Factions

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Apsis Consortium
A shadowy group whose only motives are profit and are willing to do most anything to advance that goal.

Requirements

Entrance Fee 200 gp

Entrance Exam  DC 14 Knowledge (Local) and Appraise

Dues100 gp/term

Advancement

Advancement Check  Appraise, Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Local), Profession (Trader or other merchantile work)

Term 4 months

Flunk 3 consecutive failed Education checks

EXTRACURRICULAR TASKS

Trader (+1 Fame) Successfully arrange, or oversee, a more senior members trading expedition. An additional +2 Fame can be earned if the expedition is to a new market or one otherwise closed to the Apsis Consortium.

Agent (+1 Fame) Successfully complete a mission for a more senior member of the Apsis Consortium. Failure reduces fame by 1.

Awards

1 PP: Arrange overland or ocean-going transport from Avistan to the Mwangi port of Bloodcove or the Sargavan port of Eleder.

10 FAME: Acquire the Bronze rank and a bronze Consortium badge. Recieve a 5% discount on non-magical mundane goods.

10 FAME, 1 PP: Intercept a caravan (or other mundane, ground-based transportation) or cargo ship at a specific location, seizing the goods and hiding them nearby. Add 1 PP to the cost to spare the lives of the victims. If multiple agents are interested in the same shipment, whoever spends the most PP ends up in control of it.

10 FAME, 2 PP: Hire a specialist (any NPC whose level is equal to half of the PC’s) for 1 week. Most Consortium agents use these specialists as bodyguards, as team leaders on typical missions, or to intimidate people who do not respond to simple threats made by thugs. In many cases, these specialists end up as cohorts or long-term employees of the hiring agent (in fact, some are lieutenants to Silver agents doing a little mercenary work on the side).

4 PP: Arrange overland or river passage deep into the Mwangi Expanse, including obtaining a map (of varying quality) of the local terrain, appropriate survival gear for that area, and 4 weeks’ worth of water and rations. This does not guarantee the safety of the expedition and only covers the cost of outfitting travelers with the required equipment and guides.

10 FAME, 10 PP: Hire a master specialist (any NPC whose level is equal to the PC’s) for 1 week. Many Consortium agents use these master specialists as bodyguards, team leaders on very dangerous missions, assassins targeting particularly troublesome officials, and so on.

15 FAME, 5 PP: Arrange a local market problem, such as a food shortage or the market being flooded with a particular commodity, affecting a settlement no larger than a large town. Increase the cost by +5 PP to affect a larger settlement.

20 FAME, 20 PP: Acquire the Silver rank and a silver Consortium badge. The character selects one location (typically a settlement at least the size of a small city) as his base of operations and gains a +2 bonus on Appraise, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), and Knowledge (nobility) checks regarding that location and its trade interactions. The character now reports to a Gold agent (who may be in the city or in another location). He can give orders to any lower-ranked Consortium agent in his base of operations, even those reporting to other Silvers (though abusing this ability can lower his FAME if it interferes too much with the Consortium’s plans there). He may live a wealthy or extravagant life at half the normal cost (see page 405 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook''). The character may also hire bodyguards (see page 54) at'' half the normal gp or PP cost. Each time the character purchases this benefit, he gains another location as a base of operations and gains these benefits there.

30 PP: Gain one dose of sun orchid elixir, most likely stolen directly from one of Thuvia’s caravans transporting it to the capital for sale.

50 FAME, 50 PP: Acquire the Gold rank and a gold Consortium badge. The character selects one large location (such as a country) or up to four smaller locations (as described in the Silver rank entry) as his area of control. He gains a +4 bonus on Appraise, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), and Knowledge (nobility) checks regarding that area and its trade interactions; this bonus stacks with his Silver agent bonus on these skills (if any) for a location and can stack with the +4 bonus on one check listed on page 55). Alternatively, if the agent is already a Silver agent and has four or more bases of operations, he can spend 10 PP points to upgrade his rank to Gold rather than purchasing that rank all at once.

The Bellflower Network
Break the Chains, bury the Masters. The Bellflower Network is dedicated to the liberation of slaves and the ending of slavery.

Requirements

Entrance Fee 50gp

Entrance Exam DC 14 Knowledge (Local) and Disable Device

Dues 50 gp/term

Advancement

Advancement Check  Disable Device, Knowledge (Local), Stealth, Survival

Term 4 months

Flunk 3 consecutive failed Education checks

EXTRACURRICULAR TASKS

Freedom(+1 Fame) Successfully free 10 slaves. An additional +1 Fame can be earned if the slave owner/seller is permanently dispatched, this can be by reforming them from their slaving ways or simply killing them.

Awards

1 Fame, 1 PP: Find a hidden location along a known row marked by a bellflower that contains enough trail rations and water for up to 10 people for a week. Finding this cache requires a DC 10 Survival check.

