Influence has multiple uses, while it is used to advance Progression Level, it is also a representation of resources and allies you can potentially call in favours from based on what you have done for them in the past.
Influence Levels vs Ranks
Influence Levels are the ‘currency’ spent to gain things from groups.
- Influence Levels are theoretically unlimited. They are NOT capped at 15.
- Going ‘negative’ in Levels means that you owe the group, or that they just don’t like you.
Influence Ranks are shown in the table below. These ranks tie into the influence you need in order to level up a character and show how much help a Group may be willing to give you. Your current Rank is based on your current
Level, meaning as you gain, lose or spend Influence Levels your Rank will fluctuate. If you have no Influence Levels, you have no Influence Rank with that particular group.
| Influence level | Rank | Rank description |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | 1 | Accepted |
| 3-5 | 2 | Sociable |
| 6-9 | 3 | Respected |
| 10-14 | 4 | Admired |
| 15+ | 5 | Venerated |
Gaining influence
Influence can be gained in several ways:
- In-Game – An NPC’s or Group’s can grant you levels of Influence (or remove them!) based on your characters actions. These are often given as rewards at the end of a game.
- In downtime – You can spend a downtime action to approach a group with the intent of completing some task for them which will give you one or more levels of Influence with them.
- Spending Karma – You can spend Karma to buy levels of Influence with a Group at a cost of 10 Karma per Level. Check with a Ref when you do this to ensure it is suitable (there may be reasons you cannot gain influence with a group, or a limit to how much you can gain).
Spending influence
Spending influence can be done to get favours from groups (resources, services, troops, etc). Certain things will require you to have a minimum Influence Rank to represent how much someone trusts you. A group might give you somewhere to stay over-night as long as you have some influence with them, but to get them to help you hide the evidence of a murder might require you to have a lot more influence with them. What you are asking for could cost you 1 or more Influence Levels.
Speak to the Refs whenever you want to try and expend Influence for something and they will work out if you can and the cost of Influence Levels. There is not currently a ‘shopping list’ of things you can get as it will vary depending on the groups you are interacting with.
Wealth
Ascendancy LRP uses an abstract system to represent the value of items and what a character can afford, it is not a system that suits detailed accounting systems.
You do not need to account for anything basic, even if your Wealth Level is 0, things like having a place to sleep/hide, having a reasonably sized home for your social status, basic travel, food costs, access to the resources your skills allow you to start a game with, as well as your basic equipment (weapons/armour etc).
Wealth is ONLY used when you are wanting to acquire something rare/expensive or invest in Assets and to determine how much ‘pocket money’ you may have at an event. If none of these things interest you, your character can effectively ignore Wealth completely.
Personal Wealth
Personal Wealth (referred to as just ‘Wealth’) represents the personal finances you have access to (so does not include businesses, military units, settlements etc that you may be responsible for).
Wealth works in the same way as Influence, with there being Levels and Ranks and ways to gain/lose these through in game and downtime actions. Wealth does NOT count as Influence for the purposes of levelling.
There is no trickle wealth mechanic in this game. The only way Wealth will increase is if characters with relevant skill sets utilise Downtime Actions with the sole purpose of increasing Wealth.
Each event your character can assume to have coins/gems or other tradeable items in their pockets/camp based on their Wealth Rank. This is not something you can save up, it is lost at the end of an event whether used or not.
| Wealth level | Wealth rank | Rank description | Pocket Money per event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | Beggarly | None |
| 1-2 | 1 | Poor | 5 Tanners |
| 3-5 | 2 | Comfortable | 10 Tanners |
| 6-9 | 3 | Prosperous | 1 Copper |
| 10-14 | 4 | Affluent | 5 Coppers |
| 15 | 5 | Wealthy | 10 Coppers |
Wealth & Value
Items of intrinsic value and wealth will fall into one of the following categories:
- Tanner – About the cost of a loaf of bread and a pint of ale.
- Copper – Equivalent to the cost of a very good night out
- Lords Silver – Rent a small house for a few months or buy a nice pistol. These will normally cost 1+ Personal Wealth levels to acquire.
- Kings Ransom – Equivalent to a years luxury or hiring a mercenary unit. These will normally cost multiple Personal Wealth levels.
