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I also encourage interested PCs to form their own factions with the options available to you. For example, you can band together or start on your own by purchasing a building, and even place a merchant within the building if you want. Furniture you can buy from various merchants throughout Thay will allow you to set it up as a Temple, Guild, or whatever else might be most appropriate. Use tailor models to customize guild outfits, and so on. If you do take the initiative and get a player guild/faction started, I recommend letting the HDM and/or DMs know its goals, rules, membership, etc.
I want to stress that if you have an existing PC who will be involved with a faction you want to see made permanent, please work with the DMs using in-game tools first to make it a reality and build a foundation for it, first. Once a proper foundation using in-game tools and action has been laid, or if you would like to create a permanent faction for the Thay PW to expand the variety of what's available, the following steps are something I'll willing to give a trial run at this point to give the community the option to create permanent factions in Thay. This may not remain permanent if it turns out not to be working as intended, so we’ll see how things go. The *entire* point of this opportunity is to give you (the players/community/staff) control over creating an official and permanent faction of Thay, while requiring from me the *absolute minimum* amount of work, time, and effort to add the faction to the gameworld.
The following steps must be completed for a permanent faction of the Thay PW:
1. Faction Name and Background (especially if not an ‘official source’ Forgotten Realms faction). I *really* prefer to see official factions of the Forgotten Realms – such as temples to the various gods or other organizations that have background information, but at this time especially non-religious factions too.
a. If this is not an official Forgotten Realms faction, stop here before doing anything else and send me the background information, faction details, and the reasons you think this should become an official faction of Thay. It will need to get approval before moving on to any additional steps
b. If someone(s) approaches me to work on a faction and gets approval to do so, I will put the faction and the name of the individual(s) leading its creation in the list of factions below. They will be my primary points of contact regarding the faction, and the ones I will work with to implement it. I'd encourage anyone else interested to contact the faction lead, not me, if you'd like to help to work on a faction.
c. The following is a list of official Forgotten Realms factions or those of official neighboring nations, that appear from source materials to have, or are likely have, a presence in Thay. I’d highly recommend working to implement one of these before coming up with a homebrew faction:
- Shadowmasters of Telflamm (Bezantur) - The Temple of Mask doubles as the headquarters of the extremely powerful thieves' guild. Its leader, Guildmistress Shabella the Pale, struggles to maintain her position against an incursion by the Shadowmastens of Telflamm. The guild here controls nearly all of the illegal activities in and around Bezantur, making it too juicy a target for the Shadowmasters to pass up. The thieves in the city are choosing sides, and an alarming number have thrown in their lot with the Theskians, weary of Shabella's tyranny.
Thavar Shom, CE male human shadow-walker rogue 9/fighter 2/Telflammar shadowlord 4 (leader of the Shadowmasters moving into the city)
- Zhentarim
- Iron Throne
- The Masquerade
- [Spy Network of Mulhorand]
- [Spy Network of Aglarond]
- [Spy Network of the Wychlaran (Witches of Rashemen)]
2. Faction Headquarters and Location
a. This will be one interior area created in the toolset, and possibly an exterior area if the faction is not based in an existing town/castle/city. Under rare circumstances it can be more than one area. However contact me first if you think more than one is needed. I keep a close eye on overall module resources, I’ll be pushing very hard for faction headquarters to be in one physical area.
b. These faction areas should be less than 100 total tiles (10x10 or less). The smaller and more compact – the better. Even the center of the popular Kossuthan faith in Thay, the Burning Brazier of Tyraturos, is only 100 tiles in size.
c. Creation of this area will need to be done primarily by the individual(s) interested in seeing it existing in the Thay PW. Click here to download the Thay PW Base Module and Area Design Guidelines. Those guidelines must be followed or the area will be sent back for revision.
3. Faction Leader(s)
a. The faction leader(s) need to be placed in the faction headquarters area and then modified there (not in the toolset palette). They need to be given appropriate inventory items (including customized-looking armor/clothing), alignment, levels, feats, spells, attributes, and skills for their level, race, class, and position
Tip: I recommend placing a human/dwarf/elf/etc creature from the Standard palette within the faction area, change its faction to Defender, and then modify that creature there to suit your needs for this NPC.
b. A fairly detailed description for each of the faction leader(s) is required
4. Faction Contact
a. The faction contact needs to be placed in a public area of the faction headquarters area and then modified there (not in the toolset palette). They need to be given appropriate inventory items (including customized-looking armor/clothing), alignment, levels, feats, spells, attributes, and skills for their level, race, class, and position
Tip: I recommend placing a human/dwarf/elf/etc creature from the Standard palette within the faction area, change its faction to Defender, and then modify that creature there to suit your needs for this NPC.
