A codified favor system

[Asmor]

I'm thinking of running an episodic game without a real arc, because it's likely that my players aren't going to be very consistent for a while.

So one of the things I'm kicking around is a system for keeping track of favors.

Gaining favors - whenever you complete a minor quest for someone, in addition to any agreed upon payment, you get a minor favor. Complete a major quest and you get a major favor. Each favor has a level, equivalent to the level of the quest which granted the favor.

Using favors - Favors can be traded in to get boons, though they require a diplomacy roll. Major favors give a +5 bonus to the diplomacy roll.

When you call in a favor, you state which boon you want and make a diplomacy check. If you succeed, your boon is granted. If you fail by 10 or less, your boon is granted, though in a slightly compromised form (DM's judgment). If you succeed by 10 or more, your boon is granted with a bonus (DM's judgment). If you fail by more than 10, your boon is not granted at all, but you retain the favor and may use it again at a later date. You may try to get a favor from the same person twice in the same adventure.

Intimidation - Regardless of the result of your diplomacy check, you may attempt an intimidate check. The intimidate check is automatically at least +5 higher than your Diplomacy roll. Making an intimidate check carries some consequences, though: Even if you still fail by 10 or more and your boon is not granted, you still lose the favor. On top of that, regardless of the outcome, the NPC will likely not look favorably upon you in the future. He will never give you quests again, and you take a cumulative -5 penalty on all future diplomacy and intimidation checks to call in outstanding favors.

Boons

Lackeys - If successful, you gain the use of 5 minions, appropriate to the NPC, for the rest of the adventure. For example, a necromancer might give you zombies, a commander might give you 5 soldiers, etc. The minions are the same level as the favor.

Compromise - You gain 3 minions
Bonus - You gain 7 minions

Companion - If successful, you gain the use of a trusted lieutenant of the NPC for the rest of the adventure. This is a non-elite, non-solo, non-minion creature of the same level as the favor and a type appropriate to the NPC and the nature of the request. For example, if you expected to need to break into a vault, you could ask for someone with thievery skills. Unlike the lackeys, the companion is someone of at least mild import to the NPC; he expects the companion to survive, and will be concerned if the companion is harmed.

Compromise - The companion's level is 1 lower
Bonus - The companion's level is 1 higher

Magic item loan - If successful, the NPC loans you a magic item of a level not higher than the level of the favor for the rest of the adventure. The NPC expects to get the item back.

Compromise - The maximum level of the item is 5 lower.
Bonus - The maximum level of the item is 5 higher.

Magic item - If successful, the NPC gives you a magic item. The magic item's level must be at least 5 lower than the level of the favor. You get to keep the magic item permanently.

Compromise - The magic item's level is 10 lower than the level of the favor.
Bonus - The magic item's level may be up to the level of the favor.

Money - Instead of getting or being loaned a magic item, you may ask for gold instead. If you're getting a loan, the NPC expects the money paid back in full (with no interest) by the end of the adventure. If you're just outright getting a magic item, you get to keep the money. The amount of gold is equal to half the value of the highest level magic item you could have acquired.

Assassination, kidnapping, information gathering, etc - Use the following to determine the minimum level of a favor required to perform some task, based on the target. Note that this favor doesn't guarantee that your task will be completed, just that the NPC will try his best to complete it using the resources he has available. He will also not do anything especially foolish in attempting to complete the task, like get himself killed or bankrupt himself.

Target is...
A peasant - Level 1
A guard - Level 5
A mayor of a small town - Level 10
Low-ranking noble or mayor of a large town - Level 15
High-ranking noble - Level 20
King of large nation - Level 25
Minor deity - Level 30
Major deity - Level 35

You want NPC to...
Kill target - Level +10
Kidnap target - Level +5
Audience with target - Level +0
Protect target - Level +0
Spy on target - Level -5

Other...
Target resides on different plane - Level +2, minimum level 20
Target is well-liked by NPC - Level +5
Target is disliked by NPC - Level -5

Compromise - The NPC accepts the task, but devotes only a few of his resources to it.
Bonus - The NPC accepts the task and, further, establishes it as his driving goal. He will do whatever he can to accomplish the task, even so far as risking life, limb, and livelihood.

Other - These ideas are meant to be inspiration. Use them as guidelines for judging other favors. For example, if the PCs need an invitation to a charity auction which usually costs 5,000 gp, treat it as if they were asking for a magic item which costs 5,000 gp.

 

[77IM]

I really like where you are going with this. Some quick feedback:

1) I don't see the DC for the Diplomacy and Intimidate checks anywhere. Is it based on the NPC, or is it something standard? If you need a suggestion, I would go with 15 + 1/2 level. That makes the check very doable for most groups and matches the chart on DMG p.42 pretty closely.

2) The success/failure by 10 or more is pretty extreme. This means that you are unlikely to truly fail (fail by 10 or less) unless the DC is way higher than you are capable of reaching, and you're only likely to get the bonus (succeed by 10 or more) if you are asking for a favor noticeably lower level that you.

3) The effects of the favors seem pretty powerful to me, but honestly I have no idea whether they are balanced or not. Getting a bunch of lackeys for a session, or a free magic item, sounds pretty awesome. Maybe favors should replace some of the treasure of a quest reward, instead of adding to it? Somehow, that would seem less fun -- I would rather players have plenty of opportunity to rack up favors and use them to good effect. I guess, you should just playtest it and see.

