Chapter 2: Growing Your Franchise

As a run-of-the-dungeon adventurer, your character might kick through countless locked doors, lay down ancient magics, or send any number of monsters to the afterlife in the pursuit of fame and treasure. But when you take your place as part of an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, you become something more than a mere hero. As a member of an elite group standing on the cutting edge of the adventuring business, the brand precedes you. And sure, sometimes the blades on the cutting edge are kind of sharp. But with Head Office at your back, you know you have the best tools in the industry at your disposal. And maybe the basic funeral packages Acq Inc offers aren’t that great, but there are some tasteful upgrades you might consider.

This chapter introduces the Acquisitions Incorporated franchise and the rules for running it. Franchise benefits are organized by level tier, and include an ever-expanding business territory, wide ranges of options and upgrades for a franchise headquarters, and more. This chapter also introduces company positions—a new set of rules for franchise characters granting access to unique, tier-based abilities that can help a party stand out in a crowded marketplace. And because taking a vacation is no excuse for diminished returns, an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise can make use of expanded rules for downtime and franchise activities, allowing players to help shape the business and the narrative of the campaign even when they aren’t in the field.

Franchise Advancement

A license to operate an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise comes with nearly limitless benefits! When your party starts a franchise, you receive a region in which to operate, a franchise headquarters, and a majordomo to assist with basic headquarters needs. As your characters become accomplished adventurers (and continue to contribute to Head Office coffers), Acquisitions Incorporated helps your franchise gain even greater benefits! See the following Franchise Advancement table for a summary of what you get at each rank.

Franchise Rank

By default, a franchise rank is gained at each tier of play (beginning at level 1 and advancing when the average party level reaches level 5, 11, and 17). The DM might choose to increase or decrease the level of play at which franchise tiers are gained, or tie advancement to story or campaign goals. Each franchise rank provides characters the opportunity to operate in a larger geographic area, hire staff and direct them to execute franchise tasks, and customize the franchise headquarters.

Licensed Region

When a franchise first starts out, it is licensed to operate in a small region focused on a settlement or similar mercantile point. You might think this means Head Office doesn’t trust its new franchisees. Not at all! No! It’s just so much easier to support a group when they start in a focused area. Don’t worry at all that a rival Acquisitions Incorporated franchise will outmaneuver you. It seldom happens. Keep growing your business, and the Acq Inc license will expand to help you find more customers and increase your brand presence.

Within your licensed region, you have the right to use the full power of Acquisitions Incorporated branding. No other Acquisitions Incorporated franchise will operate in your region, and all the region’s customers are exclusively yours. Of course, non-Acquisitions Incorporated rival organizations might be present. You are expected to drive them out of business. (Or give them untimely deaths. You do you.) A franchise can build or operate any number of locations, such as warehouses and trade shops, within its region. You may not maintain property or establish formal operations in a settlement outside your region, even if you ship goods to that location.

You may not use the Acquisitions Incorporated brand outside your licensed region without written, documancer-generated permission, since those areas might belong to other licensees. You can adventure outside your territory, of course, and can assist or work for other organizations. However, you are expected to prioritize missions given to you by Head Office.

Rank 1: Settlement

Acquisitions Incorporated grants your franchise a license to operate in a settlement, and in a territory around the settlement approximately 10 miles across. If your region includes a coastline, you are granted the rights to engage in sea trade within that region. You can ship goods (over land, water, or air) to one city or other settlement outside your region. (The DM approves this location, and might wish to establish your franchise’s relationship with it through play as part of the campaign.)

Rank 2: Small Territory

Your license now expands to include a region similar in size to a province or a small kingdom—typically up to 50 miles across, with your starting settlement somewhere within. (For mapping purposes, this area is roughly the same scale as a province-scale map. See “Mapping Your Campaign” in chapter 1 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.) You are expected to expand your trade and branding throughout the region. You’ll seize new markets, develop new offerings, increase your network of contacts, and safeguard the king and queen’s spoiled kids so the monarchs think of you positively. You can ship goods to two cities or other settlements outside your region.

Group Dynamic

An Acquisitions Incorporated franchise is a group effort. Many decisions must be made in the course of running a franchise and playing in an Acq Inc campaign, and it is assumed that all players will be involved in making those decisions. Whenever this book talks about a franchise collectively—and in particular, when it talks about decisions being made by a franchise—the understanding is that all characters (in the game) and all players (at the table) have an equal say in determining a franchise’s fortunes and fate. Sure, arguments will crop up from time to time. But that kind of roleplaying is a big part of what makes an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign.

Rank 3: Large Territory

Your license grows to include a broad expanse of provinces, a few small kingdoms, or a large kingdom or federation, covering a territory the size of half the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. A large territory might overlap with other Acquisitions Incorporated regions, though you are theoretically working with (and perhaps overseeing) smaller franchises rather than working against them. You can ship your goods to any destination, and can assign staff to a city to which you ship goods—solely to oversee the distribution of those goods, and certainly not to compete with rivals. Don’t cause too much trouble and Head Office will stay happy.

Rank 4: Limited Extraplanar

Your franchise now includes specific locations located on other planes of existence. These could include such fabled trading locations as Sigil, the City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire, or a githyanki outpost in the Astral Plane. Your license to operate in these regions is not exclusive. Your region on the Material Plane might or might not expand, depending on both your performance and the goals of the campaign. The DM might establish extraplanar locations through play. Failing—or succeeding—in securing an extraplanar location could create interesting and deadly rivalries!

Franchise Advancement

Staff

Chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook details the costs for characters to hire skilled and untrained hirelings. As is true of characters in any campaign, Acquisitions Incorporated franchisees are free to hire any NPCs they want, within whatever limitations the DM wants to set on such employment. But the franchise itself comes with a number of staff whose wages are part of the franchise’s cost, providing not only labor but story potential.

Each franchise rank grants a number of new staff members who live in the franchise headquarters or within its geographic scope. The cost of maintaining staff is included in a franchise’s costs. Each staff member has a proficiency bonus equal to 2 + the franchise’s rank. For skilled hirelings or crew, the DM might substitute NPC statistics when that seems appropriate. Each time a franchise gains a rank, existing staff members can be gifted with early retirement (that is, fired), and replaced alongside new hires that fit the franchise’s needs.

A franchise might engage all kinds of hirelings and agents over the course of a campaign, but specialized franchise staff fall into four different categories.

An employee is like a friend you pay.

• Omin Dran

Majordomo

A majordomo administers a franchise headquarters. They typically reside within the headquarters and seldom leave it, sending out communications through a dedicated messenger (at no extra cost, and traveling on foot or by means the franchise provides). A majordomo is proficient in Charisma (Persuasion) and two skills of the DM’s choice.

The DM is encouraged to use the rules for creating nonplayer characters in chapter 4 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to detail the majordomo, giving this individual a vibrant personality and backstory. The majordomo’s goals should be aligned with the franchise and with Acquisitions Incorporated as a whole, allowing them to properly act as an ally and steward for the party.

It can be helpful to a campaign to provide the majordomo with a backstory that complements a franchise’s evolution over time. A sage might research how the franchise gains new capabilities. Or perhaps the majordomo was the pilot of a vessel capable of planar travel, who slowly applies those features to the headquarters. A majordomo of a franchise modeling itself after a spy organization might constantly invent devices for the franchise, making continuing progress as the party returns with gold, lore, and resources.

Filling Positions

A franchise’s majordomo can take a company position (see the next section) in addition to the positions taken by the characters. Especially with a small party, it can be good to have a majordomo fill a useful position that no character wants to take. No other NPCs can take company positions.

Untrained Hirelings

As described in the “Services” section in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook, untrained hirelings provide general labor, and can function as builders, cleaners, porters, and other workers. Untrained hirelings can work for a franchise or its allies, perhaps tending a garden for a noble family or helping a merchant unload cargo from ships. They will not engage in combat and do not leave the headquarters to join the party on adventures.

