House Rules: Factions - Intrigue

The following rules allow you to take a faction and generate Organization stat block for use with the Organization Influence rules.

Step 1 - Determine Prominence

Add together the faction’s total Power and Reputation modifiers, see the Faction Prominence table, below.

Table: Faction Prominence

Power + Reputation Prominence Prominence Modifier
Less than +5 Weak -5*
+6 to +10 Moderate +0
+11 to +20 Strong +2
+21 or higher Preeminent +5
*May not reduce the level of a key member below 1.

Step 2 - Key Members

If the faction’s most important members have already been created as part of the roleplaying experience, then use those, however should the key members need to be determined, do the following: To find the highest level key member, roll 2d6 and add the Prominence modifier. The next-highest level key member will generally be 2 levels lower than the highest level. Further key members will be 1–2 levels lower than the previously created one. Any number of key members may be created, but 2–5 is usually sufficient.

Step 3 - Values

The values of a faction should be determined by consideration of what the faction looks for in a member. This is not easily quantifiable, but virtues (such as loyalty, honesty, or obedience) and ability (skillfulness, demonstrable power) are probably the most common, since they are things that almost any group will appreciate in its members and affiliates. The specific values should ideally be tailored to the group by the GM.

Step 4 - Public and Private Goals

The faction’s goals should be its public and private goals (secret goals under Ultimate Factions become private goals for the Organization influence system).

Step 5 - Allies

Any alliances that the faction has are automatically considered allies, but other factions may be considered allies at the GM’s discretion.

Step 6 - Enemies

Choose 1 or more factions which oppose the main goal of this one. Those factions are the enemies.

Step 7 - Membership Requirements

Every organization’s membership requirements will be unique, but the more prominent the organization the more valuable or restrictive the membership requirements will be. For weak organization, an activity with a small value (less than 100 gp), or an occasional commitment of time (a short meeting once per month for six months) is suitable. For a moderate organization, a more valuable activity (between 100 and 500 gp) or a greater commitment of time (a weekly meeting for three months) would be acceptable. Strong organizations need a much greater level of dedication, so a value of up to 2,000 gp or several days of dedicated time to the organization, even at the expense of the character’s other activity. Preeminent organizations demand much greater sacrifice, which should rarely be quantified in monetary terms (unless the organization is particularly interested in money), but instead be a demonstrated willingness to take risks on behalf of the faction, even at the possible expense of the character’s life.

Step 8 - Influence Limitations

Most organizations require a formal acknowledgement of membership before they will allow a character to increase their influence rank to 2, and further influence rank increases may require more elaborate demonstrations of allegiance to the organization, with more prominent organizations having more elaborate and frequent requirements (a preeminent organization is likely to have a requirement to increase each influence rank, while a moderate organization may only need something extra to get to rank 4).

Step 9 - Benefits

An organization’s benefits are unique to that organization, and GMs are advised to consider unique benefits where possible, but the common benefits can be easily used where necessary. Use the Table: Faction Benefits to determine appropriate common benefits for a faction.

Step 10 - New Benefits

New benefits should be chosen to match the theme of the organization, and should be roughly equivalent in worth to the benefits in the table above. The benefits can be as much as one rank better, if they are something the organization is particularly focused on, for example a wizard’s guild might allow its members access to the guild library of spells.

Table: Faction Benefits

Benefit Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4
Borrow Resources Resources x20 gp Resources x100 gp Resources x500 gp Resources x1000 gp
Command Team† - 1-4 HD 3-12 HD 6-30 HD
Gather Information Reputation +3 Reputation +3 Reputation +3 Reputation +3
Put in a Good Word Never Yes Yes Yes
Reciprocal Benefits No No Yes Yes
These are for strong or preeminent organizations. For every level of prominence below strong, increase the rank required for a particular team by 1. Military factions may reduce the rank by 1, and add an army of 100 1st level fighters to the available teams at rank 4.
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