Rank
(Source: Hand of Shadow)
All Shadow characters start with a rank that determines their place in the pecking order of the forces of the dark god. Starting characters determine ranks using the following equation:
Race modifier + class modifier +1 per four levels in an appropriate class
Some characters may have a bonus to this number due to the "Rank Increase" advantage. Others may suffera a penalty to rank based on how their alignment and class levels compare to the norm for their race. For each step on the law-chaos axis by which a character's alignment differs from the preferred alignment for his race, he suffers a -1 penalty to rank. For each step on the good-evil axis by which a character's alignment differs from the preferred alignment for his race, he suffers a -2 penalty to rank.
The tables below provide rank modifiers based on race and class.
| Race Modifiers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Rank Mod | Preferred Alignment |
| Bugbear | -2 | Chaotic evil |
| Dwarf | -2 | Any evil |
| Elf | +2 | Any evil |
| Gnome | -1 | Any |
| Goblin | -3 | Any evil |
| Halfling | -4 | Any |
| Half-breed | As lowest-rank parent | Any |
| Hobgoblin | -1 | Any lawful |
| Human | +1 | Any |
| Ogre | -4 | Chaotic evil |
| Orc (Male) | +0 | Chaotic evil |
| Orc (Female) | +1 | Chaotic evil |
| Oruk | +2 | Lawful evil |
| Class Modifiers | |
|---|---|
| Class | Rank Mod |
| Barbarian | +0 |
| Channeler | -2 (+1 for elves or female orcs) |
| Defender | -3 |
| Fighter | +1 |
| Legate | +3 |
| Rogue | -2 |
| Wildlander | -1 |
Benefits of Rank
Rank can be broken down into three overarching hierarchies: church, civil, and military. Characters who serve the Shadow must select one of these groups in which to apply their ranks, though they need not have allegiance to the group. Whenever a character must make a rank check within his hierarchy, he rolls 1d20 and adds his character level + his rank + any circumstance modifiers the DM deems appropriate.
Assignments
The higher the character's rank, the better the chance he has at getting out of petty assignments with his hierarchy that are undesirable or overly dangerous. In order to weasel out of an assignment, a character must succeed on a rank check against a DC as shown below. The significance column indicates the importance of the assignment, and is always determined by the DM.
Minor Assignment: This assignment includes simple tasks such as carrying minor messages, delivering packages, or patrolling a secured area.
Lesser Assignment: Slightly more important than minor assignments, these include delivering messages or supplies to minor officials or encampments, scouting an area within a day or reinforcements, or spying on a lesser suspected traitor.
Moderate Assignment: Most adventurers qualify as at least moderate assignments. They can include scouting unexplored territory, guarding an important official or stronghold, or hunting for a known traitor.
Major Assignment: Major assignments are those that have significant impact on the Shadow's plans. They could include ambushing enemy supply lines, scouting dangerous territory, tracking down and capturing a dangerous traitor, siezing a village, or rooting out an average resistance cell.
Vital Assignment: These assignments are those that come from the Night Kings, generals, or Traitor Princes themselves. They include such things as assassinations, major offensives against elves or dwarves, destroying a dangerous resistance cell, and so on.
| Assignments | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Significance | Church | Military | Civil |
| Minor | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Lesser | 20 | 25 | 30 |
| Moderate | 25 | 30 | 35 |
| Major | 30 | 35 | 40 |
| Vital | 35 | 40 | 45 |
Authority
As a character gains levels and improves skills associated with his chosen faction, he can improve his status within his organization. A character's rank should be used as a requirement, but not automatic entry, to any particular level of authority. DMs should determine to to what levels of authority a character is promoted based on his apparent success on his missions (if the character succeeds but credit is stolen by another, or he cannot prove that he succeeded, he might as well have failed). A sample of possible positions, along with minimum rank required, are provided below.
Characters can generally command those within their hierarchy who are of lesser rank and expect that such orders will be followed. For the purposes of attempting to command those in another hierarchy, a character's effective rank is halved.
