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| Example of tracking renown for two characters in the setting |
Once the characters are out of the early levels in my campaign, I am hoping that things will be driven by which factions in the town the characters align themselves with and which agendas they bring to the table that the various factions might support.
But I'm laying the groundwork for that in the early levels by tracking each character's renown (as per the DMG) with each faction, as this will arrange who can ask for what and from whom.
Some entries in the columns above are marked with a ? because they're placeholders for what connections I imagine the characters might be making in their downtime. I'll ask them what they've been up to since the last adventure and assign a point of renown accordingly if they've been hanging with the right crowds. For example, if Herman has been performing for the whalers at one of their favorite pubs, that seems worth a point of renown with them as a faction.
One oddity: the DMG gives you a way of tracking which factions you've got a positive relationship with, but it doesn't have anything special to denote which factions want you dead.
So, for example, once a character has acquired 10 renown with the Crimson Martyrs, they'll be able to find sanctuary in one of the organization's safe-houses if they're on the run.
One oddity: the DMG gives you a way of tracking which factions you've got a positive relationship with, but it doesn't have anything special to denote which factions want you dead.
What does accruing renown with a faction get you? Well, I've made a table for that too:
The perks here are not the only perks available; the examples set in the table set the precedent of what level of favor might be acceptable given a character's current level of renown.
Of course, these perks can't be abused. Asking too much (or too often) will drop renown very quickly because renown is essentially a two-way street. It takes 100 direct actions on behalf of an organization to get 50 renown; once that renown is "used" (it doesn't actually decrease, but all factions remember their debts and favors) you're going to have to exert yourself on their behalf more to be able to call on that level of help again.
