Favored in House...? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Favored in House...? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
cbolt_toak
03-16-05, 01:20 PM Ok, I have no idea how to DM the uses of Favored in House, and I am drawing blanks on my searches. Here are my ideas for them, but otherwise, no clue.

DC 10 One casting of a Least Dragonmark of your House
DC 15 One casting of a Lesser Dragonmark or Two of a Least (Player's Choice)
DC 20 One casting of a Greater Dragonmark or Two Lesser or Four Least
DC 25 One casting of a Heir of Siberys, 2 Greater, 4 Lesser, or 8 Least.

But I am allowing only one check per adventure, I am not too key on making up specific contacts (but I will if need be), and this feels too "nice", and something from the book would be great if it talks about favors in any of them. I have all these books and I have no idea where to look, so if anyone else knows I would be glad for the help. (Along with a reference to a thread that has already dealt with this question, cause I might just be blind)
Orion Polaris
03-16-05, 02:07 PM Yes, I too would like tips on how to DM this feat, the Artificer of our group took it, she hasn't gotten the chance to use it yet, but I'd like to be prepared for when she DOES try to make use of it...
Tanvalis
03-16-05, 02:29 PM Heh, I have this feat and before I took it my DM and I discussed it. Basically the way we do it pretty simple and your players will have to REALLY trust you to be fair. Whenever I want to use the feat I seek out someone in my house who'd be able to grant what I'm asking and proceed to roleplay asking for the favor, the DM then decides what the DC for the favor is... and I roll a favor check as discribed in the Feat Discription.

I've only actually used the feat once so far... I was asking for money to go out galavanting around Korvaire on house business and I'd already spent my allowance for the month buying all my friends equiptment (I also have the least dragonmark of storm AND my character is the son of Esravash d'Lyrandar) ANYWAY my DM decided to allow me a favor check to see if I could BORROW money from the head honcho of the Lyrandar Estates in Sharn... he set it at DC 15 and every 1 point over 15 I'd get a 1000 gp.

Anyway, That's what me and my DM do... I ask he sets a DC... we go from thier... no hard rules just arbirary DCs based on the favor being asked.
nyysjan
03-16-05, 02:31 PM you might also give the character with the Favored in house feat some extra social standing, something that comes in only while roleplaying
little byrocrats are little more compliant
watch officers are not quite so inquisitive
but you could also use it as an adventure hook
the house needs someone to do an dangerous but highly rewardin job
and your it
cbolt_toak
03-16-05, 04:10 PM As an added note, my campaign will be entirely run in dungeons, but between each adventure there is a "down-time" that the adventurers can use to prepare for the next adventure. I was gonna allow Favored in House only if it didn't upset any of the obvious balances in the game (Such as XP and Treasure, 1-to-1). The adventures are prewritten by me and I didn't want to have to adjust them any because of this feat. I am running a rules-strict game adventure-wise so I have to make sure I avoid oppurtunities for the players to abuse the rules.

Also, I noticed the borrow thing. I may have the characters pay for these spells to be cast (originally intended it to free) but perhaps at discount price, or get a scroll of the spell and be required to either pay the person who gave them the scroll or return the scroll. That's seems to work perfectly, whether or not to meant to emphasise or euphemise the word "borrow".

Thanks so far then.
BMStroh
03-16-05, 04:51 PM One of my players took Favored in House (Orien), and we don't really have a system in place for it. Our game is a bit on the 'fast and loose' side, so we just sort of roll with it.

Primarily, the party gets to take the lightning rail anywhere they need to get to, for free, and the character (a bard/dragonmark heir) has an easier time with finding social contacts.

From what I recently saw in S:CoT, my free lightning rail rides are rather generous, but I'm willing to live with it. There's a sidebar at the bottom of a page somewhere about what Favored in House is actually worth, and it presents some examples.
Golbez57
03-16-05, 05:11 PM One of the characters in our campaign, Lavidha d'Jorasco, Bard 6/Dragonmark Heir 2, has also taken the Favored in House feat... well, obviously since she's an Heir, but... moving on!

Lavidha's player has really structured her around good use of the Diplomacy feat. She's got some skill synergy bonuses, a cloak of charisma, a toned-down choker of eloquence from the Arms and Equipment Guide (bonuses reduced to +5 in accordance with 3.5 revisions to similar magic items)--she's quite the smooth talker!

