D&D 5E Factions in your game

[CM]

I developed a faction of the church of Oghma for use in my Neverwinter campaign in 4e. Although the Sundering has changed things a bit, you may find it useful as either a protagonist or antagonist faction. It is composed mostly of avengers (divine assassins).

The Curators:
With the demise of Helm, Mystra, and Tyr and the scattering of their respective flocks, corruption and depravity has run rampant in Faerûn. This is especially evident in the tremendous spread of groups such as the Red Wizards of Thay, the cult of Asmodeus, and the long-reaching tendrils of the Empire of Netheril. In desperation a new, secretive, radical order was formed within northern Faerûn’s church of Oghma: The Curators.

The Curators judge new discoveries (and ancient, recovered magics) on their merits and ability to benefit society, and decide whether such information should be allowed to spread. Curators are charged with undertaking extended, clandestine missions to investigate rumors of new magic, and return evidence and examples of their results to a conclave of senior clergy for examination. Should the discovery be deemed taboo, they are given a sacred order to capture, punish, (or even kill, in the case of particularly egregious violations) practitioners of these dark magics, and confiscate or destroy their spellbooks, research, and creations.

As Oghma is a neutral god and presumably above such mortal affairs, the Curators are seen as a heretical organization by Oghma’s followers in eastern and southern Faerûn. Rumors of a second schism such as the faith underwent during the Time of Troubles are so far just that.​

 

[Roger]

I like them in the sense of power blocs.

So ye olde average towne might have:
-- the nobility, being the 'legitimate' rulers
-- the guilds, probably treated as a monolithic bloc unless there's something fancy going on, being the dudes with all the serious gold
-- organized crime, 'Thieves' Guild' sorts, running any black markets and the usual criminal things
-- the common folk, all those little people enjoying their Wretched and Squalid lives
-- the main religious body, or possibly more than one, if there's not significant overlap with any of the above categories
-- the constabulary, which might be lumped in with nobility but often enough they have their own agenda


The gang rescues the entire town from being burned down by hug-deprived magmin, and their reputation increases with pretty much everyone. The lord asks them to clear out some shadow-y tombs, which they do, so he likes them more, but the church feels a bit offended. They spend their loot freely, to the pleasure of the guilds and the common folk. But they're also looking to unload some looted funereal gifts which kinda rightfully belong to the corpses or at least their immediate descendents, so they need to ingratiate themselves with organized crime, and if word gets out then lots of other people might be upset, etc.

Negative reputation is pretty handy for this sort of arrangement, but that's the easiest hack in the whole wide world.

It also gives the charlatans something to do with their false identities, which is nice.



Cheers,
Roger

 

[Astrosicebear]

As far as the official factions, I am using them in my current Hoard of the Dragon Queen game, and have used them in Lost Mines of Phandelver.

My players like them alot. It bonds them with the setting, they get rewards for doing things theyre already doing, and makes them feel unique and special. Its a good system and really easy to implement, and requires very little DM upkeep.

 

[Bayonet]

I really like the idea of the factions, and I'll probably use them whenever I DM. I think that multiple power groups with their individual aims (which may or may not converge) makes for a more interesting background than a monolithic "Good Side" that is aligned with whoever is currently telling you which goblins to kill.

 

[maceochaid]

I've been playing around with them a little bit in Princes of the Apocalypse. I wish the unlockable downtime activities were set, or at least we had a guide of how to make those up for our own campaign. With downtime activities written into the rules, and one of those being "gaining renown" is nice because if I have a character who really put a lot in his backstory about his devotion to a secret order of Dwarven Paladins, but as a DM I don't have any interesting story ideas about Dwarven paladins they can still make it a living part of their character, insead of the whole "I mention it at the beginning but than it dies." Depending on the campaign, and wheter I have an interest in telling the story greatly increase how much renown one can get during downtime.

 

[Artifact]

Just for fun, I made a list of equivalent factions for our homebrew:

The Arcane Eye = The Harpers
This group includes many wizards and rogues in its membership, and employs many agents and spies to look after its interests. Unlike the Harpers, the Arcane Eye is not a benevolent organization. Its constant, watchful gaze helps keep tyranny in check.

