Guilds!! What about guilds??


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

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One of the things I like the most about Tamora Pierce's writings is her use of guilds. Will guilds have the deversity and detail they deserve?


It would be nice to see guild descriptions include the information needed to run them as "affiliations" for player characters interested in that sort of thing.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Guilds will certainly be a part of Pathfinder; heck, the Pathfinders themselves are a guild/secret society/affiliation type thing.

We can't use the affiliation rules from PHB II, but we can certainly make up our own. There hasn't been much discussion on that front yet, however.


I know this should be posted in the Wish-list thread but I wish there was an infamous assins guild, a wizard guild and such classics!


I'm not actually too fond of the affiliations in PHBII. I find them too proscriptive. That's probably what happens when you put in place rules/mechanics for dealing with a character/personality lead interaction.

Its ok as a source of ideas, but really, if a players wants to join a guild he has to show why he's worthy, prove it, and then keep his involvement going (I do like guilds as a source of adventures and missions, but then the group has to be aligned somewhat or you get clashes). A PC might get a few good things out of it, but not a fixed, quantified return by playing lip-service to membership.

I do think guilds should be detailed; aims, members and resources, information they have and can gain, useful information like that. What happens when you cross them! Mechanical advantages to a PC should be minimal, adventurers aren't the long-term, put down roots type of people that gain from being part of a collective (usually of like skilled craftsmen or professionals) that looks after each other in terms of business, contacts and supplies.


firedancer wrote:
I'm not actually too fond of the affiliations in PHBII. I find them too proscriptive. That's probably what happens when you put in place rules/mechanics for dealing with a character/personality lead interaction.

I couldn't agree more, affiliations as written in PHBII are pretty much unusable for a DM.

firedancer wrote:
I do think guilds should be detailed; aims, members and resources, information they have and can gain, useful information like that. What happens when you cross them! Mechanical advantages to a PC should be minimal, adventurers aren't the long-term, put down roots type of people that gain from being part of a collective (usually of like skilled craftsmen or professionals) that looks after each other in terms of business, contacts and supplies.

That's exactly the kind of information I would like to see rather than rules like those in PHBII. In my opinion this kind of information is way more useful to me as a DM than even more rules.

Dark Archive

I'd rather see wizarding schools, where said characters could come from. Like a wizarding school centered around demonology or sorts. Or a school focused on evocation that discovered a few spells or some sort derived from ancient draconic runes that they found in their basement.


firedancer wrote:

I'm not actually too fond of the affiliations in PHBII. I find them too proscriptive. That's probably what happens when you put in place rules/mechanics for dealing with a character/personality lead interaction.

Its ok as a source of ideas, but really, if a players wants to join a guild he has to show why he's worthy, prove it, and then keep his involvement going (I do like guilds as a source of adventures and missions, but then the group has to be aligned somewhat or you get clashes). A PC might get a few good things out of it, but not a fixed, quantified return by playing lip-service to membership.

I do think guilds should be detailed; aims, members and resources, information they have and can gain, useful information like that. What happens when you cross them! Mechanical advantages to a PC should be minimal, adventurers aren't the long-term, put down roots type of people that gain from being part of a collective (usually of like skilled craftsmen or professionals) that looks after each other in terms of business, contacts and supplies.

I'm with you here. The whole mechanics driven guild affiliation system is really not the best approach, IMHO.

Grand Lodge

I agree. WizCo seems to be se on rules for everything. Have you looked at 7th Sea and their organizations. No rules, just right...

I really like what they did. A secret society gets a full book written about them, detailing their history, members, how to become a member, plots etc. I have been using them modified for a fantasy game for some time.

Really, the rules for a secret society/organization/guild... here it is, here's membership requirements (usually deeds not stats) have fun with it! I honestly think that everyone who plays D&D is smart enough to deal with organizations without mechanics for every step of the way.

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As an old Planescape DM I've always liked the concept of Organizations for the PC's to become members of. Sigil's Factions were great mainly because Beliefs were so ingraned in the campaign setting.

I kinda like how the Mercenary and Religious Organizations in the Forgotten Realms are laid out. Looking through Dragons of Faerun and seeing the Blood of Morueme or the Cult of the dragon have some in game benefits by paying dues and maybe investing in a feat if you want to advance in higher in the Org is good for PC's who like some focus.

My PC's are always looking for a Patron or Organization to attach to.


If you make up new rules similar to PHB2 affiliation rules, I suggest using rules that provide only roleplaying type benefits to characters, not bonuses to skills or abilities. The closest thing to mechanical benefits should be temporary use of bodyguards or helpers, access to free clerical magic or reduced cost or free copying of a wizard spell, burrowing a magic item within a limited value, etc.

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