The DM should name at least one hireling who acts as a leader for any interactions with groups of untrained laborers. Providing hirelings with a similar background (such as a band of ex-soldiers or reformed criminals) can add personality to the group. Consider using the rules in chapter 4 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, applying the results of a single set of rolls to the entire group. Those hirelings could all shave their heads zealously, be brawny but absentminded, play various musical instruments, use colorful oaths and exclamations, and so on.

Group ideals, bonds, and flaws, along with a shared history, can all add depth to a group of untrained hirelings. Those musicians might be connected by the ideal of tradition, and bound to the franchise to protect a cultural heirloom they value above all else. Their flaw and secret could be that they stole the heirloom from their former employer, a rival merchant organization. Over time, the same hirelings might show up as part of the characters' adventures time and time again, revealing aspects of their past and creating story continuity.

Job Title and Benefits

What the Player’s Handbook calls untrained hirelings are often referred to as “subemployees” within an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, while skilled hirelings typically gain the more prestigious title of “intern.” It’s entirely up to individual franchisees what awesome titles they bestow upon their staff members in addition to (or, indeed, in lieu of) perks such as an occasional wage.

Skilled Hirelings

A skilled hireling has one or more skill, weapon, or tool proficiencies. A franchise can request skilled hirelings when needed (up to the maximum allowed by franchise rank), with the players describing the concept behind the hirelings and selecting one proficiency for each. The DM can then customize the hirelings as desired, perhaps by adding additional proficiencies or adjusting their combat statistics.

Skilled hirelings can be fired and hired as needed. A franchise might bring on a couple of thugs to act as distraction during a street fair, then release those NPCs to hire a different set of skilled hirelings to conduct franchise tasks and downtime activities.

Hirelings cannot perform more than one task at a time. A full complement of skilled hirelings assisting the party on a mission precludes other skilled hirelings from helping with franchise tasks and downtime activities until the mission is completed. As with untrained hirelings, detailing a group background and assigning personality characteristics to a group leader can make for a fun play experience.

Adventuring

Characters can adventure with up to one skilled hireling at a time. An NPC with a challenge rating of roughly half the franchise rank works well for most adventures, providing utility without disrupting balance. The loyalty system described in chapter 4 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide can be used to determine whether the hireling remains dedicated to the party’s goals, or the DM can make that decision on the basis of how the adventure plays out and the characters' attitude toward the adventuring NPC.

Tasks and Downtime

Skilled hirelings can also be assigned to franchise tasks, as described in the “Franchise Tasks and Downtime” section later in this chapter.

Hirelings are kindling in the fire of opportunity!

• Jim Darkmagic

Crew

Crew are skilled hirelings trained in tasks pertaining to the physical maintenance of a franchise (for example, servers or gardeners) or the navigation of a mobile headquarters (sailors for a seagoing franchise, engineers for a giant hollow statue, and so on). Crew do not leave a franchise and cannot perform franchise tasks. They typically run rather than fight back when attacked, though the DM can decide otherwise. If a mobile franchise headquarters requires more crew than is granted by the franchise’s rank, the characters must hire the remainder (typically at the skilled hireling cost of 2 gp per day).

Hiring crew can become a cooperative roleplaying activity. Potential crew might hear of Acquisitions Incorporated or the party’s exploits and come to interview with the franchisees. Choices might be offered by the DM, as between a team of ex-militia who lost their last battle and a crew of recently released criminals who swear they were wrongly imprisoned. Names, personalities, and roles can be assigned to crew by the DM and the players. Rather than simply interacting with the cook and the first mate, the characters can instead deal with Pepper, the chef who loves spicy foods, and Brazen, the veteran sailor who always talks back, creating the potential for entertaining interactions as the franchise grows.

Headquarters Features

Acquisitions Incorporated Head Office provides the members of each franchise with a place to call their own. It might not be initially impressive (cleaning any old blood stains is the franchisees' responsibility). But over time, characters in an Acq Inc campaign are granted resources to help construct the headquarters of their dreams! Each franchise rank affords the characters a number of choices, allowing customization and creativity. Sample features are provided as guidelines, but a franchise’s features can include literally anything decided on and agreed to by the players and the DM.

Group Design

When selecting a feature, the characters must make decisions together—meaning the players must do the same. Deciding on the features of a headquarters should be a team effort, both in game and around the table. What should a headquarters look like initially? Do the characters prefer to travel by land or by sea, or to operate from a fixed location? Is a ruined keep more interesting than an old vine-covered wizard’s tower in the woods? Is the headquarters remote or within a settlement—perhaps an old tavern or caravansary the characters can restore?

It can be helpful to think ahead as well. Acquisitions Incorporated is known for mobile franchises, helping to bring goods and adventuring services to distant locations. When a franchise headquarters becomes mobile, will it fly or sail? Will it gain the power to teleport across the land? Will it sprout legs and walk?

Everything depends on the type of headquarters. The top of a wizard’s tower might detach and shoot skyward like a missile. Or a franchise’s headquarters might be contained within a giant statue, which over time gains the power to move farther and faster. A castle or other stationary structure could contain a portal or teleportation circle, allowing the characters to travel to distant locations while the stronghold remains behind.

There are a lot of perks to being an intern that people overlook. The hours are very flexible, you get a 20 percent discount in the gift shop, you get a bathroom break every four hours as long as you ask your supervisor first. And sometimes if you go into the conference room after a meeting, there will be a bunch of soda and leftover subs. You can just take as much as you want! As long as nobody sees you.

• Viari

Incorporating Benefits

The characters' collective skill proficiencies, tool proficiencies, backgrounds, and positions within their franchise could all impact the design and construction of a headquarters. A glassblower might make beautiful stained-glass windows, while a herbalist fills the headquarters with pleasing or mysterious scents. An acolyte could outfit a small area of the headquarters as a chapel, while a sage sources a unique desk at which to work. Such features are cosmetic or limited in impact, but enable players to feel more interested and invested in their headquarters.

Starter Headquarters

Each franchise’s starter headquarters is a mundane site, which has often been selected or handed down by Acquisitions Incorporated. The characters' initial base of operations could be a ruined tower, a worn horse-drawn carriage, a beat-up fishing boat, a dilapidated store or farm, or any similar structure or site. The DM might direct the characters toward a single ideal location, or might provide a range of options for players and characters to choose from. And of course, many potential franchise locations will have an interesting past—a haunted mansion, a mysterious lighthouse, an old wizard’s tower filled with malfunctioning magic, and so forth.

The DM approves the headquarters concept and decides how large or small the initial structure can be, as well as any useful features. DMs and players can work together to create a map of the headquarters and its surroundings. Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide can help detail both wilderness and urban locations.

Lifestyle Expenses

Whenever characters are in residence at their franchise headquarters, they can automatically benefit from a minimum lifestyle—poor at rank 1, modest at rank 2, comfortable at rank 3, and wealthy at rank 4. The normal costs associated with that lifestyle for franchisees and select staff are subsumed within the overall cost of running the franchise. Outside the franchise headquarters, normal lifestyle expenses apply.

Many franchisees will use their starter headquarters as a point for expansion, adding new features, new rooms, new levels—and, of course, new magic as the franchise grows in rank. Other campaigns might be better served by having the franchise change headquarters at different stages. Characters might start out in a ship, then move to a castle, then take possession of a unique magical headquarters in the end. Any potential headquarters site might be discovered by the characters as part of the campaign, or sites might be suggested or allocated by Head Office.

Any of the following suggestions can make a great starter headquarters, or can provide inspiration for other headquarters features.

Abandoned Lighthouse

Raided by orcs who left no one alive? Those are probably just stories. And even if true, the orcs won’t come back (probably). This abandoned lighthouse headquarters is strong enough to stand against any storm (probably), and many of the leaks have been fixed already. And just look at that cool light up top, and the oversized storage cellar. Docks close by are perfect for a starter franchise that comes into possession of a boat, and are also a sign of the lighthouse’s importance to coastal trade. Commandeering it will likely win over the locals and maybe even the region’s royalty!

