Random 'Political Power = Personal Power' question.

Assuming that a King is high level due to the political power = personal power maxim. What level is a boy king? For example, any of the child monarchs in Game of Thrones. Should they be L10-14 or are they simply meaningless figureheads, with the actual power resting with the ‘powers behind (or in front of) the throne’?
Just a thought about Age vs Power.

Everyone knowns that the Hand rules for the king. Jeoffry was king, but it was Lord Tywin who controlled everything, or tyrion. Child monarchs are figureheads.

Regarding the Hand from GoT’s. Isn’t the saying “The king sh!ts, the Hand wipes”? Fantastic tv series btw.

Child monarchs are figurheads in some societies. In other societies - China for ex - they are considred divine and authoritative. Its also worth considering what is meant by child. Up until the industrial revolution there was no such thing as a “teen-ager” and childhood ended somewhere around the age of 10, give or take. History is quite full of teen aged monarchs, some with more authority than others.

Jaimie Lannister wo his first tourney at 14 and was named to the white cloaks at 15. I would say he was a hero-1 by then for sure.

I was hoping there’d be some real world examples too, but my History has long since fled my brain :slight_smile:
Anyway - Counterpoint to Joffrey - Robb didn’t have a Hand and led directly, himself.
So lets take China as an example - the boy emperor - Level 14, or much lower, with high level advisors?
I suppose there is a question about does this model fit with the Adventurer - Conqueror - King model of conquest and rule.

Someone at the top should be a high level beatstick, to keep the model intact; in the case of Joffrey, that could be folks like The Hand and the Kingsguard. Joffrey himself should be a zero-level figurehead, but mid-level PC’s aren’t going to topple his rule because of the advisors. In a D&D game, I’d even make a character like the queen regent, Cersei, high level. ACKS has a number of classes that would fit her role (as long as you’re not worried about emulating the literary version of Cersei).
The point about Jaimie is a good one; Joffrey is zero-level due to ineptitude, not age.

Agreeing with Beedo. Gets back to my reservations regarding what experience can be awarded for in ACKS, or rather the discoonect between what gaining experience points translates to (Hit points, hit dice and combat prowess) and what you can get them for doing (or for being, in the case of an incompetent child monarch.) A possible way to get around this would be to create a Noble or ViP class, like in d20 Blackmoor, and maybe have it correspond/relate to the fighter class except in combat stats.
As Alex has argued, ACKS fits the sociopolitical realities of the Auren setting, so, child monarch type issues are more for those who are looking to apply the rules elswhere, I suppose.

I think you guys have already sorted this out better than I could explain it. In general, a child monarch is not actually ruling and so he’s not getting the XP.
A child monarch who actually IS ruling would get the XP. But he’d probably end up like most child monarchs who actually ruled – dead. In real-world terms, powerful strong-men don’t let little kids boss them around. In game terms, powerful strong-men don’t let 0th level kids take their XP.
It’s important to keep in mind that the game mechanics and the in-world descriptions may, in some cases, not be 100% associated. To model Game of Thrones, for instance, Joffrey is not a ruler, but Rob Stark is.