Investment

Another and generally more reliable method for capturing a castle or fort is to simply surround it and wait for the garrison to starve (assuming that the castle does not have resident priests who can keep the troops fed). The DM must decide in advance how much food is stored inside the castle. Generally, castles have no more than a year’s worth of supplies on hand, and they usually have much less, perhaps several weeks’ to a few months’ worth.

A garrison’s morale rating drops by 1 when it runs out of food. Each week thereafter, roll 1d4 for every 10 creatures in the garrison; on a roll of 4, single-Hit-Die creatures in the group expire and other creatures lose 25% of their hit points. Do not roll for player characters and important NPCs; instead, they are allowed a saving throw vs. wands with a –5 penalty to avoid the hit point loss.

The garrison also checks morale each week without food. Failure indicates that the troops open the gates to the attackers. If prevented from opening the gates, the troops attempt to leave the castle any way they can. If the morale check succeeds, the garrison holds out another week. Repeat the procedure until all the defenders starve, their morale breaks, or relief arrives.

Most castles have adequate sources of water, usually a well inside the walls. If a garrison is deprived of water, use the procedure given above for food but check for casualties, hit point losses, and morale every three days.

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