Renown, a replacement for Leadership.

[Magellan]

Hi,

This is an idea I came up with to replace Leadership. I know it makes Charisma even more of a dump stat, but I wanted to do something like this since I have never seen the leadership feat used when I have played/Gm'd. I also like the idea of people being able to leverage their renown without a feat. It is a little weaker than the Leadership feat in the Cohort and follower limitations, but also has bonuses to skills. Check, it out, let me know what you think, I would also like some good recommendations on other things that would add to Renown.

Renown Score:

Renown = 1/2 character level (minimum 1) + your highest ability score mod + misc

Misc things add to renown like

+1/+2 Actions: Accomplishing a great task, defeating a legendary opponent (Cumulative)
+1 fair or corrupt
+1 has a base of operations
+1 Belonging to an organization with power.
-2 A cohort has died (Cumulative)
-1 Followers have died
-1 Does not have a base of operations

etc

You can leverage this Renown in several ways.

1. Renown is like an ability score in that it gains a modifier at the same rate as ability scores. When this modifier is positive, it can affect Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perform and Profession skills if it is greater than the ability for that skill.

2. You can acquire a Cohort, who is an NPC with PC class levels, minimum 4 levels lower than you. This cohort can also be a monstrous creature, whose CR is minimum 4 less than yours. Your Renown Score must be a 10 or higher to acquire a cohort.

3. You can acquire followers who are NPCs with NPC class levels. Amount and level of followers is based on your Renown Score Modifier. It is mod *3 in Hit Dice of followers, No follower can have HD higher than 3.

Buying Renown (Bards/Bribes, etc): costs 2000 (+1), 4000 (+2), 8000 (+3), 16000 (+4). Must pay each one, so to get a +3 in Renown, it costs 14,000. Max that can be paid for is +4.

Hiding your Identity/ Alter egos: If a character hides their identity or creates an alter ego, they will have lesser Renown or separate Renown Scores.

Notes:

Cohorts and Followers are designed and built by the player, using the Heroic NPC array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8) and the basic NPC array 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, and 8. They start with basic gear as per NPC wealth. Anything after that must be provided by the character from their wealth. The Cohort increases in level with the character if it travels with them, but only level every 2 character levels if it does not. Followers increase in level but are still limited to max 3HD, so levelling a favoured follower is just fluff instead of having a new follower when your renown increases.

Cohorts are run in combat by the player, but role played by the GM outside combat.

Followers do not generally aid in combat, they either hang back, maintain base camps, or do not travel with the party at all but stay at the base of operations.

Also, thinking of adding this as well:

Renown only applies where your deeds are based out of and grows with your score.
Starts locally (5), Nearest city+ area around(10), Regionally(15), then worldwide (20)
Above is automatic, other events can cause you to be renowned in other areas

[Darkwing Duck]

That's exactly what the game needs - to nerf charisma! Its far too heavily a desired attribute currently.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

It's a good concept, though personal charisma would play a part (for good or ill). Perhaps your renown score gets a big bonus for every point of Charisma bonus. That may help to minimize the snarky negative Nancy's (See above). Perhaps.

[Magellan]

Darkwing Duck wrote:

That's exactly what the game needs - to nerf charisma! Its far too heavily a desired attribute currently.

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

It's a good concept, though personal charisma would play a part (for good or ill). Perhaps your renown score gets a big bonus for every point of Charisma bonus. That may help to minimize the snarky negative Nancy's (See above). Perhaps.

You are right in that there should be am impact from charisma, so I think it will now be.

Renown = 1/2 character level (minimum 1) +/- your charisma mod (bonus or penalty) + 1/2 your highest ability score mod + misc

This way will reward those that don't dump charisma, and punish those who do.

Also, any ideas on other Misc things that would effect Renown would be great. I didn't add one for special power, as I'm not sure what should be considered a special power, so left it out since all the PC's should be special, and they are the only ones who have this ability... and BBEG's too

Thanks

[Darkwing Duck]

Magellan wrote:

Darkwing Duck wrote:

That's exactly what the game needs - to nerf charisma! Its far too heavily a desired attribute currently.

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

It's a good concept, though personal charisma would play a part (for good or ill). Perhaps your renown score gets a big bonus for every point of Charisma bonus. That may help to minimize the snarky negative Nancy's (See above). Perhaps.

You are right in that there should be am impact from charisma, so I think it will now be.

Renown = 1/2 character level (minimum 1) +/- your charisma mod (bonus or penalty) + 1/2 your highest ability score mod + misc

This way will reward those that don't dump charisma, and punish those who do.

Also, any ideas on other Misc things that would effect Renown would be great. I didn't add one for special power, as I'm not sure what should be considered a special power, so left it out since all the PC's should be special, and they are the only ones who have this ability... and BBEG's too

Thanks

Look at Conan d20. They use Reputation which is about the same as what you're trying to do. In that game, PCs quickly spend gold on partying and, so, are quickly paupers. There's no such thing a sa 20th level character having nearly a million gold. But what they earn that they keep is their reputation and it has a huge effect on a lot of things. You might find a lot of that idea worth appropriating.

If I had the time to do a home brew, wealth would be like in d20 modern and reputation would be central to the character.

[GoldenOpal]

Ideas for getting/losing Renown…

Public Performance:

+/-1 For a successful/failed ‘Memorable Performance’ (DC 25) Perform check for an attentive audience of 100 or more people (PCs/cohorts/followers don’t count) or an ‘Extraordinary Performance’ (DC 30) Perform check for an attentive audience of 50 or more people (PCs/cohorts/followers don’t count). Renown can only be gained/lost by a Public Performance once per every 6 months.

Expert Crafting:

+1 For crafting and carrying/displaying a uniquely exceptional item. Crafting a uniquely exceptional item doubles the item’s price and adds one week to the crafting time as calculated under the Craft skill rules. Renown can only be gained by Expert Crafting once per year.

[Magellan]

Darkwing Duck wrote:

Look at Conan d20. They use Reputation which is about the same as what you're trying to do. In that game, PCs quickly spend gold on partying and, so, are quickly paupers. There's no such thing a sa 20th level character having nearly a million gold. But what they earn that they keep is their reputation and it has a huge effect on a lot of things. You might find a lot of that idea worth appropriating.
If I had the time to do a home brew, wealth would be like in d20 modern and reputation would be central to the character.

Well, my buddy has conan d20 atlantean edition, and I was over at his place last night, and you are right, it is perfect! Thanks alot for the suggestion, its far better than any system I would have made.

GoldenOpal wrote:

Ideas for getting/losing Renown…

Public Performance:

+/-1 For a successful/failed ‘Memorable Performance’ (DC 25) Perform check for an attentive audience of 100 or more people (PCs/cohorts/followers don’t count) or an ‘Extraordinary Performance’ (DC 30) Perform check for an attentive audience of 50 or more people (PCs/cohorts/followers don’t count). Renown can only be gained/lost by a Public Performance once per every 6 months.

Expert Crafting:

+1 For crafting and carrying/displaying a uniquely exceptional item. Crafting a uniquely exceptional item doubles the item’s price and adds one week to the crafting time as calculated under the Craft skill rules. Renown can only be gained by Expert Crafting once per year.

A great idea, I'll use them with the Conan rules, will add some options for the more skilled characters to get more reputation, thanks :)