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The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
D&D 5E FGG Kickstarter The Blight Richard Pett's Crooked City
- Thread starter mach1.9pants
- Start date
mach1.9pants
Hero
Check the post above yours ;-)"See, told you so!"
Greg
mach1.9pants
Hero
You ninja'd my ninja gloat!
Charles Wright
First Post
Huge Kickstarter Update.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ed-ci/posts/1432262?ref=backer_project_update
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ed-ci/posts/1432262?ref=backer_project_update
An update showing some of the new 5e rules options included in The Blight.
Guilds and Clubs
Contacts are the common man’s way into the haloed halls of power. A beggar, it is said, could bribe his way to become a knight if he had the right luck and the vast amount of money it would take. In a city like this anything and everything is for sale, but anything and everything is also controlled.
There are thousands of clubs, guilds and cults in the dank city streets, each one seeking power, each one with relationships with others—some good, some bad—and each one capable of action, no matter how great or how small.
Being a member of a guild or club or cult opens doors, it brings the characters into a new sphere of influence, opens up access to new spells, new equipment and new avenues of pleasure.
They can also be powerful; guilds own parishes within districts, clubs own officials, cults have the local Justice’s daughter kept in a dark place to make sure that their actions are unseen.
Making enemies of such groups is dangerous, simply because of the amount of power they have. A character opposing a cult may find himself arrested on a trumped up charge, judged and hanged in a single night, even breaking free of the gaol leaves him a fugitive, but there is always someone who opposes the cult that wronged the character eager for new recruits.
Simply put, these groups give you another gaming option. You may wish to have them as shadowy background groups; you may wish to bring them to the fore. They are part of this city as any dark fantasy city.
Clubs are often described in a similar way to feats; they have a title, a prerequisite, and a benefit. They may also have a special entry and finally an advancement note. Guilds operate more like class levels.
The Dwarven Beneath Brotherhood offers guide services to those exploring below the city streets. The Whispering Sisters are harlots who use their skills to pry secrets from customers. The Amateur Mendicant Society are made up of nobles who walk the streets as beggars to try to unmask anarchists, the Royal Lamplighters are useful guides to have after dark and know the cities secrets better than most. The Gable Maesters know every inch of the rooftops and deny the claim that they breed the colossal spiders that are occasionally found there. They cannot, they claim, be responsible for the death of so many curious children who have climbed onto the city rooftops. Membership of the Rat-catchers, hated enemies of the Family, is by strict invite, the blood of a thousand wererats is on their hands and membership, like that of the many anarchist groups, is perilous.
There are said to be over 5000 thieves’ guilds in the Blight, all a fragment of the Guild itself. Each of the core classes has a choice of cults, groups and guilds to represent them, the most infamous of which are the Dying City, a group of druids who aim to bring a plague upon the houses of all those who have stained the land with the Blight.
The Cult of Beautiful Pain act as emissaries for n’gathau visitors whilst the Tolling Bell aim to bring Orcus to the world. The filth-ridden Followers of the Trail believe Jubilex already lives beneath the Blight.
Clubs
Unlike guilds (below), clubs are generally easier to join, rise within and leave. Like money feats, they are simply structured; with a prerequisite, benefit, special (but not always) and an advancement protocol.
Some sample clubs are given below for you to consider, your GM may have others to offer.
Brothers of the Gables
Climbers, explorers and daredevils, the Brothers of the Gables delight in finding the highest buildings to climb, and reaching the most remote parts of the rooftops of the city.
Prerequisites: A would-be member climbs a prominent building within the city, facing at minimum a 150ft climb with DC 10 Str (Athletics) check. The check DC is then removed from the Cha (Deception or Performance) check after a successful climb. A base DC 30 Cha check is required to gain entry, so that a successful DC 10 climb made lowers this check to DC 20 and so on.
Benefits: Membership opens doors to other routes, methods and ways up famous buildings, as well as knowledge of those places. Characters gain a permanent +2 to all Int checks made in the company of at least one other brother when the check is made in relation to any tall building or high art of the city such as the Jumble.
Advancement: A member can attempt at least one qualifying climb (successful or not) per month as a member as listed above, but with a fall of 200ft, he can attempt to increase his standing in the brotherhood by making an immediate DC 20 Cha (Deception) check after making the attempt, success indicates enrollment into an inner circle, where further techniques of climbing buildings are given, increasing the character’s Str (Athletics) checks when tackling such buildings permanently with a special +2 bonus.