She's made good use of Favored in House in both of the past two adventures. The first was in securing transportation to the Frostfell (long story (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=340838&highlight=Frostfell+Golbez57), exciting adventure and aftermath). Like Tanvalis described, she and her companions were lacking the funds--in this case, to buy passage aboard a House Lyrandar ship making a clandestine voyage to that remote area. They needed to borrow 2,000 GP from the House's coffers (I set that at DC 15 to start), were not well-connected to the Jorasco holdings in Sharn (upping the DC to 19), and assumed they would be unable to pay off the debt for some time (final DC 22). She was successful, and the House made the sizeable loan to her.

She and the others recently returned to Sharn, and repaid their debt in shorter than the expected period of time. The same favor in the future would therefore likely carry a lesser DC, such as 20.

During this same visit, they became involved in the events described in Keith's adventure "Steel Shadows" from Dungeon #115. Wondering what connection the evil (yep, the paladin was bold enough to detect evil on him) member of a certain Dragonmarked House might have to the crimes committed in Blackbones, she once again called upon her House to inquire as to whether or not the remains of the victims--trying to dance around giving spoilers here--might be useful in any work in which he was known to take part.

Now, this got tricky. Since House Jorasco had little to do with the workings of this other House and I reasoned that this individual wasn't much of a socialite among the influential guild members living in Dragon Towers, she was essentially asking the member of her House to discreetly ask around about the personal life of an influential member of another House--would he be willing to task someone within his House to make a Gather Information check on her behalf, or even do so himself? I set the DC mostly arbitrarily at 15, and she succeeded... but he ultimately failed at his Gather Information check, and was unable to provide her with any information to aid that avenue of their investigation.

To sum things up, I allow her to use the feat to help further the adventure, but make the results of that aid more uncertain if the favor requested is something outside the bounds of her House's expertise. Like Tanvalis, the circumstances dictate the DC of having any favor granted.

Now, if she were a member of the information-hounding House Thuranni, the latter favor would have been much more likely to come to fruit.
rulvestad
03-17-05, 01:31 PM I have a Dwarven Cleric who is Favored in House Kundarak in my campaign. He attempted to use the feat in Krona Peak to have the head of the enclave there call in a favor to get him an audience with an important person, but the check failed. This was a while back, but I think I set the DC at 15... just a bad roll.

He used it again in Sharn to gain access to the House Kundarak records to find out to what lock a certain key belonged. the party had gotten the key off the body of an unknown assailant and noticed that it was stamped with the House Kundarak symbol. Again, I pretty arbitrarily set the DC at 15-20. I don't recall now, but the check was successful.

Furthermore, he is generally well-liked by other house members. For instance, upon arriving in Sharn, he was something of a minor celebrity within the house because of heroic deeds performed in Krona Peak that the Korranberg Chronicle had reported. The effect was magnified because of the Favored in the House feat.
Dragom
03-17-05, 02:06 PM Specific things that could be big or small that are traditional favours that one could ask of those close to you.

Could you send a message?
Could I get lift?
Could I borrow that Mace of Disruption from the family vault while I scour that den of vampires? I'll bring it right back. In a week.
Could you lone me some money? I'm good for it. I'll get it back to you in a week. A month at most.
Could you start making this Magic Item and I'll pay for it when I get back from my looting?
Could you not provide services to this individual? He was mean to me.
Could you harrass this person? He said bad things about me behind my back.
Could you bring me this persons left ear? He said bad things about me to my face and slandered the house in general. (Use with extreme caution)

And so forth and so one.
Sarlax
03-17-05, 05:25 PM Two of my game's PCs have Favored in House (Cannith). I run the favors as written: one check per week per 2 character levels. The groups's 8th level at this point, so they can make pretty good use of it.

To recap what the feat grants: 1) gain important information, 2) acquire equipment on loan, 3) acquire important documents.

The major things the players in my group use their favors for include getting leads on adventurers, information on the warforged, history of artifacts and similar information, social improvement, and better prices on magic items.

