James mentioned elsewhere that Affiliations reappear once the PCs get to Farshore.
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Another question I have about affiliations, is that while I like them and I like that they're included in STAP, is there any benefit to be gained from affiliations once the PCs reach the Isle of Dread and the outer planes? After all, how would the affiliations know what the PCs are up to? (OK, that's two questions.)
Well I can't say much about the other affiliations, but I'm sure the church of the whirling fury will be very helpful later when fighting the hordes of the abyss, and is probably the quickest path to the Knight of the Chalice.
Farshore, on the Isle, will have chapters of each Affiliation. James Jacobs has said that not every adventure will have a sidebar for rewards, and I guess TINH is one of those. Keep in mind that most first level characters won't actually belong to an affiliation, since your score has to be at least 3 to belong, and I don't think 1st level characters can get an affiliation score that high.
Farshore, on the Isle, will have chapters of each Affiliation. James Jacobs has said that not every adventure will have a sidebar for rewards, and I guess TINH is one of those. Keep in mind that most first level characters won't actually belong to an affiliation, since your score has to be at least 3 to belong, and I don't think 1st level characters can get an affiliation score that high.
TINH - why not? Downing the LD and possibly turning captured LD thieves in to the guard + exposing the corruption in the harbor + maybe solving the murder of the harbor master = brownie points with at the very lest the dawn council.
Actually, now that you mention it there is a thing at the end about Dawn Council rewards for stopping the LD takeover of the Sasserine harbor.
It is interesting - I see more opportunities for reward from the dawn council than from any other affiliation. Granted that is only through the first four adventures ;) That could easily change.
Creative Director
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Keep in mind that it's easy to hand out too many affiliation points. If we handed out points in every adventure, the PCs would become high-ranking members of the affiliation far more quickly than they should. And even though some of the adventures don't list additional affiliation awards, remember that theres a fairly large list of "generic" awards for each affiliation in the first Savage Tidings; awards that can be gained during any of the adventures.
In issue #143, we don't list any more additional affiliation awards, but we do include information for all of the affiliations. Each of them has a presence on the Isle of Dread (mostly in Farshore), and there are many ways that a member of an affiliation can use his membership to make things easier or accomplish additional goals in this segment of the Savage Tide Adventure Path.
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I'm curious to hear how affiliations have worked for peoples camapigns thus far. Are they worth it? Have they added anything interesting or helped the PC's in any way? Are any of your PC's planning on taking over as leaders of their respective group? Have you as a DM added anything cool, like side quests or nifty NPC enemies and allies?
Have people use more affiliations in their game? which ones? Made any yourself?
Have people use more affiliations in their game? which ones? Made any yourself?
Due to the fact that prestige classes seem to pop out of nowhere, we're adding a requirement to all prestige classes - 10 affiliation points in an appropriate affiliation. The flavor of this was to justify from whom you are learning all the prestigious abilities. Recommended were the campaign specific affiliations - Seekers, Dawn Council, & Witchwardens have been pursued so far, and the cleric is affiliated with the Church of Pelor (Complete Champion).
The Brotherhood, while available, has been viewed as an "evil" organization despite efforts to show it differently. The Horns seem a bit barbaric/centered on Sasserine's arena for any player to see a future in gaining affiliation points. As for the Church of the Whirling Fury, the players have viewed it on a solely game mechanics basis and have let it fall by the wayside as a result.
The only problems we've encountered so far has been the idea of retroactive bonus points.
I'm not sure how much the affiliations are actually helping my character, but I do know that being a member of an affiliation always gives my PC something to do. ...
It has been influential in the RP department. When asked to join the Lotus Dragons, the cleric (Whirling Fury) decided the LD are not outsiders so no harm in joining. The Fighter (Emerald Wave) wanted to know how much interaction the LD had with pirates (and said yes while undergoing steps to undermine the LDs). Even the monk (Scarlet Brotherhood) as a new player wanted to make sure the LDs were not counterproductive to SB's plans. When they need to go shopping or gather information, it is to their affiliations that they start-not something I even thought of, but am encouraging.
Yes I made a little affiliation-related side trek for each of them, so that Kora/Lavinia would have reason to notice their 'adventuring skills'. I do not have the points totaled this week but at 3rd level they might be at three points.
... that everyone can participate in (or make sure they're very short).
I did keep it short and in fact ran all four simultaneously, in initiative order like any other combat. They were each in a different setting and in game time were months apart. Emerald Crest was looking for pirate treasure from a map he bought in a store (search and dig rolls mostly). Seeker had to escape from jail and break into the room where her stuff was being stored (move silently and pick locks). Whirling Fury came upon his mentor fighting an outsider and had to solve the puzzle when his mentor was overwhelmed (kn: religion, kn: planes). Monk had not chosen an affiliation yet, so I gave him something else. Since he has a charisma of 1 (same as a zombie) he found it difficult to buy a drink and got into a brawl with the regulars who did not want undead walking around in their tavern. Flurry o' blows (and a 20 str) made the match uneven, but when he woke up the next day he was hearing stories about a 6 armed zombie (as had Kora and figured he would be worth hiring.)
These are probably not worth a full point, but meh, it was fun and the affiliations have significance now.