Courtesan Chart 2.0: SFW And Tasteful!

[tbok1992]

Yeah, I'm updating the courtesan chart. I know the old one is system-neutral, but I'd like to do this as a way to make it more fun and add many more plot hooks. I'll try to make this SFW and non Ban-worthy as possible. Now let's begin!

Gender:
Roll 1d6.
1-4= Female
5-6= Male

Race:
Roll 1d20
1. Kobold
2. Goblin
3. Orc (Roll 1d6, 1-3= Half-orc, 4-6= Full)
4. Bugbear
5. Gnoll
6-8. Human
9. Halfling (Roll a d20, if it is a natural 1, they're a member of the Kender subrace)
10. Elf (Roll 1d6. 1-2=Elf, 3-4=Eladrin, 5-6=Drow. All Drow Courtesans are male)
11. Shifter
12. Aarkocra
13. Dwarf
14. Dragonborn
15. Minotaur
16. Hobgoblin
17. Rakhaasta
18. Planetouched (Roll 1d6, 1-3= Aasimar, 4-6= Tiefling)
19. Changeling
20. Roll on the Freak Races chart!

Freak Races Chart:
1. Lemure
2. Succubus
3. Tortle
4. Mogrelfolk
5. Dromite
6. Polymorphed Dragon
7. Neogi
8. Warforged
9. Sithillar
10. Mind Flayer (Polymorphed into one of the races on the Race chart)
11. Slyth
12. Hadozee
13. Modron
14. Slaad
15. Guardinal
16. Nycter
17. Shardmind
18. Thri-Kreen
19. The Avatar of a God
20. Pun-Pun

Table of Quirks/Potential Plot Hooks
1. Is prophesised to destroy the kingdom.
2. Carries a vile magical STD (Roll 1d6. 1-2= It induces undeath, 3-4 it causes horrible bad luck to the infectee, 5-6 it slowly changes your alignment to lawful evil)
3. Secretly kills their "clients" with nobody the wiser(Roll 1d6 for motive, 1-2 it is for money, 3-4 it is for a cult, 5-6 it is due to insanity)
4. Is a spy hired by the villains to catch the party.
5. Is in actuality a puppet of a Tsochari
6. Is an old childhood friend of one of the PCs
7. Has a Template (Roll 1d8, 1= Acidborn, 2=Gelatinous, 3=Thoon Thrall, 4= Half-Golem, 5=Winged Creature, 6= Half-Fae, 7= Half-Dragon, 8=Paragon Creature)
8. Is secretly a ghost.
9. Has several mutations due to exposure to the Far Realm. How sympathetically this is to be played is left to the DM.
10. Is secretly a level 1d20 Cleric of a god who expouses Free Love.
11. Was born with a spell-like ability that they use on clients with very specific "interests" (Roll 1d10. 1-9 means the ability is at that spell level, 10 means it is an epic spell or a fascimile thereof)
12. A former villain who has changed their evil ways, but was unable to find work elsewhere.
13. Has a major artifact as a family heirloom, with deep personal value though they do not know if its powers
14. Has 1d10 levels in Psion, but is unaware of the origin of their own powers.
15. Is an escaped petitioner of the lower planes, but not necessarily evil in a alignment at the current moment (Roll 1d6 for plane of origin, 1= Carceri, 2=Baator, 3= The Abyss, 4=Gehenna, 5=Acheron, 6=Hades).
16. Is in reality an enormously influential person in a "Prince And The Pauper"-like situation with their exact duplicate.
17. Always wears a cast-iron mask locked onto their face, even when doing their job.
18. Is an escaped hostage, unable to find their way home and forced to take up the profession to survive.
19. Is the secret heir to a great destiny (Roll 1d6 for what they are heir to, 1-2= A powerful family of monster-slaying paladins, 3-4= A great mercantile empire, 5-6=Next in line for the throne)
20. Is secretly level 1 in an adventuring class, and trying to raise money to gain the necessary equipment to start adventuring.

I hope this doesn't violate any rules, as I took pains to keep it SFW. And I hope ya like it!

[RPGuru1331]

In what sense is this system neutral?

Also, why?

[tbok1992]

Well, it is sort of system neutral in that most of the specifics don't really preclude any edition, though the Shardmind is 4e exclusive, and the mention of spell levels mean that it wouldn't quite be 4e compatible (Though you could always convert the spell into its 4e Equivalent).

