Factions and other questions

[Brad D.((Iten-Ru)]

I know you said if we want a faction we need to choose at level 3, but being a gladiator functioning as a mercenary I feel it would be more appropriate if a faction chose me. I've read up on the factions and feel like the most likely factions to accept me would be the Lord's Alliance or Zhentarim. Especially Zhentarim because of their description on Wizards of the Coast:

The Zhentarim seeks to become omnipresent and inescapable, more wealthy and powerful, and most importantly, untouchable. The public face of the organization appears much more benign, offering the best mercenaries money can buy. When a merchant needs an escort for his caravan, when a noble needs bodyguards to protect her holdings, or when a city needs trained soldiers to defend its honor, the Zhentarim provides the best-trained fighting men and women money can buy. However, the cost of doing business with the Black Network can be high.

The Black Network wants to make it necessary—and preferable, even—to deal with its members. It wants to secure, over time, an iron-fisted monopoly. Members must be the best—the cheapest, the fastest, and the most secure—at providing services and goods both legal and illicit, willing to lose coin if it means destroying a competitor, and securing profits from everyone they deal with, except when to do so would work against the Black Network's ultimate goal: to make everyone dependent on it.

A member of the Zhentarim thinks of himself or herself as a member of a very large family and relies on the Black Network for resources and security. However, members are granted enough autonomy to pursue their own interests and gain some measure of personal power or influence.

If a faction is willing to hire me I'd likely sign up. I'll leave that up to Will how or if he wants to work it into the adventure, could be useful for some plot hooks. 

Some Ideas I had: 

If a faction wants me to do something highly morally questionable its probably best they lie to me about it or leave parts out that make it seem like regular work. Another idea is I don’t know what faction I’m working for at the start, I think these would be pretty cool.

My other questions are about artisan tools and what one might be more useful for me. I'm thinking about Brewer's supplies and Smith's tools. How will these work? If I wanted to brew wine will I need to make checks, will there be a cost, and if so what skill is required and what will the cost be? And if I choose Smith's tools, what can I do with them? Can I use them to repair broken items in the field? Can I craft items for less than the store price? Any and all info involving these two tools would be appreciated.

[dire...@accelerandomusic.com]

I can answer your question to the part about downtime and tool use as described in the PHB.

Crafting:

Anyone with proper tools and proficiency can create works of non magical objects. Possible need for special location may be needed (such as a forge for smithing) and raw materials. Any downtime activities requires 8 hours per day devoted towards the activity. Under "Crafting" on pg. 187 it reads "For every day of downtime you spend crafting, you can craft one or more items with a total market value not exceeding 5 gp, and you must expend raw materials worth half the total market value." Also..."While crafting, you can maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay 1 gp per day, or a comfortable lifestyle at half the normal cost (1 gp)."

Characters with the same crafting skill can combine their efforts to reduce the time it takes to craft the item by 5 gp per day.

So...example...a normal shield costs 10 gp. You can smith a shield with 5 gp of raw materials and it will take you 2 days to complete. A set of Scale mail costs 50 gp; so you would spend 25 in raw materials and it will take you 10 days to complete.

Practicing a Profession:

"You can work between adventures, allowing you to maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay 1 gp per day...members of an organization (i.e. temple or guild) can earn enough to support a comfortable lifestyle...and proficiency in the performance skill allows you to earn enough to support a wealthy lifestyle."

(I imagine William is bending the rules here a bit as he allowed you guys with performance the chance to make even more gold depending on your skill roll).

Lifestyle Expenses (pg. 157):

Squalid 1 sp; Poor 2 sp; Modest 1 gp; Comfortable 2 gp; Wealthy 4 gp; Aristocratic 10 gp minimum

Price is per day and covers all living expenses for the day (room and board) and in the case with Modest and better also covers maintaining equipment and clothing (sharpening swords, repairing clothes, etc.); Modest would be a common room at an inn and Comfortable would be a nice private room or even a middle class cottage rental.

Self-Sufficiency (pg. 159):

For those that choose to live off the land or out of town (and thus maintaining their own lifestyle by way of hunting, foraging, and repairing their own equipment) a character can maintain a poor lifestyle; or if they have the survival skill they are able to maintain the equivalent of a comfortable lifestyle.

Training (pg. 187):

You can spend time between adventures learning a new language or training with a set of tools (DM may allow additional training options...) You must have an instructor and training normally takes up to 250 days and costs 1 gp per day (after lifestyle cost).

(William mentioned other training options...I'd like it if he could list the optional training in writing).

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TGC DnD" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tgc-dnd+u...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/tgc-dnd.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.