Fame or infamy, there are those in the city who seek out multiple climbs of astonishing danger, a member making a DC 30 Str (Athletics) one becomes famous, as does anyone climbing a building you regard as ridiculous (such the outside of the Great Royal Cathedral (area C9). Famous members make all Cha (Deception or Performance) checks at +2 anywhere in the city where they announce their fame. Other members are likely to commence encounters with such legends on at least a friendly basis.
Indulgers
Carousers and gluttons, the Indulgers are a loose affiliation of those who like the finer things in life, and indulge in them heartily.
Prerequisites: Various arms of the group are seen in the rowdier or more fashionable holes of gluttony and excess in the city. One need simply appear at one, and spend money trying to impress one’s would-be peers. Once per week, a would-be member can spend 200gp, and make an immediate DC 20 Cha (Deception, Persuasion, or Performance) to gain membership with each 50gp spent in excess reducing the check DC by one. Membership requires the spending of 200gp per month minimum.
Benefits: Once per week, a member can ask an Indulger to spend the day making an Int (Investigation) check on your behalf with tactical advantage to the check. The indulger also has access to money, as so many swine are members; loans of up to 500gp are always granted, subject to a 7 day payback at 10% interest.
Special: Each month, a member faces a random city encounter.
Advancement: Roll 1/month for an opening (1d20), on an 18-20 the position of honored glutton opens up after another member dies. The position costs 100gp per month, but allows access to a twice weekly request of the check above and loans of up to 2500gp. Honored gluttons can make a check once a month to see if the position of hoglord becomes available. This position costs 250gp per month, but grants legal access to the Capitol and the Sanctuary as an honored noble. Loans of up to 10,000gp are available, as detailed above.
Guilds
While clubs can be difficult to enter, one is member of a Guild for life. They are altogether more serious path, and while bound by the one crucial rule—financial—they are in general a closer bound group. Guilds are handled rather like character classes, but with money being the crucial reason for advancement.
Guilds and Clubs
Contacts are the common man’s way into the haloed halls of power. A beggar, it is said, could bribe his way to become a knight if he had the right luck and the vast amount of money it would take. In a city like this anything and everything is for sale, but anything and everything is also controlled.
There are thousands of clubs, guilds and cults in the dank city streets, each one seeking power, each one with relationships with others—some good, some bad—and each one capable of action, no matter how great or how small.
Being a member of a guild or club or cult opens doors, it brings the characters into a new sphere of influence, opens up access to new spells, new equipment and new avenues of pleasure.
They can also be powerful; guilds own parishes within districts, clubs own officials, cults have the local Justice’s daughter kept in a dark place to make sure that their actions are unseen.
Making enemies of such groups is dangerous, simply because of the amount of power they have. A character opposing a cult may find himself arrested on a trumped up charge, judged and hanged in a single night, even breaking free of the gaol leaves him a fugitive, but there is always someone who opposes the cult that wronged the character eager for new recruits.
Simply put, these groups give you another gaming option. You may wish to have them as shadowy background groups; you may wish to bring them to the fore. They are part of this city as any dark fantasy city.
Clubs are often described in a similar way to feats; they have a title, a prerequisite, and a benefit. They may also have a special entry and finally an advancement note. Guilds operate more like class levels.
The Dwarven Beneath Brotherhood offers guide services to those exploring below the city streets. The Whispering Sisters are harlots who use their skills to pry secrets from customers. The Amateur Mendicant Society are made up of nobles who walk the streets as beggars to try to unmask anarchists, the Royal Lamplighters are useful guides to have after dark and know the cities secrets better than most. The Gable Maesters know every inch of the rooftops and deny the claim that they breed the colossal spiders that are occasionally found there. They cannot, they claim, be responsible for the death of so many curious children who have climbed onto the city rooftops. Membership of the Rat-catchers, hated enemies of the Family, is by strict invite, the blood of a thousand wererats is on their hands and membership, like that of the many anarchist groups, is perilous.
There are said to be over 5000 thieves’ guilds in the Blight, all a fragment of the Guild itself. Each of the core classes has a choice of cults, groups and guilds to represent them, the most infamous of which are the Dying City, a group of druids who aim to bring a plague upon the houses of all those who have stained the land with the Blight.
The Cult of Beautiful Pain act as emissaries for n’gathau visitors whilst the Tolling Bell aim to bring Orcus to the world. The filth-ridden Followers of the Trail believe Jubilex already lives beneath the Blight.
