Serafina
2023-10-04, 09:41 AM
This is not planned to be a full review of the Faction-Sphere. I don't have that in me, nor do I want to step on @SangoProduction's toes. I actually look forward to reading one of their reviews of this, and other Sphere of Guile, spheres.
Instead, this is an elaboration on how this Sphere works, both as a player and in a game. I'm looking at the rules and how they interact with each other, and what you can then actually do with them as a player character. And since this is Spheres of Guile, I'll occasionally elaborate a bit on the impact on a game, on how this Sphere makes different impacts on different campaigns, and so on.
Core Elements:
The Faction-Sphere assumes that you are a member of an organisation. The Type of Faction determines what mundane equipment, mundane services, and spellcasting services you can requisition. Talents do not expand this, so choosing the right faction carefully is important, and since you can only belong to one type of faction you can not requisition every mundane services. Note, however, that you can change factions at a low cost with no real drawbacks.
You can only requisition within a settlement where your faction has a presence. Rural Factions may be allowed to be accesisble at specific locations outside of settlements.
This is easily the biggest factor where your Campaign and GM determine how useful the Faction-Sphere will be. Games can easily range from taking place in the same settlement, to frequently visiting settlements so you can stock up on your requisitions, to being journeys across hostile territory where you basically can't make use of this sphere.
Note that you can expand the influence of your faction to new settlements within 4-10 days (depending on a skill check) and for 500 gp. Also remember that settlements can be very small - a Thorp can have a population of less than 21 people (though most factions are of course unlikely to have a presence there).
This is however easily fixed via the Social Clout utility talent. It allows you to pick an area around a settlement where your faction has a presence, and requisition in any settlement or public establishment, even if your faction has no presence there. The radius grows reasonably quickly - 12 miles at 3rd level, 25 at 5th level, 90 at 9th level, and so on.
Finally, with the Remote Requisition exceptional utility talent you can requisition up to 16 miles outside of a place where you could normally requisition - with the Travel Papers talent, this expands to 150 miles. In games with constant travel, this talent might be mandatory to get any use out of this Sphere. GMs should consider whether they allow this talent, or instead allow their player to more frequently find settlements with a faction-presence.
To requisition anything, this sphere keeps track of a resource called Authorization. You start with 2, and get 1 more per talent you have from this sphere. 1 or 2 is how much is typically asked for a Requisition. Some exceptional talents demand 3 or 5 however. Authorization refreshes daily, and does not get carried over from day to day. It should be pretty simple to keep track of.
Finally, many Requisitions are bound by a Resource Budget. This simply goes up by skill rank, and thus level. Note that the budget for each option is tracked seperately, and is tracked for each talent. The actual limitation is that you can only borrow one permanent item at a time (I assume per option to borrow permanent items, because otherwise many talents break) and need to return it before borrowing another, and can not "accumulate" temporary items without causing an offense towards your organisation. Many temporary requisition options state that you need to use up or return the requisition before getting another. I would simply run it as one requisition per option until returned (or used up for temporary ones). This could give you e.g. the following:
an Expendable Bundle worth 3x your temporary budget, an Ammunition Bundle worth 1x your temporary budget, a set of fancy clothing worth 1x your permanent budget from Assured Lifestyle, and a magic weapon worth 1x your permanent budget from Magical Armory. The limitation is for each specific requisition option - you could not get another Ammunition Bundle until your return or use up (since it is temporary) your current one, and you need to return (since it is permanent) your magic weapon to requisition a magic armor with Magical Armory.
What can you actually do with it?
I've already started going into Requisitions, so I may as well expand on what you can actually do with the Faction Sphere.
By default, you get either the Supply Package or the Retainer Package. The former is based off Appraise, the latter of Knowledge (local or nobility or otherwise fitting for your faction), which you'll only really roll to expand your faction quickly, so you want the skill ranks to get increased benefit.
By default, you can do what that package allows, and spend authorization on room and board for you and some friends, as well as get replace Faction Favors and cheaper Prestige Awards.
