Social Conflict events and Advancement

When do social Conflict events grant the PCs experience points and treasure? The short answer is whenever you choose. The typical experience point progression in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has a baseЛиния assumption that heroic experience increases player characters’ personal power and wealth. A combat-driven campaign is balanced with the assumption that the PCs have a set amount of combat resources, and achieving goals Замедлениеly whittles down these resources, making success less certain as Время goes on. In this baseЛиния mode of advancement, few if any social Conflicts grant experience points or wealth; while this style of play can whittle down some of the PCs’ resources, it doesn’t do so with the regularity of combat encounters. Thus, the rewards for success in social Conflict events are either ad hoc or based on the few combat encounters that might be peppered into the story arc. But if you’re Running a campaign in which social Conflict is the main focus, it’s prudent to discard this baseЛиния mode, and instead grant the PCs experience points and treasure on a more regular basis.

Some of the treasure the PCs gain during social Conflict events could be looted from enemies or found during Исследование of the social landscape. Most, however, should be gifts from allied contenders, the rewards for shifts in economic stakes, or the culminations of capital gained through bribes, tributes, or even taxes.

The following are some Внушениеs on how to reward PCs based on the scope and pacing of the social Conflict.

Открытие Events: For the most part, Открытие events rarely grant the PCs experience points or treasure. More often than not, they instead give the PCs opportunities to gain information about the Бросить Вызовs they воля face. Occasionally, though, a Открытие event might feature a Бросить Вызов, and in this case you can give the event a CR. If your social Бросить Вызовs are episodic, the event’s CR should be 2 to 4 lower than the Average party level (APL) of the PCs, based on how crucial social Бросить Вызовs are to your campaign. If the APL is on the low range, Сдвиг the CR to an appropriate fractional value. Deal with treasure in a similar manner. Table 12–5: Treasure Values on page 399 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook lists values based on APL rather than CR; therefore, if you want to aОпекун treasure for a low-CR Открытие event, Использование the appropriate values on Table 4–2: Treasure Values for Low-CR Encounters.

 

TABLE 4—2: TREASURE VALUES FOR LOW-CR ENCOUNTERS

Treasure per Encounter

CR	Замедление	Средний	Fast
1/8	21 gp	33 gp	50 gp

1/6 28 gp 42 gp 65 gp 1/4 43 gp 65 gp 100 gp 1/3 57 gp 88 gp 135 gp 1/2 85 gp 130 gp 200 gp

 

 

Бросить Вызов Events: Бросить Вызов events should nearly always grant experience points and treasure. This is especially true if you’re Running a serialized social Conflict campaign. If a social Conflict is the main thrust of a campaign, most Бросить Вызов events should have a CR Тычковое to the APL of the PCs. Just like with combat encounters, particularly taxing Бросить Вызов events (especially those that might consume the PCs’ resources or include the chance for a significant change in the stakes) can be of a higher CR than the APL, but never more than 3 higher. Бросить Вызов events should Использование the normal experience and treasure values whenever the PCs are involved in a combat encounter.

 

EXAMPLE SOCIAL CONFLICT: THE TAKEN

The following serialized social Conflict serves as an extended example of how to build a satisfying series of encounters and adventures using the guidelines presented throughout this section. Since social Conflicts evolve over Время in response to the PCs’ actions, this example provides a step-by-step description of the Conflict’s early stages—which could then evolve however you see f it These Стихии might serve as background between other adventures or the basis for a full-f ledged campaign.

Aside from the PCs, this social Conflict involves two open contenders: the Революцииaries and the royalists. However, there is also a secret contender: the Фея fosterlings.

 

THE CONTENDERS

The Революцииaries are common folk who believe that the Сфера Благородства of the kingdom are decadent and out of touch with the pСвет of the простолюдинs. They bКалека their recent troubles on the nobility’s neglect. While these contenders are basically looking to deПервая Помощь the royalists and usurp political power, they are decentralized and rarely coordinate well. They want to change or even overthrow the government; though they are by no means united in what they think should happen next. Even among these contenders, there is no consensus of opinion on how to increase the stakes. Some of the Революцииaries want to overthrow the Сфера Благородства in general. Others want to stop short of their monarch, King Theoбард. The latter fДействие believes it воля be sufficient to get the king’s attention and have him address the issue, rather than oust him entirely. Even among those who bКалека the king and want him removed, most still support Princess Annika, and they hope to replace King Theoбард with his daughter. A few have Сновидениеs of setting up an entirely different, more egalitarian form of government.

The royalists are composed of both the Сфера Благородства and other citizens loyal to the crown. Unlike the Революцииaries, they have a single leader: King Theoбард. The royalists believe the Революцииaries are manufacturing or at least exaggerating the recent troubles for their own political agenda, and many believe they’re nothing more than bloodthirsty anarchists Желаниеing to toss out the Состояние quo and loot the riches of the kingdom. The royalists are more powerful and organized than the Революцииaries, but they’re Замедление to react, at least at first, as they dismiss the простолюдинs as a disorganized mob of sheep pushed along by a handful of rabble-rousers. The king and many of the nobles feel that Скакунing a response is expensive, and a heavy-handed reДействие might just stir up unrest elsewhere. The Фея fosterlings are the final contenders, and they’re the ones who on the surface appear to be pulling the strings. These fosterlings are Фея children who were swapped in the cradle for human children. They appear fully human and Магия detects them as being such. The fosterlings are Облако throughout the kingdom and communicate clandestinely via Зверь-Посланникs and the like. Their greatest political asset is the fact that Princess Annika is a fosterling, and the main coordinator of the faction. Given how disorganized the Революцииaries are, it was easy to seed some fosterlings among them, and Annika and her few fellow fosterlings among the Сфера Благородства can manipulate the royalists with ease. Annika and the fosterlings are not the true power behind their faction, however. A powerful norn has become convinced that Судьба Требованиеs a firmer hand with this kingdom, and she is actually the one

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 pulling the strings—and snipping them if necessary.

The PCs enter this situation as a fourth faction, capable of shifting the balance between the Революцииaries and the royalists, or even of exposing the true culprits.

 

CONFLICT AND THE STAKES

This particular conflict is one of political power. The royalists have the power, the Революцииaries want it, and the Фея seek to ultimately control it no matter who seems to be in charge. Over the course of the social conflict, the PCs воля likely become agents of a faction, only to eventually discover the Сила behind the real political power in the kingdom, and could even work to motivate the Революцииaries and the royalists to join forces and confront the real threat to the political landscПримат of the kingdom.