D&D 5E Factions in Elemental Evil

[not-so-newguy]

EE Adventurer's League Factions


HARPERS
ORDER OF THE GAUNTLET
EMERALD ENCLAVE
LORDS' ALLIANCE
ZHENTARIM


I would copy/paste the faction info in a spoiler, but I'm using a kindle fire, so no dice.


I know factions are being used in the current campaign, but any elaboration beyond the player's guide would be much appreciated. At the moment, I'm particularly interested in the Lord's Alliance faction. But I'd like to hear anything you want to say on subject even if you haven't used them before.


So onto my questions:


Do you like factions?


What are people's experience with these in game play?


How do conflicting and cooperative factions affect party dynamics?


What supplements would you recommend to somebody trying to understand FR?
-My last experience with FR was Shadows of Amn CPRPG.
-I don't need the full FR setting boxed set with all the bells and whistles, but if that's the only thing available. So be it.

 

[Riley37]

HARPERS
ORDER OF THE GAUNTLET
EMERALD ENCLAVE
LORDS' ALLIANCE
ZHENTARIM

Those look exactly like the factions in Tyranny of Dragons.
As a player: NPCs add to my enjoyment of the setting.
As a DM: plot hooks are a Good Thing.

I haven't yet seen faction objectives for PCs clash.
Though, if each faction told its agents, "Bring us the Amulet of Plot Significance", and the party found only one Amulet, then interesting conflict might ensue.
I've emphasized that the Five Factions are allied against the Five-Headed Evil Dragon, and that they'll set aside almost any other issue to prevent Tiamat from entering Prime Material Plane.

 

[fba827]

From my experiences in adventure league (some as player and some as dm)...

What typically happens that on any given adventure, 1-2 factions have a special assignment. How they work is that some contact from the faction speaks with the pc who is a member and gives a "side goal" that runs in tandem with the main mission for the party.

An over simplified example would be "since you're going in that direction to do that other thing as a party, along the way can you also do this other thing as that will greatly benefit the faction." - it's stuff like "make sure person A is safe in the battle" "clear out monster B that is threatening the very same village you're going to try and speak with" "get item C while you're down in that dungeon" etc etc

1) they add more context to connect a pc to whatever is going on
2) they give your pc a personal goal that runs in tandem (not against) the party, presuming of course that on the given adventure there is even a side quest for your faction.
3) completing faction quests potentially gives the party as a whole some more xp for doing the side activity, and potentially earns you your own faction points (which is basically rank within your own faction)
4) I have not personally seen any faction quest that purposely causes friction against the party or would cause directly conflicting goals with other factions.

In any given adventure it is not guaranteed that your faction will have a mission. So for instance lords alliance won't have side missions every adventure, sometimes he will and sometimes he won't....
Lords alliance missions that I saw tended more towards make sure a person is safe, deliver a message on the way, or get some info about something while you're headed to that dungeon.

 

[weldon]

I like the idea of factions with side quests, secret missions, player-specific challenges they can meet while still working towards the party goals… lots to like about it, really.

The implementation is really dependent on the DM to make it work and guide the players.