The Order of the Knights Romulas = The Gauntlet
The Knights Romulas include clerics, paladins, and fighters who stand for law and who are dedicated to upholding the cause of good.

The Old Faith = The Emerald Enclave
The druids of Alphere belong to a great order known as the Old Faith. Each region of the continent falls under the purview of a Great Druid, who in turn oversees a hierarchy of lower-ranking druids scattered throughout the lands under his or her dominion.

The Citadel = The Lords' Alliance
Beyond it's military might (or perhaps thanks to it), the dwarven-led Citadel acts as an alliance of leaders and nobles from many lands. Its members all have conflicting goals and long-standing rivalries but band together for security and prosperity.

The Blood = The Zhentarim
The Blood is a highly organized group of criminals who seek to expand their influence throughout the continent of Alphere. Nine sorcerers lead the Blood, claiming to be princes (archfiends) of the Underworld.

= = =

It's just fun to see how factions might fit in the setting. No definite plans for 'em.

 

[maceochaid]

I also renamed the Emerald Enclave "the Old Faith" and one of my players said they were a "Knight of the Rose" so I folded any references to the Order of the Gauntlet and Lord's Alliance into "The Knights of the Rose."

 

[Sunseeker]

Factions always exist in my games, though not the ones written in the book, but for the most part the threads are the same. Scholars, Nobles, Soldiers, Theives, Mercenaries, Merchants etc... The AL factions are fairly stock ones that follow these traditional lines.

 

[Minigiant]

Since my homebrew setting is like Westeros and Azeroth had a baby and it was raised by Ravnica, my homebrew has factions.

From Ravnica, there are many powerful factions each with lots of resources and major quirks. The Strong Ones, a guild of rat-catchers, sewer cleaners, and sanitation workers, may be dirty but they can make you very dirty or very dead. The Church of White Gold deals with medicine, insurance, and rescue. The Rubium is Zhents dressed in red who hate kings.

From Azeroth, the factions are split into 2 camps mostly. All party in a PC or NPC party must be Unionist or Crownist. Mixed parties are rare and only when dealing with bigger foes but are rare due to the lack of trust

From Westoros, the factions scheme against each other to lead their alliance and the individual factions. They never goes as far as too take out another faction or even oenly attack them. Faction civil wars however... are often but luckily are usually cold.

So what happens is that the factions matter and they may disagree on issues, but members of an alliance are never hostile to each other. All beefs are person vs person or alliance vs other alliance. Factions don't duke it out.

 

[Wik]

In my 5e game, we have nine player factions... though rather recently, one has turned into an evil faction that the PCs have decided to oppose.

1. The Green Legion. A bunch of druids trying to change the land. Also includes rangers and wilderness types, as well as a bunch of awakened animals.

2. The Knights of the Scale. Knights who protect young dragonlings on an island and teach them purity and good ways. Then they hunt evil dragons who dare to disagree with this.

3. The Imperial War Academy. The training ground for imperial mages (who always have to serve in the army). This is more a gentleman's club for mages after they get out. Surprisingly, it's more interested in knowledge than warfare.

4. Imperial Foreign Service. Information brokers, diplomats, couriers, and spies. The sneaky hand of the empress.

5. The Guilders. Religious traditionalists, who believe that all the passions should be worshipped seperately, and that each temples' economic interests should be protected.

6. Unificationists. A new religious push to merge the worship of all the passions into one church, and to move the temples' economic interests into secular guilds.

7. Hellhounds. A thieves guild that grew out of an anarchist faction from the feywild. A bunch of thieves who draw their history back to a great revolution, who draw upon that history for good PR.

8. The Free Islands League. A group of people who serve as lawmen, judges, messengers, and defenders of the free islanders. Active pirate hunters, island charters, navigators, and freedom fighters.

9. The Gray Wizards. A cabal of wizards and smugglers who believe in moving magic items from market to market, outside of legal channels. "Magic Should Not Pay Taxes".