In recent years, the Zhentarim have become more visible in the world at large, as the group works to improve its reputation among the common people. The faction draws employees and associates from many walks of life, setting them to tasks that serve the goals of the Black Network but aren’t necessarily criminal in nature. Agents of the Black Network must often work in secret, and they seek aid from the wizards, mercenaries, merchants and priesthoods allied with the Zhentarim.
As a prelude to your adventuring career (and in preparation for it), you served as a member of the Zhentarim. You might have operated openly or secretly, depending on the faction and its goals, as well as how those goals mesh with your own. Becoming an adventurer doesn’t necessarily require you to relinquish membership in your faction (though you can choose to do so), and it might enhance your status in the faction.
- Skill Proficiencies: Deception and Insight
- Languages: Two of your choice
- Equipment: A Zhentarim emblem, a code book to decipher zhentarim messages, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp
As you gain renown within the Zhentarim, you will be rewarded with missions of increasing importance. No formal ranks exist for you to progress through, but certain thresholds of renown indicate improvements in your standing within the faction.
At the start of your career, your orders include step-by-step instructions — or they consist of just a single task. You receive these instructions from your faction contact, or through drop site messages.
Independent Agent
Prerequisite: Renown 3 or higher in the Zhentarim
Without much actual contact with Zhentarim members, you end up checking drop sites every few days to discover and encoded messages in order to gain your missions. At the start of every mission, you will be gifted with a type of tools or a kit that is to be returned to the drop site upon mission completion.
Catcher
Prerequisite: Renown 10 or higher in the Zhentarim
By the time you reach this level of renown in the Zhentarim, you are amassing a significant collection of secrets about the people and places around you. You know the location of a hidden safe house where you can take shelter in case of dire need. At the DM’s discretion, you might also know (or be able to find out) a secret about a person or group who lives or operates in a city you’re familiar with. The secret is typically a person’s flaw or details about a dark episode in a group’s past. Whatever it is, the secret is a weakness that can be used to manipulate the person or group to assist you or your associates.
Bloodsworn
Prerequisite: Renown 25 or higher in the Zhentarim
Becoming a full fledged member of the Zhentarim, you are entrusted with a small collection of agents and mercenaries who you command on missions. While you may be informed of important tasks that your collective must handle, for the most part, you are allowed to operate with complete discretion.
By putting out a call a day in advance, you may gain 1d4 Spies (Basic Rules) to help you on a mission.
Shadow Knife
Prerequisite: Renown 50 or higher in the Zhentarim
Whispers speak of Shadow Knives, the most dangerous force to face in any city, should you piss off the wrong people. As a Shadow Knife, you practically own the underbelly of a city, putting into machinations elaborate plans and listening to the wealthiest of customers looking to handle a problem. You have complete freedom in how you handle problems, as long as they are handled quietly and without the uncovering of you, your cell, and other Shadow Knives around Faerun.
Enemies and Allies
It’s hard for a faction built on stealth and secrecy to maintain a positive relationship with any other faction. All factions are monitored with suspicion, and they assessed for their current and prospective levels of threat, as well as for their usefulness to the Zhentarim’s schemes.
Your missions might put you at odds with any other faction by calling on you to infiltrate that group and gain insight into its plans, steal proprietary information, or subvert its leadership. You might cooperate with members of other guilds, openly or in disguise, insofar as their goals don’t conflict with yours.
One thing you've managed to hone over the years is a commanding presence. A sense of dread to those opposed to you. An unbridled fury behind your eyes. You have such an aura of control about you, that you gain advantage on all Persuasion and Intimidation checks made to convince someone to help you.
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 | I idolize a particular hero of my faith, and constantly refer to that person’s deeds and example. |
| 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 | I’ve enjoyed fine food, drink, and high society among my temple’s elite. Rough living grates on me. |
| 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 | Tradition. The ancient traditions of worship and sacrifice must be preserved and upheld. (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 | I would die to recover an ancient relic of my faith that was lost long ago. |
| 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. |
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