[Urbis] A rule system for organizations and secret societies

[Jürgen Hubert]

I always wanted Urbis to be a world strong with politics and intrigue. And that meant that PCs can and should try to join all sorts of larger groups, organizations societies, since involvement in such groups provides plenty of adventuring opportunities. I've long thought about how to represent such membership and the perks that come with it mechanically, however. But I wanted such systems to be flexible and didn't want to tie this closely to prestige classes or feats, since one's standing or even membership in any given secret society can change quite rapidly depending one's adventures, while prestige classes and feats are long-term elements of the character.

And yesterday, I finally had an idea how to do this - I would simply use a variant of the d20 Modern Wealth system!

Here is my first draft. Please tell me what you think of it before I polish it up and put it on the Urbis website...

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Organizational Standing

For each society or organization a character is a member of, a character has an Organizational Standing (OS) bonus which represents his influence in that organization. The more he has worked towards the goals of the organization and its members, the higher tends his OS bonus to be, and the higher the OS bonus, the more favors are the organization and its members willing to do for him. However, using up too many favors and doing little for them in return will result in a decline of a character's OS bonus.

A character's starting OS bonus in an organization will usually be +1, but this might be modified by a good reputation, large donations, an impressive title or similar modifiers, at the DM's discretion. If a character's OS bonus in an organization ever falls below +0, he will usually be dismissed from the organization.

Since OC is an abstract concept, it is sometimes difficult to gauge just where the character stands in the favor of an organization. To get a general sense of the character's position, check the table below.

OC Bonus Standing
+0 On Probation
+1 to +4 Rank and File member
+5 to +10 Respected Member
+11 to +15 Senior Member
+16 to +20 Leader of the Organization in a single city-state
+21 to +30 Regional Leader
+31 or higher Leader of the entire organization

This table is appropriate for a large, multi-regional organization with many members. Adjust for smaller or more local organizations with a flatter structure.


Favor Checks

Favor checks are used to determine what kinds of favors the character might attain from the organization. Every favor the organization could conceivably do has a DC depending on the resources of the organization and just what kind of favor the organization is willing and able to do for its members. Letting a member stay at the house of another member might have a DC of 1, while loaning him 100 gp might have a DC of 10, and funding a massive expedition to another continent might have a DC of 30. The DM should make a sheet of possible favors the organization is capable of providing together with corresponding DCs, and then extrapolate from these values for any favors the characters might ask for. To attain a favor from the organization, make an OS check against the favor DC. An OS check is a 1d20 roll plus the character's current OS bonus.

If the character succeeds on the Favor check, the character attains the favor. If the character fails, he or she doesn't attain the favor at the time.

If the character's current OS bonus is equal to or greater than the DC, the character automatically succeeds.

If the character successfully a favor with a favor DC that's higher than his or her current OS bonus, the character's OS bonus decreases.


Time to attain favors

Attaining favors generally takes a number of hours equal to the favor DC of the favor sought, reflecting the time needed to locate other organization members and convincing them to support you. The DM should feel free to adjust this time upwards for unusual or complex favors that need more time to arrange.


Taking 10 and Taking 20

A character can usually take 10 or take 20 when making a Favor check. Taking 20 requires 20 times as long as normal.

Also, there is a penalty for attaining favors unusual for the character's standing in the organization. Whenever a character attains a favor which has a favor DC higher than his or her current OS bonus, the character's OS bonus decreases (see below).


Try Again?

A character can try again if he or she fails a Favor check, but not until the character has spent an additional number of hours trying to attain the favor equal to the favor DC of the favor sought.


Aid Another

One other character who is also a member of the same organization can make an aid another attempt to help a character attain a favor. If the attempt is successful, that character provides the purchaser with a +2 bonus on his or her Favor check. The character who provides the aid reduces his or her OS bonus by +1.


Losing OS

Any time a character attains a favor with a favor DC higher than his or her current OS bonus, or one with a favor DC of 15 or higher, the character's Wealth bonus goes down. How much the Wealth bonus is reduced depends on difficult the favor is to arrange.

Favor DC Wealth Bonus Decrease
15 or higher 1 point
1-10 points higher than current OS bonus 1 point
11-15 points higher than current OS bonus 1d6 points
16 or more points higher than current 2d6 points

A character's OS bonus only goes down if he or she successfully attains a favor. If the character attempts to attain a favor and the check fails, his or her OS bonus is unaffected.


Regaining Wealth

A character's OS bonus recovers as the character advances.

Every time a character gains a new level, make a Diplomacy or an appropriate (relevant to the organization) Profession check (If the character has no rank in either skill, this check is a Charisma check.) The DC is equal to the character's current OS bonus. If the character succeeds, his or her current OS bonus increases by +1. For every 5 points by which the character exceeds the DC, he or she gains an additional +1 to his or her OS bonus.

