue playing the same types of characters anyway, they can still do that, of course.

Determine Ability Scores

Players can determine their characters' ability scores using the standard array or point buy methods presented in the Player's Handbook (page 12) or by rolling dice. If the player chooses to roll, they can roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die six times or roll 3d6 six times. If the player chooses to roll 3d6, they can choose a feat of their choice at 1st-level (in editions which don't include feats, I would just choose whether players roll 3d6 or 4d6, or I would offer both and grant some other appropriate benefit for choosing to roll 3d6).

Rolling 3d6 may seem odd in 5e, but I think 5e characters are robust enough to cope with having more average ability scores. I have had a few players take me up on this in the past - the extra feat is too tempting to pass up. More new-school players who are concerned about having "bad" ability scores are free to choose 4d6 or one of the more dependable ability score generation options from the PHB.

Whether the player rolls 4d6 or 3d6, they can either assign the scores in any order they like, or assign the scores in the order they are rolled (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma in 5e, but the order might differ by edition, for example in OD&D I believe it would be Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma). 

If the player chooses to roll their ability scores in order, they can add +1 to an ability score of their choice after determining ability scores (again, I want players to roll their stats in order, so I'm trying to incentivize it by offering a mechanical benefit in exchange).

The player then adds any ability score adjustments from their chosen race.

Players can also choose or roll to determine their character's age category, as follows:

d20

1-13     Young                    

14-17   Middle Aged    -1 Str, -1 Con, +1 Int, +1 Wis

18-19   Old                   -3 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Con, +1 Int, +2 Wis

20        Venerable         -4 Str, -3 Dex, -3 Con, +2 Int, +3 Wis

If the player chooses to roll to determine their character's age category and gets a result of Old or Venerable, they can add +1 to an ability score of their choice after determining ability scores (the benefits to Intelligence and Wisdom don't balance out the penalties to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution in these age categories, so I'm offering another mechanical incentive to mitigate the hurt a bit).

The age categories are pulled from AD&D, and may seem overly punitive for a 5e game, however all this really amounts to is that older characters are less likely to be physically-oriented and more likely to be clerics, druids, and wizards, which I think is fine.

I have thought at times that players should choose their class before determining their age, thus allowing for the possibility of an "old fighter", for example, however I'm of the opinion that character creation represents only a snapshot of the character at a moment in their life. After all, according to Gary Gygax, Conan's class levels change with age.

At this time, the player adds any ability score adjustments accumulated from rolling to determine race, age category, or rolling ability scores in order. No ability score can exceed 20 (if the DM wants a more "balanced" 5e experience, they might cap it at 16 instead, but I personally don't care if a 1st-level character starts with a 20 - the faster the players maxes out their character's important ability scores, the sooner they can consider actually interesting ways to use their ability score improvements, such as by choosing feats or preparing to multiclass by increasing secondary or tertiary ability scores).

Choose a Background

I have no special rules for this, but one could easily use the percentage spread I've used so far to create common, uncommon, rare, and very rare backgrounds determined by the setting, if they wish.

Choose Languages

When choosing which languages a player character knows, exotic languages count for two language proficiencies. Thus, if a background allows you to learn "any two languages", a player can choose for their character to know two standard languages or one exotic language.

Standard and exotic languages are laid out in the PHB (page 123), but a DM can further customize these lists by adding or subtracting languages or switching standard and exotic languages according to the setting. For example, in my setting where "common" races are extinct, those races' languages are considered exotic, and other, traditionally exotic languages are considered standard.

Choose a Class

At this point, character creation can proceed according to the chosen system without much or any changes. In 5e, I use the following prerequisites, meaning a player character has to have at least the following score(s) in a given ability in order to choose the class (these are based on the ability score requirements for multiclassing into a given class, which are included in the 5e PHB):

Barbarain    Strength 13

Bard            Charisma 13

Cleric          Wisdom 13

Druid          Wisdom 13

Fighter        Strength or Dexterity 13

Monk          Dexterity and Wisdom 13

Paladin        Strength and Charisma 13

Ranger        Dexterity and Wisdom 13

Rogue         Dexterity 13

Sorcerer      Charisma 13

Warlock      Charisma 13

Wizard        Intelligence 13

The DM could take this a bit further, using something like the ability score requirements from AD&D if for example they wanted bards, druids, monks, paladins, rangers, and the like to be especially rare. I haven't done this in my 5e games, but I like the idea. I'd have to come up with something for warlock, since as far as I know they're the only class to never appear in an edition where ability score requirements were the norm (I didn't DM 3e or 4e, so I could be wrong).

That's pretty much it. The point of this is to customize character creation to facilitate the kind of game I want to run. I like truly randomly generated characters over carefully crafted ones, and I don't mind more or less powerful characters that may result from rolling ability scores, aging penalties, free feats, and extra ability score bonuses. 

Rolling ability scores in order produces more varied characters with interesting arrays (the buff wizard or the smart fighter). It allows for more interesting multiclass combinations that you wouldn't normally see, and starting with higher stats allows players to spend fewer of their ability score improvements on maxing out their primary ability score, which allows for more robust character customization much earlier in the level progression.

It's not for everyone, and I've had more than one person claim that this somehow completely "breaks" 5e, and that's fine. They can find another game to play or run their own. The customizability of procedures like this is one of TTRPGs' greatest strengths!