Anyone knows of any good suggestions in the current world? My realm lore is a bit limited.
Only one that comes to mind is the order of the blue flame, but I would like to present them with a few choices
Thanks
Cormyrean war wizards
spell guard of silverymoon
that group that is in waterdeep features in Blackstaff tower by Steven Schend.
There are countless smaller organisations scattered over Fearun, and a good source for inspiration for them can be found in the 3.5 Champions tomes, Champions of Ruin and Champions of Valor. You can decide to let most of them survive into the 15th century Realms. I recommend looking at the 3.5 PH2 book to use the rules for getting advantages and ranks in an organisation. Its a splendid system to track any hierarchical advancement within an affiliation, and it can ease high end political play by guiding your thoughts into what the organisation values most.
Ok so your group is good, bad, unaligned?
What are the races and classes?
What sort of adventures do you do and where do you do them? In the plans, cities, dungeons? Which tier?
Who or what are they fighting?
Thanks for all the answers
I currently have four players where 3 is unaligned and 1 is good, beginning att first level so the heroic tier right now.
Regarding adventures they have finished playing the loudwater quest in the FR guide, and I was planning on running Scepter tower next, perhaps doing a selfcreated adventure in the middle and the pyramid of shadows after that.
I want my party to do different things like travelling forests, going to large cities and crawl through some dungeons too. I just wanted some tips on what organizations where out there and I could research what suits the party more easily when I've got some clue on to what to search for.
deva cleric
shifter druid
half-orc fighter
halfling bard
In the Dalelands, in Harrowdale, you have the Fall of Stars, a club of adventurers who are member of the Stellar Fellowship of Gentle Adventurers. Membership is 50 gp a year,a nd they give support and provide quests. You're in the wrong region for it though.
In Vesperin, there are the silver Ravens, whooppsoe Netheril like the Harpers, but from a different angle (they want to liberate Sembia). Most of the Ravens are foppish nobles - there are only a few members who are really capable.
In Baldur's Gate you have the Flaming Fist mercenaries.
The Spellguard and the Silver Knights are in Silverymoon, but also rather hard to join (like the Purple Dragons in Cormyr, they are trusted positions that you have to earn - not really open until Paragon level).
I'd avoid the Zhentarim. They are definitely non-good. You don't want to have Manshoon as your boss.
I'd avoid the Zhentarim. They are definitely non-good. You don't want to have Manshoon as your boss.
That's unfair. You've never worked for me, and you certainly couldn't have spoken with an employee of mine who disliked my management style, because I had everyone who spoke out against me slain re-evaluated and turned their corpses criticism into undead minions motivation to murder the innocent and intimidate the weak expand Zhentarim influence and interact with different peoples and cultures.
I'm actually a pretty fun guy to work for, assuming you don't **** up an important task.
But yes, on a serious note, OP, I would steer clear of the Zhentarim. It's not that there are no Unaligned in the Zhentarim (it might actually make for a very interesting "shades of gray" campaign); it's just that the legacy of the Black Network and its current state is the opposite of "heroic" and "noble". Many of the common folk of Faerun, as well as the "true-blue" good guys, stand against the Zhentarim, and your PCs will have a tough time moving about and interacting if word gets out that they serve me.
(Of course, if "shades of gray" is something that interests you, then yes, I would recommend the Zhentarim.)
But yes, on a serious note, OP, I would steer clear of the Zhentarim. It's not that there are no Unaligned in the Zhentarim (it might actually make for a very interesting "shades of gray" campaign); it's just that the legacy of the Black Network and its current state is the opposite of "heroic" and "noble". Many of the common folk of Faerun, as well as the "true-blue" good guys, stand against the Zhentarim, and your PCs will have a tough time moving about and interacting if word gets out that they serve me.
It might be interesting to force the PCs to work for the Zhentarim (or any evil organization really), and this could be accomplished in a number of ways. The PCs might need an expert on really old lore, known only to a higher-up in the Zhentarim, or a powerful Zhent agent might be holding a few hostages (e.g. close family, old friends, a weak old mentor that's been charmed) that are important to the PCs. There aren't many villains better than the Zhents, and it can be really fun to force noble characters into a temporary alliance with a recurring nemesis. At some point you can even have the "good guys" arrest them because they're working as agents of the Zhentarim.
The Harpers are difficult to join (base is in Everlund), as they are very secretive - however, I think Scepter gives an opportunity for it.
I thought the 4E Harpers were based out of Silverymoon?
EDIT: You are so correct Gomez. They are now based out of Moongleam Tower in Everlund.
I would say the Lords Alliance is still around...
What about the Heralds? are they still around? Theres still Heraldry, so im assuming theyer still around, but I dont recall seeing any reference to them in 4e. Not a very good group for PCs to join, im just curious.
