Guild designing

[Hario]

So my friend is starting a lvl 3 campaign mostly homebrew with classic DnD cosmology with low magic. I'm going to start out a Beguiler1/Wizard (Diviner) 2 going Ultimate Magus. I'm trying to design a LG Mage's guild for my character but have been hitting a rut. Even reading Complete Mage and PHB2 (organizations) I'm having a bit of writers block. The name of the guild will be "The guild of the All seeing eye" not very original, I know. I'm thinking of trying to make it a guild that seeks out peace and keep order.

Also I already got the OK to make up whatever I want and it will be part of the campaign. If you could help with fluff or mechanics, or anything for this organization it will help.

[Kurald Galain]

Big Brother's guild?

They can do extensive background checks on their prospective members. "No, you can't join, you will be involved in a clash with the law next month"...

[PlatinumJester]

"The guild of the All seeing eye" are an organisation dedicated to destruction of evil and the conservation of peace through out the land. They use their divination spells to spy on evil organisations before giving information to opposing Governments who will not abuse this information and will try and eradicate the threat for the purpose of good rather than personal benefit (such as land/slave/wealth). Their allies include the Silver Flame or The Church of Pelor (depending on the campaign setting), who in return for the informaion donate and help fund the guild. The guild occasionaly diploys it's own members on missions to destroy a minor threat (a single lycanthrope murderer etc), but only if they feel that it is within the person's capability. The guild never opposes large organisations alone and always relies on good oranisations and Governments for support.

I hope this is the kind of thing you wanted.

Your PC could have been deployed to help the party eradicate a threat, using his information to help gather information for them. I would invest ranks in Sense Motive and Gather Information and use spells such as Scrying and Arcane Eye. Unluck is another great Divination spell and is only 3rd level. As a Wizard ban either Enchantment or Illusion since Beguiller uses those schools alot.

[RTGoodman]

I'm don't particularly care for them, but Complete Champion has like 40 pages or more of guilds and organizations. If none of those specifically work (though some could), it can at least give you an idea of some mechanical benefits of being a member.

[Hario]

Yes that is the kind of information, I'd like I appreciate that.

Kurald the problem with your quote is (this may change depending on your definition of LG) is that LG if they knew one would commit a crime, they'd try to change and help the individual to the side of good.

Any more choices would be good too, since I sort of want this to be what 'the organization' is in Heroes minus the evil. Though I am open to many different applications of guild ideas

[Gaiwecoor]

I could be wrong about this, but I believe that Complete Adventurer has some good information about designing organizations, as well. It would be in the last chapter, or thereabouts. As well as outlining some basic group concepts, along with sample members, it gives decent ways to generate the group stats (membership, level and class).

I've heard that Cityscape has a similar section, but I haven't looked.

[Miles Invictus]

I think it's kinda funny that your DM is letting you play a theurgic class in a low magic campaign, but that's a digression.

A code of conduct would make a lot of sense for your organization, given its alignment. Perhaps it started out as Chaotic Good, but public pressure shifted its alignment. Divination -- read, potentially knowing anything about anything -- is powerful stuff. People would resent an organization that could spy on them with complete impunity, even if that organization was run by saints. To earn the trust of the common folk, the guild voluntarily limits its activities. Over time, opinions on the code of conduct shifted. Modern members see its edicts as principles worth following in their own right.

You could probably take what Platinum Jester wrote, and use that to form a basic code of conduct.

For benefits, an obvious one would be free divination spells every so often.

[Hario]

I think it's kinda funny that your DM is letting you play a theurgic class in a low magic campaign, but that's a digression.

Low Magic refers to less frequent amount of spell casters and magic items, in no way would it really matter what class you are. It just means my character is rare in the campaign setting, doesn't mean there are 0 wizards in the setting. A level 5 wizard is very uncommon for the setting so an ultimate magus is a good way to express his flow and expertise with magic.

[Shades of Gray]

"The guild of the all-seeing eye" is devoted to eyeballs. Specifically, chameleon eyeballs. A chameleons eyeball can see 360 degrees all around it. They seek the perfect mountains to place an enlarged chameleon eye on so it can see all of the world. And monitor the collection of more chameleon eye gathering.

But seriously, with so few mages (low magic world), would they have enough interest/numbers in one area for a guild?

[CASTLEMIKE]

So my friend is starting a lvl 3 campaign mostly homebrew with classic DnD cosmology with low magic.

Also I already got the OK to make up whatever I want and it will be part of the campaign. If you could help with fluff or mechanics, or anything for this organization it will help.

What is the population of the country?
(25,0000/100,000/250,000/500,000/1,000,000 or more (Cormyr in FRCS is 1.36 million and Waterdeep is 1.347 million)

Is the country a "standard" monarchy with royalty and nobility or some other form of government.

Is the government a default LN type maintain the status quo with basic law and order.

Are you using standard demographics where 90% of the populace live in Thorps, Hamlets and Villages?

What size is the guild urban head quarters setting? (Small town, Large Town, Small City, Large City or Metropolis).

Is the the guild small (local guild), medium sized (small country), Large (several neighboring small countries), Very large (Multi national).

