Faction Retinues - Revision history

Wvaske: Add a faction column to the leader table

2026-08-29T20:01:44Z

Add a faction column to the leader table

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:01, 29 August 2026
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	Every retinue has a leader, and that leader stays at [[Nuts Deep]]. The leader does not travel, does not take field assignments, and cannot be reassigned. You give your instructions to the leader, who passes them on to the members in the field.		Every retinue has a leader, and that leader stays at [[Nuts Deep]]. The leader does not travel, does not take field assignments, and cannot be reassigned. You give your instructions to the leader, who passes them on to the members in the field.

	{\| class="wikitable" style="width:70%;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="width:90%;"
	! Retinue !! Leader !! Where they work		! style="width:20%;" \| Retinue !! style="width:22%;" \| Faction !! style="width:28%;" \| Leader !! style="width:30%;" \| Where they work
	\|-		\|-
	\| [[The Anvil]] \|\| Knight-Sergeant Bertrand Kell \|\| The fort		\| [[The Anvil]] \|\| [[Order of the Gauntlet]] \|\| Knight-Sergeant Bertrand Kell \|\| The fort
	\|-		\|-
	\| [[The Nightingales]] \|\| [[Merrivet Ashcombe]] \|\| The fort, reading the notebook		\| [[The Nightingales]] \|\| [[Harpers]] \|\| [[Merrivet Ashcombe]] \|\| The fort, reading the notebook
	\|-		\|-
	\| [[Talonfall]] \|\| Nettle \|\| The treeline outside the walls		\| [[Talonfall]] \|\| [[Talons of Veylan]] \|\| Nettle \|\| The treeline outside the walls
	\|-		\|-
	\| [[The Broken Latch]] \|\| Ollam Pryce \|\| The fort, handling freight		\| [[The Broken Latch]] \|\| [[Zhentarim]] \|\| Ollam Pryce \|\| The fort, handling freight
	\|-		\|-
	\| [[The Hearthwardens]] \|\| Aldith Fenn \|\| The fort, running the yard		\| [[The Hearthwardens]] \|\| [[Scales of Eldath]] \|\| Aldith Fenn \|\| The fort, running the yard
	\|-		\|-
	\| [[The Dawnwatch]] \|\| Brother Ovid Morningward \|\| The fort, keeping the flame		\| [[The Dawnwatch]] \|\| [[Dawnbringers]] \|\| Brother Ovid Morningward \|\| The fort, keeping the flame
	\|}		\|}

Wvaske: Add the roleplaying section — the leader relationship belongs to the player; no tokens on battle maps; add map links

2026-08-29T19:50:34Z

Add the roleplaying section — the leader relationship belongs to the player; no tokens on battle maps; add map links

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:50, 29 August 2026
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	{{DISPLAYTITLE:Faction Retinues}}		{{DISPLAYTITLE:Faction Retinues}}
	= Faction Retinues =		= Faction Retinues =
	''A rules reference for the faction personnel your characters command. Each retinue has its own page with the letter that came with it, the people in it, and their current postings. ~~This page covers how they work~~ in ~~general~~.''		''A rules reference for the faction personnel your characters command. Each retinue has its own page with the letter that came with it, the people in it, and their current postings. Where everyone is standing right now is on the [[Map of Faerûn\|interactive maps]] — each retinue is its own layer in the legend, and can be shown or hidden on its own.''

	== What a retinue is ==		== What a retinue is ==
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	Nettle is an exception in placement only. She refuses to come inside the walls and works from the treeline instead. She still does not travel and cannot be reassigned.		Nettle is an exception in placement only. She refuses to come inside the walls and works from the treeline instead. She still does not travel and cannot be reassigned.

			== Roleplaying your retinue ==
			'''How your character deals with their retinue leader is yours to decide, not the DM's.''' You choose what that working relationship looks like — whether you speak in person or send notes, how much you explain yourself, whether the two of you get along, and how often you check in. The DM voices the leader when they appear in a scene, but the ordinary back-and-forth between the two of you belongs to you.

			These interactions happen '''off-screen''', between scenes. Narrate them at the table when they matter, or keep them to yourself.

			You may tell the rest of the party what your retinue is doing and what you and your leader have discussed. You are not obliged to. That is your call, every time.

			'''There are no tokens for retinue members or retinue leaders on battle maps.''' They are never placed, never moved, and never targeted.