1 Fame: Purchase simple weapons, light armor, and shields at the normal price from most barns (the network routinely supplies barns with these items so that freed slaves can defend themselves as they travel).

5 Fame: Purchase mundane items, such as rope, pitons, tents, blankets, clothes, and so on, at half price from most barns.

5 Fame: Purchase certain travel-related magic items from a barn from the following list at a 10% discount: cloak of elvenkind (6 PP), dust of disappearance (9 PP), dust of tracelessness (1 PP), elixir of hiding (1 CPA), hat of disguise (5 PP), robe of blending (21 PP), vest of escape (13 PP).

10 Fame: Rest at any readily identifiable network location (one marked with a bellf lower symbol) without being turned away (though there are exceptions, such as if a group of pursuers follows right on the character’s heels). At such a location, network members are fed, clothed, and provided with basic medical attention (as if attended by a person whose Heal bonus is +10).

20 Fame: Purchase or upgrade magical armor or shields with abilities from the following list at a 10% discount: arrow catching, arrow deflection, darkwood buckler, darkwood shield, glamered, mithral shirt, shadow (all), slick ''(all). ''

20 Fame: Purchase or upgrade magical weapons with abilities from the following list at a 10% discount: defending, merciful, returning, throwing, sleep arrow, sword of subtlety.

The Pathfinder Society
Explore, Report, Repeat

Requirements

Entrance Fee 50 gp

Entrance Exam DC 14 Knowledge (Any)

Dues 100 gp/term

Advancement

Advancement Check Knowledge (Any), Perform, Survival

Term 4 months

Flunk 3 consecutive failed Education checks

EXTRACURRICULAR TASKS

Adventure (+1 Fame) Successfully explore an area and report on your findings to the Pathfinder Society. You gain an additionally +1 Fame if the area is new to the Chronicles, an ancient city of a previous unknown culture for example.

AWARDS

1 FAME: When in the Grand Lodge library, gain a +5 circumstance bonus on one Knowledge check. The check takes 1 hour, reflecting the need to reference the appropriate materials. This bonus does not stack with the +4 bonus gained by spending 1PP.

1 PP: Transcribe a common spell (one listed in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, or any spell the GM feels is common in the world) from the Grand Lodge library into a wizard’s spellbook or alchemist’s formula book. This benefit does not require a Spellcraft check or any additional transcribing costs.

3 FAME: The society gifts you with a wayfinder, the iconic item all pathfinders possess.

5 FAME, 1 PP: Become familiar with an uncommon or rare spell (at the GM’s discretion) from the Grand Lodge library, allowing a bard, sorcerer, or similar spellcaster to select it as a spell known at the next available opportunity (this benefit allows the character to gain access to bard or sorcerer spells from sources other than the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook without having to do spell research or find a copy of the spell while adventuring).

5 FAME, 1 PP: Exchange one character trait taken at character creation for a new Pathfinder Society trait (see the Appendix). The character must still obey the normal trait system rules (such as not having more than one trait from the same category); however, the new trait does not need to be from the same category as the trait it replaces.

5 FAME, 5+ PP: Gain a contact in a particular city. The character can consult with the contact for local gossip, news, and advice; this benefit grants the character a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks to gather information, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nobility), and Knowledge (religion) checks regarding the contact’s city made within that city. The character must wait 24 hours for the contact to provide the desired information. For an additional 10 PP, the bonus from the contact increases to +4. A character may have contacts in multiple cities, but multiple contacts in the same city provide no extra benefit. If the contact dies, the character can spend PP to find a replacement contact.

10 FAME: Purchase, or upgrade existing, wayfinders for a 25% discount

12 FAME: Purchase faction spellcasting (universal benefit) at 1 PP less than normal (minimum 1).

15 FAME, 2 PP: Access a special section of the Grand Lodge library for 1 week and gain a +10 circumstance bonus on any one Knowledge check.

20 FAME: Gain free passage on caravans and merchant vessels that are friendly to the Pathfinder Society.

20 FAME: Purchase any magic item worth up to 10,000 gp value from an appropriate Pathfinder lodge at a 10% discount.

20 FAME, 1+ PP: Access a hidden cache of supplies in a wilderness area. These supplies consist of survival gear such as dried food, clean water, spare weapons, rope, sunrods, spell components, and other nonmagical equipment listed in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook''. Spending PP on this resource represents finding a cache'' within 2d6 ×10 minutes from the character’s current location; the character does not need to plan ahead for this cache or know of its existence (it is, in effect, a plot device for acquiring emergency items). A typical cache contains up to 375 gp worth of these goods, and many times they are found near sites the Pathfinders planned to explore at some point. This resource always incurs the +5 PP increase for being outside of community of at least 5,000 people.

