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[AzuredreamsXT]

What are they?

[Intro1827]

You get more nobles, and subsequently Fun

[Iton Ibrukrithzam]

The dwarf that used to be your semi-useful expedition leader will become a Baron, and will perform no task other than maybe talking to diplomats and traders, if he feels like it.  He will also flip right out and tantrum if you give anyone a nicer room than his.

Other than that, I suppose you could feel pride in being a Barony.  I tried it, didn't really care for it.

[Aachen]

The dwarf that used to be your semi-useful expedition leader will become a Baron ....

Note that the baron one elects does not need to be the expedition leader; the positions are distinct and any ol' mook can be chosen for the former.

[dr_random]

I once had a baroness who sadly died in an accident. (Yees, it WAS an accident.) After that there wasn't a new baron(ess) appointed. How do you get another one if the former died? Seriously, I was quite sad because I took time to browse all my dorfs for selecting a suitable candidate. And she was a very happy baroness.

[KtosoX]

Once a baron dies with no children, it's over. The baron position has the [SUCCESSION:BY_HEIR] tag.

[Darkening Kaos]

When I chose my baron, it was the most useless dorf in the fortress at the time, a cheesemaker, turns out he couldn't handle the stress associated with the life of a noble.  He tantrumed over Armok-knows-what, went into melancholy and died of dehydration three months after his ascension, I still dont know - or care - why, but now, the only layabout I have to put up with is the mayor and his love of blue jay bone items.  {yes, they're vermin and leave no useable body parts so my fort has dozens of production violation criminals who have served time in jail}

Darkening Kaos, CIS, LUH.

[xordae]

Game mechanics wise, there are only drawbacks. More demands, more hissy fits and more useless dwarves.

How the player feels when he has achieved these things and how it affects his playing experience is another thing altogether.

[Quantumtroll]

will perform no task other than maybe talking to diplomats and traders, if he feels like it. 

O RLY?  Then why is my duchess not only my best doctor but also an unusually responsible broker, besides performing her usual representative duties?  Before the fortress' healthcare requirements rose in the current crescendo, she was a dutiful stoneworker, too.  It is a myth that nobles are useless dwarves.

However, they are difficult to keep happy, especially if they request crystal glass items... as this one does.

[AzuredreamsXT]

The hell....why would Toady make no benefits to becoming a barony or higher? Seems like a waste of energy and work to add nobles for shits and giggles. They don't appoint cool new positions or anything?

[Andal]

The benefit is you cannot become the mountainhome until you have a duke (plus some other stuff), and becoming the mountainhome is one of the few built-in goals/achievements you can aim for. Sure it means even more nobles, but you are then the center of your civilization.

But no, nothing incredibly useful. They (well, the monarch at least) used to allow a larger variety of nobles to appear, but that is currently not happening. Included was a royal guard of relatively highly trained warriors. Toady will probably re-implement all/some of them in the future.

I always pick someone for elevation whose major like is stone or metal statues. That way, it is no skin off my back to produce mandate fulfilling items.

[Sphalerite]

When you have a Baron/Count/Duke, civilizations with the diplomat position will send a diplomat to speak with you every year.  In vanilla DF this only means the humans, but you can easily mod the game to have the elves send a diplomat as well.  You can then if you so desire easily trigger war with that civilization by killing their diplomat, or end a war by speaking with the diplomat and agreeing to peace.

[imperium3]

Just to dispel some myths here:

Barons can still be assigned jobs and will do them like normal dwarves. They are not "useless".

You do not need to have a duke to become a Mountainhome. The queen arrived at my fort while I was still a barony.

But yeah, there's no real benefit, other than getting your favourite dwarf a cool title, and having an excuse to design large and impressive throne rooms. I suspect that Toady intends to add advantages like making the fort get more trade or something, but it hasn't been implemented yet.

[Rince Wind]

Each time you reject becoming a barony the dwarfen diplomat will not talk about next years caravan with you. So you do not get to tell him what to bring.

[NonconsensualSurgery]

Barons have been observed to continue working after appointment. Mine has the pleasure of fulfilling most of his own mandates for crowns and figurines, and helping to engrave the walls of his own room and tomb. He's a self-made dwarf.

The mayor seems useless, and if he continues to demand high boots and block the export of figurines he may find himself with a new and exciting career in one of the non-elite units of my military.