What conflicts would a Sable Company PC have? (Spoilers)

[Armenius]

I see James Jacobs recommends not playing a Sable Company Marine (or Hellknight) but on my skim through I could not see why. The Sable Company is disbanded late in the adventure and several high-ranking members or imprisoned or killed. It really sounds like it would just create more motivation for the player and the only drawback is they would know the layout of the headquarters.

Is there some major problem I'm missing? Has anyone ran or played a game with Sable Marine PC? Did any significant changes to the plot have to be made?

[Rysky]

Depending on your actions you could be at odds with them at the beginning (and at the first part you are basically taking the law into your own hands) but I believe if I remember it had more to do with the Ranger archetype that gave you a Hippogriff companion at level 2.

[Armenius]

Rysky wrote:

Depending on your actions you could be at odds with them at the beginning (and at the first part you are basically taking the law into your own hands) but I believe if I remember it had more to do with the Ranger archetype that gave you a Hippogriff companion at level 2.

Oh yeah personally I'm not a huge fan of flight in general let alone letting a PC have a constant source of it at second level, but the player's guide blog post for the anniversary edition said they would be a poor choice because of their role in the adventure but from my reading I don't see why their role in the adventure would make them a poor choice. It seems about as good a choice as just being a Korvosan Guard which the blog *does* recommend.

As for the conflict at the beginning that seems to be an issue any lawful character could have.

[Rysky]

The only thing I could think of then would be that unless you're high ranking guard it's the fact that Sable Company are very prestigious law enforcement officers so playing vigilante might not work out well and you could see yourself getting kicked out of the Company for going renegade.

That's just me guessing though.

[Jam Falcon]

I have a Sable Company PC in my campaign, and it hasn't been a big issue. She didn't join the party until around level four, a little bit into 7DttG (after the player's previous PC got a bit too nosy looking into the Gray Maidens). So I can't speak as much to the low-level issues, but other than dealing with Lamm, the majority of the work the PCs are doing in the first couple adventures is directly for, or aligned with, the guards.

My PCs are super close to Kroft, so they'd always go to her for support anyway. Having a Sable Company PC has actually helped, and just made it smoother when the PCs want to use the force of the law to back themselves up. There've also been instances where I've had Kroft or Marcus Endrin tell her outright not to wear any symbols or use her hippogriff, so that if things go bad it doesn't hurt the Sable Company.

It definitely has given the PCs a little bit of authority, but since the Grey Maidens don't answer to the Sable Company, it hasn't been a big deal. It also will be great when the company is shut down, because that'll rip that power away and give the character even more motivation for revenge (especially because Marcus Endrin is her brother-in-law).

Regarding flight at a low level, I don't think it's as big a deal in this campaign as others. Most of the low-level encounters are in tight spaces where a hippogriff lacks the maneuverability to be much use in the air (though it's certainly a powerful fighter), and as long as it can't carry the whole party, faster transport for one or two characters across the city isn't a big deal.

So yeah, I don't think there's any real issue with allowing a Sable Company PC.

[Raincloud9]

Sorry, I know this an old topic, but maybe my/my player's solution will help people in the future:

I had a player who wanted to be a Sable Company Ranger, but after some reading ahead on my part, I steered him toward the Slayer class, and it worked out perfectly. The story arc we created was, all Sable Co Marines start out as recruits until they get enough training (mechanically, at level 4) when they would then get their griffin and graduate to full marines. My player role played that his methods of dealing with problems were a little less conventional than his fellow recruits. Stealthy, a little dirty, whatever gets the job done. When the party is asked to join the city guard, he reported to his commanding officer who, after conferring with Kroft, reassigned him temporarily to the guard. I forget whether I made this up or if it was in the book, but I had Kroft's logic be that the party would be used for assignments that had to be kept quiet and clandestine (perfect for apprehending rogue guard members, etc). At level 4, when my player should have gotten a griffin along with the other recruits, he was instead assigned to the marine's secret elite stealth unit, fitting with his skill set. The rest of the AP story fell in line, with his assignements being to help the party and the city guard with their investigations into the source of the plague, etc.

This also added a different layer to Chapter 3, after Endrin is murdered and it's revealed that Neolandus is still alive (since the Sable Co reports to Neolandus and not the queen). For my Sable Co Marine player, finding Neolandus became about saving the Sable Co and restoring it to order, instead of just finding an important person for their information.