	== Postings and travel ==		== Postings and travel ==
	At any time, each member of your retinue is either '''posted''' — assigned to a place and a job — or '''in transit'''. A member in transit does no work for you.		At any time, each member of your retinue is either '''posted''' — assigned to a place and a job — or '''in transit'''. A member in transit does no work for you.

			Current postings for every retinue are marked on the [[Map of Faerûn\|interactive maps]].

	{\| class="wikitable" style="width:55%;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="width:55%;"
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	== Retinues in combat ==		== Retinues in combat ==
	A retinue never rolls initiative and never takes a turn. Its members have no stat blocks at the table.		A retinue never rolls initiative and never takes a turn. Its members have no stat blocks and no tokens at the table.

	If a retinue is attacked or caught up in violence while carrying out an order, the DM resolves that as part of the order rather than running a combat.		If a retinue is attacked or caught up in violence while carrying out an order, the DM resolves that as part of the order rather than running a combat.
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	== See also ==		== See also ==
	* [[The Anvil]] · [[The Nightingales]] · [[Talonfall]] · [[The Broken Latch]] · [[The Hearthwardens]] · [[The Dawnwatch]]		* [[The Anvil]] · [[The Nightingales]] · [[Talonfall]] · [[The Broken Latch]] · [[The Hearthwardens]] · [[The Dawnwatch]]
			* [[Map of Faerûn]] — where everyone is posted
	* [[Renown Tracker]] — the faction ranks that grant these		* [[Renown Tracker]] — the faction ranks that grant these
	* [[Council Disposition Tracker]] — goodwill and coalition standing		* [[Council Disposition Tracker]] — goodwill and coalition standing

Wvaske: Rewrite in plain sourcebook rules prose

2026-08-29T19:47:05Z

Rewrite in plain sourcebook rules prose

Show changes

Wvaske: Create the player-facing rules page for faction retinues

2026-08-29T19:39:39Z

Create the player-facing rules page for faction retinues

New page

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Faction Retinues}}
= Faction Retinues =
''A rules reference for the standing groups of faction personnel each of you now commands. Each retinue has its own page with the letter that came with it, the people in it, and their current postings — this page covers how they work in general.''

Each faction calls its own group something different — the [[Order of the Gauntlet]] and the [[Dawnbringers]] say '''lance''', the [[Harpers]] say '''cell''', the [[Zhentarim]] say '''crew''', the [[Talons of Veylan]] say '''flight''', the [[Scales of Eldath]] say '''hearth'''. "Retinue" is just the common word for all of them.

== What a retinue is ==
On reaching '''Rank 3''' with a faction, you are given people. Not adventurers, and not soldiers you take into a dungeon — competent professionals who do your faction's work, at a distance, on your instructions.

They are a '''standing asset''', like a stronghold or a magic item. They persist between sessions, they can be moved, and they can be lost. Higher ranks bring larger commands.

== Size ==
Your retinue numbers '''a complement equal to your proficiency bonus''', plus a leader who is not counted.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:45%;"
! Character level !! Complement
|-
| 5–8 || 3
|-
| '''9–12 (now)''' || '''4'''
|-
| 13–16 || 5
|-
| 17+ || 6
|}

The increase is automatic. Your faction sends another body when your standing warrants it; there is no ceremony and nothing to spend.

'''Your squire does not count against this.''' Squires may run messages or act as liaison without consuming a slot.

== The leader stays home ==
'''Every retinue has a leader, and that leader remains at [[Nuts Deep]].''' They do not travel, they do not take field assignments, and they cannot be redeployed. They run the retinue, hold its facility at the fort, and are the person you actually give instructions to.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:70%;"
! Retinue !! Leader !! Where they sit
|-
| [[The Anvil]] || Knight-Sergeant Bertrand Kell || The fort
|-
| [[The Nightingales]] || [[Merrivet Ashcombe]] || The fort, reading the notebook
|-
| [[Talonfall]] || Nettle || ''The treeline outside the walls. She does not come indoors.''
|-
| [[The Broken Latch]] || Ollam Pryce || The fort, handling freight
|-
| [[The Hearthwardens]] || Aldith Fenn || The fort, running the yard
|-
| [[The Dawnwatch]] || Brother Ovid Morningward || The fort, keeping the flame
|}

== Postings and movement ==
Every member of your retinue is either '''posted''' somewhere doing a job, or '''in transit'''. A member in transit is doing nothing for you.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:55%;"
! Moving someone !! Time
|-
| Within the same settlement || Hours
|-
| Within a region || 3–5 days
|-
| Across the Sword Coast || 10 days or more
|}

Move them rarely and on purpose. '''Where someone is standing usually matters more than what you asked them to do''' — a Harper agent already in the city will find things no archive holds, and a Talon posted on a road knows what crossed it.

