Upon taking the “Leader” feat, a character may found an Organization of some type in the Basin. This Organization may take many forms, but common ones might include a wilderness outpost, an adventurers’ guild, or a religious temple.

If the Organization’s Leader dies, loses the Leader feat, or otherwise gives up their position, the Organization will inevitably crumble for one reason or another unless another player character immediately assumes leadership. The Organization’s Leader must also spend at least 30 hours per week maintaining the Organization. Only an active player character may Lead an Organization or Manage an Improvement (see “Improvements”, below); if a Leader or Manager retires or paragons, all benefits of the Organization or Improvement are lost until they are replaced. An Organization’s Leader must make a post in our downtime channel at least once per month to maintain their position and the Organization as a whole.

The organization “Crumbling” need not be literal, but an Organization with no Leader eventually stops using these rules and functions as a part of the background of the world, charging normal prices for services as if run by ordinary NPCs, and they may stop performing some services at all. Characters cannot Manage Improvements under an Organization Led by an NPC.

Each type of Organization gives a certain benefit to its Leader and other characters the Leader designates. In addition to this benefit, Improvements may be built and maintained to provide additional benefits.

Throughout this document, Leaders are oftentimes referenced as having various powers over an Organization, including the ability to restrict membership and charge for or limit access to services. At a Leader’s option, they may instead invest these powers elsewhere through a charter, or delegate certain powers to other characters. A charter may delegate any and all powers invested in the Leader by default to any character, including the seat of Leader itself, and may automate certain processes that ordinarily require the consent of the Leader (such as a charter guaranteeing membership under certain conditions).

If a charter mandates democratic decision-making but lacks a provision for amending the charter, the re-investiture of any power previously granted to an Organization’s membership to another character or group must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Organization’s membership.

For all game purposes, a charter is considered sacrosanct and unbreakable. While exceptions may be made via the same two-thirds majority vote of membership (or a simple consensus), an Organization’s laws cannot be broken or ignored. For example, if an Organization holds an election and its current leader is ousted, there is no provision for them refusing to step down; the exchange of power just happens.

An Organization or Improvement may be built for a lower cost and time if an active player character with a relevant skill assists in the building. There are two types of skills for this purpose: Construction skills (such as Craft (carpentry), Knowledge (architecture and engineering), or Profession (builder)), and Expertise skills (such as Knowledge (religion) for building a church, or Craft (alchemy) for building an alchemist’s lab).

Only one skill of each type may be used to hasten a building project, and they must come from separate characters. A Construction skill reduces cost by 5% and time by 20%. An Expertise skill reduces cost by 20% and time by 5%. These bonuses stack. The builders must take downtime equal to the time it takes to build the Organization or Improvement.

Certain spells and magic items, such as wall of stone or a lyre of building, might reduce these costs further. Ask your DM for specifics.

Many Improvements below will note that they provide free services, but that many Leaders will charge for them. Organizations and how much to charge for their services are subject to the same guidelines as the rest of the server.

While exceptions might be made, generally speaking an Organization that provides free services to its membership must be sufficiently exclusive in granting such membership; the Organization must have something to gain from its members as well as its members having something to gain from the Organization, such as dues or abiding by rules that the character wouldn’t have otherwise followed. An organization that charges members for all or most of its services does not need to be as exclusive with who it allows as a member.

While exceptions may be made (such as limited-time promotional events), an Organization may not provide free services to non-members, and as with the rest of the server, the prices charged must result in profit at least half of what an NPC would make at the same task. If an Organization habitually sets all prices at or near this absolute minimum, they will instead be required to set all prices at the NPC rate.

Many Improvements will have a “Minimum Level” column in their table. Only a character with a level meeting or exceeding this minimum may use the Improvement up to that potential. For example, a 3rd-level character in an Organization with a Chapel may only have the chapel cast spells of 4th-level or lower.

Each Organization type has a description, organized in the same general format, as outlined below:

Summary: Each Organization type has a summary, which describes what the Organization is and any special prerequisites for founding it.

Cost: The cost, in gold pieces, to found an Organization of this type.

Time: The time in in-game weeks (which are out-of-game days) it takes to found an Organization of this type.

Benefit: The basic benefits that an Organization of this type grants.

