Rules for NPC Contacts (for any D&D edition)
No character is an island. No hero can be everywhere at once. No GM can infinitely supply quaint plot contrivances to lead players towards the adventure material planned for each session. OK, so maybe that last bit isn’t entirely true. In any event, here is a mechanical contrivance to supplement your plot contrivances.
Defining Contacts
A contact is an NPC. A contact should, at minimum, be defined as a name, specialty, and “contact level.” The specialty can be any sort of area or activity. A contact might be an apothecary, a scholar of ancient languages, a weapon smith, an elven ranger and his band of scouts, or any sort of clearly defined specification. The “contact level” is a measure of that contact’s usefulness–how good the individual is at his activity or how knowledgeable he is at his field. The contact level may or may not relate to the character level of the NPC. (Each system handles NPCs and leveling differently, as would each GM’s campaign world.) Player characters have “ownership” of a contact in that the character has some sort of positive relationship with the NPC and thus can seek or be the subject of favors.
Contacts As Plot Hooks
Contacts can be useful to a GM for disseminating information to the players. One approach is to let the players be proactive and check up on their contacts. Each contact could have a rumor, clue, or plot hook. Some of these could be useful, others just scuttlebutt or red herrings. In their down time, player characters can chat up the contacts, catch up on what has been going on while they were out adventuring, and get tips pointing towards new adventures. Another approach is to have the contacts be reactive and seek out the player characters. Did the players ignore those rumors about goblins moving through the hills? Maybe the elven scout shows up with news that the goblins have now marched on a village and burnt it to the ground. Maybe the weapon smith shows up to plead with the party to save his wife who was kidnapped by the goblins as they struck town. These methods might be things you would already do in a standard GMing situation, but now the players have more buy-in, as the players “own” the contact.
Contacts As Assistance
Contacts can also offer assistance when a player character needs a little help. Once per adventure (or month, or other descriminant unit of time,) a contact can be called upon for aid. In the most typical example, a contact might make a skill check for a player character, or add a bonus to a player character’s own skill check (or nonweapon proficiency, or attribute check, depending on your edition.) The contact might provide other small services, like a weapon smith providing a mundane weapon free of charge, or an elven ranger serving as a wilderness guide to an exotic location. The bonus or service provided by the contact should grow with the contact level. For example, a scholar of ancient languages might provide a +1 per contact level to aid in deciphering ancient scripts; a third or fourth level weapon smith might be able to provide a masterwork weapon.
Gaining Contacts
A first level character could start with a level 1 contact. It is suggested to let players define their initial contact. It could be a family member or a friend and should tie into a character’s background. Through play characters can gain more contacts. These contacts should stem organically from play–usually as a reward for completed favors, saved lives, and other good deeds. It is suggested that each player get a new contact every 3 to 5 levels. Contacts acquired in this way should have a contact level equal to the character’s level. (In 4ed you might consider adding a single contact to your list of treasure parcels each level.)
Saying Goodbye
If a player abuses a contact, that contact should go away. If a player ignores or does not check in on a contact in a long time, that contact might not be there anymore. Contacts might retire, get married and settle down, or die. Players should be shedding contacts at a rate about half the speed at which they gain them. If a player is particularly attached to an NPC, don’t be cruel and take it away–just be aware that some contacts should fade out of the picture as new ones become available.
Care and Feeding
Every time a character gains a level, that character can improve a single contact by one level. This represents contacts getting better at their specialty over time. With more than one contact available, this means some of a character’s contacts will fall behind in scope of level. The stragglers are great candidates for contacts that can fade out of play. With a steady influx of higher level contacts, players should not have problems being stuck with low-level contacts.
I’m really liking this idea. Well done. Although I do have a few comments/concerns.
I think that each contact shouldn’t be “owned” by a PC, in game mechanic terms. The idea of a PC deliberately leveling up a contact as the PC levels up doesn’t feel right. Normally, as the party levels up, so do the monsters and the NPCs. So why wouldn’t the NPCs, that happen to also be contacts, level up naturally as well? I understand what your trying to do, but I still don’t like the players controlling game mechanics of NPCs.
Instead, how about allowing the contacts to level up naturally, as the campaign progresses, but assign a “contact bonus” for each PC that applies to either skill checks when dealing with the contact (i.e. Diplomacy, Intimidate, etc.) or in a rating system that defines the terms of their relationship with the contact. Are they “Good Friends”, “Really Good Friends” or “Like Brothers”? Or, if the PC hasn’t kept in touch with the contact or perhaps mistreated the contact, the scale could go negative. The contact could be “Unhappy with you”, “Weary of you” or “Lost all Trust in You”.
Despite the above, I really do like this idea and plan on trying it out in my campaign. Again, well done.