Guild Mechanics

[Mark Causey]

Spawned from another conversation, I'd like to add some ideas I've had to a possible Guild (or other organizational form) Mechanic.


My criteria were:

*-This should work out to give all members of a group similar abilities (i.e. they've trained each other, they've been similarly blessed/desecrated, etc.)
*-This should not require that every member be from the same class or have a level or levels in a particular prestige class
*-This should be a reward to the dedication to the group, especially if used for PCs
*-This should be available to low level or even NPC classes, as I don't run high level campaigns

Ideas that had been presented involve the following:

*-No extra class levels needed - XP expenditures ala Rituals/Magic Item creation
*-One to three levels needed - class levels along the line of Monster Racial/Template levels, not needing any prerequisites except for having joined the group and dedicating time to it.
*-Free to choose class levels - Feats representing training, "bloodline" benefits (Unearthed Arcana)

So, what I have is the following:

A broad base of a Guild/Cult Unit (heretoafter referred to as a GCU) should involve those 'important but unimportant' individuals: those who give their time when they can, provide a little income to the GCU, do menial labor when needed, or sell cookies to neighborhood children, sometimes referred to as grunts or grunt workers. Grunts would never work hard enough to achieve much of a level in an organization, but if your group is missing these (secret GCUs often do - at least, the grunts don't know who they're working for), it is of little matter because this level wouldn't get a benefit from the group, anyway. It is simply noted where benefits begin and end in a GCU.

To achieve a level higher than grunt, one usually has to know someone, do something important, be initiated into mystical rituals, or something of that nature. This level, that I'm going to call the Initiate, should be marked by a manner consistent with the level of effort that the individual put in.

Part I

Example 1:

A grunt works hard for many years, getting to know members of the GCU (Thieve's Guild), and finally hits it big when he recognizes a spy trying to infiltrate late one night under the guise of another. Noted for his sharp eyes, the grunt is initiated into the GCU soon thereafter. He works hard, still, and they recognize his loyalty whenever he's around.

The grunt becomes an initiate, taking on the feat Recognized by Thieve's Guild [GCU].

Recognized by Thieve's Guild [GCU]
Prerequisite: The character must perform an act that is recognized by his local Thieve's Guild.
Benefit: The character can begin to train with the guild if she so wishes. The character receives a +2 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy checks when dealing with Thieve's Guild members.

Example 2:

A grunt is snapped up by the GCU (a local cult) when he shows a penchance for the mystical beliefs they hold; he is also needed after some of the cultists are killed by raiding adventurers. Taken late one night to a sacred spot, a grove, and he partakes in a ritual and is accepted by the GCU and their patron deity.

The grunt becomes an initiate, spending XP to become mystically bonded to his group and grove.

Acceptance Ritual of the Grove Keepers [Ritual]
Prerequisite: The character must be found to accept the same beliefs of the Grove Keepers and called to duty. XP cost: 100 XP.
Benefit: The character can always intuite her way direction to the sacred grove, even in complete darkness, so long as she is within 10 miles of its location. She can detect other members of the grove given a minute's study of one being within 30' of her.

Second Half of Part I and Part II to come.

 

[Mark Causey]

Second Half of Part I

Now, as we can see above, there is one big distinction between the two Initiation methods involving character rewards. One requires your level to be 3 to a power (^0, ^1, etc.) so that you can take a feat, and the other can occur at almost any time (when 100 free XP are available, pretty much any time except directly after leveling up.)

I present this with the hope of it being available for many styles of play. Maybe one game needs the pace set up by the feat system to limit PCs in their growth with GCUs (and maybe one game has a feat per level, or purchasable feats).

So, if feats work as your means of Initiation, then it is easy to see how this works. If you want more immediate rewards*, you could use the 'ritual' concept, wherein XP are expended.

Or, and this is my thought, you can use either, but once Initiation has occurred, it's time for the next mechanic to kick in, which has its own measured pace without necessarily limiting characters.

Part II

Once initiated, a character can continue to rise through the ranks of a GCU, whether in a hierarchical manner, achieving great quests, dispatching rivals, or even by creating their own split-off GCU (usually with a limited support base, allowing only so much power to said individual). I'll call these characters Integrati (even if they disintegrated the GCU to form their own, they're integral to their new GCU.)

Integrati learn the many ways and methods of their GCU, whether that be Diplomatic Channels, Kabbalistic magics, Backstabbing 101, or Divining Locations for Optimal Profit. They take on this knowledge in a much more integral way than they did before, and depend on learning from others within their group more.

A GCU Integrati transforms the class of their choosing to represent their new outlook on life. This is handled by transforming whatever class the character was going to take on a minor level, and treating it as a substitution for that level.

Example 1:

An initiate has trained steadily at the side of his mentor, Sir Ranash the Mighty, for the past few months. Soon, both he and his mentor feel that he will be ready to begin on his own. When the time comes, Sir Ranash and the initiate compete in a special competition challenging all that he has learned, and some things that he hasn't, to see where his heart and bravery lie. At the end, the initiate has solidified his training, and he will travel one last time with Sir Ranash to meet the King and Cleric of the Duchy, and begin further training as a Knight of the Duchy.

The initiate, a Warrior 2, is ready to take on a level of Fighter.

GCU Substitution Level: Choose one key feature of the class being taken from the following list and remove the rest and all other class abilities; you can now begin to receive on this level onward the first echelon of GCU abilities as dictated by the GCU (similar to Bloodline abilities as presented in the Unearthed Arcana).

Key Abilities:
BAB, Good Save**, Class Features, Spell Casting Level

**-A class with multiple good saves would only keep one.

Example 1:
The initiate above decides to take a level of Fighter, and his player wants to begin the first echelon of abilities as granted as a member of the Knights of the Duchy (he entered in by undertaking a week long ritual of fasting along with his mentor, and spent 100 XP to gain their trust, and limited access to weapons, armor, and a mount.)

The player decides to keep the BAB of the Fighter and drops the good save and the bonus feat awarded to a first level fighter. The character does take on the first level bonus for a Knight of the Duchy, a +1 bonus to Strength, and will continue to receive benefits as the character goes up in levels, without needing to change them.

When the character reaches the end of 7th level, in this example, (Warrior 2/Fighter 5), the player could choose to do so again and take on the second echelon of abilities from the Knights of the Duchy.

Knight of the Duchy, Echelon 1
1-Strength +1
2-Diplomacy +2
3-Toughness
4-Ride +2
5-Constitution +1

Does this follow? Am I making sense? Does this seem to be too much? Not well done? At this point I'm looking for feedback and commentary of any sort.

*-Aside: This, I guess, is at the root of one of my beef's with the D&D, and that's when rewards are handed out. I hope that I'm not too phrenic with my discourse; however, excepting treasure and loot, rewards are handed out slowly in my game and leveling can take quite a while (especially if games don't meet often). Thus, these little rewards are usable as a quick reward with long term effects and aren't necessarily a Monte Haul tactic.