b. A fairly detailed description for the faction contact is required
c. A conversation following the standard faction-joining conversation template is required for this person. Click here to download that conversation template and examples of completed templates
5. Faction Item
a. In most cases this should be something visible like a cloak, helm, or clothing/armor. This should be created and exist in the custom palette for the item category. That is so when it is imported to the Thay module it shows up as a resource categorized in the correct palette.
b. The item can have properties applicable to its faction. It automatically gets an AC bonus, so most other properties are OK, however it must remain under a level 5 ILR item.
c. A fairly detailed description for the faction item is required
6. Any additional things/abilities the faction may have
I would first like to mention that all factions are not (initially) created equal. Certain factions will have benefits over others. While the Red Wizards are probably the most obvious example, other factions on this list may also have some combination of special/secret areas, special quest givers, discounts to available stores, unique items, and useful equipment - like enchantment forges on premise so you don't have to travel to a far-away 'public' forge. Not all will get, nor deserve 'special' features.
Merchants
a. A faction can have a special merchant - but this is not always necessary OR required. Temple faction leaders automatically have a store with potions and scrolls and other items based on their alignment (good temple goods, evil temple goods, etc), but another merchant is a possibility for factions that do not have a standard merchant as well.
b. The merchant NPC should be created by you using the same guidelines to complete necessary details as any other Faction NPC. This is one area of faction creation in which I will need to setup the actual merchant store/inventory with certain items that have already been created.
c. If there are custom items you want the merchant to sell, those need to be created in the palette and MUST include a detailed description of at least a paragraph. I reserve the right to modify or choose not to include custom items if I deem them inappropriate for the PW.
d. I need a short paragraph or couple sentences written that the merchant NPC will say when the PC talks to them. This is what occurs whenever any merchant is talked to as that merchant's greeting.
Misc
a. Other special ‘things’ like an enchantment forge, portal to XYZ, secret/hidden exits and entrances, etc. These will be very rare however and I may likely veto them unless there is an outstanding reason for having a special ‘thing’ for the faction
If someone wants to start design work to create a permanent faction, please let me know and then take the initiative to do as much of this work by yourself or with other interested community members. Note that I will be holding any faction requests and submissions to extremely high standards, so it’s very likely I may send back any initial submissions for more details, cleanup, etc.
I want to stress that if you have an existing PC who will be involved with a faction you want to see made permanent, please work with the DMs using in-game tools first to make it a reality and build a foundation for it, first. Once a proper foundation using in-game tools and action has been laid, or if you would like to create a permanent faction for the Thay PW to expand the variety of what's available, the following steps are something I'll willing to give a trial run at this point to give the community the option to create permanent factions in Thay. This may not remain permanent if it turns out not to be working as intended, so we’ll see how things go. The *entire* point of this opportunity is to give you (the players/community/staff) control over creating an official and permanent faction of Thay, while requiring from me the *absolute minimum* amount of work, time, and effort to add the faction to the gameworld.
The following steps must be completed for a permanent faction of the Thay PW:
1. Faction Name and Background (especially if not an ‘official source’ Forgotten Realms faction). I *really* prefer to see official factions of the Forgotten Realms – such as temples to the various gods or other organizations that have background information, but at this time especially non-religious factions too.
a. If this is not an official Forgotten Realms faction, stop here before doing anything else and send me the background information, faction details, and the reasons you think this should become an official faction of Thay. It will need to get approval before moving on to any additional steps
b. If someone(s) approaches me to work on a faction and gets approval to do so, I will put the faction and the name of the individual(s) leading its creation in the list of factions below. They will be my primary points of contact regarding the faction, and the ones I will work with to implement it. I'd encourage anyone else interested to contact the faction lead, not me, if you'd like to help to work on a faction.
c. The following is a list of official Forgotten Realms factions or those of official neighboring nations, that appear from source materials to have, or are likely have, a presence in Thay. I’d highly recommend working to implement one of these before coming up with a homebrew faction:
- Shadowmasters of Telflamm (Bezantur) - The Temple of Mask doubles as the headquarters of the extremely powerful thieves' guild. Its leader, Guildmistress Shabella the Pale, struggles to maintain her position against an incursion by the Shadowmastens of Telflamm. The guild here controls nearly all of the illegal activities in and around Bezantur, making it too juicy a target for the Shadowmasters to pass up. The thieves in the city are choosing sides, and an alarming number have thrown in their lot with the Theskians, weary of Shabella's tyranny.