If you mean the organization of High Heralds (and their lesser agents), they were non-combatant record-keepers in places all over the Realms. Pure scholars, really, requiring decades of training. Even in the unlikely event that all of the High Heralds died in the Spellplague, the Master heralds and lesser heralds would have kept the organization going by voting in new High Heralds. Plus, the nobility of most nations supported them. In 1479 the High Herald ofiice names might be different (or just gone or changed) if any died as a traitor, but that also seems unlikely. They didn't have "enemies" as such, since they were no longer a part of the Harpers after 1116 DR (I think, someone check me) and famous for their neutrality. They kept records, they didn't fight for causes.
Do the current Harpers support them? I'd doubt that, since the new version of the Harpers has very specific goals. I'd guess that the research previously brought to them by Harper allies was taken over by direct agents of the Heralds. That would also be purely scholarly activity, not great for PCs, but it seems the most logical course after the Harpers died out and were eventually resurrected into a new form. Heralds might want to research in Shade nobility, for example, and their neutrality might have bought them access to Netheril.
Current Harpers might have spies within the ranks of the Heralds, though, without the Heralds' knowledge. If a neutral Herald has access to courtly records of Netheril (or even Sembia), what a perfect position for a Harper spy to be in. Of course, if the heralds ever found out there would be consequences... but it's a unique opportunity the current Harpers might want badly.
Oh sorry, I'm currently using the 4th edition, regarding the year it's the beginning of the timeline for forth edition, whenever that is
The Vilhon Mercenary Corps is an organization I originally created in the RPGA's Living Forgotten Realms. However, it became an official organization per canon in the FR adventure 'Monument of the Ancients' ;)
There are also hints about it in the article Explore: Ikemmu.
Let me know if you want more info...
Also, my party is now working for the Blackstaff right now, along with other groups of agents; not sure if I will officially call this the reincarnation of the Moonstars, but I am certainly thinking about it.
I'm a big fan of religious orders as well, and I use the Knights of the Ruby Rose (paladins of Sune) and the Order of the Sun Soul (monks who follow Amaunator, Sune & Selune) in my campaign, and 2 of my PCs are members of the Knights of the Golden Dragon, an order of knights I created for the church of Torm in Waterdeep. I also developed a revamped version of the Scarlet Mummers, which were formerly a secretive group of acrobatic infiltrators & assassins devoted to Lliira, primarily opposing the church of Loviatar. My idea for the post-Spellplague Scarlet Mummers is that since Lliira is now an exarch of Sune, the group now serves the greater goddess directly or through Lliira, and they work against opprssion and tyranny wherever they find it - their primary foes are still agents of Loviatar, but they have also expanded their efforts to fight servants of Bane and his many exarchs (especially Fzoul), and the church of Shar (especially the monks of the Dark Moon). Most Scarlet Mummers are avengers, but many of them are monks, rogues, or bards.
A great organization to use in the North is the Soft Claws. Pre-Spellplague, this was a group secretly led by the silver dragon Zundaerazylym, and based in the city of Neverwinter. Now that Neverwinter is destroyed, Zundaerazylym could have easily moved to Silverymoon, Waterdeep, Loudwater, or even Baldur's Gate, and set up a new operation after a few decades of planning and rebuilding.
I hope this helps!
Have they been mentioned in LFR or DDi yet? Because of their ambitions in Waterdeep they might have been dragged down by the Hidden Lords and been removed from Waterdeep.
I also developed a revamped version of the Scarlet Mummers, which were formerly a secretive group of acrobatic infiltrators & assassins devoted to Lliira
I have considere dusing the mummers, though in a far less 'heroic' role. In my vision, the mummers drifted away from Lllira, becoming more savage and fanatic in their assasinations as time went on, and forgetting that they were serving a good goddess. I opciture them now as an unaligned/evil group rather than good.
Gomez
I also developed a revamped version of the Scarlet Mummers, which were formerly a secretive group of acrobatic infiltrators & assassins devoted to Lliira
I have considere dusing the mummers, though in a far less 'heroic' role. In my vision, the mummers drifted away from Lllira, becoming more savage and fanatic in their assasinations as time went on, and forgetting that they were serving a good goddess. I opciture them now as an unaligned/evil group rather than good.
I actually did something similar in my own game. I used the Spellplague to create disorder in the structure of the Scarlet Mummers, with the most conservative of them meeting unfortunate ends. This allowed for a number of more morally-ambiguous individuals to gain influence. Believing that it was a Scarlet Mummer's duty to hone her body to be a living weapon, these radical assassins began to emphasize a greater focus on martial training and pursuing marks rather than following Lliira's tenets. Eventually, this group was met with fierce resistance when the Mummers reorganized, and they and their followers were driven out. Thus, two factions under the name Scarlet Mummers existed at this time. Years later, a heretical priestess gained power in the breakaway faction. She started to associate the emphasis on martial training with Loviatar's message of dealing and bearing pain, and began to portray the Maiden of Pain in a way that complemented Lliira's nature. This unorthodox belief that the two goddesses were to be worshipped as two halves of a balance managed to take root, and today most of the assassins in the second Scarlet Mummers promote this doctrine of pain and pleasure. For their part, members of the original Scarlet Mummers combat their heretical counterparts to this day.