Digging into Entities!!!

On the update this week we announced completing the foundation for entities. But I'm worried that the scope of the achievement is lost, if you don't have all the details. So that's what I want to do here, I want to fill you in on how we filled in the Entity Foundation. 

In stripped down terms; an Entity is a Advantage bank, that can be setup by one or several people. They can put in and take out Advantages, a certain amount of times per arc. The Bigger the Entity the more Advantages it has and the more times you can pull resources from it. 

A list of the Available Advantages

Sample Advantages:

Base of Operations

The bat has his cave, the man of steel; his fortress, and the wall crawler; his aunt's rent controlled apartment. This is your space, your laboratory, your command station, your impenetrable rusted trailer. With this advantage you can turn a place, a space into any or all of these things.

When first purchasing this advantage, choose a focal area: Hideout, Stronghold, or Laboratory. The choice of focal area determines the focus of your base: Hideouts are for hiding and planning, Strongholds are for defense, and laboratories are for building. Your base will automatically have a starting augmentation as listed within focal area.

Each level of Base of Operations also gives 2 points to spend toward purchasing additional augmentations: augmentations within your focal area’s list cost 1 point whereas the augmentations from another focal area costs 2 points. The starting augmentations cannot be purchased this way {TESTING: Only your focal area Starting Augment is the exception.}. No augmentation may be purchased more than [Base of Operations Level ÷ 2: Round Up] times.

Focal areas:
The Hideout: A place to hide away, easier to plan and recuperate.
The Stronghold: A fortress to withstand attack from outside forces
The Laboratory: A workshop to build, refine and create new advancements

Hideout
Starting Augmentation
•Safe Havens (Remote Hideout Hubs) apply all bonuses and penalties of Main hideout to remote hubs at [half value] A character can have up to their (Base of Operations Level) in hubs.{TESTING: +1 per additional purchase.}

Augmentation List
•Add 2 to any difficulties involving efforts to find the character's hideout (Awareness, Problem Solving, Detection)
•Subtract 1 from results of any opponents trying to infiltrate into the hideout (Larceny, Stealth, Problem Solving)
•Gain a +1 equipment bonus to Stealth rolls against intruders while within the hideout
•The hideout has internal defenses dealing 1 hazard die of damage, the difficulty to avoid damage from the hideout internal defenses is 2 plus every purchase of this augmentation. The internal defense can be a trap of almost any kind or a triggered defense like an acid gun, spike cannon, poison dart launcher, etc. (may be modified with craft or upgraded through further purchases of this modification)
•Gain a +2 to the results of SEMANTIC trait rolls while inside of your Base of Operations.
•Gain an alternate entrance/exit to hideout in a place up to quarter of a mile away.

Stronghold
Starting Augmentation
•Increase the cap for Talents by 1 for Companions and Henchmen.

Augmentation List
•Player-controlled allies (Other PCs) and Stronghold’s owner (Character) count as “Companions” for determining valid targets of stronghold bonus to improve talent cap.
•Intruder's (anyone not noted as a companion by the strongholds owner) suffer a -2 to Defense roll results while within the strongholds area of influence.
•Increase the Trait cap of Units that are stationed at the stronghold by 1 die step
•Increase the minimum of henchman and companion rolls while in Stronghold by 1.
•Perimeter Defense systems work to keep intruders out of the stronghold rolling a d6 to attack and dealing 2 hazard die of damage (may be modified with craft or upgraded through further purchases of this modification). Each purchase increases attack by 1 die step or increases damage by 2 hazard die.

Laboratory
Starting Augmentation
•Add 1 Signature General Function when building from this lab (this takes up one slot from the items function list but does not increase the final difficulty)

Augmentation List
•Choose Macro or Micro as a focus for this lab. Shift the Base difficulty up (for Macro) or down (for Micro) and increase the opposite end by +2.
•Increase complexity or Equipment Grade Up one when building from this lab.
•Workshop Grade of laboratory increases by one step.
•Choose a function block. Subtract 1 from the difficulty of adding these functions.
•Research Nodes (Remote Laboratory Hubs) apply all bonuses and penalties of Main Lab at half value when crafting in a remote laboratory. Every purchase of this augmentation gives you a new research node.
•When performing medical checks, patient’s injury penalty counts as one lower, but never counts as less than 0.

Henchmen

Henchmen work for (or serve) the character and will come as beckoned (Henchmen Value) times per issue. Henchmen are defined in their role of what they do for the character but this is not (always) out of some altruistic sense of duty. Henchmen receive compensation for their devotion to the character, sometimes it is a tangible benefit (like wealth) other times it is intangible but no less important (fame or infamy).