Regarding the last: I don't mind the players having a little extra cash. For one thing, I make the players track things like meals and housing. In fact, the group has just chipped in quite a lot of gold to buy a place in Skyway. Having a mansion in Sharn isn't going to unbalance the game, but it does cost big gold, so I allow them to make up for their expenses in a small way. Of course, it doesn't balance out in pure monetary value, but I like that they expending resources for strong roleplaying reasons.

Additionally, the two Favored PCs have standing invitations to the monthly Tain Gala. In fact, at the last event, the party's bard, Lentala d'Cannith made an astounding dance performance after the crowd was warmed up with an excellent opening show by the group's elven warlock, Vyraes (Vyraes had a perform check of 24, Lentala's was 39 - very good rolls).

At the Tain Gala, they use their steadily growing popularity to obtain contacts in the city as well as information on adventures. After the performance, they mingled. As they are well-known for being both effective and discrete (when called for), they were hired by House Vadalis to track down a massive magical caravan beast that was stolen from their research facility in Droaam (modified 'Beast of Burden' adventure from Dungeon 100).

Anyhow, the Favored in House feat is an excellent tool for the DM. Instead of the standard You're in a tavern when 1) a patron falls over dead! or 2) a mysterious stranger enters and passes you a note before leaving without a word! or 3) agents of Evil Force X attack you! adventure introductions, you can link the PCs to the world, and you get to pass it off as a "favor."
Golbez57
03-17-05, 05:53 PM That sounds like an interesting campaign, Sarlax.

We're also exploring the themes of power and politics in our game. Like yours, the players are excited for their characters to have a base of operations (in a modest refurbished keep south of Vathirond in the northeastern mountains of Breland) and a growing reputation (one of them serializes their adventures as a "correspondent" to the Korranberg Chronicle, and the dragonmarked Jorasco bard of the party also kicks out impressive Perform and Diplomacy checks!).

Anyhow, the Favored in House feat is an excellent tool for the DM. Instead of the standard You're in a tavern when 1) a patron falls over dead! or 2) a mysterious stranger enters and passes you a note before leaving without a word! or 3) agents of Evil Force X attack you! adventure introductions, you can link the PCs to the world, and you get to pass it off as a "favor."

SHHH! Don't tell! Players might read that! :eek:

I bet the ECS designers are happy for the good use that's being made of feats such as Favored in House and Investigate, as evidenced by many of the discussions here. Huzzah, non-combat feats in action, alive and kicking in a sea of other feats!
zambuka
03-17-05, 06:05 PM Favoured in house can have many uses. It is up to the players to come up with uses and the DM just Moderates. Don't worry about makeing up the full details, they will come as you use the feat. Just come up with a name and what the contact does. From there if the PC with the feat wants to expand it becomes easy, just don't worry about the contact's stats as you should never really need them.

You could use it to:
Borrow a powerful magic item the family has in their vaults, like a channeling rod. (DC 20)
Have the family pay for transport on the lightning rail. (DC 15)
Call in a favour and have a House Lyrander airship make a quick detour to pick you up (provided your destination is also not too far out of the way) (DC 25)
Have the Sharn customs office overlook that crate full of Xen'drik artifacts (DC 30)
Get a shipment of Dreamlilly in to prove allegience while infiltrating the Boromar clan (DC 35)
Borrow House transport, like some magebred horses, for that trip from Sharn to Flamekeep (DC 15)
Have non-House travel companions stay at a House enclave for no charge (DC 25)
Borrow an airship and crew (remember it is not just Lyrander that owns these things, and anyone can pilot an airship) for a trip into the mournlands (DC 40)
Blacklist a person of no real standing (DC 15)
Blacklist a person with some minor political affiliations (DC 25)
Blacklist a person with high standing (DC 35)

Have the family trade a favour with another house (DC 25)

The uses are limited to anything that can be feasably used as a favour.

But remember that favours are not freebies, the house will eventually ask for something in return for all those favours. The bigger the favours asked, the more likely the house is to ask a favour in return.
Just another user
03-17-05, 06:57 PM Anyhow, the Favored in House feat is an excellent tool for the DM. Instead of the standard You're in a tavern when 1) a patron falls over dead! or 2) a mysterious stranger enters and passes you a note before leaving without a word! or 3) agents of Evil Force X attack you! adventure introductions, you can link the PCs to the world, and you get to pass it off as a "favor."

