Reputation (variant skill)
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The reputation skill replaces the useless reputation rules in d20 Modern. This page is heavily inspired by Modern20. As such, reputation skill checks will be rare.
Reputation (Cha)
Reputation measures your character’s influence in the wide world. While the actual Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion skills measure the force of your personality with those with whom you directly interact.
You gain Resource Points (RPs) equal to your Reputation. Every time your Reputation score increases, you can reallocate your RPs, meaning that some former contacts might only be friends.
Occasionally, the game master may work a sub-plot into an adventure where your contacts require assistance that only a band of adventurers can provide. If the PCs feel they cannot go to their aid, they don’t have to (this won’t cause you to lose your contact) but if you go to the aid of a contact in danger, all PCs that assist gain an Action Point.
Downside to Reputation
While Reputation brings many benefits and is generally considered a good thing, there will be times when being well known will make your life more complicated. Reputation causes certain Character Disadvantages to activate more frequently, especially disadvantages such as Enemy, Nemesis, Rival and Secret.
Other disadvantages can be modified by Reputation at the discretion of the game master. The game master shouldn’t feel too bad about using Reputation in this way, since the character gains a benefit (an Action Point) in addition to the complication.
Access
RPs can be spent to buy a character special access to places, information or equipment. This can make the character’s life much easier as well as allow him to purchase restricted equipment without paying higher prices for buying that equipment on the black market.
Spending RPs on access grants a character the benefits shown on the table below. A character receives all the benefits shown for his access level.
| RP | Effect | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Restricted Access | Licensed equipment, restricted information, a press pass, the ability to get exclusive or back stage access to celebrities and so forth. |
| 2 | Confidential Access | Restricted equipment, confidential information, access to sensitive non-military installations (such as a nuclear power plant or a power station). |
| 3 | Secret Access | Military equipment, secret information, access to non-sensitive military installations and equipment (for example the character could hitch a ride on a military transport to get almost anywhere in the world discretely and without passing through customs). |
| 4 | Top Secret Access | Illegal equipment, top secret information, access to sensitive military installations and equipment (for example the character could arrange a ride on a submarine to get somewhere way under the radar, or get a helicopter ride into enemy territory, or get a tour of a nuclear submarine) and so forth. |
| 5 | Complete Access | If the character needs a meeting with the President, it can be arranged. If the character wants to visit Area 51, he will be asked to give up any recording equipment and allowed in. Almost nothing is off limits and even then it’s usually a question of when not if a character will be granted access. |
Contacts
There are two types of contacts: supply contacts and skill contacts. A character may call on each contact once per week automatically. Calling on a contact a second time in the same week requires a Persuasion check (DC 15). This DC increases by 5 for each additional time a character calls on his contact in the same week.
Further, getting in touch with a contact always requires at least one hour, plus one hour for each additional time that week you have used that contact. Your contacts have lives too and they’re your friends, not your employees.
Supply Contacts
Supply contacts can grant equipment as if they possessed a Wealth score as indicated on the table below. Supply contacts can also provide equipment you couldn’t get access to yourself for an additional cost. Equipment provided by a supply contact is loaned to you, not given to you. You can have one item per RP spent on the contact out on loan at any given time. Should a piece of equipment be permanently lost, you lose access to the RP provided by the contact until your Reputation score increases and you can re-allocate your RP.
| RP | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2 | Contact provides Wealth equal to Reputation +10 |
| 3 | Contact provides Wealth equal to Reputation +12 |
| 4 | Contact provides Wealth equal to Reputation +14 |
| +1 | Contact’s Wealth bonus increases by +2 for each additional Resource Point spent on this contact |
| +1 | Contact can provide licensed or restricted equipment |
| +2 | Contact can provide military equipment |
| +3 | Contact can provide illegal equipment |
Skill Contacts
A skill contact has a bonus in the skill of your choice equal to your Reputation +3. Additional Resource Points invested in this contact increases its ranks in the skill chosen by +2 as shown on the table below.
| RP | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2 | Contact has skill ranks equal to Reputation +3 |
| 3 | Contact has skill ranks equal to Reputation +5 |
| 4 | Contact has skill ranks equal to Reputation +7 |
| 5 | Contact has skill ranks equal to Reputation +9 |
Minions
If you have the Minions feat, you can use Resource Points to recruit followers. Followers are always ordinaries. Each Resource Point spent adds +1 to your effective Reputation when recruiting minions.
Favors
Favors are just that: a debt the character has collected that he may call in at any time. Favors are RPs that the character sets aside unspent. He may then call in that favor at any time, spending those points on contacts or followers like he would when allocating his Resource Points.
The difference is that RPs spent to call in a favor only last for one use of that contact or follower (one Wealth or Skill check for a contact, one encounter for a follower). RPs set aside for favors are cashed in at a two to one benefit. In other words, if you set aside 4 RP for favors and cash all in at once, you treat them as 8 RP.
After being used, RPs spent for a favor go away and cannot be spent for anything until the character’s Reputation increases and he can reallocate those RPs somewhere else (perhaps right back into more favors).
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