A guild represents any institution where the members cooperate to some end. Guilds might be created for any group - members of particular character classes, alignments, professions, etc. - but must be sufficiently exclusive in membership. Typically, only a member of a Guild may use its benefits freely; non-members must pay for access.

Cost: 8,000 gp

Time: 8 weeks

Benefit: A guild with sufficient membership is granted a legal right to set terms and prices for various services, including those provided by NPCs in Barrow’s Maw or even other player characters. For example, a spellcasters’ guild could raise the minimum prices for the casting of various spells for hire, and could even raise the base rate charged by NPCs.

A settlement may represent any outpost well outside of the town of Barrow’s Maw. This might be a scouting outpost, a trading town, or a haven for the oppressed. A settlement occupies a hex on the overworld map, and must be placed in a mapped hex. Each hex the settlement is away from Barrow’s Maw costs an additional 1,000 gp and 1 week.

Cost: 8,000 gp (see above)

Time: 8 weeks (see above)

Benefit: A member of a Settlement may begin an expedition starting from their settlement, instead of from Barrow’s Maw. A member of a settlement is any character who lives in the settlement, spending more time there than in Barrow’s Maw or any other settlement. You do not need to Manage an Improvement to be a member of a settlement, though the Settlement’s Leader may limit residency.

A player can only live in one settlement.

A temple is an Organization dedicated to the worship of a particular deity or other religious or philosophical tradition. It might be a temple to a single god (or pantheon of gods), or a monastery dedicated to martial arts and a philosophy of personal perfection.

Cost: 8,000 gp

Time: 8 weeks

Benefit: A temple is above all a religious organization. For every player character member of a temple, there are 100 NPC followers of the religious organization. Unlike other Organizations, a given character may not be a member of multiple temples. For each NPC follower of a temple, the Organization earns 1 gp/week.

While all types of Organizations provide some minor benefits on their own, the true power of an Organization comes from its Improvements.

Just like Organizations themselves, an Improvement takes time and money to build. And just like an Organization requires a Leader, each Improvement requires a Manager to maintain it. A Manager must spend at least 30 hours per week maintaining their Improvement.

Unlike an Organization, if an Improvement finds itself without a Manager, it may still function. An NPC will automatically assume the post, but the Improvement functions at a reduced capacity. In addition, the Leader of an Organization may also Manage one Improvement without any additional downtime investment.

Each Improvement type has a description, organized in the same general format, as outlined below:

Organizations: Which types of Organizations this Improvement can be applied to.

Cost: The cost, in gold pieces, to build an Improvement of this type.

Time: The time in in-game weeks (which are out-of-game days) it takes to build an Improvement of this type.

Skills: The skills associated with a given Improvement.

Benefit: The benefits than an Improvement of this type grants.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement, Temple

Cost: 4,000 gp

Time: 4 weeks

Skills: BAB, Knowledge (Tactics), Profession (Trainer)

Benefit: Retraining costs for are reduced by a percentage according to the table below for the following uses:

A Monk’s bonus feats; A Ranger’s favored enemies or combat style; A Rogue’s special ability; Retraining any feat into a feat on the Fighter’s bonus feat list; and Retraining a skill point to one of the following: Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (tactics), Ride, Swim, or Tumble

Organizations: Settlement, Temple

Cost; 8,000 gp

Time: 8 weeks

Skills: Knowledge (religion), Spellcraft, Divine Caster Level

Benefit: The casting of Player’s Handbook cleric spells can be requisitioned free of cost, though most Organizations still mandate donations, especially from non-members. Expensive material components must still be provided. The highest spell and caster levels available depend on the skill bonus of the Manager; if they lack the ability to cast the spell themselves, it is assumed that the Organization retains an NPC spellcaster for the purpose.

The Manager may choose two domains to draw from in addition to the cleric spell list. A chapel within a temple Organization instead has access to all domains of the temple’s deity, if any. The chapel can also provide any cleric spell the Manager can cast.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement

Cost; 16,000 gp

Time: 16 weeks

Skills: Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, Arcane Caster Level

Benefit: The casting of Player’s Handbook sorcerer/wizard spells can be requisitioned free of cost, though most Organizations still charge a fee, especially to non-members. Expensive material components must still be provided. The highest spell and caster levels available depend on the skill bonus of the Manager; if they lack the ability to cast the spell themselves, it is assumed that the Organization retains an NPC spellcaster for the purpose.