Note that this represents the character spending some time advancing the goals of the organization. If he or she doesn't (for example, if the character was away in a remote wilderness location for the entire time while attaining the new level), no such check is permissable.


OS Awards

Adventuring may result in characters gaining a higher standing in the organization by working towards the goals of the organization or giving favors for other members. In this case, work out the a DC appropriate to the magnitude of the favor rendered by the character. The increase of the character's OC bonus is the same amount as the OC bonus loss the character would experience if the character had attained a favor with the same DC value.

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That's basically it. Your thoughts?

 

[paradox42]

Nice system, and I like the tie to Wealth- I've often thought that system could be used for more than it is.

Have you seen the Affiliations chapter in PHB2? It also uses an "Organizational Standing" number, called an Affiliation Score, which goes from 1-30 in its basic scale, and looks very close to yours. Perhaps the authors of PHB2 were also basing their system off of Wealth from d20 Modern? Or maybe it's just a case of Great Minds Think Alike. Check that chapter out, it may give you some more ideas.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Nice system, and I like the tie to Wealth- I've often thought that system could be used for more than it is.

Have you seen the Affiliations chapter in PHB2? It also uses an "Organizational Standing" number, called an Affiliation Score, which goes from 1-30 in its basic scale, and looks very close to yours. Perhaps the authors of PHB2 were also basing their system off of Wealth from d20 Modern? Or maybe it's just a case of Great Minds Think Alike. Check that chapter out, it may give you some more ideas.

Truth to be told, I want to keep away from rules material that isn't OCG - after all, I do plan to publish this eventually.

 

[Nifft]

Yes, PHB-II was my first thought as well.

The wealth system would fit nicely with such a secret society model -- making some items more easily available to different groups, while still making it better to be rich. In core D&D, everyone has the same access to stuff, so there's no real reason to ever take a "2nd tier" item.

I'd divide magic items up by power source, and make certain sub-sets easier to get than others. Also, I'd make it so there were a variety of sub-par items easily available to fill in the gaps (using the cursed item drawbacks from the DMG).

Very cool idea.

-- N

 

[Raven Crowking]

Yoink! 'Nuff said.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Yes, PHB-II was my first thought as well.

The wealth system would fit nicely with such a secret society model -- making some items more easily available to different groups, while still making it better to be rich. In core D&D, everyone has the same access to stuff, so there's no real reason to ever take a "2nd tier" item.

I'd divide magic items up by power source, and make certain sub-sets easier to get than others. Also, I'd make it so there were a variety of sub-par items easily available to fill in the gaps (using the cursed item drawbacks from the DMG).

Actually, I'd avoid using organizations to get magic items or expensive equipment for free - it would be too easy to break the game with something like that. Instead, characters might gain access to those items easier (though they would still have to pay for them) or at reduced prices - or if they are in really good standing, they might get them as a "permanent loan", with the understanding that they have to give it back if the organization needs them.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

A very almost *yoink*... can you add sample DC's for favors before I cut-n-paste?

I like the idea and it seems to fit quite nicely into the rest of the mechanics.
I also assume, me being me, that you can have multiple OS ratings and that when you level you have to chose how to split any gained OS?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

A very almost *yoink*... can you add sample DC's for favors before I cut-n-paste?

I'll probably work out some sample sheets for several organizations with possible favors...

I like the idea and it seems to fit quite nicely into the rest of the mechanics.
I also assume, me being me, that you can have multiple OS ratings

Yup - one for each organization the character is a member of.

and that when you level you have to chose how to split any gained OS?

Hmmm... Good point.

This should probably be at the DM'S discretion - if the campaign has lots of downtime, then it is not inconceivable that the character might increase his OS for several different organizations if he rises in level. But if there was very little downtime, the character might have to concentrate on one of them and ignore the rest...

 

[paradox42]

Truth to be told, I want to keep away from rules material that isn't OCG - after all, I do plan to publish this eventually.

Wise move- and in that case, it might be advisable to read the PHB2 to be sure you're not too close with the ideas you're coming up with yourself. Your notion on magic items, for example, closely matches the ability that several of the example Affiliations get to reduce magic item cost when buying one, though yours is general to all organizations whereas the WotC version only happens if you're part of the right one(s).

Then again, I can see the argument of not touching the PHB2 with a 10-foot pole, so you could legally claim in court (if necessary) that you never read the chapter and were therefore unaware of its precise contents.

In any case, an OGC version of an organization rules setup would be a cool thing to have! I'll keep an eye on this and contribute any ideas I have that aren't too close to the PHB2 stuff.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

In any case, an OGC version of an organization rules setup would be a cool thing to have!

It should become OGL the moment I put it on my website and use the appropriate tags - my website already has the Open Gaming Licence and ways to designate the appropriate content.