Beat-Up Keelboat

Any franchise can take to the seas in this new (okay, very used) keelboat! Pirates killed the previous owners, and Head Office picked it up for an excellent price. Most of the holes in the hull are repaired, and the sails are only a little bit moldy. Even better, there’s a small covered area in the rear protected from the elements that makes a perfect living space! The keelboat holds a half-ton of cargo, and might even come with reduced docking fees at some ports of call.

Statistics for a standard keelboat are found in Owning a Ship; Airborne and Waterborne Vehicles of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The DM might adjust the number of people the boat can comfortably carry, but having such a headquarters typically implies that most franchise staff are itinerant or live elsewhere in whatever settlement is the boat’s primary port of call.

I don’t have rivals. I have partners who simply don’t know it yet.

• Omin Dran

Old Tavern

With just a little work and some better furniture, this place could be the talk of the town. The tavern is certainly not haunted. Seriously, no one listens to those rumors. But if it were, and if the story was spun the right way, the marketing potential could be huge. Some even say that the ghosts (which totally don’t exist) like to sing, so that’s a plus! The kitchen is already stocked with plates, mugs, and lots of knives, and a few rooms upstairs are ready to rent out to travelers.

Worn Carriage and Horses

This humble, worn carriage, previously owned by a now-defunct trading company, makes a perfect starter headquarters. The carriage’s exterior is weathered wood, and the interior seats and cushions have seen better days. Still, it offers all the perks of home plus the ability to change the neighbors every time you take to the road.

The rear of the carriage features a generous cargo space for up to 500 pounds of goods, and is protected from the weather. The horses are hardworking and love apples. The carriage has AC 11 and 75 hit points, and moves at the speed of its Draft Horse (40 feet). Four passengers can ride inside, two up front with one steering, and two atop the rear cargo area. Up to three people can also sit on the roof of the cabin, for an especially exciting perch when the cart is moving quickly!

Because this sort of franchise typically can’t hold the characters and all their staff (at least not comfortably), such staff are often itinerant or based in whatever settlement the carriage returns to most often.

Cosmetic Features

A cosmetic improvement, gained at franchise rank 2, allows a franchise to radically alter the look and feel of its headquarters. A beat-up wagon could become a gilded carriage, with luxurious interiors and servants dressed in matching finery. A tavern could proudly display the party’s kills in the drinking hall, feature mugs gathered from dwarven holds around Faerûn, and have decor matching a particular theme.

Improvements can also be of a fantastic or magical nature, such as flickering magical torches or portraits that watch and interact with observers. The DM has final approval over such improvements, and is the arbiter as to whether cosmetic improvements might provide any actual benefits during play. When allowed, such benefits should be situational and limited. A foe might become distracted the first time a ghostly figure appears in a haunted tavern, but the quality of the illusion is such that it doesn’t stand up to continued scrutiny.

Cosmetic effects can also be focused on selling and branding a franchise, such as adding manufacturing capabilities, a light-up sign, a customer showroom or service center, and other commercial features. At the DM’s discretion, such features might generate additional income or lower the costs of certain franchise tasks.

Draconic Ship

This once-innocuous seagoing vessel has been detailed to appear as a brass dragon. The ship’s interior is decorated in draconic art, and platforms among the rigging are linked by silk ropes attached to pulleys. These might provide benefits to crew trained in their use if the ship is ever attacked.

Enchanted Wizard’s Tower

In the entrance hall of a former-wizard’s-tower headquarters, enchanted portraits display visages of the franchise’s recently vanquished foes. Smaller portraits throughout the tower display important moments in the franchise’s adventuring history, and the whole interior is set with magical lighting, decorated with candelabra, and features drapes and carpets matching the franchise’s chosen motif.

Expansion Features

At rank 2, an expansion feature allows a franchise to double the size of its headquarters. When doing so, players and characters can define the changes to the current configuration. Perhaps the headquarters expands in size laterally, or gains an extra floor. Perhaps a new basement is excavated—or poking around the existing basement reveals a secret level of dungeons heretofore unknown.

Franchise members can decide on what features are involved in the expansion, including new windows, doors, and furniture. Adding certain types of space might also call for extra supporting features. If storage is on an upper floor, a winch might be installed to lift goods. A cellar could add another exit and an area for storing wine or alchemical supplies. Or a carriage headquarters could gain a second cart to become a wagon train.

All construction is low cost but functional, as in the following examples.

Expanded Lighthouse

The lighthouse is now taller, with two additional levels, an upgraded beacon, and a stronger exterior. A stairway leads down into a network of old caverns, including some used as storage space, and finally onto a small beach with a dock.

Expanded Tavern

The building adjacent to the tavern has been bought out and connected to it, allowing for more guest chambers, a larger common room, a larger kitchen, and staff quarters. A large fireplace fills the common room with light and warmth, while new tables and chairs create a welcome environment. Guest chambers might feature a patio or balcony.

Transportation Features

Also at rank 2, every franchise gains some form of mobility, with players and DM working together to determine how a headquarters facilitates travel (or expands on its normal travel modes) from one location to another. A ship might gain a magic sail, or could add a balloon to become a battle balloon airship. A hollow statue could gain the ability to stride across the landscape. A wizard’s tower might teleport from place to place. Or doors within a tavern could be revealed as a magical portal connected to various locations in far-flung lands.

The DM has final approval over the method of locomotion, and can put in place any reasonable limitations or constraints on that movement. Additionally, any method of movement should have a weakness or drawback determined by the DM. As a rule of thumb, a mobile headquarters can travel a distance of 30 miles per day (equivalent to a fast travel pace) per franchise rank. This rate of travel can vary depending on weather, visibility, availability of maps, or other conditions.

Giant Stone Statue

A 100-foot-tall stone statue has stairs and rooms carved within its interior. When a character sits at the helm located in a room within the statue’s head, the statue can be directed to walk across the land. The statue ignores difficult terrain, usually by simply crashing through it. However, the navigator has a limited sight line while peering out through the statue’s large eyes. When the terrain is cluttered or subject to combat conditions, it can be hard to avoid creatures or objects smaller than a large building.

A good idea is to swim in the wake of an existing business. Somebody else did the market research and decided this was a good location? Awesome! Now use that decision against them. Set up direct competition. Then spread rumors about them until they’re forced to leave the area in shame. Now the market is yours. That’s how you business.

• Donaar Blit’zen

Battle Balloon

A hot air balloon is lit by a magic furnace channeling elemental power. A galleon suspended below the balloon features a helm that controls the ship. The vessel can fly virtually anywhere, ignoring difficult terrain, but it is at risk from storms and strong winds. If the balloon takes significant damage, the ship could be forced to descend—or might even crash.

(Appendix C features vehicle statistics for a typical battle balloon. For characters who choose this highly coveted feature for their headquarters, the DM can impose limitations on the ship’s attacks and make changes to its statistics.)

Self-Contained Train

This mobile franchise headquarters features a magical-mechanical locomotive that lays down its own track. Mechanical arms at the front of the locomotive set down crossbars and rails in front of the headquarters at ridiculous speed, while arms at the back of the headquarters pick up the track as it passes. The train moves at quarter speed over difficult terrain (instead of half speed). It can pass over rivers, but cannot cross lakes or large bodies of water.

Extradimensional Wagon

A seemingly simple wagon drawn by an old horse channels powerful magic. The wagon’s driver can cause the wagon to teleport the distance of a day’s journey, targeting a known location over the course of one or more extradimensional jumps. Such teleportation is usually done when no one is looking, to avoid arousing suspicion or frightening the locals. Though the wagon eventually arrives at the intended destination, the intervening stop-off points are unknown—and quite possibly perilous.

Acquisitions Incorporated Is Magic!

Dungeons & Dragons offers a wide range of play styles, and works with many different types of campaign story. The Dungeon Master’s Guide talks about some of the most common types of fantasy that can shape a D&D campaign, including a general sense of campaigns being high magic, low magic, or the D&D standard in between.