The Supply Package allows you to requisition items, which depend on the Resource Budget elaborated on above. Note that for mundane items, you are limited by your type of faction - you won't get silvered swords from a wizards college, for example. Also note that Requisitions are still bound by the Base Price and Purchase Limit of Settlements - you can't get very expensive items in a small hamlet, for example. By default, you can requisition the following:
a single permanent or temporary item worth up to it's budget, or for 2 authorization worth twice it's budget
a bundle of related permanent items up to twice the permanent budget, plus half the temporary budget in fuel, ammo, light sources, or other related expendables, for 2 authorization
three copies of the same expendable item for 2 authorization
ammunition of one type up to your temporary budget, or for 2 authorization up to 3x your temporary budget
Note that these must all be mundane items. But if you have a couple of days to spend authorization multiple times, you could get a silvered weapon, some alchemical weapons, and some special ammo as a low-level adventurer without cutting into your WBL.
With talents, you can requisition the following items:
magic weapons, armor, or ammunition. Notably, they can come with charges, though I'm sure it would then come out of the temporary rather than the permanent budget
Potions and similar single-use items. This is limited by your factions spellcasting service and to your Ranks-2 in caster level, unless you take the talent twice. To get a 1st-level potion you need to be 4th level, to get a 2nd-level potion you need to be 8th level, and to get a 3rd-level potion you need to be 12th level.
Magic Scrolls for 2 Authorization. Either one with your Skill Rank -2 caster level and 2x temporary budget, or three identical ones with Skill Rank -5 caster level and 3x temporary budget. In either case, it is limited by your factions spellcasting. You could get a first-level scroll at 3rd level, three identical ones at 6th level, a 2nd-level scroll at 5th level, and so on.
Wands, with your Skill Ranks -3 in caster level. You can get partially charged wands. Of course this is also limited to your factions spellcasting service. This means you could get a 1st-level spell wand with 5 charges starting at 4th level, and with 10 charges starting at 6th level. For 2nd level spells, you'd need to be 9th level for 5 charges, and 12th level for 10 charges.
Wondrous Items, which can also come with non-daily charges but should then count as a temporary resource
Non-Wondrous Magic Items. Pick two types (e.g. Rings and Rods) to get. Same rule for charges. You can take this multiple times to get more options.
You can get a talent that allows you to use Appraise in place of UMD for any requisitioned item. This also lets you requisition Identification services.
There is a talent that increases the purchase limit of settlements by 50%, makes merchants of your faction like you better, and gives you a second item if you purchase a consumable that costs less than 60% of your budget.
For Utility Talents, remember that Authorization from Utility Talents can only be spent on Utility Talents. You can get very fancy clothing and lodging (plus travelling supplies); a hard-to-detect safe house; or a constant supply of fresh mounts.
The Retainer Package gets significantly more complex than that.
It allows you to requisition Services and Retainers. The former is quite simple - your faction performs a service it can perform for you. By default, these are non-magical, and of course limited by your type of faction. You may get passage on a ship, get messages delivered, get mundane healing, that sort of thing.
Retainers get significantly more complex. They are NPCs under your command, but they only perform specific services too, which are determined by what type of retainer they are. You can convince them to perform other services, but this is handled by the normal Diplomacy-rules and not part of this Sphere's rules.
Retainers come with a level that depends on your skill ranks and thus level, and a trade tradition which gives them two Sphere of Guile talents. They are also good at specific skills, and have a specific profile, though they typically won't be very good at combat. In fact, most retainers are non-combatants - they'll flee upon entering a dangerous situation, and you'll get significantly punished if they are harmed.
Retainers barely get any more talents on their own as you level up. However, you can share what skill talents you have with them to a level-dependent degree. This is mostly useful for sharing faction-talents so that they may use them in your stead, though it can also be useful to have them act as stand-ins if you have the right spheres (e.g. giving a Roguish Retainer more Subterfuge talents).
By default, you can hire a Courier that can deliver messages, buy and deliver items for you, and know about the local area (which is somewhat redundant since you should have good Knowledge (Local), but maybe your faction runs off a different skill), as well as a Expert who can be good at Appraise, Artistry, Handle Animal, Craft, Heal, any Knowledge Skill, Linguistics, any Lore skill, Perform, any Profession, or Sleight of Hand, and provide mundane services or consultation.
There is a big hurdle with Retainers travelling overland. Most of the time, this will expose them to danger, and fall outside their relevant role - so they won't do it. This makes them significantly more limited than the Supply-Package, because obviously you can take your items with your whereever. If your game sticks to settlements, great! If not, you'll get significantly less use out of most retainers.
Outside of Exceptional Talents, the only way around this is actually to take the Supply Package, funnily enough. Without GM permission (so, similar to an exceptional talent), they won't be a good combatant though, only bringing good BAB and barely anything else to the table.