Clubs
Unlike guilds (below), clubs are generally easier to join, rise within and leave. Like money feats, they are simply structured; with a prerequisite, benefit, special (but not always) and an advancement protocol.
Some sample clubs are given below for you to consider, your GM may have others to offer.
Brothers of the Gables
Climbers, explorers and daredevils, the Brothers of the Gables delight in finding the highest buildings to climb, and reaching the most remote parts of the rooftops of the city.
Prerequisites: A would-be member climbs a prominent building within the city, facing at minimum a 150ft climb with DC 10 Str (Athletics) check. The check DC is then removed from the Cha (Deception or Performance) check after a successful climb. A base DC 30 Cha check is required to gain entry, so that a successful DC 10 climb made lowers this check to DC 20 and so on.
Benefits: Membership opens doors to other routes, methods and ways up famous buildings, as well as knowledge of those places. Characters gain a permanent +2 to all Int checks made in the company of at least one other brother when the check is made in relation to any tall building or high art of the city such as the Jumble.
Advancement: A member can attempt at least one qualifying climb (successful or not) per month as a member as listed above, but with a fall of 200ft, he can attempt to increase his standing in the brotherhood by making an immediate DC 20 Cha (Deception) check after making the attempt, success indicates enrollment into an inner circle, where further techniques of climbing buildings are given, increasing the character’s Str (Athletics) checks when tackling such buildings permanently with a special +2 bonus.
Fame or infamy, there are those in the city who seek out multiple climbs of astonishing danger, a member making a DC 30 Str (Athletics) one becomes famous, as does anyone climbing a building you regard as ridiculous (such the outside of the Great Royal Cathedral (area C9). Famous members make all Cha (Deception or Performance) checks at +2 anywhere in the city where they announce their fame. Other members are likely to commence encounters with such legends on at least a friendly basis.
Indulgers
Carousers and gluttons, the Indulgers are a loose affiliation of those who like the finer things in life, and indulge in them heartily.
Prerequisites: Various arms of the group are seen in the rowdier or more fashionable holes of gluttony and excess in the city. One need simply appear at one, and spend money trying to impress one’s would-be peers. Once per week, a would-be member can spend 200gp, and make an immediate DC 20 Cha (Deception, Persuasion, or Performance) to gain membership with each 50gp spent in excess reducing the check DC by one. Membership requires the spending of 200gp per month minimum.
Benefits: Once per week, a member can ask an Indulger to spend the day making an Int (Investigation) check on your behalf with tactical advantage to the check. The indulger also has access to money, as so many swine are members; loans of up to 500gp are always granted, subject to a 7 day payback at 10% interest.
Special: Each month, a member faces a random city encounter.
Advancement: Roll 1/month for an opening (1d20), on an 18-20 the position of honored glutton opens up after another member dies. The position costs 100gp per month, but allows access to a twice weekly request of the check above and loans of up to 2500gp. Honored gluttons can make a check once a month to see if the position of hoglord becomes available. This position costs 250gp per month, but grants legal access to the Capitol and the Sanctuary as an honored noble. Loans of up to 10,000gp are available, as detailed above.
Guilds
While clubs can be difficult to enter, one is member of a Guild for life. They are altogether more serious path, and while bound by the one crucial rule—financial—they are in general a closer bound group. Guilds are handled rather like character classes, but with money being the crucial reason for advancement.
mach1.9pants
Hero
As a fan of the Thief-Acrobat back in the day (I know awful class, but I always liked it!), Brothers of the Gables looks fun! 
Charles Wright
First Post
My desire to play a multi-classed Ranger/Thief-Acrobat was the first time that I deviated from the printed rules.
mach1.9pants
Hero
My desire to play a multi-classed Ranger/Thief-Acrobat was the first time that I deviated from the printed rules.
Haha now that's crazy!
The TA was the mechanical competence opposite of the Cavalier, but I wanted to be a cat burglar... although like most OS D&D the best cat burglars are Mages
Charles Wright
First Post
Crazy? Imagine what an Urban Rooftop Acrobatic Ranger could accomplish!
I was ahead of my time wanting to be Assassin's Creed way back in the 80s.
When the 2nd Edition Bard's Handbook came around, I was all over the Jongleur.
I was ahead of my time wanting to be Assassin's Creed way back in the 80s.
When the 2nd Edition Bard's Handbook came around, I was all over the Jongleur.
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