An Acquisitions Incorporated campaign has its own distinct feel, as talked about in chapter 1 of this book. Part of that feel comes from the substantial benefits that characters gain from franchise features and company positions—mechanical boons, magic items, access to powerful spell effects, and more. These benefits are gained automatically, as a general reward for the characters' adventuring success driving franchise advancement. So it’s important that everyone is aware how adding those built-in campaign benefits to the regular magic gained during adventuring will give the characters a boost in power.

For an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign meant to feel and play like standard D&D, the DM should consider creating a low-magic campaign, and letting the benefits of company positions and franchise features fill in the magical gaps. A standard campaign played with the rules in this book should be treated as a high magic campaign, with the DM and the players understanding that the difficulty of encounters and other tasks might need to be ramped up to offer a real challenge to the characters. Of course, nothing prevents anyone from playing a high magic campaign with the Acquisitions Incorporated rules. But DMs and players should all be aware that doing so will create extremely powerful characters—who will no doubt attract extremely powerful enemies and threats as a matter of course.

Weapon Features

At rank 2, the members of a franchise can add a weapon to their headquarters, choosing from the options in the “Siege Equipment” section of chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The DM can limit those options or change the details of specific choices, and players can also design unique offensive features, subject to approval by the DM. For example, a walking statue that strikes with a fist could be treated as a ram—or the DM and the players might agree that it would be fun to use some of the effects of Bigby’s hand for such an attack.

Most siege weapons (whether mechanical or magical) require two characters, crew, or skilled hirelings to operate, and such weapons might be slow to reload or recharge. Headquarters weapons are not particularly effective against small bands of creatures (such as a group of goblins), but they can be useful against a single large threat (such as a dragon). If siege weapons are abused by franchisees, they might be targeted by enemies, break down, or require costly maintenance each time they are employed in battle.

Giant Statue’s Fists

A giant hollow metal statue acting as a franchise headquarters features a control center from which the statue’s arms can be manipulated. One fist can be used per round to strike at foes, using statistics similar to a ram (AC 15, 100 hit points, immunity to poison and psychic damage).

Giant Fist

Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one object or creature. Hit: 16 (3d10) bludgeoning damage.

Lighthouse Energy Blast

Magical power can be focused through a lighthouse beacon, requiring 1 round to gather energy and aim. The following round, the energy can be released. The beacon has AC 12, 75 hit points, immunity to poison and psychic damage, and vulnerability to cold. The explosion of energy can be treated as a scorching ray, fireball, or lightning bolt spell, as the DM determines. More powerful features might require more time to recharge, or could be usable only a certain number of times per day. Such attacks might function at longer range but be unable to target creatures or objects within 60 feet of the lighthouse.

Arcane Features

At rank 3, an arcane feature provides a unique magical capability to a headquarters. A haunted headquarters might gain a permanent cohort of friendly undead servants, while a giant statue headquarters could gain the ability to allow the characters to see at great distances and through darkness or fog. A more generic arcane feature could instead grant any franchisee the ability to cast a specific spell of 6th level or lower, with a limitation of one casting per day.

An arcane feature should be something that doesn’t fit within another category (specifically, a transportation or weapon feature), though the DM is the final judge of what arcane features are acceptable.

Money is an attempt to discretize the ephemeral—an impossible task. When Head Office comes knocking, tell them that money is an attempt to discretize the ephemeral.

• K’thriss Drow’b

Ever-Changing Ship

Whether an oceangoing vessel or an airship, this headquarters can alter its appearance with illusion magic. Additionally, the appearance of some or all creatures aboard can be changed as if they were affected by a seeming spell. Franchisees can alter the appearance of the ship and its occupants a number of times per day, or can drop the illusory effects as needs be. The nature of the illusion magic means that the ship’s size and features do not change, and individuals interacting with the ship or investigating its appearance have a chance to see the true form of the ship and its crew.

Spectral Wait Staff

A tavern headquarters (which already has a cosmetic feature to make it appear haunted) now gains spectral wait staff. The spectral staff serve customers expertly, and speak and understand speech as if intelligent. However, they are magical creations similar to those conjured by the unseen servant spell, able to perform all the functions of such a creation and any other functions agreed to by the DM. Spectral staff can momentarily become insubstantial, along with anything they carry, allowing them to serve food and drink through walls. Any member of the franchise can spend an action to telepathically command one or more spectral staff members.

Defensive Features

Also at rank 3, the headquarters gains one defensive feature, planned out by the players in collaboration with the DM. Ships and other vessels with statistics can gain an increase to hit points or AC. Or a general defensive feature could include the choice of any two effects noted in the guards and wards spell, which can be enabled or disabled by any franchise member.

Players are encouraged to be creative in thinking about defensive features. An airship might have a deck that can channel lightning to repel boarders. A wagon might have transparent windows as strong as steel, and the ability to retract any rails or platforms upon which attacking foes could stand. Defensive features might impose conditions on enemies, or even deal damage. The DM should limit damaging effects to dealing 10 damage to a single target (5 damage for a multitarget or area effect) per franchise rank. When a saving throw is required, a good DC is 12 + franchise rank.

Carriage Ejector Platforms

A carriage gains potent defensive capabilities in the form of sections of its roof and walls set with powerful concealed springs. This defensive feature can be activated as a bonus action by the driver or any creature within 5 feet of them. When a creature steps or grabs onto a protected section, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be flung from the wagon to a distance of 10 feet per franchise rank. The creature takes falling damage as if it had fallen that distance.

Electrified Floors and Rails

Specific areas of a ship or airship’s floor and railings are warded with elemental lightning, up to an area the size of half the ship’s upper deck. A character at the helm can activate this magic as a bonus action. Any creature making contact with a warded area takes 13 (3d8) lightning damage, and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn.

Grease Compartment

Whether a building, a vessel, or some other structure, a franchise is equipped with a compartment holding grease. When activated, nozzles release the grease either in a 30-foot cone or into a specific area no larger than 20 by 20 feet—typically focusing on an area through which attacking creatures are likely to move. Any creature entering the greased area must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and end its movement that turn. A creature driving a vehicle that enters the greased area must make an appropriate ability check against the save DC. On a failure, the vehicle veers 3d10 + 10 feet in a random direction, then ends its movement for the round.

Franchise Choice Features

At ranks 3 and 4, a franchise can outfit its headquarters with any one feature from among the lower-tier features (cosmetic, expansion, transportation, or weapon features). In consultation with the DM, this might cover additional features to augment the headquarters' existing look or combat capability, or a plan to instead make an existing feature even stronger. A method of transportation might double its speed and remove an existing drawback, or an offensive feature could deal more damage or target more than one creature per round.

Secret Features

A secret feature, gained at rank 4, is one that remains unnoticed to most inspection, typically requiring a successful DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) check or Wisdom (Perception) check to notice. A headquarters might have a secret exit that guarantees escape and allows franchise members or staff to leave and enter without detection. A secret feature should usually add in-game benefits, such as a potion-brewing laboratory in a secret level of a castle, or a secret cargo hold within a ship that can keep perishables fresh and provide endless stocks of food and water to crew and passengers.

Escape Pod

A walking statue’s head can also serve as an escape pod. If the headquarters is ever destroyed, or if the character controlling the statue activates the escape mode as an action, the head detaches from the body and takes to the air with a flying speed of 80 feet. The flight lasts for up to 5 rounds, and is directed by the same controls that originally controlled the statue. If the head is not on the ground when the flight ends, it falls and any creatures within take falling damage.

Extradimensional Tavern

Several of the doors in a franchise’s tavern are inscribed with runes. Anyone who traces a rune while speaking a passphrase can access their choice of ten extradimensional rooms, 20 feet on a side. These rooms can function as libraries, laboratories, meeting rooms, kitchens, prisons, private quarters, and more, with each room’s setup and contents chosen when the rooms are first installed. Each room’s initial furnishing and equipment are included, though characters can later add to these features as they wish.

