Affiliations (4E)

This is a work in progress.

An adoption of affiliations to 4E.

Affiliations are organizations that heroes can join and advance in trough their heroic activities. They encourage role-playing and offer tangible but non-material rewards. As described here, they do not replace the monetary economy of a campaign, but they can be modified to do so if desired.

Each affiliation is actually a hierarchy of organizations from the local to the interplanar level. To make this comprehensible, affiliations are divided into tiers; Heroic, Paragon, and Epic, corresponding to the different tiers of adventuring. Heroic characters join heroic affiliations and gain local fame and influence. As the scope of adventure grows at the paragon tier, the heroic affiliation leads on to its paragon mother organization. Finally, at epic levels, the movers and shakers behind the affiliation are discovered, epic creatures with influence in many worlds and places. In many ways, paragon and heroic affiliations are branches of the epic level mega-affiliation, independent but connected to a greater whole. Each epic and paragon level affiliation can have several different branches at lower levels. It is even possible for a lower-level branch to have ties to several higher level affiliations, offering a choice of mother-organizations to move to as you advance, but this is unusual. The normal structure is a pyramid, with several lower-level affiliations tied to a single higher-level one. Certain affiliations exist at several levels, allowing characters to remain in the same organization over a wide level spread, but even then lower-level characters are likely to deal with and be recognized mostly with a single branch of the organization. Affiliations are listed by their entry level.

Each affiliation has a number of statistics used to record it and its activities, as well as a general description.

Goods: Most affiliations provide goods and or services at a reduced price; these are listed here. Typically, any magic item of a level equal to or less than the character's affiliation score can be bought at 150% price instead of the normal 200% price.

Influence: The influence the affiliation wields and the services it can provide to members.

Power: The power granted to affiliation members in good standing.

Entrance: Possible prior affiliations. Only for paragon and epic affiliations.

Advancement: Advancement options once you have outgrown the affiliation. Only for Heroic and Paragon affiliations.

Merits: These are skills, feats, and other requirements the affiliation values and that contributes to your affiliation score.

Deeds:: These are heroic deeds in the spirit of affiliation; achieving them advances your affiliation score.

Affiliation Score

Each character has an affiliation score in each affiliation they are a member of. Your affiliation score determines your rank in the affiliation and when you can advance to the next step in the affiliation. Normally, a character has an affiliation score about twice as high as his character level; having significantly more or less means you are particularly strident or lax in fulfilling your duties.

There are three criteria for advancing in affiliation score: character level, prerequisites, and deeds. In general, affiliation score is checked each time you advance in character level.

Character Level Simply add one to the affiliation score each time you advance in level. If you are not yet of the same tier as the affiliation, advancing in level does not advance your affiliation score.

Merits These are skills, feats, and other requirements the affiliation values. For each merit you have you gain one point of affiliation score.

Deeds Each affiliation has a number of deeds listed. Check how many of these deeds you have achieved since you last leveled. If you achieved one deed, you gain one point of affiliation score. If you managed three deeds, you advance two points of affiliation score.

An affiliation score of ten means you become a member in good standing of the affiliation. You gain access to the affiliation's benefits.

An affiliation score of 30 means you are an exemplar of the affiliation, ready to advance to the next-highest affiliation. You no longer need to keep track of your affiliation score, and continue to gain the benefits of the affiliation as long as you obey its basic principles.

Joining New Affiliations

When you join a new affiliation, you immediately gain affiliation score for all prerequisites you fulfill, and you also gain one point for each level you have achieved in the affiliation's tier. This is one per level in a heroic affiliation, one per level after level 10 in a paragon affiliation,and one per level after 20 in an epic affiliation.

Multiple Affiliations

Being a member of several affiliations at different tiers causes no problems; this is expected behavior. Being a member of several affiliations in the same tier causes a conflict of interests; there is a penalty of five points of affiliation score for each affiliation after the first you are a member of.

Heroic Tier Affiliations

Sasserine and the South

Central Flanesse

Free City Guild of Wizardry

Paragon Level affiliations

Epic Level affiliations

References

Affiliations for 3E