Blog (A5E) Level Up: All About Prestige

Every adventurer in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition has a Prestige rating. Prestige is a rating of how famous (or infamous) a character is. Adventurers start play with a Prestige of 0 and gain Prestige when moving to new tiers of play at levels 5, 11, and 17, when acquiring strongholds, and from accomplishing great deeds during play.

All About Prestige — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Prestige is a rating of how famous (or infamous) a character is.

www.levelup5e.com

 

[Lieslo]

In the example given isn't Zidi's DC 16 (12 plus double the tier which is 2) or am I reading it incorrectly?

 

[Morrus]

In the example given isn't Zidi's DC 16 (12 plus double the tier which is 2) or am I reading it incorrectly?

Good catch!

 

[TheRustyOne]

This is a fantastic idea. The full game can't come out soon enough.

 

[tetrasodium]

Very cool, it's going to be have some kinda mechanic better than falling back onto mere diplomancy for this kind of calling in favors soft power type stuff

 

[Stalker0]

The concept is interesting and has merit.

I'm curious how much prestige you gain at the various tiers. I assume it scales up a bunch, to me a level 17th character should at absolute minimum have a prestige of 8 in your system, maybe even a 9.

 

[Faolyn]

Interesting! What sort of things increase (or decrease) prestige, and generally by how much?

 

[Morrus]

I'm curious how much prestige you gain at the various tiers. I assume it scales up a bunch, to me a level 17th character should at absolute minimum have a prestige of 8 in your system, maybe even a 9.

If they've accomplished a few things and been awarded Prestige by the Narrator, and have a stronghold, sure. What you do in the game will affect your Prestige. If you do nothing at all, the baseline is 1 per tier.

 

[Argyle King]

Kinda cool. It's similar to what I already do in my home games.

I keep track of a "reputation score" for the characters. It's not something which I give numbers to the players about, but it's based on things they can perceive.

If you have a positive reputation in a town, village, area, whatever - it's easier to gain access to certain people and things. If you have a negative reputation with a particular town, group, guild, or whatever - it's more difficult to gain access to certain people and things.

 

[imagineGod]

Kinda cool. It's similar to what I already do in my home games.

I keep track of a "reputation score" for the characters. It's not something which I give numbers to the players about, but it's based on things they can perceive.

If you have a positive reputation in a town, village, area, whatever - it's easier to gain access to certain people and things. If you have a negative reputation with a particular town, group, guild, or whatever - it's more difficult to gain access to certain people and things.

Great idea. Though do you track this for each faction or is there a universal Prestige instead?

Your individually team reputation with each faction is fun for Players but tons of work for the GM.

I remember in the computer game Pillars of Eternity. in one town there ae two warring factions, and if you take a quest for one then your reputation with the other takes a hit and you lose access to the other quest

 

[maceochaid]

I'm hoping that the Bard will have some ability to pump up a prestige score as he spreads the exploits of the party!

 

[Argyle King]

Great idea. Though do you track this for each faction or is there a universal Prestige instead?

Your individually team reputation with each faction is fun for Players but tons of work for the GM.

I remember in the computer game Pillars of Eternity. in one town there ae two warring factions, and if you take a quest for one then your reputation with the other takes a hit and you lose access to the other quest

Sorta both...

In my mind, there's a difference between prestige and reputation. How well known somebody is and how different groups feel about a person are related but not necessarily the same thing.

The hero of a small village might be viewed in an extremely positive way but be virtually unknown elsewhere.

I mentioned a "score," but what I do isn't as formal as that sounds. Basically, I just keep notes (like I would do anyway) while DMing. Among those notes, I might annotate a "+" or a "-" (or some similar symbol) to note that an action was viewed as positive/negative by those who know about it. Beyond that, I just try to consider what makes sense given the context of a situation.

Take the local village hero from above as an example. The people in town may view the character in a very positive light. However, the tribe of goblins the character slaughtered (to save the town) might harbor negative feelings toward the character.

 

[Dalamar]

I noticed the table lists different Prestige ratings for gettting an audience than the example favors. For example, level 2 lists "audience with the mayor", but the table has mayor at level 3.

 

[Rabulias]

I noticed the table lists different Prestige ratings for gettting an audience than the example favors. For example, level 2 lists "audience with the mayor", but the table has mayor at level 3.

If your Prestige Level is 3 you can reliably get an audience with Mayor (per the table). If your Prestige Level is only 2, you can can call in a favor (say, from the Captain of the Guard) to get an audience with the Mayor. It offers a chance to temporarily get some benefit of the next higher Prestige Level.

 

[Morrus]

I noticed the table lists different Prestige ratings for gettting an audience than the example favors. For example, level 2 lists "audience with the mayor", but the table has mayor at level 3.

They're all one behind.

The table tells you who you can get an audience with. No check needed.

The favors rule lets you make a roll to do a bit better. Each mentioned (guard captain, mayor, minor noble) is one level higher.

 

[Stalker0]

The table tells you who you can get an audience with. No check needed.

Honestly in reading the article I didn't take that away at all. This is what the article "says" to me:

• Make a Prestige Check = 12 + double tier of region
• Check column 2 of table. If who you are trying to use prestige with is outside that area, roll is at disadvantage.
• Favors are optional rules to get things from people.

There's nothing in the written of the article that suggests to me getting an audience with certain people is meant to be "automatic".

 

[Morrus]

Honestly in reading the article I didn't take that away at all. This is what the article "says" to me:

• Make a Prestige Check = 12 + double tier of region
• Check column 2 of table. If who you are trying to use prestige with is outside that area, roll is at disadvantage.
• Favors are optional rules to get things from people.

There's nothing in the written of the article that suggests to me getting an audience with certain people is meant to be "automatic".

You only have two of the pages. Prestige takes up three and a half pages. I just wanted to preview the tables and added a few notes for context.

 

[maceochaid]

Sorta both...

In my mind, there's a difference between prestige and reputation. How well known somebody is and how different groups feel about a person are related but not necessarily the same thing.

The hero of a small village might be viewed in an extremely positive way but be virtually unknown elsewhere.

I mentioned a "score," but what I do isn't as formal as that sounds. Basically, I just keep notes (like I would do anyway) while DMing. Among those notes, I might annotate a "+" or a "-" (or some similar symbol) to note that an action was viewed as positive/negative by those who know about it. Beyond that, I just try to consider what makes sense given the context of a situation.

Take the local village hero from above as an example. The people in town may view the character in a very positive light. However, the tribe of goblins the character slaughtered (to save the town) might harbor negative feelings toward the character.

This also so far only phrases Prestige as positive, but what if a prestigious Paladin of Corellon tries to deceive a group of Lolth Cultists he wants to join their side? Or a legendary thief tries to enter the Baron's palace? What I like about this is it could serve as a way to actually increase the DC of exploration/social pillar in a fun and rewarding way.