Glider Launcher

A hidden compartment within an airship holds ten gliders. A secret door leads to the compartment, which features an exterior escape hatch activated from within any glider. Each glider accommodates one Medium or smaller creature and up to 50 pounds of gear, has a flying speed of 60 feet, and must descend at least 20 feet each round. A glider can be piloted as an action by any character with proficiency with flying vehicles. Characters without such proficiency might need to make ability checks of the DM’s choosing to pilot a glider successfully. A glider weighs 100 pounds, has AC 14, 50 hit points, and is immune to poison and psychic damage.

Franchise Costs

Running an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise offers countless benefits to an adventuring party—but those benefits aren’t cheap. Operating the franchise, installing and maintaining franchise features, paying staff, creating merchandise with proper branding, settling legal issues, and more are all encompassed by the baseline cost for a franchise’s headquarters, a multiplier from the franchise’s rank, and the franchise party’s business performance for the month.

If a franchise’s costs leave a party low on cash, that’s a sign that it’s time to go adventuring. Alternatively, characters might use downtime to structure a leaner business or engage in non-adventuring activities to bring in more gold (see “Franchise Tasks and Downtime” later in this chapter for more information). A franchise’s majordomo handles these finances and makes all necessary payments to Head Office, suppliers, and other agents—as long as sufficient funds are available.

Baseline Costs

The baseline monthly cost of a franchise is calculated based on the franchise’s headquarters, as noted on the Baseline Costs table on the next page. The costs on this table differ from the costs found in the “Recurring Expenses” section of chapter 6 in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. (That section details the costs characters might expect to pay to own an inn, a keep, or other types of properties.) This is because franchise costs include a tithe to Head Office, repayment to Acquisitions Incorporated for funding the initial construction or purchase of the headquarters, the use of approved contractors for construction and maintenance, and other subtle fees.

Baseline costs are for representative dwellings, and can be adjusted by the DM as needs be. A noble estate that is the envy of other nobles might demand expenditures of double or triple the baseline cost. A franchise’s baseline costs might also change during the course of the campaign. A party might initially start out headquartered in an abandoned lighthouse with monthly expenses of 250 gp. But as time passes and headquarters features are added, that lighthouse might grow in size, weapon features, and magic to resemble a fortified tower. The DM will modify baseline costs as needed to fit the headquarters and the campaign style.

Baseline Costs

Some characters might decide to maintain more than one headquarters for their franchise, or to control additional sites as part of the franchise’s overall operation. A franchise might use a ship as its headquarters, while also owning a number of remote trading posts run by franchise staff. The costs for all such “virtual headquarters” should be added together to derive one monthly baseline cost.

Franchise Rank Multiplier

The multiplier on the Franchise Advancement table is applied to a franchise’s baseline cost. This represents the increased costs a franchise faces as it expands into larger markets.

Monthly Business Performance

Each month, a franchise performs the running a franchise task, which can be found in the “Franchise Tasks and Downtime” section later in this chapter. The result of this task is used to calculate the final monthly cost, and is deducted from the franchise’s coffers.

Defaulting

No self-respecting franchise would ever run out of money and fail to make its monthly payments. Right? Were that to happen, the amount owed—plus a modest 15 percent penalty—would be due to Head Office the following month. Failing to make payments—and especially defaulting on two or more payments in a row—is likely to trigger campaign consequences. Head Office might send inspectors to a troubled franchise, or assign the franchisees a difficult (and hopefully profitable) mission. Rival groups and entrepreneurs might smell blood and attempt to attack the franchise or take over its markets. Nefarious NPCs will most certainly come calling.

Defaulting on franchise payments can also strain relationships with nobles, merchants, and others who value a franchise more for its assets than for the characters. Such relationships typically turn frosty until the characters are able to prove that the franchise is back on its feet.

Company Positions

A franchise is a complex affair, requiring its participants to fulfill a myriad of important duties necessary for its proper growth (and the enrichment of Acquisitions Incorporated Head Office). A company position establishes a character’s role within a franchise, as well as a relationship with the larger Acq Inc organization.

When you choose a company position for your character, that choice is independent of and in addition to your character’s background, class, and other options. Though Head Office might tell would-be Acq Inc franchisees to play to their strengths, you should choose the position that speaks to you—and that feels like it’ll be the most fun. All characters who take on an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise must take a company position. A character can take only one position within a franchise.

Each company position has its own distinct flavor—and comes with a range of preternatural benefits. Some of these benefits take the form of material boons granted by Head Office, including specialized magic items available only to Acquisitions Incorporated franchisees. Others are shaped by the subtle power of your position and the franchise’s rank.

Joint Effort

Players—and especially new players—should keep in mind the amount of creativity and collaboration a company position requires when determining which position is the best fit for their character. In addition to their various mechanical benefits, the features of each company position are intended to offer players and DMs the opportunity to collaborate on crafting campaign narrative. Sometimes this is straightforward, as when a feature allows a character to learn useful information about enemies or allies, as with the obviator’s Read the Opposition feature. Sometimes this calls for a focused collaborative effort between player and DM, as with the cartographer’s Tale of Safe Travel. Where the narrative options in a position’s features lend themselves to interpretation, the DM works with the players to determine how those options play out, as is the baseline model of every Acquisitions Incorporated campaign.

Position Proficiencies

Accepting a company position with Acquisitions Incorporated means more than just a title and hopes of a paycheck. With it comes access to trade secrets, best practices, and corporate shortcuts central to fulfilling one’s role within a franchise. When a character takes a specific company position, they gain proficiency in the tools and skills associated with that position. Such proficiency also extends to a variety of business practices, day-to-day tasks, and hazard mitigations that are all part of the job. Professional functions that characters can add their proficiency bonus to are detailed in the “Position Proficiency” section of each of the following company positions.

Company Tools

The tools and items that are granted to a character as part of a company position are unique objects created and bestowed by Head Office on trusted franchisees. A set of Acquisitions Incorporated tools might resemble mundane tools, but they are never the same. Countless mundane cartographers in the world have proficiency with cartographer’s tools. But only an Acquisitions Incorporated cartographer has access to a cartographer’s map case and the ability to use it.

Magic items gained as part of a company position always require attunement, but they do not count against the number of magic items a character can normally attune to. Each item can be attuned to only by the character to whom it has been granted by Head Office. If the tools of other Acq Inc franchisees are ever found, they cannot be attuned even by characters with the applicable position. (It goes without saying that such tools found at large are expected to be returned to Head Office immediately.)

Each position magic item is representative of the significant mystic expertise of Acquisitions Incorporated—and no matter who might use them, position items always belong to the franchise proper. The use of such items is typically revoked upon leaving the company, and Head Office is known for the diligence with which it retrieves items that are “accidentally” held onto.

Gaining Ranks

You choose your character’s position when the character first joins an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. Your character’s position rank is equal to your franchise’s rank. Starting from rank 1, you gain specialized training (including new proficiencies), special equipment, and your rank 1 position feature. Then, as the franchise grows, the scope of your position grows with it. Each time the franchise gains a rank (normally at levels 5, 11, and 17), your character is promoted to that new rank in their position and gains the appropriate benefits.

Cartographer

I’ve seen a million places, and I’ve mapped them all!

• Cartographer’s boast

Acquisitions Incorporated missions can lead across vast tracts of wilderness, into ancient ruins, deep underground, or to even more dangerous and remote places. The cartographer selects the method and route of travel for a franchise, and creates and maintains maps of the journey. As the characters travel, the cartographer maps important locations and resources, later providing finished maps to Head Office. The franchise’s cartographer is also often responsible for the selection and care of vehicles and mounts.

As a cartographer, you have a sharp eye for detail and take an interest in people, history, and natural features. You help advance your franchise by discovering and mapping new locations or hidden features, acquiring rare maps, and using different modes of transportation in secure and clever ways.

