Adventuring Companies

Adventuring companies represent groups of characters bound together for some purpose. A company provides a theme, unique benefits, and a loose framework for a group of characters. The following companies are available to adventurers:

Prestige

As you adventure, your adventuring company becomes an increasingly important part of the world. The territory in which you operate expands, your list of contacts and associates grows, and you receive more significant and frequent opportunities to advance your adventuring company’s agenda.

Prestige measures your adventuring company’s status. As your company increases its prestige, it unlocks new and more powerful features for itself and its members.

Earning Prestige

As an adventuring company completes adventures and accomplishes specific goals, its prestige increases, as described below.

Company Accomplishments. The rules for each adventuring company include several accomplishments that grant the company 1 prestige. The GM determines whether the company’s actions qualify as an accomplishment. The company can achieve a single accomplishment several times, earning prestige each time it does so. For example, an Intrepid Investigators adventuring company can achieve the “discovering an ancient ruin” accomplishment multiple times, but the company can only earn prestige the first time it discovers a particular ruin. The GM is the final arbiter when it comes to deciding whether a particular task is worthy of being considered an accomplishment.

Leveling. Whenever a member of the company gains a new level, the company gains 1 prestige.

Losing Prestige

An adventuring company can not only gain prestige, but also lose it as well. After a string of defeats, once-great mercenary companies can find their supply of recruits becoming as barren as their prospects for employment. Among outlaw gangs, it is common for younger, hungrier groups to take down their older and more complacent rivals.

The GM determines when a company loses prestige, as well as how much it loses. A loss of prestige usually follows a failed attempt to complete a major mission or objective or a string or small defeats, but it can also be due to the company’s failure to pursue its opportunities.

If a company loses enough prestige to drop to a lower tier, it loses any benefits it received from its previous tier. The company must sell off assets to stay afloat, hirelings move on to seek employment elsewhere, and patrons reduce their commitment to the company in favor of other ventures.

Tiers

As an adventuring company earns accomplishments and gains notoriety, it receives unique benefits and recognition for its deeds. This is represented in-game by the adventuring company’s tier.

Each company begins at tier 1. When a company earns enough prestige, its tier increases by 1 to a maximum of 4. Each tier provides certain benefits and represents the adventuring company’s growing importance. To advance to a new tier, the company must have the minimum amount of prestige for the new tier. In order to gain the benefits of a tier a member of the company must have gained the minimum number of character levels, as shown in the Prestige and Tiers table.

Company TierCompany PrestigeMinimum Character Level
10 – 10001
21001 – 25003
32501 – 50006
45001+12
Prestige & Tiers

Company Benefits

Each adventuring company offers specific benefits to its members as a group. For example, an Outlaws adventuring company can earn protection money from businesses in its territory, and any gold received in this fashion is split evenly among the adventuring company’s members. The benefits an adventuring company receives at each tier are cumulative with all those from lower tiers.

Company Prerequisites

Certain adventuring companies have prerequisites for membership. Any character created as a part of the company must meet any specified prerequisites to form or join the company. These prerequisites take many forms, including class, background, and proficiency in specific skills or with specific tools.

Changing Adventuring Companies

At various points during their careers, members of a company may decide to pursue different goals. For example, a criminal gang might abandon its illicit ways and choose to serve the law instead, or a group of arcanists seeking knowledge of magic might pledge its loyalty to a god or infernal as a newly formed cult.

If they do so, they lose any benefits earned by their former company.

Company Downtime Activities

In addition to regular downtime activities, members of an adventuring company can perform certain unique downtime activities. These range from spending time interacting with friendly contacts to learning more about a particular opponent or opportunity, drumming up new recruits from the local population, or participating in specific questionable or unethical pursuits.

As with normal downtime activities, any activities the company member attempts require a certain number of hours to perform. Each member of the company must contribute to the effort in order to make progress on a company’s downtime activity.

The rules below describe general downtime activities that can be undertaken by any adventuring company, regardless of type. In addition, each company can engage in special activities available only to that company, as explained in the rules for each company.

Boasting

One of the essential skills of a growing adventuring company is the ability to market itself. A company can increase its prestige by spending time hitting the streets and sharing information about its exploits and capabilities.

Each day (8 hours) spent boasting increases the company’s prestige by 1. A company cannot use this downtime activity to increase its prestige beyond the maximum prestige for its current tier, as listed in the Prestige and Tiers table.

Prison Break

A company can spend time and influence to have an arrested individual freed from imprisonment or to reduce the arrested individual’s punishment. Members of the company must persuade or bribe officials, find exculpatory evidence, or discover or fabricate a credible alibi for the accused.

Regardless of the method, it costs 10 gp per day (8 hours) of activity. The number of days required is equal to the level or challenge rating of the arrested individual (minimum of 1 day).

Recruitment Drive

Many companies rely on a modest cohort of hirelings to function at their full capacity. Unfortunately, events can cause hirelings to seek employment elsewhere—or to perish while attempting to fulfill their duties. Members of a company can try to replace lost hirelings by visiting local watering holes, setting up notices for employment, and hitting the streets to spread the word. A recruitment drive requires 1 gp per day (8 hours) of activity. The number of days spent engaged in this activity determines the number and challenge rating of the hirelings
the company attracts, as shown in the Recruitment Drive table.

Days (8 hour) SpentHirelings Recruited
1 (8 hrs)2d4 CR 0 hirelings or 1d4 CR 1/8 hirelings or 1 CR 1/4 hireling
2 (16 hrs)2d4 CR 1/8 hirelings or 1d4 CR 1/4 hirelings
4 (24 hrs)2d4 CR 1/4 hirelings or 1d4 CR 1/2 hirelings or 1 CR 1 hireling
8 (64 hrs)2d4 CR 1/2 hirelings or 1d4 CR 1 hirelings
Recruitment Drive Table

Creating an Adventuring Company

Creating an adventuring company is option and can be done only with the GM’s consent. To create an adventuring company follow these steps:

Creation Requirements:

  • Must be Tier 2 (Character Level 5+)
  • Must be RP Level 8+ (Harvester)
  • Must pay 500gp in start up costs (registration, bribes, equipment, logistics, you know – important stuff)
  • Must meet all membership requirements for the framework selected

Creation Steps:

  1. Select one company concept from the above frameworks
  2. Ensure that all membership requirements are met
  3. Devise a name for your adventuring company
  4. Inform a GM of your intentions via a ticket in discord

Viewing Existing Companies

Once created Adventuring Companies can be viewed and maintained in the Kinship tab on Chronica. There you will find all pertinent information about the company and a list of its members. In addition, members will have access to their companies treasury and other things available to only their company through this section of the website.

Joining Existing Companies

Joining an existing company pretty straight forward. Contact a company member, and ensure you have met the requirements below to join.

Join Requirements

  1. Character Level 4+
  2. RP Level 2+
  3. Meet all membership requirements for the company you are joining
  4. Open a Ticket in discord with the appropriate details.