Factions of Tamriel Overview & Mage's Guilds Spotlight
There are many different factions throughout Tamriel. Politically neutral guilds, such as the mages guilds (The Synod and the College of Whispers), can be found throughout the continent. There are also significantly smaller guilds that can be specific to unique regions, such as the Gold Coast Trading Company, or the Knights of the Thorn. Some of the common factions that players can join are listed below.
FACTIONS
Arena
College of Whispers / Synod
Fighter's Guild
Imperial Cult
Thieves Guild
These are the factions that have an immediate focus in my adventure.
OTHER FACTIONS
The Blades (possibly Defunct)
Companions (Skyrim)
College Of Winterhold (Skyrim)
Dark Brotherhood
Dawnguard
East Empire Company
Gold Coast Trading Company
Imperial Legion
Knightly Orders
Morag Tong (Morrowind)
Penitus Oculatus
Psijic Order
and many more...
Each faction favours particular characteristics for their members. For example, the Fighters Guild typically grants membership to characters with strength that can hold their own in battle, whereas the College of Whispers values those that are competent with magic.
Members of a faction are able to rise through the ranks, receiving perks with their increased status. To increase your rank, a member must complete tasks or jobs that benefit the guild. The most common way is to complete quests given out by high ranking members. These quests are called Radiant Quests.
Radiant Quests
When players have downtime between fending off goblins and slaying trolls, they can decide to do Radiant Quests to increase their standing with their faction.
Radiant Quests are handed out by high ranking members of a faction, usually found within cities and towns. These quests are intended to be simple and quick stories that are solved through brief descriptions and a few die rolls. To determine what type of work is available, the DM can hand out a custom made quest, or can roll on the Radiant Quests table that is listed as part of each faction.
Each radiant quest comes with brief instructions on how to describe the tasks and determine the outcomes. Each quest also comes with a listed reputation increases or decreases, based on well or poorly the quest is completed.
Ranks and Standing
Factions typically have 10 ranks that you can climb up. When you join a faction, you start out at the 1st rank.
Every rank is tracked by 4 levels of standing. Each time you successfully complete a task for your faction, your standing improves. If you fail a task, or otherwise dishonor your faction, your standing may decrease. More difficult quests may increase your standing faster than simpler quests.
When you join a faction, your standing starts at level 3. This can be tracked with a faction sheet for your character.
Rewards
When you complete a quest, you also gain a reward, typically gold. The amount of gold is dependent on how well the task is accomplished. See the description of the quest type for more information on how to determine how much gold is awarded.
Some quests have special awards shown with a (s) in the rewards column. These rewards are described in the quest type description.
FACTION SPOTLIGHT
This week, we're going to look at the mages guilds of Tamriel. In the current timeline, the College of Winterhold is an independent college in Skyrim that mostly keeps to itself. In Cyrodiil, there are currently two competing mages guilds, the Synod and The College of Whispers.
The College of Whispers is an officially recognized institution of magic. Members focus their studies on Conjuratin and Necromancy, believing the best way to prevent the destruction from daedra is to study and learn from daedra.
The Synod, in comparison, has banned all research regarding necromancy, similar to the former mages guild, and conjuration, due to the occurrences of the oblivion crisis,
I personally favour the College of Whispers more than the Synod, although my campaign has both factions with equal political sway, which I will allow the players determine who rises in power, and who falls to the wayside. I've prepared a the College of Whispers faction outline below, but it could easily be adjusted to be for the Synod by simply removing any conjuration references.
COLLEGE OF WHISPERS
The College of Whispers is an officially recognized institution of magic. Members focus their studies on Conjuratin and Necromancy, believing the best way to prevent the destruction from daedra is to study and learn from daedra.
The College of Whispers favours Intelligence + Willpower
Ranks
1 Associate
2 Apprentice
3 Journeyman
4 Evoker
5 Conjurer
6 Magician
7 Warlock
8 Wizard
9 Master-Wizard
10 Arch-Mage
Perks
Non-members
The mages guilds have benefits for everyone, including non-members. You can usually find spell trainers as well as scholars that can identify magic items for a fee.
Level 1
Member's Benefits
The price of your spell training is reduced by 10% for half your rank, rounding down, minimum of one.
Level 3
Quick Travel
When you reach rank level 3, you gain access to the guilds teleportation services. Most guilds are able to teleport you and your allies to another location that also has access to teleportation services, for a fee.
Level 5
Mage Training
At rank level 5, you gain proficiency in either Arcana or Lore, and 1 rare language of your choice.
Level 7
Spell Making
Beginning at rank level 7, you gain access to the factions spell maker. For a fee dependent on the level of the spell, you and the DM can work together to create a spell of your choice.
Level 10
Mage Adept
When you reach rank level 10, you can choose 1 spell in your repertoire that you are able to cast with greater ease than others. Reduce the magicka cost of the spell of your choice by 1 for Apprentice and Journeyman level spells, or by 2 for Expert and Master level spells.
Radiant Quests
The mages guilds have 4 different types of radiant quests, study, practice, collection, and teach, each described in detail at the end of this section.
RADIANT QUEST TYPES
Practice. Depending on your rank with the guild, a practice quest has two different outcomes. At a higher rank level (6-10), you practice targeted spells on a lowly assistant. When you are of the lower ranks (1-5), you are the assistant. You will roll 3 or 4 die to determine the events of these quests.
Ranks 1-5.
Roll 1: Determine who you are partnered with. A DC 12 roll puts you with a competent mage on a successful check, and a bumbling mage on failed check.
Roll 2: Determines what types of spells are being cast. A DC 12 roll is a beneficial spell on a successful check, and a damaging spell on a failed check.
