Steward Skill Deep Dive
November 21, 2025
Maximizing party size and food bonuses through Steward.
In Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, combat skills win battles, but the Steward skill wins wars. It is the single most important attribute for increasing your party size, managing food consumption, and governing settlements. Without a high Steward skill, you will be stuck commanding a small warband while your enemies march with armies of hundreds.
Why Steward is Essential
The primary function of the Steward skill is to increase your Party Size Limit.
Rule of Thumb: Every skill point in Steward grants roughly +0.25 troops to your max party size.
Quartermaster Role: To gain these benefits, you must assign yourself (or a companion) as the Quartermaster in the Clan screen.
If you assign a companion with 0 Steward as Quartermaster, your party size will drop instantly. If you assign yourself and you have high Steward, it will skyrocket.
How XP is Earned
Leveling Steward is passive but requires preparation.
Food Variety: The game grants Steward XP daily based on the variety of food in your inventory. Holding only Grain gives minimal XP. Holding Grain, Meat, Fish, Cheese, Butter, Grapes, Olives, and Beer gives maximum XP.
Running Settlements: Governors gain Steward XP by boosting settlement prosperity and building projects.
Leading Armies: Keeping a large army fed and cohesive also drips XP.
For a dedicated guide on grinding this skill, check out our Steward Skill Leveling guide.
Key Perks
The Steward tree is split between "Party Leader" perks (for you) and "Governor" perks (for your fiefs).
Must-Have Perks
Paid in Promise (Lvl 100): Discarding armor gives XP to troops. This is crucial for upgrading units fast.
Efficient Campaigner (Lvl 100): Discarding weapons gives XP. Pick one of these two based on your loot habits.
Nourish Settlement (Lvl 200): A governor perk that massively boosts prosperity growth.
Price of Loyalty (Lvl 275): The ultimate perk. Reduces wages and can effectively make high-tier armies affordable.
The Party Size Formula
Your party size is calculated by:
Base Size + (Clan Tier Bonus) + (Steward Skill * 0.25) + (Perks) + (Policies)
Clan Tier: The biggest early boost. See Clan & Kingdom Management.
Policies: As a king, policies like "Royal Guard" add +60 to your size.
Companion Quartermasters
Should you be the Quartermaster or hire one?
Early Game: Be your own Quartermaster. You need the Int attribute for Engineering and Medicine anyway.
Late Game: If you are focusing on Combat or Social skills, hire a "Spicevendor" or "Swift" companion with high Steward to lead your logistics.
Check out our Party Roles Guide for finding the best companions.