INFLUENCE
Nobody is successful on their own. You have allies, business partners, colleagues, family, fans, followers, friends, investors, mentors, supporters, etc. who help you rise to positions of power, prestige, and/or success. The Influence system helps players to build, record, track, and utilize influence over NPCs and organizations. Much of your wealth and power comes from influence rather than literal cash in your pocket. Your power in the game can vary a lot based on the friends (and enemies) you make.

What are Influences For?
Influences are important because they not only provide you excellent roleplaying opportunities, they can also provide discounts on:
How does it Work?
When you attempt to buy a product or service from a friendly NPC or organization with a level equal to or lower than their friendly rating, you get a 10% discount. Likewise, if you attempt to sell products or services they desire of equal or lower level, they'll pay 10% more than normal. This increases to 25% for helpful ratings. Over time and with expensive purchases, this becomes a game changer economically.

Hireling Costs
A hireling costs (level)2 * 1 silver/day for NPC class levels and (level)2 * 1 gold/day for PC class levels or monster levels. Spellcasting an NPC is capable of is included in services only if they have no material component costs or consumable usage (ex. wand or potion). Anything that requires material component costs typically must be purchased separately: (spell level)2 * 1 gold + material component costs.

Utar Evson (Example Influence 1)
Level 6 Medium Organic Humanoid (Human, Undead, Vampire) ♦ Friendly 5 ♦ Helpful 0
A weaselly and ugly vampire, Utar is an alchemist by trade. He buys and sells blood packs and alchemical creations. He can also be hired to analyze, research, or otherwise offer expertise in Alchemy.

Re'klaw Niks (Example Influence 2)
Level 6 Medium Organic Humanoid (Canid, Human, Shapeshifter) ♦ Friendly 6 ♦ Helpful 1
A tall brazen and hairy werewolf, Niks remains in human form most of the time but is happy to transform at the slightest hint of trouble. He's attuned to nature and enjoys the outdoors, like most of his kind. He's an excellent tracker and guide as well as a talented fighter. Niks is a ranger that can be hired as a guide through wilderness as well as a bodyguard.

[private to gm:

STARTING INFLUENCE
A character can have up to 8 + Charisma modifier influences at a time, though you begin play with only half this many. You can create NPCs of your own and even write backstories for how they know your character. You begin with all influences as 1st-level friendly.


INFLUENCE POINTS
You have a number of Influence Points (IP) equal to your level + your Charisma modifier (minimum 0).

You can spend your IP improving your standing with an influence up to a maximum equal to that influence's level or your level (whichever is less). Once maxed, you can permanently give up your influence points to forge an alliance with the influence allowing you to invest in it again up to your level or it its level. An ally gives you better benefits than an affiliation. If an alliance is broken, you regain the IP over time but not immediately. It takes anywhere from weeks to years depending on how much IP is lost.


INFLUENCE CONDITIONS & LEVELS
Influences give you a discount on all services and products that they provide that have a level equal to or lower than your influence over them.
Friendly 10%, Helpful 25%.
NPCs typically have a niche field of goods and services they provide but you can expand these fields by merging influences (see Merging Influences).


INFLUENCE TIERS
NPCs are referred to as Tier 1 influences. You can merge 3 Tier 1 influences into one Tier 2 influence if they are all part of the same organization or town, allowing you to hold sway over an entire organization or town instead of just 3 people.

To do this, you must have all three helpful towards you. Merging them into one changes your condition and level of influence to the lowest of the three.

You can also merge 3 tier 2 influences within the same country, nation, kingdom, or providence into one influence to hold sway over an entire region (tier 3 influence).

You can merge 3 tier 3 influences within the same continent into one influence to hold sway over an entire continent (tier 4 influence).

You can merge 3 tier 4 influences on the same planet into one to hold sway over an entire planet (tier 5 influence).

There is no influence above tier 5, but you can collect multiple tier 5 influences by continually merging other types of influences.


<smallcaps>How it Works</smallcaps>
Every time you significantly help an NPC, you can attempt to gain influence over them. This has a series of steps involved.

Step 1: Help:
This can include performing a favor or giving a gift to an NPC that they feel is significantly helpful. Many quests are favors for NPCs. The aid you give must be something the NPC wants and must be something they consider significant. Unsolicited aid or trivial gifts have no guarantee of influencing NPCs.