Noteworthy Cartographers: Rosie Beestinger (“C” Team), Brahma Lutier (“B” Team, retired), Pendragon Beestinger (“B” Team), Purnagh Grost

Essential Functions: Create and maintain maps of a franchise’s journeys; dictate directions

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus when you make an ability check to create or examine maps, search for new paths in the wild, or assess a route for possible dangers.

The Cartographer

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 cartographer, you gain proficiency with cartographer’s tools, and your choice of vehicles (land) or vehicles (water).

Head Office also grants you the use of cartographer’s supplies (quill, ink, parchment, a pair of compasses, calipers, and a ruler), a waterproof leather map case, a spyglass, and a supply of colored inks.

It’s a Rental

At rank 1, at the start of any mission, you can requisition a second-hand draft horse and cart (barely functional), Riding Horse and Pony (typically well aged, one for each party member), passage on a ship or ferry (might require minor labor as part of the fare), and similar transportation. Any damage or losses to requisitioned equipment is expected to be repaid to Head Office.

Spyglass of Clairvoyance

At rank 2, your Head Office-supplied spyglass becomes a common magic item. As an action, you can look through the spyglass of clairvoyance at a location within 1 mile of you that is obstructing your view, such as a mountain, castle, or forest. You must then succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom check using cartographer’s tools to map the natural terrain found within three miles of that chosen point. You do not gain any knowledge of creatures, structures, or anything other than natural terrain. This property of the spyglass cannot be used again until the next dawn.

Tale of Safe Travel

Starting at rank 2, you gain the ability to perform a 45-minute ritual using your cartographer’s tools, maps, and 50 gp in consumed material components. By doing so, you ensure safe travel for you and other creatures, from your current location to another location you could normally reach within one day. The destination must be one to which you have traveled previously, or for which you have an accurate route and map.

If your tale is told with reverence and precision, you and up to six other creatures plus their gear (including vehicles or mounts) become encircled in a magical bubble and are pulled into the Border Ethereal (see chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide). During the ritual, you tell a story of your future journey, relating details of what will be seen en route. The DM can choose to add to the story, imparting additional details or planting seeds for future adventures. If you wish, the ritual can be ended early, allowing the party to encounter what’s being described by the DM.

Whenever the ritual is ended or interrupted by you, all the travelers arrive safely at the destination. At the DM’s discretion, all the travelers affected by the ritual can gain the benefit of either a short rest or a long rest during the voyage.

Map of Shortcuts

At rank 3, your map case becomes a common magic item. In addition to storing normal maps, your cartographer’s map case can be used to generate a special map identifying a shortcut. You can use your action to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, with a success revealing a map buried in your cartographer’s map case noting a relevant shortcut . Your travel time is reduced by half while you follow that route. If you succeed at the check by 5 or more, the map includes notes on the terrain, granting you advantage on the next ability check you make to travel through the mapped area in the next hour. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Half-Orc Cartographer (Fighter)

Cartographer Grost was once so lost that he had to sleep on rocks and eat things that were not, strictly speaking, food. Determined to avoid this in future, he began leaving trails of things behind him—trails he would often find again later, or intersect with at odd angles. Imagine his relief when he discovered maps. Grost was not born a cartographer, but that hasn’t kept him from reaching the apex of the profession.

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Map of the Moment

Starting at rank 3, you can use an action to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check and search your cartographer’s map case to find a map either related to your current mission or inspiring a new one. On a success, you find a map with a prominent landmark. The map has information on the natural terrain within one mile of the landmark. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until dawn seven days later.

Possible Map Mission Landmarks

Elder Cartographer’s Glossography

When you attain rank 4, you gain a small tome that is an uncommon magic item. The elder cartographer’s glossography grants advantage on Intelligence or Wisdom checks related to geographical features or locations.

Greater Tale of Safe Travel

Also at rank 4, your Tale of Safe Travel feature can now span up to three days of travel. If your franchise headquarters is mobile, you can include it in your Tale of Safe Travel, and can also include items or goods weighing up to 2,000 pounds.

It’s of the utmost importance to remember that a good cartographer knows how to tell a story to a horse. The story does not have to be accurate, but it does have to entertain the horse.

• Rosie Beestinger

Why Be a Cartographer?

Decisionist

I’m not saying there aren’t other perspectives. Just that my perspective is the only one that’s on-brand.

• Decisionist sales pitch

A decisionist brings decisive leadership to an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. They settle disputes and ensure that the team moves forward toward its goals, often serving as a leader (officially or otherwise) and compass for the party. A signature move of the decisionist is to impress the importance of a particular looming choice on the other franchisees, then call for a vote. The results of all franchise votes are recorded, then later reported to Head Office. Decisionists are also concerned with franchise morale and teamwork, helping all members of the franchise work together effectively.

All decisionists vary in their approach to the task. You might primarily attempt to convince others through charismatic arguments, or through force of will or intellectual cunning. You might lead by example, or by extolling the examples of other people who’ve done the things you haven’t quite gotten around to yet. Many decisionists go on to publish famous tomes, such as the best-selling Habits of Effective Adventuring Parties and I Don’t Care If the Rogue Stole Your Coins, We Have a Job to Do. You help advance the franchise by calling for votes, making sure you’re always on the side with the most votes, and resolving disputes within the franchise party.

Noteworthy Decisionists: Donaar Blit’zen (“C” Team), Kelshi Annab

Essential Functions: Receive one extra vote on franchise matters; resolve interparty conflicts

Position Proficiencies: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to influence a decision being made by a group, assess the popularity of certain customs or individuals, or boost the morale of franchise hirelings.

Human Decisionist (Ranger)

There are decisionists of all stripes. Domineering narcissists gravitate toward the role, to be sure, and occasionally that unyielding demeanor has its purpose. Decisionist Annab approaches the role in another way, considering herself in many ways outside the party she travels with, even though she has served in this capacity for years. When she leverages her {@i coin of decisionry}, glinting with its final, unswerving resolve, it is because she has heard all.

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The Decisonist

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 decisionist, you gain proficiency with a musical instrument (horn).

Head office also grants you the use of a musical instrument (your choice of horn), a voting kit (ballots, a ballot box, an “I Voted” sticker set), and a coin of decisionry. This large gold coin is emblazoned with the sigil of Acquisitions Incorporated as “heads,” and has a “tails” image that varies.

Coin of Decisionry “Tails” Image

Tiebreaker

Starting at rank 1, whenever the members of your franchise take a vote, you can present your coin of decisionry and cast two votes.

Absentee Ballot

Starting at rank 2, if a member of your franchise party is absent, you gain their vote and can decide quite confidently how they would have voted. In addition, if a vote is ever taken while you are absent, you can call for a recount and add your two votes to the final voting result.

Coin of Decisionry

Starting at rank 2, your coin of decisionry becomes a common magic item. When you flip the coin, it always lands with the Acquisitions Incorporated sigil face down, and a message appears on the “tails” face. Roll a d4 on the following table to determine the message.

The coin has absolutely no divination abilities, and its results when you use it are random. But nobody else knows that. When a creature within 10 feet of you flips the coin (after having had its powerful prognostication powers dutifully explained), you can exert your will to control its operation as a bonus action, choosing the result that appears after it lands as a means of gently coercing the user toward a specific course of action. The creature flipping the coin can detect your manipulation with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check.

Better Odds

When you reach rank 3, your coin of decisionry gains a measure of actual divination power and becomes an uncommon magic item. In addition to its normal function, you can use an action to flip the coin of decisionry twice while pondering a specific plan or objective, noting both random results. If you succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, you learn which of the two results is more applicable to the course of action. This property of the coin can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Inspired Decision

Starting at rank 3, whenever a serious franchise vote is taken and the result goes the way you voted, you can inspire the rest of the franchise team with a brief speech. Make a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. On a success, each franchise member of your choice who can hear you gains advantage on the next ability check, attack roll, or saving throw they make in the next hour. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Charming Misdemeanor

As a rank 4 decisionist, you can present your coin of decisionry to grant yourself an extra vote when your franchise votes, for a total of three votes. Once you do so, you cannot do so again until dawn seven days later.