That limitation aside, you get reliable access to a NPC that is just a couple of levels behind you, and can provide skills that you and possibly no one in your party has access to.
Looking just at the two base retainers, the Courier can be quite useful to get items for cheaper, especially since they can get access to Vigilante-talents (which can reduce purchase-prices). The Expert obviously provides skills.
You can get the following Non-Combat Retainers:
a Roguish Retainer who can create diversions, survey places, keep watch, tail and spy upon people, pick pockets, or commit other petty crimes. Note that they won't do anything dangerous for you, being a non-combatant. They come in two flavors - a Sneak who is better at stealth, and a Trickster who is better at social stuff.
a Driver who can get you to places via safe routes, or for more authorization extract you from danger. They come with up to 2x permanent resource budget for a vehicle, so at higher levels they can easily fly an airship or such.
The Armed Retainer can also be used in a non-combat role, to patrol a safe area, find (but not hunt) game, or discourage rowdy people in a public place.
Every other Retainer is gained via an Exceptional Talent. One is an upgraded Roguish Retainer (coming with actual Rogue or Shadowdancer levels), the others are various combat-retainers with class- or monster-levels. As you can imagine, this basically acts as Leadership, albeit with the limitation that you need to hire the Retainer regularly rather than them just sticking around all the time, so there is that limitation. Still, I easily see that not being allowed at most tables.
However, the Retainer-Package also opens up Services. Other than the mundane ones from your faction, you can unlock the following via talents:
You can get Spellcasting Services up to your temporary resource budget.
The talent that gives a Driver also gives you Teleportation Services and Planar Travel at Level 15
the Faction Trainers talent gives retraining and animal training services, but more importantly it gives an option to gain extra skill leverage, albeit at the cost of 6 hours (1 hour at 10th level) of training.
Finally, there are the General Talents of this sphere. Some open up extra requisitions, some give skill bonuses, but of particular note are the following two:
Logistical Genius is a Plan talent that allows you, as a full-round action, to get any Requistion. Obviously this is useful to get an item you happen to need on the spot (as long as you are in an area where you can requisition), but you could also get a getaway driver or expert adviser or similar.
Social Clout gives you a large radius in which you can requisition, in addition to giving you better social recognition. It might be mandatory for a lot of games, but fortunately it is a utility talent.
Instead, this is an elaboration on how this Sphere works, both as a player and in a game. I'm looking at the rules and how they interact with each other, and what you can then actually do with them as a player character. And since this is Spheres of Guile, I'll occasionally elaborate a bit on the impact on a game, on how this Sphere makes different impacts on different campaigns, and so on.
Core Elements:
The Faction-Sphere assumes that you are a member of an organisation. The Type of Faction determines what mundane equipment, mundane services, and spellcasting services you can requisition. Talents do not expand this, so choosing the right faction carefully is important, and since you can only belong to one type of faction you can not requisition every mundane services. Note, however, that you can change factions at a low cost with no real drawbacks.
You can only requisition within a settlement where your faction has a presence. Rural Factions may be allowed to be accesisble at specific locations outside of settlements.
This is easily the biggest factor where your Campaign and GM determine how useful the Faction-Sphere will be. Games can easily range from taking place in the same settlement, to frequently visiting settlements so you can stock up on your requisitions, to being journeys across hostile territory where you basically can't make use of this sphere.
Note that you can expand the influence of your faction to new settlements within 4-10 days (depending on a skill check) and for 500 gp. Also remember that settlements can be very small - a Thorp can have a population of less than 21 people (though most factions are of course unlikely to have a presence there).
This is however easily fixed via the Social Clout utility talent. It allows you to pick an area around a settlement where your faction has a presence, and requisition in any settlement or public establishment, even if your faction has no presence there. The radius grows reasonably quickly - 12 miles at 3rd level, 25 at 5th level, 90 at 9th level, and so on.
Finally, with the Remote Requisition exceptional utility talent you can requisition up to 16 miles outside of a place where you could normally requisition - with the Travel Papers talent, this expands to 150 miles. In games with constant travel, this talent might be mandatory to get any use out of this Sphere. GMs should consider whether they allow this talent, or instead allow their player to more frequently find settlements with a faction-presence.
