A coalition of rulers from cities across Faerûn, who collectively agree that some solidarity is needed to keep evil at bay. The rulers of Waterdeep, Silverymoon, Neverwinter, and other free cities in the region dominate the Alliance. Alliance cloaks are well versed in Persuasion, to forge diplomatic solutions and secure powerful allies. Similarly, they are masters of turning their persuasive charms into an Intimidating presence, should the situation require it.
As a prelude to your adventuring career (and in preparation for it), you served as a cloak of the Lord's Alliance. 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: Intimidation and Persuasion
- Languages: Two of your choice
- Equipment: Lord's Alliance paperwork, an official seal that relates to the lord or lady you work for, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 20 gp
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: Redknife
Prerequisite: Renown 3 or higher in the Lord's Alliance
You have distinguished yourself from the mass of your peers. The Alliance heads themselves might not know your name, but they know that a member of your group is reliable and effective, and will have your personal lord or lady single you out for specific missions. The faction provides you with supplies you need to complete those missions (within reason).
Rank 2: Stingblade
Prerequisite: Rank 1 and renown 10 or higher in the Lord's Alliance
When you reach this level of renown in the Lord's Alliance, your name will be relayed to the council during meetings, and they appreciate that you can be relied on to help fulfill the faction’s objectives. Thanks to this prominence, you can get away with asking a favor from the faction's more notable members. You can ask a mayor, a guard captain, or perhaps a banker that works for the Lord's Alliance to help you with a task. They are not obligated to help you, but hold you in enough esteem to at least consider it — in exchange for the promise of a favor in return.
Additionally, you can get away with more extravagant requests for supplies to use on your missions for the faction.
Gargoyle (Special Role)
Prerequisite: Renown 10 or higher in the Lord's Alliance
Having achieved considerable renown within the faction, you can choose to become a member of the Gargoyles. The Gargoyles often serve as stealthy bodyguards, lurking out of sight until some danger threatens their wards. The Gargoyles are also sent out as assassins or burglars to further the faction’s goals.
Rank 3: Warduke
Prerequisite: Rank 2 and renown 25 or higher in the Lord's Alliance
Although you aren’t yet one of the Council's personal Lioncrown, your value to the faction is clear. They Council members regularly call on you to perform tasks for the faction and to share your insights. You can be sure that anything you say to one of them will pass quickly to the ears of the others.
You gain a permanent, well kept residence in an Alliance city of your choice.
Rank 4: Lioncrown
Prerequisite: Rank 3 and renown 50 or higher in the Harpers
The Council seeks out the most powerful, effective, and loyal members of the faction to serve as their personal Lioncrown, a collective of highly skilled Wardukes who take up a position working for one of the Lords and Ladies on the council themselves. At this point, you certainly qualify. The amorphous nature of the Lioncrown means that you don’t need to wait for a vacancy to open up; the Council will simply summon you to one of their meetings, and you are expected to appear and accept the new position offered to you.
As a Lioncrown, you are able to advise your Lord or Lady on their decision making, and work alongside any other Lioncrown they have to spread verdicts, complete dangerous tasks, and keep the Lord's Alliance as a whole functioning beneath them.
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, especially if you are a member of the Gargoyles. 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.
Your Lord or Lady's name can always carry weight in the city they live in, and you may use this as an advantage. When working with any reputable (or simply attempting to be reputable) person in that city, you can use their name to gain advantage on any Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion checks you make against that person.
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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