Henchmen work to handle the minutiae of everyday life that the character cannot handle on their own. Secretaries, Butlers, Chauffeurs, Maids these are all henchmen as are thugs that serve a gang leader as disposable agents of mayhem.

To cover the compensation of henchmen, the character must maintain a Wealth, Fame or Infamy rating equal to (or greater) than Henchmen rating. At the start of an issue, if the character’s Henchmen rating exceeds the greatest of the user’s Wealth, Fame, or Infamy, the character’s Henchmen value decreases by 1. These points don’t come back until the greatest of those three supporting advantages equals the character’s maximum Henchman rating. The henchmen lost in this way are not gone but their loyalty is wavering. Henchmen that are killed or die in service to the character can reduce the value of this advantage. Henchmen lost this way are replaced at the start of the next arc.

If it reaches 0, the henchmen will begin to hinder the character for the remainder of the arc AND they may stage a coup or rebellion. If they stage a rebellion, they will find a new leader from amongst themselves who will guide them to being satisfied (by either leading them well or finding a better, long term leader). Once a coup, walk-out, strike or other hindrance occurs then the Henchmen value rises back up to the maximum that the character can support through wealth, fame or infamy.

Henchmen cannot take the advantages "Henchmen" or “Protégé”, however they may take Companions up to Level 2.

1: A small cadre of 5 NPCs at power comparable to an "Average" level character will serve. These henchmen have a Commitment (context defined by the Player and Narrator) valued at 1 towards the character and will behave accordingly (checking on the "boss" but never throwing their lives away from him or her, following what the "boss" says so long as the rewards are coming in and it doesn't immediately seem lethal) They cannot be any special classification (human only) but may have Standing in an organization that the character is affiliated with (Like paralegals to a lawyer or a separate crew of thugs in a larger gang) or Standing amongst the character's household (the head of cleaning staff as compared to the rest of them).

2: Gain an additional one henchman at "Skilled" level or gain additional 5 "Average" level henchmen. The character may call on them one additional time per issue (Henchman level +1 maximum times).

3: Increase Commitment rating towards the character to 2, reduce Resolve by 2 for determining "Convinced" level when dealing with the character while being compensated. This cannot be used to convince the henchmen that they are happier but it can get them to do greater acts in service to the character that they normally would feel less than enthusiastic about.

4: Increase 5 "Average" henchmen to "Skilled" level AND gain an additional 20 "Average" henchmen. The greater of Wealth, Fame or Infamy may be One point lower than Henchmen and safely provide full compensation for them.

5: The player may select up to 5 henchmen and increase their level to "Professional". These professional henchmen increase their Commitment to the character to 3, are controlled by the player. The remaining Henchmen are bumped up to "Skilled" OR the character gains 30 additional "Average" level henchmen.

6: "Professional" Henchmen increase their Commitment to the character to 4, reduce the Resolve of "Skilled" or lower level henchmen by 3 to determine their "Convinced" level in regards to orders from the character. This cannot be used to stop an already existing coup but it can delay one from starting.

7: Grant all "Professional" Henchmen 3 additional die steps to place anywhere (this cannot raise their Traits past class maximums) and Gain additional 100 "Average" level henchmen.

8: Increase "Professional" Henchmen to "Veteran" level; Wealth, Fame and Infamy may be 3 points less than Henchmen while still providing full compensation for them. A single veteran Henchman may select Protégé as an advantage. This cannot be raised higher than Protégé level 3.

9: Gain 240 "Average" henchmen OR increase the level of all Narrator controlled Henchmen to "Professional".

10: Increase Commitment towards the character from all Henchmen by 1; Gain 1000 "Average" Henchmen OR Gain 600 "Average" Henchmen and reduce the Resolve of all "Professional" and lower henchmen by 4 when determining "Convinced" level in regards to the character's orders while compensated but only by 2 while in "rebellion".

Now how is this a Boon? First it takes XP to turn temporary Advantages permanent. Permanent means when used they replenish after a certain amount of time. Second Entities gain their own XP. Specifically 1 for every 4 XP that the Head and Administrators gain. This means you can have the Entity spend XP to Permanent the Advantages, borrow the Advantages from the Entity and save you XP for more character specific things. Is there a catch? OF course there's a catch! The catch is an Entity isn't invincible. It needs maintenance, it can be raided and it can be taken away (not easily but possible). It's a Risk Reward situation and I think it's a great tool for Players and GMs alike!

Ethereal & Dev-X  | Stock & Bull Entertainment