How much for a contact?

[Mr. R]

I have been making sample characters for the Deities from my notes that you people have graciously been helping me out with.  But now I come to a conundrum, How much should a starting PC or NPC spend on Contact (the church).  Organization adder is a given, good relations etc.  By the time I am done it is a 15 point expenditure.  Since I plan for 125 - 150 for starting people, that is a lot of points. 

 

My question is--- am I going too big, or is that a good base amount?

[LoneWolf]

It depends on what the contact can do for the character.   If this is because the character is member of the church, I would do this as a fringe benefit instead of a contact.   Fantasy Hero has a chart in it for membership in a religious order. A monk is 1 point, a local priest is 2 points, and a priest is 3 points and further ranks scales up appropriately.   

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah I would say the value depends on what it does.  Does it give you a get out of jail free card?  Does it give you information?  Rituals of power?  Vestments? Is it just an occasional tip or hint?

[Hugh Neilson]

9 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Yeah I would say the value depends on what it does.  Does it give you a get out of jail free card?  Does it give you information?  Rituals of power?  Vestments? Is it just an occasional tip or hint?

 

Would the Church provide me with free healing right up to bringing me back from the dead, including seeking out my remains should I disappear for an extended period?

 

Will the Church declare a Holy War if my character is threatened or insulted?   

 

I'd probably pay 15 points for either of those!

[Mr. R]

15 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

Would the Church provide me with free healing right up to bringing me back from the dead, including seeking out my remains should I disappear for an extended period?

 

Will the Church declare a Holy War if my character is threatened or insulted?   

 

I'd probably pay 15 points for either of those!

 

 

Thanks for this.  Yeah a starting character should NOT be as important as this (unless he/she is the great and fabled CHOSEN ONE).  Yeah, time to trim a little fat in regards to starting levels of access to the higher ups!

[LoneWolf]

When you calculate the cost of the contact keep in mind you are paying for what the contact will do for you, not what it can do.  So, while a church may have access to useful skills and resources and contacts of their own are they going to put those at the disposal of the character?   If not, you don’t have to pay for them.   To a starting character would only have basic access, they are not going to be able to talk to the higher-ranking member or get access to secrets guarded by the church.  The chance of them able to get in touch with someone who can actually help them is going to probably be fairly low.  Sure, you can talk to the local priest all the time, but if he is rarely of any use you don’t need to pay more.  That would probably work out to an 8 or less roll with no other modifiers.  So, it would cost 3 points.   

 

The fringe benefit Priest also cost 3 points so either way would probably work.  The fringe benefit comes with some assumed responsibility and would probably give you a little more in the way of benefits like free shelter, some extra rights, but would require the character do things for them.  
 

[Mr. R]

1 hour ago, LoneWolf said:

When you calculate the cost of the contact keep in mind you are paying for what the contact will do for you, not what it can do.  So, while a church may have access to useful skills and resources and contacts of their own are they going to put those at the disposal of the character?   If not, you don’t have to pay for them.   To a starting character would only have basic access, they are not going to be able to talk to the higher-ranking member or get access to secrets guarded by the church.  The chance of them able to get in touch with someone who can actually help them is going to probably be fairly low.  Sure, you can talk to the local priest all the time, but if he is rarely of any use you don’t need to pay more.  That would probably work out to an 8 or less roll with no other modifiers.  So, it would cost 3 points.   

 

The fringe benefit Priest also cost 3 points so either way would probably work.  The fringe benefit comes with some assumed responsibility and would probably give you a little more in the way of benefits like free shelter, some extra rights, but would require the character do things for them.  
 

 

 

Good point.  thank you!