Thavar Shom, CE male human shadow-walker rogue 9/fighter 2/Telflammar shadowlord 4 (leader of the Shadowmasters moving into the city)
- Zhentarim
- Iron Throne
- The Masquerade
- [Spy Network of Mulhorand]
- [Spy Network of Aglarond]
- [Spy Network of the Wychlaran (Witches of Rashemen)]
2. Faction Headquarters and Location
a. This will be one interior area created in the toolset, and possibly an exterior area if the faction is not based in an existing town/castle/city. Under rare circumstances it can be more than one area. However contact me first if you think more than one is needed. I keep a close eye on overall module resources, I’ll be pushing very hard for faction headquarters to be in one physical area.
b. These faction areas should be less than 100 total tiles (10x10 or less). The smaller and more compact – the better. Even the center of the popular Kossuthan faith in Thay, the Burning Brazier of Tyraturos, is only 100 tiles in size.
c. Creation of this area will need to be done primarily by the individual(s) interested in seeing it existing in the Thay PW. Click here to download the Thay PW Base Module and Area Design Guidelines. Those guidelines must be followed or the area will be sent back for revision.
3. Faction Leader(s)
a. The faction leader(s) need to be placed in the faction headquarters area and then modified there (not in the toolset palette). They need to be given appropriate inventory items (including customized-looking armor/clothing), alignment, levels, feats, spells, attributes, and skills for their level, race, class, and position
Tip: I recommend placing a human/dwarf/elf/etc creature from the Standard palette within the faction area, change its faction to Defender, and then modify that creature there to suit your needs for this NPC.
b. A fairly detailed description for each of the faction leader(s) is required
4. Faction Contact
a. The faction contact needs to be placed in a public area of the faction headquarters area and then modified there (not in the toolset palette). They need to be given appropriate inventory items (including customized-looking armor/clothing), alignment, levels, feats, spells, attributes, and skills for their level, race, class, and position
Tip: I recommend placing a human/dwarf/elf/etc creature from the Standard palette within the faction area, change its faction to Defender, and then modify that creature there to suit your needs for this NPC.
b. A fairly detailed description for the faction contact is required
c. A conversation following the standard faction-joining conversation template is required for this person. Click here to download that conversation template and examples of completed templates
5. Faction Item
a. In most cases this should be something visible like a cloak, helm, or clothing/armor. This should be created and exist in the custom palette for the item category. That is so when it is imported to the Thay module it shows up as a resource categorized in the correct palette.
b. The item can have properties applicable to its faction. It automatically gets an AC bonus, so most other properties are OK, however it must remain under a level 5 ILR item.
c. A fairly detailed description for the faction item is required
6. Any additional things/abilities the faction may have
I would first like to mention that all factions are not (initially) created equal. Certain factions will have benefits over others. While the Red Wizards are probably the most obvious example, other factions on this list may also have some combination of special/secret areas, special quest givers, discounts to available stores, unique items, and useful equipment - like enchantment forges on premise so you don't have to travel to a far-away 'public' forge. Not all will get, nor deserve 'special' features.
Merchants
a. A faction can have a special merchant - but this is not always necessary OR required. Temple faction leaders automatically have a store with potions and scrolls and other items based on their alignment (good temple goods, evil temple goods, etc), but another merchant is a possibility for factions that do not have a standard merchant as well.
b. The merchant NPC should be created by you using the same guidelines to complete necessary details as any other Faction NPC. This is one area of faction creation in which I will need to setup the actual merchant store/inventory with certain items that have already been created.
c. If there are custom items you want the merchant to sell, those need to be created in the palette and MUST include a detailed description of at least a paragraph. I reserve the right to modify or choose not to include custom items if I deem them inappropriate for the PW.
d. I need a short paragraph or couple sentences written that the merchant NPC will say when the PC talks to them. This is what occurs whenever any merchant is talked to as that merchant's greeting.
Misc
a. Other special ‘things’ like an enchantment forge, portal to XYZ, secret/hidden exits and entrances, etc. These will be very rare however and I may likely veto them unless there is an outstanding reason for having a special ‘thing’ for the faction
If someone wants to start design work to create a permanent faction, please let me know and then take the initiative to do as much of this work by yourself or with other interested community members. Note that I will be holding any faction requests and submissions to extremely high standards, so it’s very likely I may send back any initial submissions for more details, cleanup, etc.