And while I realize how odd it would be to make a chart on this particular subject with a perfectly good one available in the 1e DMG, it's to make one with more potential for plot hooks or utter weirdness to emerge if the party happens to be in any of those sorts of areas that might have courtesans. Plus, I really, really like goofy random charts (I also made a courtesan chart for Gamma World, but that one was much less SFW).

I did at least try to keep it tasteful, IE SFW, Non-sexist, trying to make those courtesans rolled up actual plot-important characters with the quirks/potential plot hooks.

[Craft (Cheese)]

How is the chart meant to be used and what is it supposed to accomplish?

[tbok1992]

Well, if you're in one of those "Wretched hive of scum and villainy"-type areas, or any area sleazy enough to have courtesans, roll on the chart for ones that might be significant NPCs.

You could use them as flavor (Why is that Shardmind doing this?), weirdness (The neogi courtesan is trying to get people under its thumb by charging credit with steep interest for its services, but isn't succeeding so far for obvious reasons), or make one of them a significant; interesting recurring character (Which is what would likely be the most often use of the chart)

[Mercenary Pen]

Quirk 18- there is no detail on a roll of 1 or 2...

[RPGuru1331]

Well, it is sort of system neutral in that most of the specifics don't really preclude any edition, though the Shardmind is 4e exclusive, and the mention of spell levels mean that it wouldn't quite be 4e compatible (Though you could always convert the spell into its 4e Equivalent).
There are non-DnD systems. By the truckload.


And while I realize how odd it would be to make a chart on this particular subject with a perfectly good one available in the 1e DMG, it's to make one with more potential for plot hooks or utter weirdness to emerge if the party happens to be in any of those sorts of areas that might have courtesans. Plus, I really, really like goofy random charts (I also made a courtesan chart for Gamma World, but that one was much less SFW).
...No, I was more considering "Why would you ever need a prostitute chart in the first place?", rather than "But DnD 1e has one, why would you need a second?" (Filed under yet another reason why DnD1e is to be avoided, incidentally)

But "I like making weird charts" covers that, so shine on, you crazy diamond.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Well, if you're in one of those "Wretched hive of scum and villainy"-type areas, or any area sleazy enough to have courtesans, roll on the chart for ones that might be significant NPCs.

You could use them as flavor (Why is that Shardmind doing this?), weirdness (The neogi courtesan is trying to get people under its thumb by charging credit with steep interest for its services, but isn't succeeding so far for obvious reasons), or make one of them a significant; interesting recurring character (Which is what would likely be the most often use of the chart)

And you would need this chart as opposed to any of the other billion and one random NPC generation charts... when?

[tbok1992]

Well, you could actually use this as an NPC chart if you just changed STD to a regular disease. And I made it more as an attempt to update the old Courtesan Chart with more detail/plot hooks, less sexism, and more classic D&D-style weirdness. And again, it's because I like goofy charts for ridiculous things and the strange results one can get from them thanks to their inherent randomness.

And RPGuru, I meant system neutral D&D-wise, not really for other systems.

And I fixed that detail Mercenary Pen, thanks for pointing it out.

[The Glyphstone]

I will accept no Random Courtesan Chart that does not permit me to roll up a 'haughty strumpet'.

[Water_Bear]

What ever happened to DM imagination?

I'm pretty sure sex work has never come up in any game I've run, but in principle it should be similar to roleplaying encounters with shop-keeps and innkeepers; you come up with a basic physical description a memorable personality quirk and an accent and just go at it. If the PCs really like the NPC you can make up a name and work them into the plot. I'm not sure why randomizing any part of this process would help.

Not to mention that your table has a non-trivial chance of generating prostitutes who are epic level spellcasters and/or deities. :smallconfused:

[Craft (Cheese)]

What ever happened to DM imagination?

I'm pretty sure sex work has never come up in any game I've run, but in principle it should be similar to roleplaying encounters with shop-keeps and innkeepers; you come up with a basic physical description a memorable personality quirk and an accent and just go at it. If the PCs really like the NPC you can make up a name and work them into the plot. I'm not sure why randomizing any part of this process would help.