The tower can also provide any sorcerer/wizard spell the Manager can cast.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement, Temple

Cost: 4,000 gp

Time: 4 weeks

Skills: Craft (any smithing)

Benefit: A smithy allows for the rental of metal goods free of charge, though most Leaders still charge for the service, especially to non-members. The exact goods available depends on the skill of the smithy’s Manager.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement

Cost: 16,000 gp

Time: 16 weeks

Skills: Craft (alchemy)

Benefit: The alchemy lab may produce a stipend of alchemical adventuring supplies for a character embarking on an expedition at no cost, though most organizations still charge for the service. Any unused supplies must be returned at the conclusion of the expedition. All alchemical supplies from the PHB and Complete Adventurer are available as well as Renaissance explosive weapons and gunpowder, and any alchemical item craftable by the Manager may be allowed to be provided at DM discretion. The following table lists the amount of the stipend according to the Manager’s skill.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement, Temple

Cost: 4,000 gp

Time: 4 weeks

Skills: Handle Animal, Knowledge (nature), Perform (carney), Profession (stablehand)

Benefit: This Improvement allows the rental of certain mounts and beasts of burden for free. Typically, the Leader of an Organization still charges some amount for the rental of these beasts, especially from non-members. The table below shows which mounts become available according to the skill modifier of the Manager.

In addition, a Manager with a bonus of +15 or higher grants a +2 bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution for ordinary horses (including ponies), donkeys, and mules that come from the stable. These bonuses increase to +4 at +30.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement

Cost: 8,000 gp

Time: 8 weeks

Skills: Craft (carpentry), Profession (sailor), Profession (shipbuilder)

Benefit: This improvement allows the rental and purchase of various watercraft. This is at no cost to the Organization, though most leaders charge some amount for the rental. Most large vessels are extraordinarily expensive, and anything with a base cost of 1,000 gp or more requires a safety deposit of half its value. The exact watercraft available depends on the Manager’s skill, according to the following table.

A Manager with a skill bonus of +15 or higher grants a +10 enhancement bonus to the speed of their rowboats for the purposes of overland travel. this bonus increases to +30 at +30.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement, Temple

Cost: 4,000 gp

Time: 4 weeks

Skills: Profession (innkeeper)

Benefit: An especially restful night at an inn provides temporary hp and a morale bonus to attack and damage rolls. The temporary hit points last until the end of the expedition or they are lost, and the morale bonuses also only last as long as a creature has temporary hit points granted by this Improvement. A stay costs nothing to the Organization, but they still typically charge for an inn stay, especially to non-members. An inn in a settlement allows traveling adventurers to rest there for the night, avoiding random encounters; if a settlement lacks an inn, adventurers are forced to sleep outside.

Organizations: Settlement

Cost: 2,000 gp per hex

Time: 2 weeks per hex

Benefit: A road is built connecting the settlement to Barrow’s Maw or an existing road. The cost and time are also multiplied per hex according to the terrain’s usual movement multiplier minus 1 (for example, forest normally triples travel time, so it doubles the cost of building a road). Unlike most Improvements, a road does not benefit from a Manager.

Organizations: Guild, Temple

Cost: 2,000 gp

Time: 2 weeks

Skills: Organization membership

Benefit: Unlike most Improvements, a bulletin board does not benefit from a Manager. For any mechanics that reference the Improvement’s Manager, the Organization Leader is considered the Manager. The benefits provided scale based on Organization Membership. Only members played by discrete players are counted.

Organizations: Guild, Settlement

Cost: 8000 gp

Benefit: This improvement allows characters to give temporary hit points, as well as a morale bonus to attack rolls and AC, to a non-humanoid companion of their choice. The temporary hit points last until the end of the expedition or until they are lost, but the morale bonuses remain for the entire expedition even after the temporary hit points are removed. Such preparation costs nothing to the Organization, but they still typically charge non-members for their use. This building can also be used to rent beasts of war (feature TBD)