Thoughts on the group patrons?

[Rfkannen]

Just skimmed the group patrons mechanic, it seems like a lot of fun!

Some patrons deffinitly look more interesting than others. I'm already running a campaign where the players work for a university and I'm deffinitly implementing this, the research rules are very fun.

On the other hand the religious order rules seem particularly interesting, it bassically gives everyone a suped up version of the acolyte backround which is fun, it means everyone picks a backround fir what they did BEFORE now.

The immortal patron rule seems kind of anaemic.

I like the idea if letting players start them too, though I think getting a skill from starting a church I might not allow. All thr other benifits I would though.

What are your thoughts?

[HappyDaze]

I skimmed them last night, but it's a thick section (>30 pages IIRC). I looks like they put a lot of effort into these, so I would absolutely want to try them in an Eberron game. I hope to be able to read over it in more detail later tonight and then I'll try to offer some more specific feedback.

[HappyDaze]

OK, I finished perusing the section. Overall, I like it a lot. Most of the benefits and hindrances are roleplay/story based or else very minor. I do agree that the Religious Order granting proficiency in the Religion skill is a bit of an exception to the rest in that a skill proficiency (even one like Religion) is a mechanical boost. University offers something similar, but with more flexibility and only after using downtime to train it. Still, I've rarely seen proficiency in these Intelligence-based skills break the game, so I'm inclined to let it pass.

As for "starting a church"--you're not doing that; you are starting a new Religious Order. This would be the equivalent of the Catholic Church starting a new line like Franciscans, Dominicans, or Jesuits. With the Sovereign Host, this is easy as can be as almost every locality is its own order as the SH is a decentralized religion. With the Silver Flame it's quite a bit harder without the right backing. With most of the evil religions, it's even easier than with the SH, but you're far more likely to get hostile competition from other sects/orders within your own relgion.