Clandestine Kit

At rank 4, your voting kit becomes a common magic item that conceals an extradimensional space. As a bonus action, you can place one tool kit that you are proficient with into the voting kit, or can remove it. No other type of object can be placed into the extradimensional space. A creature searching the voting kit finds and extracts the tool kit with a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check.

Additionally, you can use the voting kit to cast charm person (save DC 15). This property of the kit can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Decisionists work best when a verdict is unilateral and in direct contradiction to the rest of their team. Do the opposite of whatever they want, even if you want to do that thing too. It’s about setting an example and establishing a pecking order.

• Donaar Blit’zen

Why Be a Decisionist?

Documancer

Contracts have mystical power. Break my contract and I’ll use your bones for my next quill.

• Documancer’s warning

Every great Acquisitions Incorporated quest begins with a contract from Head Office—and a franchise’s documancer is most likely the one who controls and channels the power of that contract. A documancer bears the responsibility of managing each of a franchise’s quests, of ensuring that every condition of the quest is fulfilled, and of recording and sending on information vital to Head Office when the mission is complete. When creating contracts with other organizations, a documancer makes sure that the language benefits both the franchise and Acquisitions Incorporated.

As a documancer, you are respected for having the commitment and mental fortitude required to work with Head Office. You advance your franchise by using documancy for communication, insisting on recording all deals in writing, retaining records, destroying other records, and recalling vital information.

Not everyone truly appreciates the art of documancy, and only the best and brightest are chosen for this most important work. Come to think of it, I’m not sure you make the cut.

• Walnut Dankgrass

Favorite Methods to Destroy Documents

Noteworthy Documancers: Walnut Dankgrass (“C” Team), Brynshal Flume

Essential Functions: Record information; track job and quest details within the franchise

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to organize lore, analyze official or arcane documents, or convey a legally binding point of view.

Air Genasi Documancer (Sorcerer)

When other children borrowed her toys, Brynshal kept unnervingly robust records—duration, wear, remittance in case of loss, that kind of thing. In time, this hunger to define and make official the rhythm of daily life found its expression in documancy, a kind of mystic bureaucratic art founded by Omin Dran. Anything you put a signature to has power. And Brynshal wields that power with ease.

• undefined

(The {@filter genasi|races|base race=Genasi} can be found in {@adventure Princes of the Apocalypse|PotA} and the {@i Elemental Evil Player’s Companion}.)

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The Documancer

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 documancer, you gain proficiency with calligrapher’s supplies.

Head office also grants you the use of calligrapher’s supplies (ink, a dozen sheets of parchment, and three quills), a documancy satchel for your calligrapher’s supplies, a ledger, sealing wax, copper and silver leaf, a documancer’s seal of limited authority, and a Map or Scroll Case.

Gift of Words

At rank 1, you are fluent in the semi-arcane language of documancy. This knowledge grants you advantage on Intelligence checks to decipher codes or similar scripts. The DM might also provide you with hints whenever you try to solve a puzzle or decipher clues involving writing.

Documancy Satchel

At rank 2, your documancy satchel becomes a common magic item, allowing you to magically send and receive documents to and from Head Office through a special pouch. Your documancy satchel magically produces prewritten and signature-ready contracts at your request, covering most common contractual needs. It also occasionally produces sticky notes printed with useful information and inspirational quotes from Head Office.

Fluent in Boss

Also at rank 2, your documancer training allows you to better process Head Office communications, as well as to understand what pleases your superiors. You can cast the augury spell, with the spell’s omens of weal or woe based solely on the perspective of Head Office. (It should be noted that Head Office at times has a surprisingly high disregard for potential woe to its employees.) Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until dawn seven days later.

Satchel of Holding

At rank 3, your documancy satchel gains additional features and becomes an uncommon magic item. One of the satchel’s pouches now functions as a bag of holding.

Additionally, you can use an action to draw forth from the documancy satchel a spell scroll of comprehend languages. The scroll vanishes when used, or ten minutes after it appears. This property of the bag can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Document Flexibility

Also at rank 3, you gain proficiency with a forgery kit. One such kit (containing several different types of ink, a variety of parchments and papers, several quills, seals and sealing wax, gold and silver leaf, and small tools to sculpt melted wax to mimic a seal) is always contained within the extradimensional space of your documancy satchel.

Scroll Humidor

At rank 4, your documancy satchel gains additional power and becomes a rare magic item. Within the satchel, a dedicated extradimensional space can hold up to thirty documents or Spell Scroll. Placing a single document into the scroll humidor is an action. Drawing forth a desired scroll is a bonus action.

Scroll Service

Also at rank 4, you can use an action to request one spell scroll containing a spell of up to 3rd level from Head Office. If you succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, the scroll instantly appears within your documancy satchel. Only you can use this scroll. The scroll vanishes when used, or ten minutes after it has been summoned. After a successful use, this property of the satchel can’t be used again until dawn seven days later. If you failed the check, this property can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Why Be a Documancer?

Hoardsperson

Disbursement of coin is at my discretion. Be really nice to me.

• Hoardsperson joke (not joking)

As the name suggests, Acquisitions Incorporated is all about the acquiring, and the hoardsperson’s job is all about storing that hard-earned loot. Each hoardsperson plays the vital role of managing a franchise’s resources—including the inventory of all supplies used and treasure gained during an adventure. Hoardspersons pay particular attention to making sure that supplies are requisitioned through Acquisitions Incorporated-approved sources whenever possible, and ensuring that the proper selection of loot is sent to Head Office at the end of a mission.

As a hoardsperson, you are known as a trustworthy and responsible individual. You support your franchise by demonstrating accuracy, avoiding shortfalls, and anticipating resource needs.

Noteworthy Hoardspersons: K’thriss Drow’b (“C” Team), Phoenix Anvil (“B” Team), Two Dry Cloaks

Essential Functions: Manage stores and items; track resources

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to negotiate a price for goods and services, assess the quality of equipment and treasure, or analyze resources in a local area.

The Hoardsperson

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 hoardsperson, you gain proficiency with jeweler’s tools.

Head office also grants you the use of jeweler’s tools (a small saw and hammer, files, pliers, and tweezers) and an account ledger, as well as up to 5 gp worth of equipment from the following options: barrel, basket, block and tackle, bucket, chest, Tankard, Jug, iron pot, pouch, sack, saddlebags, vial, and waterskin.

What a Deal

Also at rank 1, you can use your extensive supply network to buy one item found on any table in the “Mounts and Vehicles” or “Trade Goods” sections in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook and have it delivered to your franchise headquarters within one day. With a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, you also negotiate a 50 percent discount on the item.

If you fail the check, you cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest. When you use this feature successfully twice, you cannot use it again until your franchise attains the next rank.

Tabaxi Hoardsperson (Rogue)

Forever in search of “twinkles,” {@creature Two Dry Cloaks|OoW} has a deep enthusiasm for treasure and a broad definition of what “treasure” might mean. As an old saying has it, “the hoard is the heart of a franchise,” and the tabaxi makes that case for her franchise every day. She believes that the contents of a hoard—as delivered to and from Head Office by way of the hoardsperson’s {@i living loot satchel}—are the most true, most dispassionate assessment of a team’s progress.

• undefined

(The {@race tabaxi|VGM} can be found in {@book Volo’s Guide to Monsters|VGM}.)

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Living Loot Satchel

As a rank 2 hoardsperson, you are granted the use of a living loot satchel, which is an uncommon magic item. It functions as a bag of holding and is available in a variety of colors and styles.

Class-Based Living Loot Satchel

The living loot satchel is a kind of magical being that safeguards the franchise’s funds and valuables. Its innards are connected to a secure coffer within Head Office’s vault in Waterdeep, to which the satchel periodically transfers the franchise’s wealth. As an action, you can transfer any amount of your franchise funds back to your satchel with a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check.

