[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?

[CYMRO]

I like it, though there should be some penalty for consistently tapping the org for small favors.

[Jürgen Hubert]

I like it, though there should be some penalty for consistently tapping the org for small favors.

I dunno - if you are really a big-shot (as represented by a high OS bonus) in the organization, then the low rank-and-file members probably will be very accomodating just to gain your favor. The equivalent of "getting free drinks" at club houses probably won't matter much, then...

[CYMRO]

I like it, though there should be some penalty for consistently tapping the org for small favors.

I dunno - if you are really a big-shot (as represented by a high OS bonus) in the organization, then the low rank-and-file members probably will be very accomodating just to gain your favor. The equivalent of "getting free drinks" at club houses probably won't matter much, then...

True, but a mid or low level goon constantly cadging free room/meals/etc off of his fellows should have some penalty, to prevent abuse.

[Jürgen Hubert]

True, but a mid or low level goon constantly cadging free room/meals/etc off of his fellows should have some penalty, to prevent abuse.

Hmmm... maybe I should empathize that these are singular favors and that any attempts to gain favors repeatedly within a short time span will increase the favor DC...

[CYMRO]

True, but a mid or low level goon constantly cadging free room/meals/etc off of his fellows should have some penalty, to prevent abuse.

Hmmm... maybe I should empathize that these are singular favors and that any attempts to gain favors repeatedly within a short time span will increase the favor DC...

Good idea.

[Lmns Crn]

True, but a mid or low level goon constantly cadging free room/meals/etc off of his fellows should have some penalty, to prevent abuse.

Course, a lot of corporations might just treat that sort of thing as reimbursement for business expenses, while the "mid or low level goon" is out doing things that the corporation asked them to (or benefits from.) From examining the chart, it looks like anyone in much of a position to pull that kind of stunt is probably at least a senior member of the organization anyway, someone who'd have the pull required to get those kinds of benefits if they want. I'm assuming most members would be clustered around the lower ranks of most organizations anyway, so not just anybody'd have access to free favors.

Or, you could always call it exploitation both in the out of character sense as Cymro says, and in the in character sense: i.e., embezzlement.

Are you taking any steps to outline with this system the kinds of things a persons organization might demand of them? I assume the street goes two ways, but you might also be leaving that to the DM. (Specifically, by hanging out a sign that says "free plot hooks!")

I assume this mechanic is based fairly directly on the d20 modern wealth bonus system. (In fact, might want to clean up a few copy/paste typos where the word "wealth" is sneaking through.) I'm not so sure every part of the system works so well, though; taking 10 or 20 seems to work better with wealth than with OS, because there's really no reason I can think of that a person could count on being granted a favor by someone else, especially a favor beyond their station.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Are you taking any steps to outline with this system the kinds of things a persons organization might demand of them? I assume the street goes two ways, but you might also be leaving that to the DM. (Specifically, by hanging out a sign that says "free plot hooks!")

I assume this mechanic is based fairly directly on the d20 modern wealth bonus system.[/quote](In fact, might want to clean up a few copy/paste typos where the word "wealth" is sneaking through.)[/quote]I'm not so sure every part of the system works so well, though; taking 10 or 20 seems to work better with wealth than with OS, because there's really no reason I can think of that a person could count on being granted a favor by someone else, especially a favor beyond their station.
[/quote]

Good point - in a modern economy you can eventually get any legal item you might need and can afford, since there are so many possible suppliers, but the same isn't true of favors...

[beejazz]

Something very much like this was done in the PHbII, but I really like your system.

[Jürgen Hubert]

OK, I altered them slightly, put up example favors and deeds for a society, and put it up here...