One could even say that "Favored in the House is a double edged weapon. :devil:
You can ask favors to your House, but the house can also ask favors back.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cbolt_toak 03-16-05, 01:20 PM	Ok, I have no idea how to DM the uses of Favored in House, and I am drawing blanks on my searches. Here are my ideas for them, but otherwise, no clue. DC 10 One casting of a Least Dragonmark of your House DC 15 One casting of a Lesser Dragonmark or Two of a Least (Player's Choice) DC 20 One casting of a Greater Dragonmark or Two Lesser or Four Least DC 25 One casting of a Heir of Siberys, 2 Greater, 4 Lesser, or 8 Least. But I am allowing only one check per adventure, I am not too key on making up specific contacts (but I will if need be), and this feels too "nice", and something from the book would be great if it talks about favors in any of them. I have all these books and I have no idea where to look, so if anyone else knows I would be glad for the help. (Along with a reference to a thread that has already dealt with this question, cause I might just be blind)
Orion Polaris 03-16-05, 02:07 PM	Yes, I too would like tips on how to DM this feat, the Artificer of our group took it, she hasn't gotten the chance to use it yet, but I'd like to be prepared for when she DOES try to make use of it...
Tanvalis 03-16-05, 02:29 PM	Heh, I have this feat and before I took it my DM and I discussed it. Basically the way we do it pretty simple and your players will have to REALLY trust you to be fair. Whenever I want to use the feat I seek out someone in my house who'd be able to grant what I'm asking and proceed to roleplay asking for the favor, the DM then decides what the DC for the favor is... and I roll a favor check as discribed in the Feat Discription. I've only actually used the feat once so far... I was asking for money to go out galavanting around Korvaire on house business and I'd already spent my allowance for the month buying all my friends equiptment (I also have the least dragonmark of storm AND my character is the son of Esravash d'Lyrandar) ANYWAY my DM decided to allow me a favor check to see if I could BORROW money from the head honcho of the Lyrandar Estates in Sharn... he set it at DC 15 and every 1 point over 15 I'd get a 1000 gp. Anyway, That's what me and my DM do... I ask he sets a DC... we go from thier... no hard rules just arbirary DCs based on the favor being asked.
nyysjan 03-16-05, 02:31 PM	you might also give the character with the Favored in house feat some extra social standing, something that comes in only while roleplaying little byrocrats are little more compliant watch officers are not quite so inquisitive but you could also use it as an adventure hook the house needs someone to do an dangerous but highly rewardin job and your it
cbolt_toak 03-16-05, 04:10 PM	As an added note, my campaign will be entirely run in dungeons, but between each adventure there is a "down-time" that the adventurers can use to prepare for the next adventure. I was gonna allow Favored in House only if it didn't upset any of the obvious balances in the game (Such as XP and Treasure, 1-to-1). The adventures are prewritten by me and I didn't want to have to adjust them any because of this feat. I am running a rules-strict game adventure-wise so I have to make sure I avoid oppurtunities for the players to abuse the rules. Also, I noticed the borrow thing. I may have the characters pay for these spells to be cast (originally intended it to free) but perhaps at discount price, or get a scroll of the spell and be required to either pay the person who gave them the scroll or return the scroll. That's seems to work perfectly, whether or not to meant to emphasise or euphemise the word "borrow". Thanks so far then.
BMStroh 03-16-05, 04:51 PM	One of my players took Favored in House (Orien), and we don't really have a system in place for it. Our game is a bit on the 'fast and loose' side, so we just sort of roll with it. Primarily, the party gets to take the lightning rail anywhere they need to get to, for free, and the character (a bard/dragonmark heir) has an easier time with finding social contacts. From what I recently saw in S:CoT, my free lightning rail rides are rather generous, but I'm willing to live with it. There's a sidebar at the bottom of a page somewhere about what Favored in House is actually worth, and it presents some examples.
