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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Volaran" data-source="post: 755572" data-attributes="member: 592">As long as it has to be done, Gez's way seems pretty practical.  You might even want to rate all the countries by various factors before one globbed together power factor.There are also differences to consider when rating a country vs another type of organization.For instance, Waterdeep and its controlled territiories have a population of 1 347 840, and its various areas of influence are those mentioned by Gez.The Church of Cyric has approximately 250 000 worshippers, and around 12 000 clegry.  At first, looking at just the populations, one might consider them less powerful, especially considering their lack of central authority other than Cyric.However, even their description in Lords of Darkness mentions why they're so hard to combat.  They are present in every city, and focus on the practice and propogation of murder, trechery and deception.  You couldn't say the church was organized in cells, as I don't believe they have even that much cohesion.'This makes for obvious weaknesses, since factions within the church plot as much against each other as they focus on outside enemies.There are strengths too.  Cyricists are willing to ally with and subjugate monsters to serve their purposes, they have ties to nearly every division of society virtually anywhere in the realms, and though they lack a unified leader, their purpose is more or less universal.  The number is far less than many a power in the realms, but all of those followers are useful.  Assassins, dark mages, corrupt merchants to fund the coffers, bored nobles who want more power.Cities and countries are much more varied in the purposes of their citizens, from the plans of kings, to the concerns of farmers.  They don't have the focus of organizations like the Cyricists, the Zhentarim, ect.In terms of concrete numbers, I'm not sure how this would make for rating them, but they are things that should surely be considered.</blockquote>

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