4) Here's how I'd simplify the system. These are just suggestions.

- The DC for the check is 15 + 1/2 level. You don't get any bonus for major favors. Instead, the result of the check is different whether it is a major or minor favor.
- You can increase the DC by 5 to ask for a major favor instead of a minor one. If you beat the normal DC by 10, you get a major favor instead of a minor one without even asking. If you're already owed a major favor, you can't do anything to improve that; the person is already giving you as much aid as they can.
- The major favors would be about twice as good as the minor ones (twice as many lackeys, borrow a magic item up to your level +5 instead of up to your level, etc).
- There wouldn't be any compromised favors. The DC of the check is low enough that if you miss, you just don't get the favor (although you can ask again later).
- If your Diplomacy fails, you can try again with Intimidate. This doesn't get any bonuses or penalties and works just like Diplomacy, except that if you fail, you can never ask this person for a favor ever again. If you succeed, and the person owes you other favors, you must now always use Intimidate instead of Diplomacy when calling them in. Whether you succeed or fail, the person no longer likes you. They won't give you any more quests or have any dealings with you, if you can help it.

The gist of these suggestions, is to reduce the amount of math and numbers at every stage, using qualitative differences instead.


If you try these rules out in your campaign please post the results. This is interesting stuff. Factional intrigue is one of the major areas of roleplaying that, while discussed in the DMG, is not given much mechanical support.

-- 77IM

 

[Asmor]

1) I don't see the DC for the Diplomacy and Intimidate checks anywhere. Is it based on the NPC, or is it something standard? If you need a suggestion, I would go with 15 + 1/2 level. That makes the check very doable for most groups and matches the chart on DMG p.42 pretty closely.

Damn, knew I forgot something! Was kind of rushed when I was posting that.

It was my intention to use the table on page 42. Specifically a moderate DC, which would actually be better approximated by 20+1/2 level (remember: for skill DCs, add 5).

2) The success/failure by 10 or more is pretty extreme. This means that you are unlikely to truly fail (fail by 10 or less) unless the DC is way higher than you are capable of reaching, and you're only likely to get the bonus (succeed by 10 or more) if you are asking for a favor noticeably lower level that you.

My idea was that it should be extreme... Originally I had it based on +5 and -5, but that seemed too close. Then -5 and +10, but that annoyed the OCD part of my brain which demands symmetry. Ultimately, I think I like -10/+10. A favor's not supposed to be convenient, and even if they roll poorly they should still have a fair shot at getting it granted.

3) The effects of the favors seem pretty powerful to me, but honestly I have no idea whether they are balanced or not. Getting a bunch of lackeys for a session, or a free magic item, sounds pretty awesome. Maybe favors should replace some of the treasure of a quest reward, instead of adding to it? Somehow, that would seem less fun -- I would rather players have plenty of opportunity to rack up favors and use them to good effect. I guess, you should just playtest it and see.

No idea if the effects are balanced or not. Unfortunately all my players are unreliable and I've had to cancel my last 3 games due to only having 1 player... so playtesting's kind of difficult for me.

That said, a couple things to keep in mind:

If they get lackeys or a companion, those guys leech a bit of exp. A companion should get a full share of the exp, and each lackey (which was around at the start of the fight) should take 1/5 a share of exp.

A magic item 5 levels lower than the PCs is worth 20% what an item of their level is worth. And the level of the favor is likely to be a level or two under the PCs! So if they really wanted the item they could sell something to buy it.

As for borrowing an item of the same level as the favor, that may or may not be a bit of a power bump, but it's temporary so even if it does throw things out of whack it's self-correcting. Unless the PCs decide to screw over their friend and keep it... but that just gives you more plot opportunities, so I think it's a fair trade off.

4) Here's how I'd simplify the system. These are just suggestions.

- The DC for the check is 15 + 1/2 level. You don't get any bonus for major favors. Instead, the result of the check is different whether it is a major or minor favor.

I like the idea that by giving +5, the major favor turns the diplomacy check from moderate to easy. It also greatly increases the chances of beating the DC by 10, meaning a good chance of getting the bonus.

- The major favors would be about twice as good as the minor ones (twice as many lackeys, borrow a magic item up to your level +5 instead of up to your level, etc).

A magic level 5 levels higher is actually worth 5 times as much, not twice as much. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with that... Actually, the main reason I chose 5 levels was so that if someone was asking for an item with an enhancement bonus, you could just bump the bonus up 1 instead of trying to find a replacement.

- There wouldn't be any compromised favors. The DC of the check is low enough that if you miss, you just don't get the favor (although you can ask again later).

Like I said, I like the idea that you really need to mess up big time to not get your favor granted. Favors don't mean much when the indebted can say "Nah, it's not really convenient for me..." YMMV.

- If your Diplomacy fails, you can try again with Intimidate. This doesn't get any bonuses or penalties and works just like Diplomacy, except that if you fail, you can never ask this person for a favor ever again. If you succeed, and the person owes you other favors, you must now always use Intimidate instead of Diplomacy when calling them in. Whether you succeed or fail, the person no longer likes you. They won't give you any more quests or have any dealings with you, if you can help it.

The intimidate check's difficult... I wanted to make it an attractive alternative, so that people might consider burning a bridge to do it. I don't know if just making it a straight re-roll is really going to be enough to justify it.