Affiliations (D&D)
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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. Besides such leaders, the affiliation has a number of veteran members of half this level and up.
Example: The Golden Hall is a Pelor 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 | Scope of Influence | Members | Examples |
| 1 | Neighborhood | 2 | Bakery, druid, hermit |
| 2 | Neighborhoods | 4 | Crossroads tavern |
| 3 | City quarter | 8 | Small abbey, small tribe |
| 4 | City quarter | 15 | Bank, Slaughterhouse, trading post |
| 5 | Small city | 30 | Arena, pirate ship, githzerai rrakma |
| 6 | City | 60 | City watch, wild elf tribe |
| 7 | Large city | 125 | Large college, wizard in tower, populous gnoll tribe |
| 8 | City/county | 250 | Frontier fort, druid sect |
| 9 | Regional/barony | 500 | Small castle, established church |
| 10 | Regional/march | 1,000 | Minor nobility, powerful guild |
| 11 | Multiregional/duchy | 2,000 | Nobility, established knightly order, dread pirate fleet |
| 12 | Multiregional/kingdom | 4,000 | Standing army, orc hordes lead by a legendary chieftain |
| 13 | Multiregional/kingdom and vassal states | 8,000 | Vast army raised to fight the terrasque |
| 14 | Continental/sefaring kingdom | 15,000 | Centuries-old seafaring kingdom, illithid nation |
| 15 | Continental/empire | 30,000 | Emperor and his legions, circle of archmages |
| 16 | Multicontinental/empire | 65,000 | Imperial legions with arcane and divine support |
| 17 | Global | 130,000 | Ancient order of epic-level knights |
| 18 | Planar | 250,000 | Githyanki incursion |
| 19 | Multiplanar | 500,000 | Armies in blood war between demons and devils |
| 20 | Cosmic | 1,000,000 | Epic-level affiliations |
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 (Capital x gold piece limit). This represents what the affiliation can muster in a relatively short time, not its total wealth.
| Capital or Scope (use lower value) |
Gold Piece Limit |
Typical leading member |
| 1 | 1,800 | Druid, hermit |
| 2 | 4,000 | Yeoman, Journeyman, |
| 3 | 5,000 | Sergeant |
| 4 | 6,600 | Courtie |
| 5 | 8,600 | Knight |
| 6 | 11,200 | Guild Master |
| 7 | 14,400 | Noble |
| 8 | 18,800 | |
| 9 | 24,000 | |
| 10 | 32,000 | Baron |
| 11 | 42,000 | |
| 12 | 54,000 | |
| 13 | 70,000 | |
| 14 | 90,000 | King |
| 15 | 118,000 | |
| 16 | 154,000 | |
| 17 | 200,000 | Emperor |
| 18 | 260,000 | |
| 19 | 340,000 | |
| 20 | 440,000 | 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 section of affiliation is destroyed |
| Migration | Capital 10 or more | -5 | +1 |
| Expansion | Capital => 2x Scope | Reset at Scope | +1 |
| Achieve affiliation renown | Affiliation score = Scope |
+1 | - |
| Achieve affiliation domination | Affiliation score = Scope + Capital |
- | +1 |
| Donation | Donation to affiliation of gp = assets (Limit x Scope) | +2 | - |
| Payment | Payment from affiliation > gp limit | -1 | - |
Favors from an Affiliation
Members can get favors and services from their affiliation once per month. Make a check using the character's affiliation score. The base DC is the rating associated with the gold piece limit of the affiliation, that is the least of the Scope and Capital scores. On a success, the affiliation sends a group with an encounter level of one per five points of result on your roll.
No individual member of the group can have a challenge level higher than the Scope of the affiliation, and the group as a whole can never have a higher EL than the affiliations Scope + Capital. The group is appropriate to the affiliation and to the expected problem. Use the guidelines for the composition of a violence, negotiation, or espionage team, above. It will stay around until the problem appears to be solved or until a day has passed uneventfully, unless it was stated beforehand that the task was to last a long time. You can call it again, but multiple favors impose a penalty on the roll.
These rules can also be used to make the affiliation as a whole to take an action, for example to use an executive power. In this case, the DC is equal to 25 + the Affiliation's Scope.
If the group you call in this fashion is soundly defeated or the affiliation fails when using an executive power you called for, your affiliation score is reduced by one or even more for a major setback. The same applies if the group had major expensed that you fail to reimburse.
The roll is modified depending on how easy it is for the affiliation to fulfill the request.
| Action | Example | DC |
| Aid | Bail member out of jail | Least of Capital or Scope |
| Affiliation action | Stage a riad | 25 + Scope |
| Away from affiliation home area | Requires an expedition | +10 |
| Requires a week or more of time | Guard a member's house while he is away | +5 |
| Circumstance | Example | Modifier |
| Action is related to executive power | War party from an affiliation that has Raid | +5 |
| Action is related to the type of affiliation | Healing for a good temple | +5 |
| Working towards the goals of the affiliation | Pelor church fighting undead | +10 |
| Action is alien to the affiliation | Thieves guild giving charity | -5 (or more) |
| You are a renowned member | Affiliation score => Scope | +5 |
| You are a dominant member | Affiliation score => Scope + Capital) | +10 |
| Each earlier request this month | Crying wolf | -5 |
Example: Ennis the magistrate is sick and needs a healer. He has an affiliation score of 12 in the Golden Hall (a Pelor temple with a Scope and Capital of 8 each) . The Golden Hall is a temple dedicated to (among other things) healing and Ennis is a member of renown, so he receives a +10 bonus on his check, for a total modifier of +22 against a DC of 15; success is automatic but a roll is still called for to see who the affiliation sends. A die roll of 12 gives a total of 34; a group of EL 6 is sent. In this case, the DM sends a 5th level cleric with two second-level acolytes to pay a call to Ennis' house. A 5th level cleric can cast cure disease, but since the ailment is minor, he only uses his Heal skill to aid in Ennis' natural recovery.
Later, Ennis wishes the Golden Hall to use it's power of Excommunication to punish the cult who he thinks infected him with disease. Ennis uses his affiliation score of 12, with a +5 modifier because it involves an executive power and another +5 because Ennis is a member of renown, for a total of +22. The DC is 33. Ennis rolls an 11 and only just succeeds. Sadly, it later turns out that the cult Ennis blamed was not involved; the excommunication is lifted and Ennis' affiliation score is reduced by two.