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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silveras" data-source="post: 1297777" data-attributes="member: 6271">Homebrew Birthright Conversion, part 7: ActionsActions----------------------------------------------------------Most actions are handled exactly as described in the Birthright rulebook or the various supplements. The exceptions are noted here. Among the more interesting items is a new Action, Hire Adventurers. I experimented with combining on-line and face-to-face gaming by arranging for on-line friends to play the Regents "in the background" of my regular campaign. The Regents were limited in terms of what they could do, and were at the mercy of the regular game's passage of time, but it worked fairly well. New Action: Hire AdventurersHire Adventurers Type: Domain      Success: Special                Base Cost: 1 RP + 1 GB/level of the partyHired adventurers, in addition to being a response to dealing with Random Events, can be used to perform actions that duplicate the effects of the Contest, Create Holding, Espionage, Exploratory Trade, Sea Trade Route, or Trade Route actions. The base cost of this action is 1 RP, plus 1 GB per average level of the adventurers (assuming a party of 4 characters, this is 500 gp per character per level). The Regent may negotiate to lower the GB cost of the action, but that merely converts the GB to RP. This can be a very economical alternative to the usual actions. Instead of engaging in a costly bidding war with other Regents, the Regent negotiates the price of the Adventurers performing the service. The Regent is, of course, free to command adventurers who are his subjects; likewise, the Regent may include appeals to patriotism and religious obligations in his negotiations. The Regent should be cautious, however, in that under-paid adventurers may not deliver as good a result as well-paid adventurers. When the Hire Adventurers action is undertaken, Domain play is suspended until the adventure is played out (or until the adventure is found to take longer than the remaining time in the Action Round, at which point Domain play resumes to the end of that Action Round). If the Regent decides to Hire Adventurers to deal with a Random Event, a party of NPC adventurers will be available. To replace other actions, however, only PC adventurers can be used; if they are unavailable, the Regent must use the regular action or forego the attempt. This action is only available in campaigns where the Regents are not themselves Adventurers. The Regent can, in the appropriate campaign, use an Adventure action to accomplish the same thing. Variant: Slow DeclineUnder the standard Birthright rules, a Contested holding that is successfully contested again is destroyed. This variant allows for the slow "whittling down" of a powerful Holding, 1 level at a time, by repeated Contest actions. It will tend to make the political atmosphere more stable, and is recommended for games where the PCs are not the regents, but are instead the agents of the Regents. In a campaign where the Domain play provides background activity for an Adventuring game, it may be more desirable for multiple contest actions to have a slower effect. Once a holding has been neutralized by a successful contest action, additional contest actions cause the holding’s level to be reduced by 1. That “slot” is then available for any Regent with the appropriate type of holding to claim. Example: In AR 3 of DT 1, Bensien attempts to contest Wirt’s Guild (3) with his Guild (2). His DC is 11 (10 + (3-2)). He spends additional RP and GB to counter Wirt’s bids. His effort is successful, and Wirt no longer receives RP or GB from that Guild (3).  In AR 1 of DT 2, Bensien gains the initiative and attempts to Contest the neutralized holding of Wirt. The holding is still a Guild (3), so the base DC is still 11. Bensien has the support of the Province Ruler, so his roll is successful and he has contested Wirt’s holding again. This causes Wirt’s holding to be reduced from level 3 to level 2. Wirt, on his initiative, attempts to Rule his Guild (2). He spends a great deal of RP and GB to improve his chances, and succeeds. His holding is no longer neutralized, but he has already lost the income from last season, and one level of his control. In AR 2 of DT 2, Bensien attempts to Rule his Guild (2) and seize the “slot” lost by Wirt’s Guild. Being a bit tapped out, he cannot afford to bid much RP or GB, and so he fails. Wirt, sensing an opportunity, has a decision to make. He can try to contest Bensien’s Guild (2), and work to remove his rival before Bensien can attack again; or, he can attempt to Rule his Guild (2) back to a Guild (3). Variant: Covert ActionsLike Holdings, Actions can also be undertaken covertly. The effect of the Action is separate from the action itself, in that while the Action may be Covert, the result is not necessarily also Covert. For example, a Covert Action might be used to Agitate against the Regent; if successful, and the Loyalty of the province turns to Rebellious, the results are NOT hidden. These actions may be taken covertly: Adventure, Agitate, Build, Create Holding, Espionage*, Forge Ley Line, Fortify, Improve Unit, Investiture, Lieutenant, Move Ships, Move Troops, Move Troops By Sea, Muster, Research, Rule* Espionage is a special case; it is already presumed to be a Covert Action to some degree, and so does not incur the penalties for a Covert Action. If the action is going to affect the Holdings, Provinces, or Regent of a specific domain, the Action is not Covert to that domain (which is to say that the domain can “fight back” normally). Allied domains may be alerted by the target domain, at which point, they may also influence the outcome normally. If the Action does not directly affect a Regent, Holding, Province, or Domain; the action cannot be actively resisted by the Regents with Holdings in the province. Institutional effects which are already factored into the DC are not affected by whether the action is Covert or not. Example 1: Guild X uses a Covert Agitate action to downgrade the loyalty of a province. Because this directly affects the domain and province, the ruler is able to spend RP or GB and use his holdings to try to block the action. Example 2: Guild X uses a Covert Espionage action to pull off a grand theft of a priceless diamond from an NPC. The action does not directly target any Holding, Regent, Domain, or Province; so the Regents in the province where the NPC lives cannot interfere. However, the DC for Espionage includes the presence of Law Holdings loyal to the province ruler. Those Law Holding levels affect the DC of the Covert Espionage action as they normally would. Covert Actions impose the following penalties: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">RP and GB costs are doubled</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Success/Base DC is increased by 5 (unless performed using a Covert Holding)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Require 2 actions (2 action rounds) to perform. </li> </ul>If the Covert Action fails with a natural “1” roll, the Action is revealed to all regents with Holdings in the Province, and to the Province ruler (if s/he has no Holdings in the province). Any Covert Holding used to launch the action is immediately revealed.</blockquote>

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