Downtime rules for politicking?

[mgshamster]

I'm looking for some downtime rules for a character to engage in politics.

Anyone know of any? Official, UA, Homebrew - we'll take anything.

[LibraryOgre]

What kind of politics are you thinking of? What is the goal, here?

My inclination would be to use a variety of Persuasion rolls, possibly against a chart. I'd also allow folks to use Deception, but it would a chart that had bigger penalties for failing, and might carry backlash if they succeeded.

So, for the Persuasion chart, I might have

1-10 Absolute failure. 1d6 social rolls made in this [geographical unit] in the next month will have disadvantage, at the DMs discretion.
11-15 No movement in opinion.
16-20 Some positive spin. 1d4 social rolls in this [geographical unit] in the next month can have advantage, at your discretion.
21-23 Positive reactions. 1d6 social rolls in this [geographical unit] in the next month can have advantage, at your discretion.
24-25 Good business. 2d4 social rolls in this [geographical unit] in the next month can have advantage, at your discretion.
26-27 Well-liked. 1d10 social rolls in this [geographical unit] in the next month can have advantage, at your discretion.
28+ Great response. 2d6 social rolls in this [geographical unit] in the next month can have advantage, at your discretion.

This represents going out and glad-handing and buying drinks and such for a while.

[Great Dragon]

How about?

For Deception:
01-10 Critical Failure: PC gets a bad reputation for this [geographical unit] area.
Roll 1d6 times on Crime Complications chart during the next month.

11-15 Failure: reputation sullied for this [geographical unit] area.
Roll 1d4 times on Crime Complications chart during the next month.

16-20 Minor success. Can obtain one minor favor if asked within the next week.

21-23 Moderate Success Can obtain 1d4 minor favors if asked within the next week.

24-25 Pleasing effect: Can obtain 1d6 favors if asked within the next month.

26-27 Acquaintance. Roll 1d6 times on Carousing/Gambling table.

28+ Accepted. PC is treated as a trusted ally.

Note: This represents prolonged interaction with the person or group. Most Downtime activities are measured in weekly attempts, but maybe this requires at least a month.

[mgshamster]

Thank you both for the wonderful ideas!

[Great Dragon]

As Mark Hall said, even success in either list can have consequences.

New (possibly secret) enemies.

Aggressive (jealous) Rivals.

Famous (can't go anywhere without being recognized) both Good (people wanting to please the PC) and Bad (PC bothered for 'minor' favors) and the PC (and maybe the entire Party, by association) known even in other Areas of the World.

[LibraryOgre]

I'd also include a cost, depending on the size of the region. If you're in a small village (or want to get some influence within a neighborhood of Waterdeep), it'll be reasonably cheap (buying drinks for the locals, giving small loans to people who need them, that sort of thing). If you're trying to gather influence in Waterdeep, you're going to have to spend a LOT of money.

A historical example is in Rome. Want to be popular and well known? Spend a percentage of your wealth throwing a feast for the entire city. You hire hundreds or thousands of people. Buy extraordinary amounts of food and wine. For a while, you are the most popular person in Rome.

[Damon_Tor]

Why is this not just covered by "carousing (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA_Downtime.pdf)"? Carousing gets you friends who owe you future favors and/or enemies that want to mess with you. Success is determined by Charisma (Persuasion). How is this not exactly what you want? How is this not politics?

[Kane0]

Well, a long while ago I took the UA downtime rules and worked on them a bit (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555697-Houserules-and-homebrew). Wouldn't be hard to repurpose 'Carousing', 'Recruiting allies' or 'Running a business' into something usable for ya.

[LibraryOgre]

Why is this not just covered by "carousing (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA_Downtime.pdf)"? Carousing gets you friends who owe you future favors and/or enemies that want to mess with you. Success is determined by Charisma (Persuasion). How is this not exactly what you want? How is this not politics?

I wasn't aware of those rules. They look pretty solid for this idea.