To requisition anything, this sphere keeps track of a resource called Authorization. You start with 2, and get 1 more per talent you have from this sphere. 1 or 2 is how much is typically asked for a Requisition. Some exceptional talents demand 3 or 5 however. Authorization refreshes daily, and does not get carried over from day to day. It should be pretty simple to keep track of.
Finally, many Requisitions are bound by a Resource Budget. This simply goes up by skill rank, and thus level. Note that the budget for each option is tracked seperately, and is tracked for each talent. The actual limitation is that you can only borrow one permanent item at a time (I assume per option to borrow permanent items, because otherwise many talents break) and need to return it before borrowing another, and can not "accumulate" temporary items without causing an offense towards your organisation. Many temporary requisition options state that you need to use up or return the requisition before getting another. I would simply run it as one requisition per option until returned (or used up for temporary ones). This could give you e.g. the following:
an Expendable Bundle worth 3x your temporary budget, an Ammunition Bundle worth 1x your temporary budget, a set of fancy clothing worth 1x your permanent budget from Assured Lifestyle, and a magic weapon worth 1x your permanent budget from Magical Armory. The limitation is for each specific requisition option - you could not get another Ammunition Bundle until your return or use up (since it is temporary) your current one, and you need to return (since it is permanent) your magic weapon to requisition a magic armor with Magical Armory.
What can you actually do with it?
I've already started going into Requisitions, so I may as well expand on what you can actually do with the Faction Sphere.
By default, you get either the Supply Package or the Retainer Package. The former is based off Appraise, the latter of Knowledge (local or nobility or otherwise fitting for your faction), which you'll only really roll to expand your faction quickly, so you want the skill ranks to get increased benefit.
By default, you can do what that package allows, and spend authorization on room and board for you and some friends, as well as get replace Faction Favors and cheaper Prestige Awards.
The Supply Package allows you to requisition items, which depend on the Resource Budget elaborated on above. Note that for mundane items, you are limited by your type of faction - you won't get silvered swords from a wizards college, for example. Also note that Requisitions are still bound by the Base Price and Purchase Limit of Settlements - you can't get very expensive items in a small hamlet, for example. By default, you can requisition the following:
a single permanent or temporary item worth up to it's budget, or for 2 authorization worth twice it's budget
a bundle of related permanent items up to twice the permanent budget, plus half the temporary budget in fuel, ammo, light sources, or other related expendables, for 2 authorization
three copies of the same expendable item for 2 authorization
ammunition of one type up to your temporary budget, or for 2 authorization up to 3x your temporary budget
Note that these must all be mundane items. But if you have a couple of days to spend authorization multiple times, you could get a silvered weapon, some alchemical weapons, and some special ammo as a low-level adventurer without cutting into your WBL.
With talents, you can requisition the following items:
magic weapons, armor, or ammunition. Notably, they can come with charges, though I'm sure it would then come out of the temporary rather than the permanent budget
Potions and similar single-use items. This is limited by your factions spellcasting service and to your Ranks-2 in caster level, unless you take the talent twice. To get a 1st-level potion you need to be 4th level, to get a 2nd-level potion you need to be 8th level, and to get a 3rd-level potion you need to be 12th level.
Magic Scrolls for 2 Authorization. Either one with your Skill Rank -2 caster level and 2x temporary budget, or three identical ones with Skill Rank -5 caster level and 3x temporary budget. In either case, it is limited by your factions spellcasting. You could get a first-level scroll at 3rd level, three identical ones at 6th level, a 2nd-level scroll at 5th level, and so on.
Wands, with your Skill Ranks -3 in caster level. You can get partially charged wands. Of course this is also limited to your factions spellcasting service. This means you could get a 1st-level spell wand with 5 charges starting at 4th level, and with 10 charges starting at 6th level. For 2nd level spells, you'd need to be 9th level for 5 charges, and 12th level for 10 charges.
Wondrous Items, which can also come with non-daily charges but should then count as a temporary resource
Non-Wondrous Magic Items. Pick two types (e.g. Rings and Rods) to get. Same rule for charges. You can take this multiple times to get more options.
You can get a talent that allows you to use Appraise in place of UMD for any requisitioned item. This also lets you requisition Identification services.
There is a talent that increases the purchase limit of settlements by 50%, makes merchants of your faction like you better, and gives you a second item if you purchase a consumable that costs less than 60% of your budget.
For Utility Talents, remember that Authorization from Utility Talents can only be spent on Utility Talents. You can get very fancy clothing and lodging (plus travelling supplies); a hard-to-detect safe house; or a constant supply of fresh mounts.
