Affiliations (D&D)

This article is imported from the Hastur wiki. See the import log for details.

Type

The type of the affiliation indicates what services and executive powers it can have and how well it uses them. It also gives the general flavor and purpose of the affiliation. Though no two cabals are alike, they are all secretive and wield magical powers.

Affiliation Checks

The table indicates how well each type of affiliation does the three different types of actions; violence, negotiation, and espionage. The typical classes category is just for atmosphere, to give an idea what the different categories are all about, and to help the DM design challenges. Specific affiliations can have a completely setup; this is just what is typical for each type. Scope is an indication on what level of NPCs can be found in the affiliation; the leading members of an affiliation generally have a level at least equal to its Scope. This is the level you can expect of someone in the affiliation's strong area. Besides such leaders, the affiliation has a number of members of approximately half this level.

Example: The Golden Hall is a temple with a of scope of 8. A diplomatic envoy from the Golden Hall can be expected to be a level 8 cleric. A spy from the Golden Hall can be expected to be a fourth level monk.

Affiliation Checks Table

Type	Busi- ness	Cabal	College	Druid circle	Fighting company	Gover- nement	Spy ring	Tem- ple	Theives Guild	Tribe
Affiliation checks
Violence	1/4	1/4	1/4	1/4	1/2	1/2	1/4	1/4	1/4	1/2
Espionage	1/4	1/2	1/4	1/4	1/4	1/4	1/2	1/4	1/2	1/4
Negotiation	1/2	1/4	1/2	1/2	1/4	1/4	1/4	1/2	1/4	1/4
1/2	The affiliation makes this type of check using 1/2 of its capital or scope as a rating (whichever is greater). It is strong in this area.
1/4	The affiliation makes this type of check using 1/4 of its capital or scope as a rating (whichever is greater). It is generally considered weak in this area.
Typical classes
Violence	Rogue	Sorcerer	Fighter	Barbarian	Fighter	Fighter	Rogue	Fighter	Fighter	Barbarian
Espionage	Wizard	Wizard	Wizard	Druid	Rogue	Rogue	Rogue	Monk	Rogue	Ranger
Negotiation	Rogue	Bard	Bard	Druid	Rogue	Cleric	Rogue	Cleric	Rogue	Druid

Executive Powers

The following tables list which executive powers the different types of affiliations can have. An affiliation generally has one executive power, plus one per four points of capital.

Type	Busi- ness	Cabal	College	Druid circle	Fighting company	Gover- nement	Spy ring	Tem- ple	Theives Guild	Tribe
Assassinate		x		x		x	x	x	x
Beatify				x				x
Craft		x	x	x				x		x
Crusade					x			x		x
Excommunicate				x				x		x
Gift	x		x			x		x
Harvest	x									x
Holiday				x		x		x
Inquisition		0		x, 0			0	x	0
Law						x
Mint	x					x
Pariah		x					x		x
Plague		0		x			0	x	0	x
Plunder		0		0	x, 0	x	x, 0		x, 0	x, 0
Raid		x		x	x	x	x		x	x
Research		x	x				x
Shadow War		x		x			x		x
Terrorize		x, 0		x, 0	x	x	x, 0		x, 0	x
Trade	x		x
War	0	0		0	x	x	0		0	x
Type	Busi- ness	Cabal	College	Druid circle	Fighting company	Gover- nement	Spy ring	Tem- ple	Theives Guild	Tribe
Key
x	The affiliation can select this type of action.
0	The affiliation is immune to this executive power. This does not make specific members immune.

Scope

How likely are you to find the affiliation as you wander the world? An affiliation can be large without being powerful or rich.

The 'members' category is only a rough guideline, what matters is the scope of influence. A cabal is likely to have much fewer members than a temple, yet can wield as much influence. In general, an affiliation cannot have more members than indicated; it can most certainly have fewer, but rarely less than 1/10 as many.

When in a locale where the affiliation has no inflience, yet could have an odd member present, make an affiliation score check (DC 20 in a metropolis, 25-30 in lesser places). For example, the Sun Lodge of Sasserine has no official presence in the City of Greyhawk, but on a successful DC 20 affiliation check, a member can still be found there.

Scale	Members	Scope of Influence	Examples
1	2	Neighborhood	Bakery, druid, hermit
2	4	Neighborhoods	Crossroads tavern
3	8	City quarter	Small abbey, small tribe
4	15	City quarter	Bank, Slaughterhouse, trading post
5	30	City	Arena, pirate ship, githzerai rrakma
6	60	City watch, wild elf tribe
7	125	City and outliers	Large college, wizard in tower, populous gnoll tribe
8	250	City/county	Frontier fort, druid sect
9	500	Regional/barony	Small castle, established church
10	1,000	Regional/march	Minor nobility, powerful guild
11	2,000	Multiregional/duchy	Nobility, established knightly order, dread pirate fleet
12	4,000	Multiregional/kingdom	Standing army, orc hordes lead by a legendary chieftain
13	8,000	Multiregional/kingdom and vassal states	Vast army raised to fight the terrasque
14	15,000	Continental/sefaring kingdom	Centuries-old seafaring kingdom, illithid nation
15	30,000	Continental/empire	Emperor and his legions, circle of archmages
16	65,000	Multicontinental/empire	Imperial legions with arcane and divine support
17	130,000	Global	Ancient order of epic-level knights
18	250,000	Planar	Githyanki incursion
19	500,000	Multiplanar	Armies in blood war between demons and devils
20	1,000,000	Cosmic	Epic-level affiliations, lesser pantheons