40 FAME, 1 PP: Gain a reputation as a famous and successful Pathfinder. The character is in effect a celebrity adventurer and is well known in several countries (though whether this is fame or infamy depends on the history and personality of the character). This reputation grants the character a +2 circumstance bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks when dealing with someone who knows of her fame. Many Pathfinders with this level of prestige go on to become venture-captains (though the Decemvirate selects venture-captains based on qualities other than prestige).

Red Mantis Assassins
Red Mantis assassins, deadly and mysterious killers who worship Achaekek the Mantis God. By their creed they will never kill the rightful ruler of a country, for the right price anyone else is a possible target.

Requirements

Entrance Fee 500 gp

Entrance Exam DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check, DC 20 Stealth check

Tuition 500 gp/term

EDUCATION

Education Check Acrobatics, Bluff, Intimidate, Knowledge (Religion, Local), Spellcraft, Stealth

Term 4 months

Flunk 2 consecutive failed Education checks

EXTRACURRICULAR TASKS

Assassination (+1 Fame) Successfully completing an assassination mission increases your Fame score by +1. An addition +1 Fame is earned if the target has a CR at least 2 higher than your character level. This bonus can be earned once per term.

AWARDS

Assassin Prodigy (1 PP) Levels in the Red Mantis assassin prestige class count as favored class levels for you.

Mantis Magic (2 PP) Add one of the following spells that is not already on one of your classes’ spell list to one of your classes’ spell list: blood mist**, bloody claws*, creeping doom, giant vermin, insect plague, spider climb, summon swarm, swarm skin*, vermin shape I**, vermin shape II**, vomit swarm. If you pay double the Prestige Point cost, you can automatically scribe this spell into your spellbook, teach the spell to your familiar (if you are a witch), or learn the spell in place of a spell of an equal level that you already know (if you are a spontaneous spellcaster). See the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide. See Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic. 

10 Fame, 2 PP: Contract the help of a specialist (any NPC member of the organization with a class level equal to half the PC’s level) for 1 week. The specialist’s assistance may include assassination, though this act is normally performed alone.

15 FAME, 10 PP: Contract the help of a master specialist (any NPC with a class level equal to the PC’s level) for 1 week. As with other specialists, the help may involve assassination.

10 FAME, 15+ PP: Gain a contact in a particular city. The character can consult with this loyal faction informant for local information, news, and advice; this benefit grants the character a +4 bonus on Diplomacy checks to gather information, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nobility), and Knowledge (religion) checks made within that city regarding legal matters. The character must wait 24 hours for the contact to provide the desired information. For an additional 10 PP, the bonus from the contact increases to +6. A character may have contacts in multiple cities, but multiple contacts in the same city provide no extra benefit. If the contact dies, the character can spend PP to find a replacement contact.

20 FAME: Purchase or upgrade magical weapons from the following list at a 10% discount: humanoid-bane (any), keen, ki focus, nine lives stealer, speed, spell 'storing, sword of life stealing, sword of subtlety, wounding''. Specific magic ''weapons listed here are always in the form of a sawtooth sabre.

20 FAME: Purchase or upgrade magical armor from the following list at a 10% discount: 'energy resistance (acid, fire, or cold), etherealness, fortification (all), glamered, shadow (all), slick (all), spell resistance (all). This resource is only available for leather armor, studded leather, and chain shirts (both normal and masterwork quality). The Red Mantis do not sell their distinctive armor to anyone who does not worship Achaekek.  

20 FAME: Purchase magic items from the following list at a 10% discount: belt of incredible dexterity, cloak of elvenkind, cloak of etherealness, 'elixir of hiding, elixir of shadewalking*, glove of storing, mask of the mantis*, ring of chameleon power, 'ring of climbing (normal and improved versions), ring of jumping (normal and improved versions). Items marked with an asterisk are described in the Red Mantis section of the campaign setting book.

Crimson Agent (20 Fame) You are granted access to the outer holdings of the Sarzari Library (its inner holdings are available only to the Blood Mistress, or those she grants temporary access). You can spend 1 PP to gain a +10 circumstance bonus on a Knowledge check by spending a day in research here.

25 FAME, 10 PP: Gain unlimited access to one safe house controlled by the Red Mantis in a particular city (the size of a small city or larger). The safe house normally looks like an innocuous building such as a warehouse, and the Red Mantis make sure nobody outside the faction ever survives learning what really goes on inside. The character may enter and exit the safe house once per day without risk of attracting attention or revealing its location to enemies; most have a secret exit in addition to the conventional exit. The safe house is stocked with simple food, basic nonmagical weapons, and a selection of mundane equipment. The Red Mantis rarely maintain more than one safe house in a particular city, preferring to abandon a location if defending it is unfeasible and then establishing a new one at a later time.