A posted member also works on their own initiative. Expect occasional reports and results you did not ask for; these cost you nothing.

== Giving orders ==
Tell your retinue's leader what you want. Each retinue has its own list of standing orders (below).

* '''Routine work in their specialty simply happens.''' They are professionals. No roll.
* '''Contested or dangerous work may fail.''' The DM will resolve it. Outcomes range from clean success, to success at a cost — a delay, a debt, an injury, the wrong sort of attention — down to outright failure.
* '''Bad failures cost you a person.''' See below.

== They do not fight beside you ==
'''A retinue never appears in initiative.''' They do not take turns, they do not have stat blocks at the table, and they are not a second party.

If violence reaches them, it is resolved as above rather than played out. If one happens to be present at a fight you are in, they are worth a single narrated effect — holding a doorway, telling you where the second group is coming from — declared by the DM, not rolled.

They also '''do not adventure'''. Taking your retinue into the kind of place this company works in will get them killed, and every one of your faction's letters says so.

== Losing people ==
People in a retinue can be killed, captured, bought, or burned. '''Each faction's people break differently''', and it is worth knowing which way yours will go — your letter tells you.

Replacing someone takes '''a downtime week''' and your faction's willingness. A faction unhappy with you can simply decline to send anyone.

== Upkeep ==
Between adventures, tell the DM where each of your people is standing and what they are doing. That is all the bookkeeping there is.

== The six retinues ==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
! style="width:18%;" | Retinue !! style="width:12%;" | Held by !! style="width:20%;" | Faction !! style="width:50%;" | Standing orders
|-
| '''[[The Anvil]]''' || [[Xanphina]] || [[Order of the Gauntlet]] || '''Hold''' — set them on a place and it stays held · '''Escort''' — what they escort arrives · '''Lend''' — detach them to an ally, which counts as your company's work
|-
| '''[[The Nightingales]]''' || [[Gootcha]] || [[Harpers]] || '''The notebook''' — one open question at a time, answered in anything from ten minutes to ten days depending on what you asked · '''The field''' — an agent posted where you are asking makes the answer far faster and far better
|-
| '''[[Talonfall]]''' || [[Keyleth]] || [[Talons of Veylan]] || '''Watch''' — you learn what moves through a place before it reaches you · '''Guide''' — safe passage through bad country · '''Cull''' — they hunt and kill a named target, nothing older or larger than a young wyrm, and it takes weeks
|-
| '''[[The Broken Latch]]''' || [[Shade]] || [[Zhentarim]] || '''Move''' — anything or anyone, unrecorded · '''Acquire''' — buy what is not for sale, including magic, on a timetable by rarity · '''Lean''' — pressure a person or business until it reconsiders
|-
| '''[[The Hearthwardens]]''' || [[Karma]] || [[Scales of Eldath]] || '''Mollify''' — a village the Cult is working on does not turn · '''Forage''' — name the kind of reagent and they find it · '''Tend''' — one week rebuilding a hurt place, which earns lasting goodwill
|-
| '''[[The Dawnwatch]]''' || [[Baelgrum]] || [[Dawnbringers]] || '''Consecrate''' — ground the undead and infernal find no purchase on · '''Ward''' — warning of undead and fiends before they arrive · '''Carry the light''' — hope to the frightened and the beset · ''''''not yet conferred''''''
|}

'''[[The Dawnwatch]] has not been conferred.''' [[Baelgrum]] has not yet reached the rank that grants it. The page exists so he can read what is coming.

== Goodwill ==
[[The Hearthwardens]]' '''Tend''' order earns '''goodwill''' with the places they rebuild, recorded on the [[Council Disposition Tracker]].

Goodwill extends to '''associates''' — every retinue and every [[Squires of Deez Nuts|squire]]. A village [[Karma]]'s people put back together will shelter a Nightingale, walk a Talon to the right trailhead, and forget it saw either, without asking whose they are.

== See also ==
* [[The Anvil]] · [[The Nightingales]] · [[Talonfall]] · [[The Broken Latch]] · [[The Hearthwardens]] · [[The Dawnwatch]]
* [[Renown Tracker]] — the ranks that grant these
* [[Council Disposition Tracker]] — goodwill and coalition standing
* [[Nuts Deep]] — where every retinue's leader sits
* [[House Rules]]

[[Category:Campaign]] [[Category:Rules]] [[Category:Rise of Tiamat]]