- Dragons Hoard – About the price of a Mansion or a typical Ship. These will cost a lot of Personal Wealth levels.
- 1 Copper = 30 Tanners
- 1 Lords Silver = 30 Copper (or 900 Tanners)
- 1 Kings Ransom = 30 Lords Silver (that’s 900 Copper, or 27,000 Tanners)
- 1 Dragons Hoard = 30 Kings Ransom (that’s 900 Lords Silver, 27,000 Copper or 810,000 Tanners!)
Only Tanners and Coppers exist as coinage, Lords Silver and above only exist as goods, precious items, services, land, buildings, promissory notes etc.
Coppers and Tanners exist in many forms, they might be beads in Frontier, one style of coin in one province or different in the next. They may also have slightly different names in different parts of the world but translate to the same thing.
Note: Ascendancy does not provide coinage or other physreps for these.
Converting wealth levels to cash
While it is possible to convert Wealth Levels to and from Cash, there is no ‘flat exchange rate’, whenever this needs to be done (such as characters needing more ‘on hand cash’ as they are attending an auction, or a treasure hoard is located and the character wants to invest it) then let the Refs know and you will be informed of the changes to Levels etc. Normally purchases are made by expending Levels as detailed below.
Purchasing items/services
Purchasing things will normally cost you one or more Levels of Wealth (a Ref will advise you how many based on the circumstances/how many of a thing you are trying to purchase etc). Having higher Ranks can sometimes reduce the number of Levels required, representing your ability to absorb some of the costs. For example a Masterwork Item will cost you 2 Levels, however if you have Rank 5, it may only cost you 1 Level.
Remember that Influence Levels can often be used to get things from groups you have helped in the past, you are not reliant only on money to gain items/services in the world.
This is only necessarily for items that are not classed as common everyday items. A new basic sword will not cost you anything, acquiring a number of Bloodline Resources for a project would likely cost you something.
Permanent Assets can cost significantly more, while ‘hiring’ things for a short time tends to be cheaper.
Transferring wealth between characters
You can transfer Wealth to another Player’s Character during a Downtime (you cannot transfer Wealth between your own Characters), however it is not cost effective.
To increase a Wealth Level by 1, it would cost the donor a number of Wealth Level’s equal to the recipients next Wealth Rank (max 5).
For example, a character with 3 Wealth Levels, meaning they are at Wealth Rank 2, would cost the donor 3 Wealth Levels for the recipient to gain 1 Wealth Level, as their next Wealth Rank is 3.
Characters may only receive Wealth Donations from a single source during a downtime, this means any wealth has to be provided from one Character, you cannot have multiple characters all chipping in 1 level for example.
Assets
If you are intending to use wealth for anything beyond personal assets then you will need to let the Refs know. This will require considerable use of Downtime Actions, as well as Skills, and requires Ref sanction.
A separate set of detailed rules will be provided for those interested in this.
Honour
Predominantly a factor in the Thunders, other cultures usually do not recognise it, however some individuals outside the Thunders may. Honour is a measure of a character’s true virtue, in the Thunders more than any other culture it will get you influence, recognition and friends. For even the richest noble may have far less honour than a humble farmer and those that follow the path of Honour will recognise this.
Honour is not a talent or skill, so may be gained by any character from any vocation, background or heritage.
Honour levels range from 0 to 10. Level 0 Honour is same as having no honour. All Thunders Characters automatically start with Honour 1 for no Karma cost. All others characters start with Honour 0.
Honour may be bought at character creation for 20 karma per level up to level 4, after that honour must be earned in the game, either as individual rewards or the overall reward for an event. Honour may also be lost in game in the same way as honour is gained should characters do dishonourable deeds.
Honour duels
A character may challenge another character that possesses honour to an honour duel. While the duel is normally a combat it is not restricted to combat duels only.A character may challenge another character that possesses honour to an honour duel. While the duel is normally a combat it is not restricted to combat duels only.
- If an honour duel is refused that character loses one point of honour.
- If an honour fight proceeds, then both characters make a bead draw modified by their honour, the character with the highest score wins the combat. This is then role-played out normally.
Honour is also a prerequisite for many of the Chi Powers at Master-level and above.