Golbez57 03-16-05, 05:11 PM	One of the characters in our campaign, Lavidha d'Jorasco, Bard 6/Dragonmark Heir 2, has also taken the Favored in House feat... well, obviously since she's an Heir, but... moving on! Lavidha's player has really structured her around good use of the Diplomacy feat. She's got some skill synergy bonuses, a cloak of charisma, a toned-down choker of eloquence from the Arms and Equipment Guide (bonuses reduced to +5 in accordance with 3.5 revisions to similar magic items)--she's quite the smooth talker! She's made good use of Favored in House in both of the past two adventures. The first was in securing transportation to the Frostfell (long story (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=340838&highlight=Frostfell+Golbez57), exciting adventure and aftermath). Like Tanvalis described, she and her companions were lacking the funds--in this case, to buy passage aboard a House Lyrandar ship making a clandestine voyage to that remote area. They needed to borrow 2,000 GP from the House's coffers (I set that at DC 15 to start), were not well-connected to the Jorasco holdings in Sharn (upping the DC to 19), and assumed they would be unable to pay off the debt for some time (final DC 22). She was successful, and the House made the sizeable loan to her. She and the others recently returned to Sharn, and repaid their debt in shorter than the expected period of time. The same favor in the future would therefore likely carry a lesser DC, such as 20. During this same visit, they became involved in the events described in Keith's adventure "Steel Shadows" from Dungeon #115. Wondering what connection the evil (yep, the paladin was bold enough to detect evil on him) member of a certain Dragonmarked House might have to the crimes committed in Blackbones, she once again called upon her House to inquire as to whether or not the remains of the victims--trying to dance around giving spoilers here--might be useful in any work in which he was known to take part. Now, this got tricky. Since House Jorasco had little to do with the workings of this other House and I reasoned that this individual wasn't much of a socialite among the influential guild members living in Dragon Towers, she was essentially asking the member of her House to discreetly ask around about the personal life of an influential member of another House--would he be willing to task someone within his House to make a Gather Information check on her behalf, or even do so himself? I set the DC mostly arbitrarily at 15, and she succeeded... but he ultimately failed at his Gather Information check, and was unable to provide her with any information to aid that avenue of their investigation. To sum things up, I allow her to use the feat to help further the adventure, but make the results of that aid more uncertain if the favor requested is something outside the bounds of her House's expertise. Like Tanvalis, the circumstances dictate the DC of having any favor granted. Now, if she were a member of the information-hounding House Thuranni, the latter favor would have been much more likely to come to fruit.
rulvestad 03-17-05, 01:31 PM	I have a Dwarven Cleric who is Favored in House Kundarak in my campaign. He attempted to use the feat in Krona Peak to have the head of the enclave there call in a favor to get him an audience with an important person, but the check failed. This was a while back, but I think I set the DC at 15... just a bad roll. He used it again in Sharn to gain access to the House Kundarak records to find out to what lock a certain key belonged. the party had gotten the key off the body of an unknown assailant and noticed that it was stamped with the House Kundarak symbol. Again, I pretty arbitrarily set the DC at 15-20. I don't recall now, but the check was successful. Furthermore, he is generally well-liked by other house members. For instance, upon arriving in Sharn, he was something of a minor celebrity within the house because of heroic deeds performed in Krona Peak that the Korranberg Chronicle had reported. The effect was magnified because of the Favored in the House feat.
Dragom 03-17-05, 02:06 PM	Specific things that could be big or small that are traditional favours that one could ask of those close to you. Could you send a message? Could I get lift? Could I borrow that Mace of Disruption from the family vault while I scour that den of vampires? I'll bring it right back. In a week. Could you lone me some money? I'm good for it. I'll get it back to you in a week. A month at most. Could you start making this Magic Item and I'll pay for it when I get back from my looting? Could you not provide services to this individual? He was mean to me. Could you harrass this person? He said bad things about me behind my back. Could you bring me this persons left ear? He said bad things about me to my face and slandered the house in general. (Use with extreme caution) And so forth and so one.
