Nobility Means Class

[subplotkudzu]

I just finished a borrowed copy of Dynasties and Demagogues that I was skimming for possible Emirikol use and had a couple off things I wanted to run past people.

First, the book as a lot of leadership prestige classes that have a few neat special abilities in them. Rather than transplant all of those classes in, I'm thinking about cherry picking the cooler abilities to beef up the Aristocrat class, turning it into a political warrior with money that's on par with any other PC class. Since Melas has a level in Aristocrat and the other PCs could get one (forget the 'can only take at first level rule') it might fit in nicely. 

Second, the book also has personality feats - once you take one if you act in an appropriate fashion you get action points that can be spent either for more XP or for a 1d6 bonus to any d20 roll. One of their goals is to beef up the political game's XP curve to match a combat heavy one.  

Third, and somewhat connected, I had been playing with the idea of tracking profligate spending by the PCs and treating it as banked gold towards 'hero point' effects. D&D operates under a very gamist assumption that you will be spending the lion's share of your earnings on becoming more powerful, but part of the goal of Emirikol is to live the high life while you can as befits a young noble with a sword. The longer the game goes on the more disconnect there will be between those two assumptions. My hope is to make it so that your spending money like water is actually an investment in boosting your morale, skills, or the blessings of your ancestors for living as a noble should. 

Once you've pissed away enough money(and it has to be on maintaining you lifestyle, no investments or infrastructure improvements or anything else) you 'purchase' a one use power that mimics a common potion. You can select the one you want when you need it, but can't use them once a fight or scene has started. These emulate the short bursts of competence that swashbucklers have to keep a plot moving, and in the case of Aid to take on a single superior foe after a brief respite once you've dispatched his minions. They also keep me from having to have the world populated with alchemists, and for you all to do anything so unseemly as carry around  a bundle of potion bottles. 
200 GP
Vision
Swimming
Hiding
Sneaking

400 GP
Charisma 
Intelligence
Wisdom
Endurance
Aid
Cat's Grace
Bull's Strength

Any thoughts?

Comments

[mylescorcoran]

If you have to keep the GP economy explicit in D&D then I don't see a problem describing 'potions' as one-use powers of any sort, paid for with GP and glossed as a night at the opera, redeemed later as a CHA bonus, or a weekend's massive debauchery, which grants a CON bonus for the scene as you've obviously the constitution of an ox to be out adventuring after that alcohol poisoning.

Encouraging the players to come up with plausible backstory or flashbacks to justify the 'potion' effect might also grant an extra turn's duration, or some other minor benefit.

I liked Dynasties and Demagogues, though I've never really had an opportunity to use it in anger.