Note that legate and orc positions, as described in M2E, have minimum required levels, skill ranks, and in the case of orcs kill quantities. Civil positions, meanwhile, list a total skill bonus (which might be in any relevant skill, ranging from Bluff to Profession). These are meant to be used as guidelines for NPCs, and are presented here for convenience, but are not the final word on positions and rank. The PCs in the campaign will likely have an opportunity to succeed (or fail) on a much grander scale than common legates or soldiers, and as such may be able to ignore the normal requirements.
| Authority | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church Authority | ||||
| Rank | Title | Class Level | Skill Ranks in Knowledge (Shadow) | |
| 4 | Lesser Legate* | 1 | 2 | |
| 8 | Temple Legate | 5 | 8 | |
| 12 | Greater Legate | 16 | 19 | |
| * Soldier legates leave the normal hierarchy at 3rd level and advance no further in the mainstream Order. | ||||
| Civil Authority | ||||
| Rank | Title | Class Level | Skill Bonus | |
| 1 | Clerk/Contact/Landowner | 1 | 5 | |
| 2 | Functionary/Mole/Sycophant | 2 | 10 | |
| 4 | Official/Operative/Courtier | 4 | 15 | |
| 6 | Civil servant/Saboteur/Lord | 8 | 20 | |
| 8 | Administrator/Spy/Count | 12 | 25 | |
| 10 | Chancellor/Spymanster/Traitor Prince | 16 | 30 | |
| Military Authority | ||||
| Rank | Title | Class Level | Kills | Skill Ranks in Profession (Soldier) |
| 0 | Recruit | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Blooded | 2 | 10 | 4 |
| 4 | Trooper | 4 | 30 | 5 |
| 6 | Warrior | 6 | 50 | 6 |
| 8 | Champion | 8 | 70 | 7 |
| 9 | Commander | 10 | 100 | 9 |
| 10 | Warchief | 15 | 150 | 12 |
Mobility
When attempting to gain authorization for a journey that is not necessary for a mission or assignment, characters must make rank checks against a DC as shown on the table below. The DC depends on how much time you need. The DM may grant circumstance bonuses to the roll depending on the situation that calls you away from your duty, and almost certainly will inflict hefty penalties if you make requests too often. If you leave without authorization, or if you exceed the alloted time, you will face consequences when caught or upon your return--beatings, poor assignments, or worse. At the very least, this punishment includes the halving of your effective rank for an amount of time equal to twice your absence. If you have a good reason for your absence or at least offer a nice bribe, you stand a chance at avoiding punishment, but your effective rank is still halved.
| Mobility | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time for Journey | Church | Civil | Military |
| 1-3 days | DC 10 | DC 15 | DC 5 |
| 1-3 weeks | DC 15 | DC 20 | DC 15 |
| 1-3 months | DC 25 | DC 25 | DC 35 |
| 1-3 years | DC 40 | DC 30 | DC 50 |
Quarters
All characters begin play with wretched quarters. At 1st level, you may immediately make a rank check to improve your lot. Compare the check result to the table below to find the quality of your residence. Every time you gain a new level, make a rank check again to see if you can acquire better living quarters.
Wretched: Wretched quarters offer a place to sleep (though not the bedding upon which to do so) and little more. For civil workers, this may be a large dormitory or the stables of a seized inn. Servants of the church are relegated to the floors of temple foyers and storage chambers, while soldiers get to fight over space in barracks tents.
Average: Conditions improve somewhat at the average level, such that civil administrators might be allowed to move from the stables into the common room and priests may be given cots and partitions. The quarters are likely warm in the winter and there is occasional opportunity for privacy.
Good: Good accommodations mean true privacy and the potential for comfort. Generally these are cells, small apartments, or tents equipped with basic furniture and a chamber pot. These quarters are often shared with one other person.
Fine: These coveted quarters are completely private, have locks on the doors or guards within view of the tent flap, and are suitable for one person. They may even have multiple rooms and come with decent furniture.
Excellent: These multi-room accommodations are often the heights of whata servant of the dark god can expect. They may take the form of a small house or large apartment, and could comfortably house a half dozen friends or family. The furniture and other comforts are quite nice and these quarters probably include one servant.
Lavish: Reserved for some of the most important officials, lavish quarters are small keeps, towers, or mansions. They have over a dozen rooms, all decorated with the finest artifacts of the land. They are fortified and protected by 1d4+2 1st-level warriors and served by a staff of 2d4+4 servants.
