There will definitely be some changes made between this draft and the final version, but here's my take on the factions, handling them as buffed versions of the DMG factions, rather than backgrounds, as I've also been working on planar backgrounds.
There will be additional powers as well at higher levels of Conviction, much like in The Factol's Manifesto, but this is meant to be more like A Player's Guide to the Planes, giving you the basics to start playing.
Thoughts?
planescape character sheet.pdf
Here's a Planescape character sheet I threw together for now, which has space for your faction and plane of origin. I'll make an update sometime soon with more defined Planescape feel to it, once some additional rules are figured out and I know if I need to add anything else.
Hi there. I've been meaning to respond to this for a while.
I think you've done great work on the factions.
I've seen some material on line that has created new Backgrounds for each faction... but I never really agreed with that. Surely you should be able to have a background and join a faction. The rules for Renown are a far better fit, and I like the way you've also taken some of the spirit of the Belief Points from the old Planewalker's Handbook. I will definitely be lifting these rules whole-cloth for my upcoming Planescape campaign - so many, many thanks. You have saved me hours of work!
I just have two questions:
Would you intend that the faction benefits (e.g. the Athar's Divine Resistance, or the Harmonium's Peaceful Coercion) be available to all members of the faction with a Conviction score of 1 or higher?
I was toying with the idea of those abilities not becoming available until a character has demonstrated a certain commitment to the Faction and its philosophy. So they wouldn't be available until the character has a Conviction score of 10 or more. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that.
Secondly, the 5th edition DMG suggests that gathering Renown could be something a character does during Downtime. Would you think that Conviction could be acquired in the same way, or should it best be left for the player to pursue actively in game? My feeling is that given how long it takes to earn Renown/Conviction in this manner it probably would work during Downtime.
Anyway - thanks again. I would be very interested to see any revisions you make.
Thanks for your response! I've been meaning to finish the work on this, but I hadn't heard any feedback, so I wasn't sure if I should continue this approach or not. Your response is really encouraging, and I'm glad that it will be of use to you.
Yes, my intention was to have the faction abilities available to anyone with a Conviction score of 1 or higher, the same way that the abilities were available to members of factions in 2e. Mainly because it's an immediate reinforcement of the differences between all of the factions, and the way that belief does indeed shape reality. My intention is to have more significant abilities at each "rank," so the more powerful abilities are only available to faction members that truly show conviction in the faction philosophy.
I'd say handle it as you see fit, but that was my intention.
In 3e, I hated that the factions were handled as prestige classes, so you had to choose between taking a level in your primary class, or actually being a functioning member of your faction. It seemed to work better as some kind of a kit, so I've tried to keep that feel to it, but still allow you to increase your faction abilities as your character advances (by picking up Conviction points along the way). I have some of the higher faction abilities fleshed out already, and I'll try to finish that up sometime soon.
I hadn't thought about building Conviction during downtime. It certainly seems feasible, so I don't see why not, as long as they're spending that time on faction-related things. My only concern would be more powerful faction abilities being picked up by low-level characters, but that would depend entirely on how often Conviction points are awarded by the DM. I haven't been able to actually put these rules to the test yet, so if you do, I'd love to hear any feedback on how things are working out.
Thanks again for the input! I'll try to make some more progress soon, and post it as I can, probably doing one faction at a time. If there are any particular factions that you'd have preference on seeing first, let me know. There are a couple that I'm having some difficulties on (Bleakers and Takers), so those two make take a little longer, but they'll be done at some point. I have the most progress done with the Athar, Doomguard, and Ciphers, so those may be some of the first to be finished.
Oh, one thing that I had noticed after I posted the character sheet was that I completely forgot to add a spot for Conviction score! It will end up in the Faction area on the back, near Faction Rank. I'll likely end up making some other changes to that as well, but I hadn't bothered since I'd heard no feedback on the Conviction system. That's a fix I'll make sometime soon.