I've been writing a lot of house rules lately and in connection to that I've been bumbling into writing new rules that are more work intensive that I'd like to share. More than that I'd like to see of any 3pp Publishers would want to refine and use them particularly because for my own games I'm doing a bit of art to enhance the rules.
Basically what I'm working on now, which should be completed in about a month, is a result of my dissatisfaction with cohorts. The status quo for cohorts is that players will make their own NPC and control it. This makes leadership flat-out broken as a feat but there are some problems with banning it. It can be a vehicle for interacting with a world on a personal level. So I started to codify ways to get cohorts and allies in a way that gives certain risks and specific rewards.
As kind of a preview for what I'm working on:
Academy
Unlike buildings you can create during downtime, Academies are not directly funded or even under control of the player. Academy are places of learning and growing that you can befriend and gain resources from. Academies often are inspired by or respect a PC’s prowess and experience so are always happy to help and sometimes participate in adventure as a part of their learning experience. Common types of academies that adventurers inspire and frequent include;Thief Guilds,War Colleges, Temples, Vivariums, Universities, Laboratories, Dojos, and Theaters. Other academies exist but typically do not mesh well with the life of an adventurer.
Academy stat blocks are as follows:
Type: The type of academy.
Prerequisites: Necessary requirements for befriending or inspiring an academy and thus allowing a PC to gain benefits from it.
Benefits: Academies have several benefits each with it’s own prerequisite, usually your leadership score. As you level and your prestige goes up you can gain more benefits.
Apprentice: Each academy has a series of apprentice stat blocks that increase in power with your leadership score. PCs may borrow an apprentice who goes along in hopes to learn something, but they are still learning and hope to come back after one level to share their finish their training and share their experience. (apprentices don’t gain levels and so do not increase in power as they are adventuring.) If an apprentice dies while on an adventure it imposes a cumulative -2 penalty to your leadership score. If an apprentice survives and comes back to the academy their academy grants additional benefits defined by their stat block. If they survive and are treated well they grant better benefits.
Connections
Instead of Inspiring a school of thought where people can learn new things you can have connections to your area of expertise. These are not specific people but the kind of people you can get in contact with. Sometimes it’s a friend of a friend of a friend. Sometimes it’s someone you heard about. Sometimes you just speak the language of those crowds. However you meet these contacts the real advantage is that is that unlike organizations, connections can be found in any settlement instead of being limited to the area that you have found them. New connections need to be constantly found but they grant better benefits based on how many you find. Connections often produce more direct or more physical resources such as discounts and new gear. Common connections gained by adventurers include; Black Markets, Arms Dealers, Whisperers, Rebels, Politicians, Cicerones, Researchers, Wise Men, Minstrels, Trainers, Tamers and Merchants. When you gain a leadership score you may choose a type of connection that you are proficient in.
Connection stat blocks are as follows.
Type: The type of connection
Prerequisites: Necessary requirements for becoming adept at making a particular kind of connection.
Benefits: Resources, perks or abilities that can be granted by a connection, usually based on your leadership score but gain additional benefits based on how many connections you find of a single type.
Deals: Types of services or goods you can exchange to increase your standing with your connection. If you complete a deal your connection will grant more benefits. Usually deals come at a great price so garner a lot of respect when completed.
I'll post a sample stat block later today.
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I'd contact Legendary Games and Everyman Gaming about this - these two publishers are the ones that have done the most with Ultimate Campaign's rules.
Just FYI, if you're actually wanting to sell this, you don't want to post the full thing here. Stuff posted on the Paizo boards becomes Paizo's property.
Just FYI, if you're actually wanting to sell this, you don't want to post the full thing here. Stuff posted on the Paizo boards becomes Paizo's property.
I'm sure the idea's not new so I have no problem posting this much but the real work is the writing the rules and crunching the numbers which I won't be posting.
I've long wished that there were a Leadership option for getting a less powerful cohort but more numerous and useful followers. This could be nice for a Viking or pirate who wants to crew a ship with followers. Offering some way for the PC to help keep the followers alive might help prevent that crew from going up in smoke the first time an enemy casts Fireball. A lower level cohort with enhanced survival ability might be nice too.
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@Devilkiller: An option would be to tweak Legendary Games' General-class's squad (see Ultimate Commander) for this purpose. I'd have to run the math, but that's how I'd design an option at the behest of my players, were they to require it.
I'd contact Legendary Games and Everyman Gaming about this - these two publishers are the ones that have done the most with Ultimate Campaign's rules.
Just to expand on this point: Jason Nelson is always willing to look wherever he needs to for the enthusiasm and talent that drives LG's products. Everyman Gaming is very much a one-man-band, but Alex is a stand-up, approachable guy and I'm sure he can see the value in what you're writing.
Heck, I have a product proposal (a specific expansion to the Kingdom rules) that I'm planning to shoot out once I've got the text finished and all the numbers crunched (day job keeps getting in the way), and these will be my first ports of call.