Eh, some are better at improvising than others, and different people are better at improvising different things. I, for example, can't come up with physical descriptions worth a damn, and random tables of traits (like "Awkward gait" or "huge nose") have saved my ass countless times.

Furthermore, human creativity has its limits: If you're making new minor NPCs on the spot at a rate of 12-20 per hour, you'll start to run out of ideas to make them memorable before the end of the session. Random generation can help get the creative juices flowing again, even if they don't determine what you'll end up using directly.

[awa]

im not certain how useful this would be the the race section implies a very non standard racial spread.

Where high elf courtesans are rarer then rashaka, dragons, and succubus

some of the freak races also seem arbitrary a hobgoblin or dwarf is far more human like then a bug bear or gnoll and far more common then powerful outsiders or dragons strong enough to have accesses to powerful shape changing magics.

not to mention the fact that while construct courtesans are far from impossible warforged courtesans should be incredible rare not one of the more common choices.

[tbok1992]

Eh, some are better at improvising than others, and different people are better at improvising different things. I, for example, can't come up with physical descriptions worth a damn, and random tables of traits (like "Awkward gait" or "huge nose") have saved my ass countless times.

Furthermore, human creativity has its limits: If you're making new minor NPCs on the spot at a rate of 12-20 per hour, you'll start to run out of ideas to make them memorable before the end of the session. Random generation can help get the creative juices flowing again, even if they don't determine what you'll end up using directly.

Exactly! And the idea is that the DM could excercise their creative muscles to explain the bizarre set of circumstances inevitabally generated by the chart. Though, keep in mind that this chart is more something the DM might use when he wants to add a bit of the gonzo to his game, not really an every-session usable thing.

And Water_Bear, the chart's more about coming up with ones that are like to be significant, or at least incredibly memorable NPCs, so the high power level or odd choices is meant to make some sense in that context.

And awa, I didn't put Rakasha there, but rather Rakaasta, the Mystaran cat-people race. And I may switch up the list a bit, because while the joke with the Dwarven ones is that they're so law-bound you wouldn't see them doing that, I do kinda see that you areright about some selections being a bit arbitrary.

[awa]

ah i was unfamiliar with that race but unless dragon and war forged don't mean what i think that mean the point still stands.

courtesans are not necessarily illegal so so no reason it should be assumed that dwarven courtesans should be extremely rare.

[tbok1992]

I agree, and I edited it to work better.

[Slipperychicken]

1/400 chance to encounter Pun-Pun as a sex worker? Seems legit.

[tbok1992]

Well, again, the chart's for when the DM wants to come up with a very weird and gonzo NPC encounter, so I thought it seemed legit. Plus, I'd think it'd be because after exhausting the usual avenues, nigh-omnipotent beings like Pun Pun would likely find very strange ways of killing boredom.

[Studoku]

Needs more 100: Roll again twice, take both results.

[warty goblin]

And awa, I didn't put Rakasha there, but rather Rakaasta, the Mystaran cat-people race. And I may switch up the list a bit, because while the joke with the Dwarven ones is that they're so law-bound you wouldn't see them doing that, I do kinda see that you areright about some selections being a bit arbitrary.

Rakasha are a better choice. I'm sure there's all kinds of things a creative person can think to do with those backwards hands.

[Slipperychicken]

I notice a disturbing lack of royalty (fallen-from-power or otherwise) on this table. You could potentially have a lot of fun with that.

[tbok1992]

Actually, 13 and 16 through 19 could very likely be royalty-in-a-bad-place, depending on what the DM decides to do with what's been rolled.

[Tengu_temp]

No "turns out to be the opposite gender than s/he appears" random result? Son, I am disappoint.

[Morph Bark]

Well, if you're in one of those "Wretched hive of scum and villainy"-type areas, or any area sleazy enough to have courtesans, roll on the chart for ones that might be significant NPCs.

While courtesans are prostitutes, they are the kind that mingles with high society and are generally attended by nobles and wealthy folk, rather than the common people.

So "sleazy" areas won't even be able to afford courtesans, generally.

[Zale]

While courtesans are prostitutes, they are the kind that mingles with high society and are generally attended by nobles and wealthy folk, rather than the common people.

So "sleazy" areas won't even be able to afford courtesans, generally.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who had that thought.