Step 2: Influence check:
Once you've helped an NPC, you can speak with them for at least a minute and make an appropriate Charisma-based skill check to improve your influence over them.

You could use Diplomacy to establish trade relations, negotiations, or build a friendship.

Intimidation through crimes and acts of terror to frighten people into submission instead of building good will.

Perform would be great if you use recreation and showmanship to impress and entertain others.

Deception usually can't build influence but rather helps to convince people to follow along with other things you do. For example, deceiving someone into believing the gold-plated kettle you're selling them is actually solid gold and therefore worth a lot more may trick them into believing you're giving them a significant gift.

Each NPC is weak to 1 or 2 of these skills and strong against the same number. If you use one they're weak against, you need only 1 good check to improve their attitude permanently. If you use a weak one, the benefit is not only temporary, but if you ever fail, they'll turn on you and likely become unfriendly or even hostile depending on the severity of their distaste for your methods.

All NPCs start with an influence level of 0 unless noted otherwise. The DC to influence an NPC is 10 + their Cha/Will save bonus, unless noted otherwise by circumstances. You get circumstance bonuses or penalties to this check based on your deeds and reputation.

   Critical Success: Your influence with the target increases by 2 levels.
   Success: Your influence with the target increases by 1 level.
   Failure: Your influence with the target remains the same.
   Critical Failure: Your influence with the target drops by half. If this drops it to 0 or less, you lose the influence and they become unfriendly as their default attitude.

An NPC that is influenced by you is friendly. Negative influence levels imply that they've become unfriendly or even hostile. Each time you successfully influence them, you can increase this level of influence to a maximum equal to their level (max). The NPC will offer to buy and sell you goods and services, offering you a 10% discount on things you purchase and paying you 10% more on things they buy from you (paying you 60% instead of 50% when they buy items from you or 35% instead of 10% for broken items), but they only trade in certain products and services based on the NPC's profession.

Step 3: Greater Influence: Once you've maxed out an NPC's influence, you reset your influence back to 1 but change their attitude to helpful instead of friendly. They are treated as a

, you change them back to level 1 but now they are helpful instead of friendly and the process starts anew. If you max them out again at helpful, each additional influence increases their level permanently, up to a maximum equal to 2 levels lower than you. Remember, NPCs use NPC classes and aren't all that great in a fight except perhaps as a support.

Each NPC has a list of items and services they specialize in and they'll offer you a 10% discount on purchases of this type from them if they're friendly or 25% if they're helpful but only on items and services within the level of influence you have. Anything higher than that is full price. Hiring them as a hireling often works but only for the jobs they want to do.

You can request a favor but risk reducing influence if its too much.

You can have only up to 5 + CHA influences. You can forfeit an influence at any time to make room for a new one.

If you have influence over 3 NPCs of significant rank within an organization, you can merge them into one Influence and change the name to the Organization. This drops your influence back down the lowest of the 3 and allows you to build up again. When building influence with an organization, you increase that organization's level (and thus the level of their leadership) rather than the level of any one NPC.

If you have influence over 3 organizations of significant clout within a city, you can merge them into one Influence and change the name to the City.

If you have influence over 3 cities of significant clout within a region or nation, you can merge them into one Influence and change the name to the region or nation.

Merging influences into large groups is how you become famous in those areas, with everyone within those areas offering you discounts and assistance.




[private to gm: Even if it wasn't your intent or your fault, somehow, someway, you did something or were involved in something terrible. Perhaps you regret it? Or maybe you snicker every time you remember how you 'got away with it'. Whatever happened, list something truly awful that you were involved in at some point in the past.

It cannot be 'debatable' but has to be universally damning. "Slept with so and so" is only bad in the eyes of prudes and "killed in self defense" is only murder in the eyes of pacifists. Your bad deed must be truly terrible and universally shunned and reviled by almost everyone in society who isn't evil themselves.

The world is hard and survivors have had to go through difficult things to survive out there. Many things that good people would regret and be deeply ashamed of. If your character is a 'good person' or honest person they still keep this secret for the greater good or out of shame and heartache or fear. Roleplay it as you see fit. Just remember: your hands are not clean and if people knew your secret...they'd likely shun or fear you and definitely would never trust you again. You guard your secret carefully, second only to guarding your own life...possibly even more.

It just means you have a dark secret. Whether you're a good person who deeply regrets it or a bad person who snickers to themselves about how they got away with it is up to you.

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