For example, if you are practicing Alteration, a beneficial spell could be Oakflesh, whereas a damaging spell might be Forcebolt. If you are practicing Destruction, there may not be an appropriate benefitical spell to cast. Instead, this roll could be used to determine how much damage the spell is capable of dealing.
Roll 3: Determines how effective the spell is. A DC 15 roll means the spell was successful, and a failed check means the spell was ineffective. A competent mage has advantage on this roll, and a bumbling mage has disadvantage. You can add your Arcana modifier to this spell if you are proficient in the school that is being practiced.
Reward. If the spell was successfully cast on you, you earn 15g, and 5 gold if the spell was unsuccessful. If you are proficient in the school of magic that is being practiced, you can roll 1d4 to determine how many hours you have gained towards learning a new spell from the same school. If the spell failed, you have disadvantage on this roll.
Repuation. If you were able to assist the mage with casting a successful spell, you gain +1 to your factions standing. If the spell is unsuccessful, you do not gain any ranking.
Add examples to each roll.
Ranks 6-10
Roll 1: Determines who you are partnered with. A DC 12 puts you with a competent assistant on a successful check, and a bumbling assistant on failed check.
Roll 2: Determines what type of spell you are casting. A DC 12 roll is a beneficial spell on a successful check, and a damaging spell on a failed check. For example, if you are practicing Mysticism, a beneficial spell could be Tongues, whereas a damaging spell might be Absorb Attribute.
Roll 3: Determines how effective the spell is. A DC 15 roll means the spell was successful, and a failed check means the spell was ineffective. You can add your proficiency modifier and your schools attribute modifier to this spell if you are proficient in the school you are practicing. If you are paired with a competent assistant, you have advantage on the roll, and disadvantage with a bumbling assistant.
Roll 4: If you have successfully cast a damaging spell, roll once more to determine how deadly the attack was. A low roll severely injures the assistant, and a high roll sufficiently damages the assistant to teach them about spell resistance.
Reward. If the spell was successfully cast on you, you earn 30 gold, and 15 gold if the spell was unsuccessful. If you are proficient in the school of magic that is being practiced, you can roll 1d4 towards learning a new spell from the same school. If the spell failed, you have disadvantage on this roll.
Repuation. If you were able cast a beneficial spell on the assistant, you gain +1 standing to the guild. If you cast a damaging spell that teaches the assistant about resistance, you gain 0 standing. If you severely damage the assistant, your standing is reduced by -1.
Collections. One of the more menial tasks for a mage to do is to participate in physical labor. Any time spent away from your books is time not spent learning. It is best to get these jobs over with quickly so you can get back to your studies. Roll 2 or 3 times to determine the events of these quests.
Roll 1. Determines if you find the item or items you are looking for. A DC 12 allows the character to find the item quickly on a successful check. On a failed check, the character may or may not find the item, or they may offend someone with their tardiness. The character can add their Investigation, Fauna, or any other skill you deem appropriate.
Roll 2. Determines how successful you are at retrieving the item. This roll is automatically successful if the item requires little skill to retrieve it. A book may be easy to pick up, but speaking with a noble could open up an opportunity to offend them. Determine the DC based on the difficulty of the task, 10 being easy, 15 being average, and 20 being hard. Allow the character to add any skill modifiers that would be appropriate.
Roll 3. Determines how successful the character is at returning the item. A DC 12 allows the character to return the item without compromise on a successful check. A failed check may result in returning damaged goods, misunderstanding the information given, or simply losing the item. If the character had difficulties retrieving the item, they have disadvantage on this roll.
Reward. If the character successful returns the goods, they receive septims as a reward. If they are exceptional at their services, they may be rewarded with additional materials thematic to their quest, like healing potions, soul gems, or a book of spells. If the item is brought back damaged, reduce the reward by 5 septims.
Reputation. If the item is successfully retrieved, the character gains +1 reputation with the college. If the item is not returned or is damaged, the character does not receive a reputation reward. If the character managed to harm the colleges reputation by offending nobles, or letting a daedra loose, they loose -1 reputation with the guild.
Study. A mages favorite task is to bury themselves in their books and further their knowledge. This is an important practice for the college, but it's also a relatively selfish endeavor as well. The reward for these quests are less monetarily substantial because of the personal reward of knowledge.
Outline. The character has been tasked with spending the day studying a school of magic. Have the player roll a 1d8 to determine how many hours were successfully used for studying and add their intelligence modifier to their roll. If they were able to successfully study for 8 or more hours, they earn 10 septims. Reduce the reward by 1 septim for each hour less than 8 hours.
Proficiency. If the character is proficient in the school they are studying, they can add 1d4 hours towards learning a new spell of their choice from the school they are studying.
Teach. One of the greatest rewards for a mage is being given the opportunity to share the knowledge they have gained. Teaching is a very important role to ensure they quality of the aspiring wizards and sorcerers that are studying at the college.
Roll 1. Determines how much you know about the subject you have been tasked to teach. A DC 15 is required to be knowledgeable in the subject. The character can add their Intelligence modifier to this roll, and their proficiency modifier if they are proficient in the school of magic.
Roll 2. Determines how well you teach the class. A DC 12 allows the character to keep the class entertained on a successful check, and loses interest of the class on a failed check. The character can add their speechcraft skill modifier to this roll. If the character is knowledgeable in this subject, the character has advantage on this roll, and disadvantage if they were not knowledgeable.
Reward. If the class went well, the character receives 100 septims, and half as much if the class is unsuccessful. If the character is proficient in the school of magic, they can add 1d4 towards learning a new spell from the same school.
Reputation. The character gain +1 reputation for a successful class, and 0 reputation for an unsuccessful one.
