As you approach the carriage, Lady Belavae, princess of Carn Valen steps from within the curtained door. “My thanks to you, strangers. I would be pleased if you would accompany me to my father’s keep for dinner this evening, and perhaps entertain his guests with tales of your adventures.”
“Strangers?! Doesn’t she remember me? In my history, I included that my father was a guardsman for the king, and I was raised in the castle with the princess. Shouldn’t she know me already?”
“Do I know anybody in this town?”
“I grew up here, shouldn’t I have a good friend who is a shopkeeper?”
“I go talk to the thieves guild lieutenant. You know, the one who got me into the guild.”
PCs tend to have an excess of anonymity as low-level players. Until they make a name for themselves, they tend to rely on interactions with people who they may have no real reason to know. While role-playing to develop relationships with shopkeepers, local healers, sages and the like is one thing, shouldn’t the character have established relationships before beginning a new session? If the players are especially creative with their backgrounds, how is it possible to determine whether a 1st level priest of Azuth has ever met Elminster, Volothamp, or even the local bishop. And if so, would someone of such stature even recognize the PC at a later date. More importantly, is the relationship between Cael “The Cat”, a 2nd level thief, and King Azoun IV such that if “Cat” came to call on the King, would he even get through the door?
The following presents a system to assist players and Dungeon Masters alike in determining how well connected a player is in the world. The system allows for unusual twists to the players background (“How does my Paladin know a local Bootlegger?”) as well as role-playing opportunities in the future (“While we’re in town, I’d like to drop by my old buddy the book-binder’s shop and see if I can get help translating this letter.”). It also helps the DM stock his world with NPCs, providing a basis for regular appearances of hometown heroes, favorite shopkeepers, and the occasional betrayal.
Since Charisma is the attribute most often affiliated with social skills, it will be the basis for this system. While any knuckle-headed barbarian with a Charisma higher than dirt can pay henchmen to like him, it takes a real charmer to win true friends. Table 1 is a reference for the total number of Acquaintances, Peers, and Allies that the beginning PC has access to.
Who You Know:
Acquaintances, for the purpose of this system, are people the character knows from life experiences. These could be people the character grew up with, met on the road, or deals with on a daily basis when not adventuring. Acquaintances are always 0-lvl members of the same race as the character. They have 2 traits (as determined from Table 4: Traits), and can be any alignment. Acquaintances are often skilled in a trade, and will have 1 secondary skill and 1-3 related skills. An acquaintance will generally respond favorably to requests made by the PC, although they will not provide services for free. They may substitute for a trainer when the PC wishes to learn a new skill. Acquaintances do expect the friendship to be mutual, and expect similar treatment when and if they come calling for help. In general, acquaintances know the PC’s face, they may know his/her name, and generally have a good grasp of the PC’s personality.
Peers are considered to be other adventurers that the PC knows. In this case, a peer is 1-3 level, and usually shares the same race, class, or alignment as the PC. Thus, a NG Half-Elven ranger may start out with a 3rd level human ranger as a mentor, a 2nd level NG halfling priest from a nearby shire, or 1st level half-elven bard as a peer. Optionally, the character can be of a related class. Thus, a paladin could start out having a peer who is a priest in the local temple to his god, a ranger may know a fighter from a nearby town, etc. Peers always have two traits, and their full allotment of skills for an adventurer of their level. Peers know the PC from shared experience, and are likely to help out if the PC needs it. They also may come to the PC for help whenever they are in trouble. Peers may (at the DM’s discretion) accompany the PC on adventures, as per henchmen, but with a +4 bonus to morale.
The last category of companions that the PC may begin play with are Allies. Allies are generally the most important people the character knows at the beginning of his career. Allies are NPCs that are 5-7th level if of a class different than the PC, or 7-10th level if of the same class. An ally could be anyone from the new wizard’s 8th level teacher to a local hero that rides in to rescue the PCs from certain death. Allies are the least accessible for day-to-day needs of the PC, but often help with training, information, or last minute rescues. Allies are not required to share any common ground with the PC such as alignment, race, or class, and simply explaining how the 1st level LN Priest knows a 6th level NE thief could be an interesting part of his history. Allies always have 2 traits and full skills and abilities of their adventuring class.
You may ask, what good would having a system that gives a character some low level contacts be unless it also gives the DM some nice plotline assistance as well? For every friend, peer, or ally a character has, he also has a chance of having stepped on somebody’s toes along the way. Also, the higher a character’s charisma, the better chance that he stands out in a crowd, and is more likely to be the subject of someone’s misguided (or properly guided) hatred. For every NPC that the character starts out knowing, the DM should roll a percentile dice. If the percent is less than or equal to the players % Enemy, that NPC has a hidden (or not so hidden) dislike of the character. It could be an imagined offense, an actual offense, or just a secret desire to see the PC fail miserably. While the NPC enemy may act as if he were an Acquaintance/Peer/Ally, secretly the character will work against the PC when possible. Obviously, at some point the PC may figure out that his old friend is working against him, but what happens when that enemy is the wizard’s teacher, and a good 5 levels ahead of him?