Decadent: The very best a Shadow servant can hope to achieve are decadent accommodations. These large castles or palaces are exquisitely adorned and feature scores of rooms. A company of 1d20+10 warriors of varying levels protects the place a a full staff of 2d12+6 servants see to the character's every need.
| Quarters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarters | Church | Civil | Military |
| Wretched | -- | -- | -- |
| Average | DC 15 | DC 10 | DC 20 |
| Good | DC 20 | DC 15 | DC 25 |
| Fine | DC 25 | DC 20 | DC 30 |
| Excellent | DC 30 | DC 25 | DC 35 |
| Lavish | DC 35 | DC 30 | DC 40 |
| Decadent | DC 40 | DC 35 | DC 45 |
Requisitions
Shadow characters can requisition weapons, supplies, or even spellcasting services any time they're in a controlled community. First roll 2d10 per point of your rank to determine the base vp value worth of supplies or services you may requisition. If your rank is 0 or less, roll 1d10. Next, make a rank check and compare the result to the table below to determine the supply multiplier. Multiply the bse vp value of your requisition by the listed multiplier; the total is the amount of vp worth of supplies or services you acquire. Material supllies acquired in this way are subject to regional worth modifiers.
Spellcasting services cost 10 vp per spell level x caster level (or 5 vp x caster level for a 0-level spell). Expensive spell components must be paid for separately, as must 10% of the cost of a non-divine focus. Finally, if a spell has an XP component, it costs an additional 5 vp for each experience point expended. It is assumed that these services are provided by a divine spellcaster; if arcane spellcasting is specifically requested, all characters but those with an arcan spellcaster as a master suffer -20 to their rank check.
It is easier for a member of the church to acquire spellcasting services, and military characters have easier access to arms and armor. To represent this, each hierarchy has a type of supplies or service considered "primary," while other supplies and servies are "secondary."
| Requisitions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hierarchy | Primary Type | |
| Church | Spellcasting | |
| Civil | Supplies | |
| Military | Arms & Armor | |
| Check Result | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| 10 or less | x1 | x0 |
| 11-15 | x5 | x1 |
| 16-20 | x10 | x5 |
| 21-25 | x20 | x10 |
| 26-30 | x50 | x20 |
| 31-40 | x100 | x50 |
| 41-50 | x1,000 | x100 |
| 51 or more | x5,000 | x1,000 |
Starting Equipment
Characters of higher rank may receive more starting resources than others. These benefits are represented with bonus value points according to the character's rank. Simply roll starting vp as normal and multiply the result by the amount indicated on the table below.
| Rank | Starting Equipment |
|---|---|
| -5 or worse | x25% normal vp |
| -3 to -4 | x50% normal vp |
| -1 to -2 | x75% normal vp |
| 0 | Normal vp |
| +1 to +2 | x150% normal vp |
| +3 to +4 | x200% normal vp |
| +5 or better | x300% normal vp |
Troops
To requisition troops, make a rank check and compare the result with the DCs listed for the hierarchy in which your character has ranks. The number listed is the total number of HD worth of troops you gain. Use a troop's level modifier to determine its level for this purpose; if the troop's effective level is 0, it counts as one-half HD for this purpose. For instance, a level 1 bugbear fighter would count as 5 HD of troops, a level 1 bugbear warrior would count as 4 HD of troops (because NPC classes have a level modifier of -1), and two level 1 goblin rogues would count as one HD of troops. If your rank is 0 or less, you can't requisition troops.
Only one PC per hierarchy may bring troops for any given mission; in cases where multiple PCs from the same hierarchy want to bring troops on the same mission, the PC with the highest rank gains priority. Troops from several different hierarchies can end up accompanying a single party, leading to interesting power struggles.
The DC to requisition troops increases by +10 for each additional time you attempt to requisition troops within a 30-day period. Each time you fail to requisition any troops, your effective rank decreases by 1 for the next 30 days.
| Troops | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Check Result | Civil | Church | Military |
| 10 or less | -- | -- | -- |
| 11-15 | -- | 1/2 HD | 1 HD |
| 16-20 | 1/2 HD | 10 HD | 5 HD |
| 21-25 | 1 HD | 20 HD | 10 HD |
| 26-30 | 5 HD | 30 HD | 20 HD |
| 31-35 | 10 HD | 40 HD | 40 HD |
| 36-40 | 15 HD | 50 HD | 80 HD |
| 41-45 | 20 HD | 60 HD | 160 HD |
| 46+ | 25 HD | 70 HD | 320 HD |