The Retainer Package gets significantly more complex than that.
It allows you to requisition Services and Retainers. The former is quite simple - your faction performs a service it can perform for you. By default, these are non-magical, and of course limited by your type of faction. You may get passage on a ship, get messages delivered, get mundane healing, that sort of thing.
Retainers get significantly more complex. They are NPCs under your command, but they only perform specific services too, which are determined by what type of retainer they are. You can convince them to perform other services, but this is handled by the normal Diplomacy-rules and not part of this Sphere's rules.
Retainers come with a level that depends on your skill ranks and thus level, and a trade tradition which gives them two Sphere of Guile talents. They are also good at specific skills, and have a specific profile, though they typically won't be very good at combat. In fact, most retainers are non-combatants - they'll flee upon entering a dangerous situation, and you'll get significantly punished if they are harmed.
Retainers barely get any more talents on their own as you level up. However, you can share what skill talents you have with them to a level-dependent degree. This is mostly useful for sharing faction-talents so that they may use them in your stead, though it can also be useful to have them act as stand-ins if you have the right spheres (e.g. giving a Roguish Retainer more Subterfuge talents).
By default, you can hire a Courier that can deliver messages, buy and deliver items for you, and know about the local area (which is somewhat redundant since you should have good Knowledge (Local), but maybe your faction runs off a different skill), as well as a Expert who can be good at Appraise, Artistry, Handle Animal, Craft, Heal, any Knowledge Skill, Linguistics, any Lore skill, Perform, any Profession, or Sleight of Hand, and provide mundane services or consultation.
There is a big hurdle with Retainers travelling overland. Most of the time, this will expose them to danger, and fall outside their relevant role - so they won't do it. This makes them significantly more limited than the Supply-Package, because obviously you can take your items with your whereever. If your game sticks to settlements, great! If not, you'll get significantly less use out of most retainers.
Outside of Exceptional Talents, the only way around this is actually to take the Supply Package, funnily enough. Without GM permission (so, similar to an exceptional talent), they won't be a good combatant though, only bringing good BAB and barely anything else to the table.
That limitation aside, you get reliable access to a NPC that is just a couple of levels behind you, and can provide skills that you and possibly no one in your party has access to.
Looking just at the two base retainers, the Courier can be quite useful to get items for cheaper, especially since they can get access to Vigilante-talents (which can reduce purchase-prices). The Expert obviously provides skills.
You can get the following Non-Combat Retainers:
a Roguish Retainer who can create diversions, survey places, keep watch, tail and spy upon people, pick pockets, or commit other petty crimes. Note that they won't do anything dangerous for you, being a non-combatant. They come in two flavors - a Sneak who is better at stealth, and a Trickster who is better at social stuff.
a Driver who can get you to places via safe routes, or for more authorization extract you from danger. They come with up to 2x permanent resource budget for a vehicle, so at higher levels they can easily fly an airship or such.
The Armed Retainer can also be used in a non-combat role, to patrol a safe area, find (but not hunt) game, or discourage rowdy people in a public place.
Every other Retainer is gained via an Exceptional Talent. One is an upgraded Roguish Retainer (coming with actual Rogue or Shadowdancer levels), the others are various combat-retainers with class- or monster-levels. As you can imagine, this basically acts as Leadership, albeit with the limitation that you need to hire the Retainer regularly rather than them just sticking around all the time, so there is that limitation. Still, I easily see that not being allowed at most tables.
However, the Retainer-Package also opens up Services. Other than the mundane ones from your faction, you can unlock the following via talents:
You can get Spellcasting Services up to your temporary resource budget.
The talent that gives a Driver also gives you Teleportation Services and Planar Travel at Level 15
the Faction Trainers talent gives retraining and animal training services, but more importantly it gives an option to gain extra skill leverage, albeit at the cost of 6 hours (1 hour at 10th level) of training.
Finally, there are the General Talents of this sphere. Some open up extra requisitions, some give skill bonuses, but of particular note are the following two:
Logistical Genius is a Plan talent that allows you, as a full-round action, to get any Requistion. Obviously this is useful to get an item you happen to need on the spot (as long as you are in an area where you can requisition), but you could also get a getaway driver or expert adviser or similar.
Social Clout gives you a large radius in which you can requisition, in addition to giving you better social recognition. It might be mandatory for a lot of games, but fortunately it is a utility talent.