What They Know:
Of course, nothing is worse of a kick in the shins to a game master than having more people to keep up with AND having to fill in the details of said NPCs. However, having a few details should be enough to “wing it” when called upon to act in the role of the character’s friends. Filling in the new friend’s personality traits, race, and class (or profession) can be easily accomplished by random rolls Tables 2-4. Optionally, the player (or DM) can choose details that fit the character or campaign background, but rolling is suggested to reflect the random chances that throw people together until they stick.
Table 2: Common Ground is used to determine what the new friend and the PC have in common. Obviously, since Acquaintances have no class levels, they cannot share class with the PC. Also, since they are assumed to be of the same race as the PC, that is not considered common ground. Thus, Acquaintances roll 1d4 instead of 1d6+1 when rolling on Table 2. Since Allies are often someone the character has sought out to associate with, they are less likely to be from the same social class or family, and instead roll 1d6+2 on the Table.
Table 3: Profession applies primarily to Acquaintances, and neither Peers nor Allies are required to roll. However, the player (or DM) may wish to roll on the table to determine what secondary career these adventuring classes have. Along with each of these Professions, skills are recommended that the NPC could have access to. It is up to the DM and the player to determine what types of skills, and how skilled the character is.
Roll twice on Table 4: Traits, to give the new NPC some personality. These personality elements should be used as guidelines for the behavior of the NPC. Obviously, some strange combinations may turn up, but with a little work, most are workable. Again, these reflect things about the world that the PC has no control over, so if the DM opts to not roll them, they should be selected by the DM to fit the campaign better.
Table 1: Charisma & Friendship
Charisma Acq. Peers Allies % Enemy
1 1 - - 20%
2 1 - - 20%
3 2 - - 20%
4 2 1 - 20%
5 2 1 1 15%
6 3 1 1 15%
7 3 1 1 15%
8 3 1 1 15%
9 4 2 1 5%
10 4 2 1 5%
11 4 2 1 5%
12 5 2 1 5%
13 5 2 1 10%
14 5 3 1 10%
15 5 3 2 10%
16 5 3 2 10%
17 5 3 2 15%
18 6 4 3 20%
19 6 4 3 20%
20 7 4 3 20%
21 8 4 3 20%
22 9 5 4 20%
23 10 6 5 20%
24 11 7 5 25%
25 12 8 6 25%
Table 2: Common Ground
Roll Shared Origin
(1d4/1d6+1/1d6+2)
1 Social Status
2 Family
3 Hometown
4 Alignment
5 Class
6 Race
7 DM's Choice
8 No Common Background
Table 3: Profession
2D12 Profession Associated Skills
2 Actor (Acting, Disguise, Bluff)
3 Apothecary/Herbalist (Healing, Alchemy, Herbalism)
4 Artist (Artistic Abilities, Reading/Writing, Appraisal)
5 Bartender (Intimidation, Storytelling, Crowd Working)
6 Beggar (Bluff, Local History)
7 Blacksmith (Armorer, Weaponsmith, Appraisal)
8 Carpenter (Engineering, Woodworking, Artistic Ability)
9 Engineer/Mason (Engineering, Stoneworking)
10 Farmer (Agriculture, Animal Handling, Weather Sense)
11 Guardsman (Intimidation, Alertness, Law)
12 Innkeeper (Etiquette, Folklore, Languages)
13 Jeweler (Appraisal, Gem Cutting, Goldworking)
14 Magistrate (Law, Investigation, Bureaucracy)
15 Merchant (Appraisal, Haggling)
16 Nobility (Etiquette, Heraldry, Politics)
17 Sage (Any Knowledge)
18 Sailor (Swimming, Orienteering, Seamanship)
19 Scribe (Reading/Writing, Bookbinding, Calligraphy)
20 Soldier (Alertness, Tactics, Riding)
21 Steward (Bargaining, Heraldry, Reading/Writing)
22 Town/City Official (Politics, Oratory, City Familiarity)
23 Trademaster (Cooking, Pottery, Weaving, etc)
24 Trapper/Furrier (Hunting, Survival, Tracking)
Table 4: Traits
1d100 Trait
01 Abrasive
02 Aggressive
03 Alcoholic
04 Aloof
05 Ambitious
06 Apathetic
07 Arrogant
08 Bad-Mannered