Sarlax 03-17-05, 05:25 PM	Two of my game's PCs have Favored in House (Cannith). I run the favors as written: one check per week per 2 character levels. The groups's 8th level at this point, so they can make pretty good use of it. To recap what the feat grants: 1) gain important information, 2) acquire equipment on loan, 3) acquire important documents. The major things the players in my group use their favors for include getting leads on adventurers, information on the warforged, history of artifacts and similar information, social improvement, and better prices on magic items. Regarding the last: I don't mind the players having a little extra cash. For one thing, I make the players track things like meals and housing. In fact, the group has just chipped in quite a lot of gold to buy a place in Skyway. Having a mansion in Sharn isn't going to unbalance the game, but it does cost big gold, so I allow them to make up for their expenses in a small way. Of course, it doesn't balance out in pure monetary value, but I like that they expending resources for strong roleplaying reasons. Additionally, the two Favored PCs have standing invitations to the monthly Tain Gala. In fact, at the last event, the party's bard, Lentala d'Cannith made an astounding dance performance after the crowd was warmed up with an excellent opening show by the group's elven warlock, Vyraes (Vyraes had a perform check of 24, Lentala's was 39 - very good rolls). At the Tain Gala, they use their steadily growing popularity to obtain contacts in the city as well as information on adventures. After the performance, they mingled. As they are well-known for being both effective and discrete (when called for), they were hired by House Vadalis to track down a massive magical caravan beast that was stolen from their research facility in Droaam (modified 'Beast of Burden' adventure from Dungeon 100). Anyhow, the Favored in House feat is an excellent tool for the DM. Instead of the standard You're in a tavern when 1) a patron falls over dead! or 2) a mysterious stranger enters and passes you a note before leaving without a word! or 3) agents of Evil Force X attack you! adventure introductions, you can link the PCs to the world, and you get to pass it off as a "favor."
Golbez57 03-17-05, 05:53 PM	That sounds like an interesting campaign, Sarlax. We're also exploring the themes of power and politics in our game. Like yours, the players are excited for their characters to have a base of operations (in a modest refurbished keep south of Vathirond in the northeastern mountains of Breland) and a growing reputation (one of them serializes their adventures as a "correspondent" to the Korranberg Chronicle, and the dragonmarked Jorasco bard of the party also kicks out impressive Perform and Diplomacy checks!). Anyhow, the Favored in House feat is an excellent tool for the DM. Instead of the standard You're in a tavern when 1) a patron falls over dead! or 2) a mysterious stranger enters and passes you a note before leaving without a word! or 3) agents of Evil Force X attack you! adventure introductions, you can link the PCs to the world, and you get to pass it off as a "favor." SHHH! Don't tell! Players might read that! :eek: I bet the ECS designers are happy for the good use that's being made of feats such as Favored in House and Investigate, as evidenced by many of the discussions here. Huzzah, non-combat feats in action, alive and kicking in a sea of other feats!
zambuka 03-17-05, 06:05 PM	Favoured in house can have many uses. It is up to the players to come up with uses and the DM just Moderates. Don't worry about makeing up the full details, they will come as you use the feat. Just come up with a name and what the contact does. From there if the PC with the feat wants to expand it becomes easy, just don't worry about the contact's stats as you should never really need them. You could use it to: Borrow a powerful magic item the family has in their vaults, like a channeling rod. (DC 20) Have the family pay for transport on the lightning rail. (DC 15) Call in a favour and have a House Lyrander airship make a quick detour to pick you up (provided your destination is also not too far out of the way) (DC 25) Have the Sharn customs office overlook that crate full of Xen'drik artifacts (DC 30) Get a shipment of Dreamlilly in to prove allegience while infiltrating the Boromar clan (DC 35) Borrow House transport, like some magebred horses, for that trip from Sharn to Flamekeep (DC 15) Have non-House travel companions stay at a House enclave for no charge (DC 25) Borrow an airship and crew (remember it is not just Lyrander that owns these things, and anyone can pilot an airship) for a trip into the mournlands (DC 40) Blacklist a person of no real standing (DC 15) Blacklist a person with some minor political affiliations (DC 25) Blacklist a person with high standing (DC 35) Have the family trade a favour with another house (DC 25) The uses are limited to anything that can be feasably used as a favour. But remember that favours are not freebies, the house will eventually ask for something in return for all those favours. The bigger the favours asked, the more likely the house is to ask a favour in return.
Just another user 03-17-05, 06:57 PM	Anyhow, the Favored in House feat is an excellent tool for the DM. Instead of the standard You're in a tavern when 1) a patron falls over dead! or 2) a mysterious stranger enters and passes you a note before leaving without a word! or 3) agents of Evil Force X attack you! adventure introductions, you can link the PCs to the world, and you get to pass it off as a "favor." One could even say that "Favored in the House is a double edged weapon. :devil: You can ask favors to your House, but the house can also ask favors back.