Eh, some are better at improvising than others, and different people are better at improvising different things. I, for example, can't come up with physical descriptions worth a damn, and random tables of traits (like "Awkward gait" or "huge nose") have saved my ass countless times.

Furthermore, human creativity has its limits: If you're making new minor NPCs on the spot at a rate of 12-20 per hour, you'll start to run out of ideas to make them memorable before the end of the session. Random generation can help get the creative juices flowing again, even if they don't determine what you'll end up using directly.


...

I must find tables like these for the next time I get press-ganged into running a roleplay for my friends.

[Jay R]

Courtesan Chart 2.0: SFW And Tasteful!

When I saw this thread title, my first thought was "'SFW'? Safe for whose work - mine or hers?"


What ever happened to DM imagination?

I'm pretty sure sex work has never come up in any game I've run, but in principle it should be similar to roleplaying encounters with shop-keeps and innkeepers; you come up with a basic physical description a memorable personality quirk and an accent and just go at it. If the PCs really like the NPC you can make up a name and work them into the plot. I'm not sure why randomizing any part of this process would help.

The problem with this argument is that it could apply equally to any encounter table.

Nonetheless, encounter tables and NPC tables have been around as long as role-playing. As always, the DM / GM/referee will decide whether or not to use this one.

But I agree with the observation that there's a lot of high-levels here. Based on this chart, the courtesans in any large city should have the power to take over that city.

[Darius Kane]

No "turns out to be the opposite gender than s/he appears" random result? Son, I am disappoint.
It's a TRAP!

[tbok1992]

But I agree with the observation that there's a lot of high-levels here. Based on this chart, the courtesans in any large city should have the power to take over that city.

Again, it's meant for ones that the DM might want to become recurring/important NPCs, hence why the high levels are meant to make sense, as the table is meant to roll the exception to the rule.

For general ones in an area, I think it'd be more of a D100 table of the races that one would be likely to find in an area rolled a certain amount of times for percentages, and then a general area-specific table-o-quirks.

And Morph Bark, I did not know that. Thank you, though I did keep using that word because I wasn't sure if I could or couldn't use the word prostitute without getting the topic insta-closed. I'm kinda minorly paranoid like that.

[Zombimode]

I just don't why this table is specifically a Courtesan/Prostitute Chart. Without knowing the threat title it could likewise be a random encounter table for the deepest dungeon level or a "you walk over the streets of Sigil..."-table.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm more worried by the fact that 0.5% of all prostitutes can cast Epic spells.

[Morph Bark]

Vengeful Gaze of God is the best finisher to a hard battle.

[Mewtarthio]

I'm more worried by the fact that 0.5% of all prostitutes can cast Epic spells.

The table clearly states that they only use those SLAs on clients with "specific interests"; otherwise, I assume they're much like sleeper agents: Perfectly harmless until activated. You don't have a thing to worry about until that crazy khaophiliac* bumps into her. See? Plot hook!

I'm more concerned about the 1-in-8000 chance for Pun-Pun to be a childhood friend of one of the PCs. Sure, it seems slim, but Pun-Pun can make it happen. Pun-Pun can make anything happen.

*One who is sexually attracted to the complete annihilation of all things and the return of reality to the formless chaos it was before Creation

[tbok1992]

I'm more worried by the fact that 0.5% of all prostitutes can cast Epic spells.

Again, the chart isn't so much for all of them in an area so much as the few that a DM might want to do as significant NPCs. The ones where you'd roll up the population of them in an area would be a bit more specific to that area, and I might consider doing one of those for Sigil or The Underdark, because that'd be kinda fun and weird.

And as for the very rare chance you roll up one with an Epic spell-like ability, I'd guess those most likely for "use" would be Kinetic Control (Which would probably have some "Useful" "application" though I can't think of it at the moment), Raise Island/Create Living Vault, Safe Time, Soul Dominion (Loving Submission!), and a lot of the stuff you could create with Epic Seeds.

Really though, I just put that on there for the "Weird" factor to see what a creative DM could come up with from that circumstance, which is kinda the whole point of the bonkers stuff on that chart.

[Chilingsworth]

I just don't why this table is specifically a Courtesan/Prostitute Chart. Without knowing the threat title it could likewise be a random encounter table for the deepest dungeon level or a "you walk over the streets of Sigil..."-table.

You know, this chart would probably work pretty well for Sigil courtesans.