Dominion Designs: Organizations 2 - Friends with Benefits
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For the individual to submit themselves to the will of an organization benefits are incentives beyond mere pay. This can range from the prestigious role of lava monster slayer to the quiet dignity of being a community servant.
Authority is simply the right to kick ass. Depending on the type of organization, this authority can manifest in certain areas and not others. The Commerce Council can take a look at your business records and close up shop should they find problems - or if they just dislike your protests for lower dues. Civic Sentinels can stop and search you if they sense a threat to the public peace - or if you’re the only elf walking around Dwarf Town. A person’s rank in the organization is directly proportional to the authority they wield. To keep it simple, half the character’s level is their Authority Bonus, which can be added to any skill they use in the performance of their duty when dealing with outsiders.
Within an organization, Authority is much stronger when used amongst fellow members, however the closer one comes to being a peer the less this influence. The superior’s full class level, minus the level of a subordinate, is the Command Bonus. This can be added to any skills the superior uses against their lessers, assuming the orders are unconventional or difficult for the underling. Following the guidelines in Part 1, this will likely be a +2-3 for immediate subordinates but may be much higher.
As always, apply common sense. Not even General Petraeus can order a private to step onto an obvious active landmine and expect compliance - though his ability to put a positive spin on things can be great.
Even outside of their realm their jurisdiction a large organization wields Influence. You could think of this as a general reputation or fame of the organization that can be applied as a bonus or penalty to Knowledge checks regarding the group. The bigger the operation the higher the Influence, which can be measured by the number of levels that compose it. Take the average level difference between a superior and subordinate, and then divide the level of the highest-level leader by this average to get Influence.
How Influence is used is highly dependant on the type of organization you’ve got. A secret assassin guild will have their Influence function as a bonus to any Knowledge check DC regarding them, and can manifest as rumor or lies intentionally circulated. For Holy order of knights, Influence can be used to help persuade outsiders of similar alignment to further your cause. Another use is to directly invalidate Authority if your group has higher Influence than another similar organization: FBI trumps local cops, CTU trumps FBI - we all know why.
Administration, or Admin, is simply how fast info and assets travel between levels. It’s hard to pin down exact numbers because of technological level, but in a medieval small town an hour could be fair - where a sprawling metropolis may take a day.
Assets are the goods the organization has access to. It can take the form of a gold stipend per member per level or just available standard issue. The higher one goes up in an organization the more stuff you can access. It’s a good idea to use the treasure awarding guidelines given in a your system of choice to determine the type of assets available, such as the treasure awards shown on in Chapter 7 of the 4E Dungeon Masters Guide.
Symbolism is the flavor that surrounds the group. Although it may not be mechanically relevant, a good theme can be invocative of the character you seek to create for the order:
Example:
Adventurers, peddling Yeti hide rugs, are approached by a Commerce Council rep (4th level Aristocrat). She asks them for the standard 10% itinerant merchant tax. The party Bard (or, I guess, cleric for 4E) tries to come to a kindlier agreement and roll Diplomacy versus the beaurocrat. She receives a +2 Authority bonus to her roll in this opposed check, which can be made manifest by guardsmen stopping their patrols to oversee the discussion.
The Bard loudly makes the valid point that there being no other local vendors of Yeti fur, they should pay less since the market isn’t regulated for these specialized items (beats the Aristocrat). A level 1 guardsman steps forward and warns that the Frost Guard of Ice Womb don’t take kindly to visiting troublemakers. The Bard to makes a Knowledge Local check with a DC lowered by their Influence modifier of 5 - learning that the Frost guard strongly enforces the laws against outsiders. Mentioning this to his party results in the Dwarven fighter loosing his axe and screaming “XP TIME!!!”
Ten rounds (Admin 1 minute) later, a bloodied guardsmen stumbles into the nearest Frost station crying about a group of outsiders that have killed a guild rep and 5 units near the western gate. The level 4 sergeant and his 5 units (ten level 1 guards) start to head out to the battle, as the Frost Wind Mage (level 4 wizard) sends a courier to the western tower detachment for back up (will arrive in 1 minute) and readies his level 8 Wand of Fiery Bolt (level 4 asset) for the battle to come.
Yes, Fiery Bolt. Adventurers in frigid lands have cold protection out the ass. The wizard is level 4, not level chump!
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