The main goal of your campaigns in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord is going to be to conqueror the entire map of Calradia. Through diplomacy, building up a kingdom and of course, many, many wars you will slowly take over the map and win areas through your many conquests. In Bannerlord, the player can have the ability to join one of the existing kingdoms (or factions) in the game as a vassal or even as the king. By growing your kingdom and recruiting new lords you can create an unstoppable force. This guide will show you how to recruit lords from other kingdoms to grow your faction.
To skip to a quick step-by-step guide on how to recruit lords click here!
Getting Started With a Kingdom
Before you can even think about recruiting lords into you’re kingdom you’re going to have to be apart of one first!
Essentially there are two ways that you can be apart of a kingdom; joining an existing faction as a vassal or creating your own kingdom. Since creating your own kingdom from scratch is quite difficult and not really the point of this guide I will keep it brief. You will have to first raise your clan level up up to at least 4 by raising your renown and also capture at least one town or castle. Once you have fulfilled these two requirements you will be able to create a kingdom from the Clan screen. (as you can see in the image below.)
If you don’t want to create your own kingdom, you can join an existing clan by speaking with the head of the faction. Through conversation options, you can then ask to join this kingdom and pledge allegiance to a king. Don’t take this action lightly, as betraying a kingdom will generally make them aggressive towards you later on if you change your mind. Once you are apart of a kingdom, you can start recruiting lords to join you!
How to Recruit Lords to Your Kingdom
Now that you are apart of a kingdom you are able to start trying to recruit other lords. The best way for your to conquer the map of Calradia is with manpower! When you are convincing other lords to join your party, they will come as an entire clan. This means that when you manage to convince someone to join every lord in their clan will join you too. You can’t just ask anyone though, you will have to find the clan leader first. As a step-by-step:
- Find the leader of the clan you want to recruit
- Speak with this leader and tell them there is something you wish to discuss
- Choose the option “Your liege, …, is not worth your loyalty”
- Go through the charisma checks and try to convince them your kingdom is worth joining
- Barter with the lord and bribe them to have them join
- Enjoy the new power of an extra clan under your kingdom!
Important Point and Tips
There are a few key point to take into account when trying to recruit a new clan/lord. I will go through some of the important things that you will need to think about and ways you can improve your chances at recruiting.
Having a high charm skill will improve your persuasion chance
When you first try to convince lords to join your kingdom you will be faced with a bunch of different questions and you will have to opportunity to choose from a range of answers. The chance you can successfully recruit a lord will depend on a few factors. These include how much the lord likes you, their traits and your charm level. If they like you already, you will have an easier time convincing them to join. You can find out how to raise your charm skill by following this guide.
The greater the clan, the greater the cost
The cost of recruiting larger clans is always greater that recruiting smaller clans. Even if you manage to convince a lord to join you, you will have to pay them something. If you are looking to save your denars try to recruit smaller clans, such as tier 3 clans first. That way you will build up your forces without breaking the bank.
Not all lords want to leave their kingdoms
When you are speaking with some of the lords you may have noticed that some of them simply state they have no interest in leaving their kingdom. That is because these lords are completely loyal to their current king. This is because the game logic of their characters if just tied to their respective kings, or their relationship is too great towards that character. Not all clans will want to leave their kingdoms and you can’t even try to convince them to do so.