[BRC]

Chance the name to be "The Order of the Omnipresent Eye"

Or the "Thought Police"
But seriously, they should have a big focus on Scrying. Personally I see them as kind of an ultimate bounty-hunter force, they scry big-time criminals and then send kill-teams of mages and mercenaries to bring the guilty parties in for trial. I picture the teams finding the precise location of an enemy, flying in with the help of a Flight spell, then simultaneously Dimensional Dooring into the room with the criminal in it and throwing around Hold Person's and Sleep spells.

[Hario]

Its well over one million, It is a monarchy run by king is Owen Firebrewed, of Galdor. As far as I've known the country is LN. Most of the country is small villiages minus the biggest city Belan, which according to him is like sharn minus all the tech, so large city would fit. It would be described as a knowledge mecca of the city, since magic users are infrequent this would be the only place they can go to, to continue their education, including scholars.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Its well over one million, It is a monarchy run by king is Owen Firebrewed, of Galdor. As far as I've known the country is LN. Most of the country is small villiages minus the biggest city Belan, which according to him is like sharn minus all the tech, so large city would fit. It would be described as a knowledge mecca of the city, since magic users are infrequent this would be the only place they can go to, to continue their education, including scholars.

If you have access to the Sharn City of Towers source book I'd consider tweaking the Esoteric Order of Aureon for a low magic campaign and consider including Magewrights in the campaign.

Sharn has a single Wizrad - 11 using ECS demographics probably 1 - L10, 1 - L9, 2 - L8, 4 - L7, 8 - L6, 16 - L5, 32 - L3, 64 - L2, and 128 -L1 NPCs for a huge Metropolis 200,000+.

Standard demogaphics would be 1D4 + 12 for a Metropolis 25,000+ (Threee high level NPC casters averaging 2.5 (2 or or 3) +12 so for a low magic setting say 1-L15, 1- L14, 1-L13, 6 - L7 (6-8), 12 - L4*(3-5), 24 -L2* 48 - L1*.

*If you want fewer wizards drop the 12 - L4 wizards to L3 without doubling it for L2 wizards and only doubling it for L1 wizards.

Consider "The Royal Guild (Order) of the All Seeing Eye". All the guildmembers L1 + are gentlemen (Unlanded Esquires) with L7 considered "Masters" and attaining Unlanded Lord status (Most are full or part time Court Magists for kingdom noble houses). One of the top 3 NPCs can be the Royal Magist. One can be the Guild Regent or Grand Master. All guild members are charged with upholding the laws of the kingdom.

[Dr Bwaa]

I've heard that Cityscape has a similar section, but I haven't looked.

True. Cityscape has an extensive bit on guilds, designing them, and the like. If you have access to it it's pretty decent. It's also (somewhat unsurprisingly) quite good for just getting the feel of whatever urban setting you're in.

[Miles Invictus]

Low Magic refers to less frequent amount of spell casters and magic items, in no way would it really matter what class you are. It just means my character is rare in the campaign setting, doesn't mean there are 0 wizards in the setting. A level 5 wizard is very uncommon for the setting so an ultimate magus is a good way to express his flow and expertise with magic.

I know; my first DM ran a low-magic, low-treasure campaign.

It's the way you said it that I found funny:

So my friend is starting a lvl 3 campaign mostly homebrew with classic DnD cosmology with low magic. I'm going to start out a Beguiler1/Wizard (Diviner) 2 going Ultimate Magus.

You know, it occurs to me that an organization like this is going to need a huge support network -- in a low-magic setting, they aren't going to have a high percentage of spellcasters. They might operate as a spy organization, with lots of contacts across the world; mechanically, affiliates could meet with these contacts once per week as a status benefit.

[Funkyodor]

Or you could go very small, like 7 Pupils, 3 Focii, 2 Eyes and 1 All Seeing Eye (totalling a 13 lucky number cabal of casters). They would know each other on sight, and give them some form of spell to communicate with each other, like a specialized Message spell that lets a higher-up know you need guidance. The 2 Eyes and All Seeing Eye stay together and are the high leveled Guild members doing alot of focused scrying, while the Pupils and Focii travel the world to bring what the Guild sees to people that can do the most good with it, per direction from above. Keeping it small and close knit allows a low profile and having only 3 higher level NPCs doing the scrying keeps DM interaction to a minimum. One single crystal ball with Telepathy is all it takes to let the lesser guildies know whats going on. Small is better when you don't want to be seen.

The Guild of the All Seeing Eye was started by the great habadasher McCreedy who wanted to know how his hats were going to sell, but by knowing what was to be in fashion, and circumventing the natural order he caused all kinds of economic problems. Later with the insight of what went wrong and the down fall of his best friends plantation, the error of his ways were evident. The future was not to be taken lightly or manipulated flippantly, especially for personal gain. Starting with great care he searched and scryed for fellow persons that could be trusted and would be trust worthy (knowing the future does have it benefits after all). Using the gentlest of care they use their knowlege for the betterment of all people, preferring to influence small decisions that later landslide into large engrossing movements. The Few, The Proud, The All Seeing.

[MorkaisChosen]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking "Lawful Good means do X to criminals." Someone who hunts down and kills mass-murderers and someone who hunts down mass-murderers and convinces them to rtepent can both be LG, just different styles of LG.