Faction Agent : Lord's Alliance Bounty Hunter

The Lords' Alliance is a political and economic coalition of cities spread throughout the North and the Sword Coast. The alliance owes its success to effective cooperation and diplomacy between its members, who work to align their separate settlements toward a mutual purpose. This cooperation is easier during times of crisis, making the Lords' Alliance a powerful force when threats require a united front.

The Lord's Alliance employs listeners, rumormongers, smugglers, sell-swords, cache-holders (people who guard caches of wealth or magic for use by the faction’s operatives), haven keepers, and message drop minders, to name a few. At the core of every faction are those who don’t merely fulfill a small function for that organization, but who serve as its hands, head, and heart. As the Faction's Bounty Hunter, you serve as it's knife in the back.

You spend your time in service to your cause by adventuring and honing your skills until you are called upon. Sometimes the Faction needs someone taken down, to prevent the constant tide of Evil from overcoming civilization. After all, the best defense is as strong offense.

Rank and Renown

By gaining renown as a member of the Lord's Alliance, you can advance within the guild. Promotion through the ranks requires the approval of a superior officer. Advancement is a reward for services rendered to the faction, rather than an automatic consequence of increased renown.

Rank 1: Cloak

This is the rank a character receives when first joining the Lords' Alliance.
Receive Your Faction's Insignia. The insignia for the Lords' Alliance is a signet ring etched with the Alliance symbol of the crown.

Rank 2: Redknife

Prerequisite: Rank 1 and renown 3 or higher in the Lord's Alliance

Redknives have shown that they are aligned with the Alliance's goals, and can take on more responsibility. 
Faction Training. The Lords' Alliance offers training in Jeweler's tools, Mason’s tools, Navigator’s tools, Painter's supplies, Gaming Set, or Any Standard Language.

 

Rank 3: Stingblade

Prerequisite: Rank 2 and renown 10 or higher in the Lord's Alliance

Stingblades are reliable faction agents, entrusted with many secrets and deserving of additional support during adventures. 
Item Procurement. The Lords' Alliance can procure the following items for a Stingblade:
Uncommon rarity: 

• +1 weapon or +1 shield, ring of mind shielding
• Rare rarity: +1 armor, cloak of the mountebank

Rank 4: Warduke

Prerequisite: Rank 3 and renown 25 or higher in the Harpers

Wardukes are trusted voices within the Lords' Alliance. They are looked up as champions of the Alliance. 
Becoming a Mentor. The Lords' Alliance can requisition a lords' alliance guard or lords' alliance spy to serve the Warduke

Enemies and Allies

The Lord's Alliance shares a general philosophical approach with the other openly operating guilds — Angelcrest Academy, Emerald Enclave, and the Order of the Gauntlet — in its concern for the well being of the Sword Coast as a whole. Under the right circumstances, a member of the Lord's Alliance can work well with agents of those organizations. But the Alliance's emphasis on civilized law as a whole is more of an off putting approach to the other factions.

The Lord's Alliance prefer to erode their enemies’ strength through a process of attrition rather than by launching frontal attacks. If you are called on to take direct action against another faction, it is probably a matter of self-preservation against a faction that is threatening the life and livelihood of the Lord's Alliance. You might oppose the Harpers as they attempt to infiltrate your ranks and spill any unnecessary secrets, or strike back at the Zhentarim to dissuade them from operating within Lord's Alliance cities. Occasionally, you might be assigned to assault the enemies of the Alliance more directly. If the death of a particular person or the theft of a key treasure will contribute to the decline and downfall of an enemy faction, even the typically patient Lord's Alliance will try to seize that opportunity.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Deception, Insight, Persuasion, and Stealth

Tool Proficiencies: Choose one from among one type of gaming set, one musical instrument, and thieves’ tools

Languages: One of your choice

 

Equipment: Emblem of your faction, a code-book for your faction, a set of clothes appropriate to your duty location and a pouch containing 20 gp

Suggested Characteristics

Use the tables for the acolyte background below as the basis for your traits and motivations, modifying the entries when appropriate to suit your identity as a faction agent. (For instance, consider the words “faith” and “faction” to be interchangeable.)

Your bond might be associated with other members of your faction, or a location or an object that is important to your faction. The ideal you strive for is probably in keeping with the tenets and principles of your faction, but might be more personal in nature.

d8	Personality Trait
1	The first thing I do in a new place is note the locations of everything valuable—or where such things could be hidden.
2	I can find common ground between the fiercest enemies, empathizing with them and always working toward peace.
3	I see omens in every event and action. The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen.
4	Nothing can shake my optimistic attitude.
5	I quote (or misquote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation.
6	I am tolerant (or intolerant) of other faiths and respect (or condemn) the worship of other gods.
7	The best way to get me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it.
8	I’ve spent so long in the temple that I have little practical experience dealing with people in the outside world.

d6	Ideal
1	Honor. I don’t steal from others in the trade. (Lawful)
2	Charity. I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost. (Good)
3	Change. We must help bring about the changes the gods are constantly working in the world. (Chaotic)
4	Power. I hope to one day rise to the top of my faith’s religious hierarchy. (Lawful)
5	Faith. I trust that my deity will guide my actions. I have faith that if I work hard, things will go well. (Lawful)
6	Aspiration. I seek to prove myself worthy of my god’s favor by matching my actions against his or her teachings. (Any)

d6	Bond
1	Someone I loved died because of a mistake I made. That will never happen again.
2	I will someday get revenge on the corrupt temple hierarchy who branded me a heretic.
3	I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died.
4	Everything I do is for the common people.
5	I will do anything to protect the temple where I served.
6	I seek to preserve a sacred text that my enemies consider heretical and seek to destroy.

d6	Flaw
1	I judge others harshly, and myself even more severely.
2	I put too much trust in those who wield power within my temple’s hierarchy.
3	My piety sometimes leads me to blindly trust those that profess faith in my god.
4	I am inflexible in my thinking.
5	I am suspicious of strangers and expect the worst of them.
6	Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.

Contacts

Lords' Alliance Contacts

• Eravien Haund, deceased
• Nathaniel Strayl, faction representative to the Sword Coast
• Lord Walden, deceased
• Sildar Halwinter, Phandalin
• Royce Rondham, Aion
• Laeral Silverhand, advisor to Piergeiron Paladinson
• Pasha Pook, Calimport
• Jalester Silvermane, Waterdeep

Council of Lords

• Piergeiron Paladinson, Open Lord of Waterdeep
• Dagult Neverember, Lord Protector of Neverwinter
• Taern Hornblade, High Mage of Silverymoon
• Ulder Ravengard, Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate
• Morwen Daggerford, Duchess of Daggerford
• Selin Ramur, Marchion of Mirabar
• Dowell Harpell of Longsaddle
• Dagnabbet Waybeard, Queen of Mithral Hall
• Lord Dauner Ilzimmer of Amphail
• Nestra Ruthiol, Waterbaron of Yartar

Notable Members of the Alliance

• Ad Avis, vizier to Pasha Arhapan of Calimport