Crimson Scion (50 Fame)You are a highly ranked and well respected member of the Crimson Citadel. You no longer need to pay tuition to the Citadel—every time you would normally pay fees, you instead earn that amount of gold as your salary.  

Shackles Pirates
The Shackles Pirates, as an organized quasi-nation, are something altogether different than what most people think of as ‘Pirates’.  

Requirements

Entrance Fee 100 gp  

Entrance Exam DC 14 Profession (sailor)

Dues 100 gp/term

Advancement

Advancement Check Appraise, Profession (Sailor), Knowledge (Nature), Craft (guns)

Term 4 months

Flunk 3 consecutive failed Education checks

EXTRACURRICULAR TASKS

Pirating (+1 Fame) Successfully robbing another group or individual in the name of the Shackles increases your Fame score by +1. If you also capture a new ship in the process you gain an additional +1 to your Fame score. This bonus can be earned once per term.  

AWARDS

1 PP: Arrange oceangoing transport to or from any port where the pirates can land openly, or to an unsettled coastal location within the pirates’ territory.

1 PP: Hide the character or an ally for 1 month on a pirate ship. Because the ship is mobile and passes near the Eye of Abendego, attempts to scry on or teleport to the hidden character are very difficult (+5 bonus on the target’s saving throw bonus to resist scrying and location determining spells; teleport attempts are two familiarity categories worse).

1+ PP: Obtain a map to a possible treasure hoard. The treasure’s value is at least equal to the PP value spent to acquire the map. The source of the map makes no guarantee as to any treasure guardians, slight inaccuracies in the map, or rival treasure seekers with the same map.

2 PP: Arrange oceangoing transport to or from any port in Avistan or Garund, or to an unsettled coastal location outside the pirates’ territory.

3 FAME: You may purchase firearms and related items as a 10% discount from Shackles controlled markets

10 FAME, 1 PP: Intercept a cargo ship at a specific location, seizing the goods and hiding them nearby. Add +1 PP to the cost to spare the lives of the targeted people. If competing individuals are interested in the same shipment, whoever spends the most PP ends up in control of it.

13 PP: Undergo a ritual based on barely understood ancient water magic that gives the character primitive gills, allowing him to breathe water as an extraordinary ability. After 10 minutes of using the gills, the character is fatigued. After 20 minutes of using the gills, the character is exhausted. Extensive use of the gills tends to give the character a gillmanlike appearance, and some eventually take on fish-like physical traits.

13 PP: Undergo a ritual based on barely understood ancient water magic that gives the character low-light vision. Most recipients of this ability eventually find that their eyes enlarge and become fish-like.

20 FAME: Purchase or upgrade magical weapons from the following list at a 10% discount: anarchic, humanoid-bane (any), dagger of venom, dancing, defending, javelin of lightning, luck blade, mace of terror, mighty cleaving, rapier of puncturing, shock, shocking burst, sword of subtlety, thundering, trident of fish command, trident of warning, wounding''. ''

20 FAME: Purchase or upgrade magical armor from the following list at a 10% discount: energy resistance (electricity), plate armor of the deep, slick (all), wild. This discount is only available for light and medium armor (both normal and masterwork quality), with the exception of plate armor of the deep.

20 FAME: Purchase magic items from the following list at a 10% discount: bottle of air, cloak of the manta ray, feather token (anchor, swan boat), folding boat, gloves of swimming and climbing, horn of fog, necklace of adaptation, orb of storms, pearl of the sirines, ring of climbing, ring of energy resistance (minor electricity), ring of jumping, ring of swimming, wind fan.

20 FAME:Purchase a used but safe sailing vessel, such as a galley, keelboat, longship, sailing ship, or warship, at a 10% discount.

25+ PP: Obtain a small estate in Port Peril, Quent, or Eleder. The estate covers 1 acre and includes a comfortable house, pleasant furnishings, and a few 1st-level commoners to tend the building and grounds. The character is treated as living an average lifestyle (Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 405), except her PP investment in this reward covers the gp/month cost (no additional payment is needed). She can purchase additional estates or combine them into a single, larger estate for 5 PP per additional acre. A character who has spent 50 PP or more on this resource is treated as living a wealthy lifestyle (but still no gp/ month payment is needed).

30 FAME, 1 PP: Gain the title “captain” and a loyal crew of one first mate (5th-level fighter or rogue) and five to eight pirates (3rd-level fighters or rogues); one of the pirates may instead be a “storm mage” (3rd-level bard, cleric, sorcerer, or wizard). If the captain owns a ship and plans to go to sea and make raids, 10–20 swabbies (2nd-level fighters or rogues) join her crew. The crew remains with the captain only if she stays on the ship or remains in territory friendly to the Shackles Pirates (including Sargava); they remain behind if she goes elsewhere but can be picked up later if she returns. A character can only select this benefit once.