Capital

This works the same as the gold-piece limit of a community; in an established base the affiliation can produce goods and services of this value or less. Unlike a community, an affiliation is limited in the category of good and services it can provide, depending on its type and executive powers. Unlike a community, the wealth of an affiliation is not limited by size; an affiliation can be vast but poor. Still, larger affiliations tend to be richer, and the capital of an affiliation is rarely less than half its size. If the capital of the affiliation is larger than its scope, the affiliation is considered affluent, and additional Capital indicates increasing financial solidity, but the gp limit does not increase; increasing the gp limit of an affiliation further requires increasing its scope.

Capital also gives an indication of the level of influence in its area and organization within the affiliation; a richer affiliation has members willing to contribute more and thus gains a greater degree of control. Lawful affiliations tend to be richer than chaotic ones.

In cases where the assets of an affiliation matter, they can be assumed to be (Scope x gold piece limit). This represents what the affiliation can muster in a relatively short time, not its total wealth.

Wealth or Scope (use lower value)	Gold Piece Limit	Typical leading member
1	2	Druid, hermit
2	4	Yeoman, Journeyman,
3	8	Sergeant
4	15	Courtie
5	30	Knight
6	60	Guild Master
7	125	Noble
8	250
9	500
10	1,000	Baron
11	2,000
12	4,000
13	8,000
14	15,000	King
15	30,000
16	65,000
17	130,000	Emperor
18	250,000
19	500,000
20	1,000,000	Extraplanar lords

Changing Affiliation Scope and Capital

An affiliation's scores change over time. As noted in the PH2, Capital normally increases by one for each year of peace, but most changes are due to PC actions or campaign events. The following events are in addition to those in the PH2.

Event	Requirements	Change in Capital	Change in Scope
Bankruptcy	Capital reduced to zero	Reset at half Scope	-1. Local secion of affiliation is destroyed
Migration	Capital 10 or more	-5	+1
Expansion	Capital => 2x Scope	Reset at Scope	+1
Character advancement (only once per member)	Affiliation score = Scope	+1	-
Character advancement (only once per member)	Affiliation score = Scope + Capital	+5	-
Donation	Donation to affiliation of gp = Limit x Scope	+1	-
Payment	Payment from affiliation > gp limit	-1	-
Gift	Gift power, gift from affiliation = Limit x Scope	-1	-

Favors from an Affiliation

Members can get favors and services from their affiliation. Make a check using the character's affiliation score. The base DC is 20 + the capital level involved in the favor. If the favor is closely related to an executive power of the affiliation, reduce the DC by 5; if it is not related to any of the executive powers an affiliation of this type could have, increase the DC by 5. A promised reward in gold pieces equal to the gold piece limit of the capital level involved gives a +10 modifier (effectively, the character is offering to pay for the service). If the favor involves a cost (such as a material component or raw materials) that the character cannot cover, apply a -5 penalty. If the capital rating of the favor is greater than the affiliation's capital, there is a -10 penalty.

Favor	DC
Request favor	20 + Capital rating of favor
Circumstance	Modifier
Related to executive power	+5
Related to purpose of the affiliation	+5
Alien to the affiliations type	-5
Promises to pay full cost	+10
Cannot pay expenses	-5
Favor Capital rating > affiliation capital	-10

Example: Ennis is sick and needs a healer. He is a member of the Golden Hall with an affiliation score of 12. A visit from a healer normally costs about 1 gp, a capital rating less than 1, so the DM sets the base difficulty to 20. The Golden Hall is a temple dedicated to (among other things) healing, so Ennis receives a +5 bonus on his check. There is no executive power related to healing, but the DM si kind and applies this modifier as well, for a total modifier of +22; success is automatic and the temple sends a healer to succor him. Unfortunately, the healer fails, and Ennis desperately needs a cure disease spell, which normally costs 150 gp (capital rating 8). The DC is now 28; with the same +22 bonus Ennis must roll 6 or better to succeed. All these efforts notwithstanding, Ennis dies and is in need of a raise dead spell. This spell costs 5,450 gp, of which 5,000 gp is the material component, giving it a capital rating of 13. Ennis (or rather his widow) has no money. The old +10 modifiers still applies, but we also have -5 because Ennis cannot pay the expenses and -10 because the favor rating is higher than the Golden Hall's capital; the total modifier is now +7 against a DC of 33. The Golden Hall would like to help their devoted member, but with no-one in the order who can cast the spell, they simply cannot do it.