09 Boisterous
10 Brash
11 Chauvinistic
12 Cheerful
13 Clumsy
14 Comedic
15 Competitive
16 Conceited
17 Confident
18 Cosmopolitan
19 Courageous
20 Cowardly
21 Creative
22 Cruel
23 Devious
24 Devout
25 Dogmatic
26 Draconic
27 Easy-Going
28 Eccentric
29 Effeminate/ Masculine
30 Even-Tempered
31 Forgetful
32 Friendly
33 Frivolous
34 Generous
35 Gentle
36 Gluttonous
37 Good-Natured
38 Greedy
39 Hard-Working
40 Hedonistic
41 Helpless
42 Honest
43 Humanitarian
44 Humble
45 Indecisive
46 Insecure
47 Inventive
48 Irritable
49 Jocular
50 Kind
51 Lazy
52 Lonely
53 Longwinded
54 Masochistic
55 Mean-Spirited
56 Melancholy
57 Methodical
58 Militant
59 Nit-Picky
60 Old-Fashioned
61 Optimistic
62 Overconfident
63 Overzealous
64 Pacifistic
65 Pampered
66 Paranoid
67 Pessimistic
68 Practical
69 Proper
70 Quiet
71 Racist
72 Rude
73 Sadistic
74 Secretive
75 Self-Absorbed
76 Sexist
77 Shy
78 Simple
79 Spartan
80 Spoiled
81 Spontaneous
82 Stubborn
83 Suave
84 Superficial
85 Tacky
86 Temperamental
87 Two-Faced
88 Underhanded
89 Unpredictable
90 Vain
91 Violent
92 Wasteful
93 Worldly
94 Xenophobic
95 Zealous
96-97 Roll 3 Traits
98-99 DM’s Choice
100 NPC Promotes (Acquaintance to Peer, etc)
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Disclaimer: If these charts do not format in an understandable way, [email=soto@email.unc.edu]Email Me[/email], and I will send you the full version of this file in MSWord Document format.
I had already made this; it's a table of professions. It fits into your system and I used it instead of table 3.
1 ambassador
2 almoner
3 artisan / sculptor / wood carver
4 apprentice
5 acolyte / attendant / assistant
6 architect
7 alchemist / herbalist
8 adventurer
9 barbarian
10 barrister / lawyer / advocate
11 blacksmith / goldsmith / fine metals worker
12 bounty hunter
13 baker / butcher
14 beggar / pauper
15 bandit / robber / plunderer
16 baron / emperor / king / duke
17 bouncer
18 bard
19 bodyguard / guardian / guard / watchman
20 book keeper / librarian
21 beastmaster / animal tender
22 barkeeper / innkeeper
23 castellan (male) / chatelaine (female)
24 chamberlain
25 coordinator
26 caretaker / custodian
27 cartographer / map maker
28 captain of the guard / commander / constable / warder / lieutenant
29 chieftain
30 concubines / harlots / courtesan
31 cultist
32 commoner / peasant
33 council member
34 counselor / advisor
35 chancellor
36 child
37 cook
38 cleric / priest / clerk
39 dancer
40 ditcher / delver
41 docker
42 dock master
43 drug dealer
44 druid / shaman
45 executioner
46 escapee
47 entertainer / jester / artist / minstrel / poet
48 falconer
49 fence / smuggler
50 fallen paladin / black guard
51 fanatic
52 fisherman / farmer / herder / shepherd
53 fighter / warrior / soldier
54 gardener
55 guide
56 gatekeeper / porter
57 gladiator / combatant
58 heretic
59 healer / surgeon
60 hermit
61 high lord / mayor
62 high merchant
63 high mage
64 high priest
65 laird / landlord
66 lady in waiting / handmaiden
67 laborer / miner
68 magistrate / judge
69 mason / stonecrafter
70 mercenary / hireling
71 militia
72 monk
73 maid / barmaid
74 mechanic / artificer
75 moneychanger / moneylender
76 messenger / town crier
77 noble / aristocrat
78 paladin
79 prince / princess
80 philosopher / sage / wiseman
81 procurer / pimp
82 prophet / soothsayer
83 politician / bureaucrat / minister
84 provost / prison keeper / surveyor / jailkeep
85 pirate / sailor
86 reeve / tax collector
87 rogue / thief / assassin
88 ranger
89 squire / shield bearer
90 scribe / writer / scrivener
91 scholar / student / disciple
92 slavetrader / slaver
93 sorcerer / warlock
94 shopkeeper / merchant / storekeep
95 servant / slave / lackey
96 thug / Ruffian
97 tanner / leather merchant / mercer / draper
98 undertaker / mortician / coroner
99 veteran
100 wizard / mage / magician