Living the Good Life

Also at rank 2, Head Office trusts that as long as your needs are met, you have no reason to skim any profits. You maintain a wealthy lifestyle at no cost to you.

Secret Satchel

As a rank 3 hoardsperson, your living loot satchel gets an upgrade to function as the replica chest used for the Leomund’s secret chest spell, becoming a rare magic item. You can open the secret chest through your living loot satchel to deposit or withdraw items—even items that wouldn’t normally fit in your satchel, but which fit within the chest. Thanks to Head Office striking deals you don’t want to know about with extraplanar creatures you really don’t want to know about, there is no chance for the spell to end.

That Thing You Need

At rank 3, you can use a bonus action to reach into your living loot satchel and make a DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. On a success, you draw forth an item of your choice on the Adventuring Gear table in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook. The item must be of a size that can fit into your secret chest and be worth no more than 15 gp. Once you attempt to draw five items from your satchel, you cannot draw forth any more items until the next dawn.

Portable Hole Satchel

At rank 4, your living loot satchel receives another upgrade, becoming a very rare magic item. The secret chest accessed by your satchel now has the storage capacity of a portable hole—6 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. As before, you can place any appropriately sized object into the portable-hole-sized chest, even if it wouldn’t normally fit into your satchel.

The key to the hoardsperson’s job is cataloging all goods that enter the party’s possession. You may also catalog goods that do not belong to the party. Sometimes it works.

• K’thriss Drow’b

That Expensive Thing You Need

Also at rank 4, when you use your That Thing You Need feature, you can requisition any item of up to 250 gp in value, as long as it would fit into the confines of your satchel’s portable hole.

Why Be a Hoardsperson?

Loremonger

I never forget a detail… though many wish I would.

• Loremonger mantra

Information has value, and the loremonger is that information’s keeper. A franchise’s loremonger studies and records all lore relevant to its operation, including tracking the economic, technical, and arcane methods by which the franchise can be improved. A loremonger records the deeds and history of the franchise, including the names of places visited and people met during missions. Those records are then sent to Head Office (often through a franchise’s documancer) to ensure brand integrity.

As a loremonger, you are a studious individual, usually with an interest in history or technical subjects. You might revel in your role, working as a central figure in your franchise as you use your knowledge to promote it. Or you might operate from the shadows, resembling a clever spymaster and allowing others to be the franchise’s public face. You help advance your franchise by discovering secrets, tracking important lore gained during the characters' travels, and reporting on competitors' goals and methods.

Noteworthy Loremongers: Mabannok Kovri

Essential Functions: Record names, dates, and vital information

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to analyze the operation of a franchise, assess historical records, or decipher codes.

Loremongers talk a lot. It’s best to let them.

• Omin Dran

The Loremonger

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 loremonger, you gain one of the following proficiencies of your choice: artisan’s tools (choose type), navigator’s tools, vehicles (land), or vehicles (water).

Head office also grants you the use of an appropriate tool kit if you chose a tool proficiency, as well as ink and an ink pen.

Whisper Jar

Also at rank 1, you are the beneficiary of a whisper jar—a common magic item resembling an ether-filled jar with a long tap hose. The jar is used to record others' stories and your own observations, like a verbal notebook with unlimited space. The whisper jar records as fast as a creature can speak into it, and whispers back words at the same pace they were recorded. Activating the playback of a particular recording is an action.

Things Recorded in Your Whisper Jar

Need to Know

At rank 2, your insight grants you preternatural knowledge of the creatures around you. As an action, select one humanoid you can see and make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. On a success, you learn the following information: the creature’s name, up to three aliases it has used within the past month, its primary profession, and its skill proficiencies. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. You can use this feature only once on any creature.

Whispered Encyclopedia

At rank 2, your whisper jar becomes an uncommon magic item that can tap into the broader lore of Acquisitions Incorporated. As a bonus action, you ask the jar for information on a specific subject and make a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, the jar plays back a recording on that subject, made somewhere, sometime by another Acq Inc loremonger. This property of the whisper jar can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Gnome Loremonger (Druid)

Even without a {@i whisper jar}, Mabannok Kovri is an incomparable trove of lore. With the jar—that misty, transparent urn that all loremongers use as a tool of their station—they can scoot close to omniscience. “Mab” decants their {@i whisper jar} to share and protect any information vital to the franchise. But they have a particular sideline hobby of greedily trapping ribald dwarven poetry and recipes that “honor the noble turnip.”

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Construction Permits

At rank 3, your knowledge of best practices for improving an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise results in a 20 percent reduction in your franchise’s monthly costs (see “Franchise Costs” earlier in this chapter, and “Franchise Tasks and Downtime” later in this chapter).

In addition, choose one room in your franchise headquarters that belongs to you alone. That room gains one cosmetic feature, and the headquarters as a whole gains one secret feature over and above those gained normally through franchise advancement. See “Headquarters Features” earlier in this chapter for more information.

Whispered Warnings

Also at rank 3, your whisper jar gains additional power and becomes a rare magic item. As an action, you can cause the jar to function as a wand of enemy detection, whereupon it whispers the direction to foes within range. This property of the whisper jar can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Efficient Upgrades

At rank 4, your knowledge of franchise lore and development yields further dividends. Your franchise headquarters gains one weapon feature and one cosmetic feature over and above those gained normally through franchise advancement. See “Headquarters Features” earlier in this chapter.

Whispered Arcana

Also at rank 4, your whisper jar gains access to even more magic. By whispering the name of one of the following spells into the jar as an action, you can cast that spell from the jar: detect evil and good, detect magic, detect poison and disease, find traps, identify, or locate animals or plants. This property of the whisper jar can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Why Be a Loremonger?

Obviator

I adjust the odds and remove obstacles to create maximum convenience for our franchise.

• Obviator creed

Obstacles abound along the path to riches. A franchise’s mission success might require combating a rival organization’s disinformation attempts one day, then besting a castle’s defenses the next. The day after that, some poor sap named Bob might need to be disposed of. And no matter what the type of challenge that needs to be overcome, the franchise’s obviator determines the optimal way to shut down and destroy that challenge. (Nothing personal, Bob. It’s just business.)

As an obviator, you hatch convoluted plots to fight the overwhelming odds presented by each mission—by whatever means are necessary. Sometimes, you might prefer brute strength and improvisation. Other times, you might undertake a deep study of conflicts and rival organizations, working carefully to stay three steps ahead of the opposition. In all cases, though, you help advance your franchise by hatching effective plans and tactics, anticipating problems, and learning about your foes—ideally before they can treat you as an obstacle to their own success.

Noteworthy Obviators: Lok

Essential Functions: Destroy targets (people and information); study conflicts

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to make sense of an enemy’s tactics, discern a hidden threat, or intimidate a foe whose weaknesses you have previously assessed (see “Read the Opposition” below).

The Obviator

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 obviator, you gain proficiency with alchemist’s supplies.

Head office also grants you the use of alchemist’s supplies (two glass beakers, a metal frame to hold a beaker in place over an open flame, a glass stirring rod, a small mortar and pestle, and a pouch of common alchemical ingredients including salt, powdered iron, and purified water); your choice of a Acid (vial), a Alchemist’s Fire (flask), or a Antitoxin (vial); and a hunting trap.

Read the Opposition

Also at rank 1, you can attempt to get a reading on one creature you can see, trying to learn useful information about it. As a bonus action, make a DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, you learn three details of your choice about the creature. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. You can use this feature only once on any creature.

Obviation is as much a philosophy as it is a practice. It’s not a good fit for those who want to remain… you know, fully alive.

• Omin Dran

Possible details you might learn include the creature’s goals or motivation, bonds or ideals, personality traits, flaws, combat strategy (including common attack methods or tactics), financial information, lair location, allies or foes, romantic entanglements, sense of humor, or favorite songs.

Alchemist’s Insight

At rank 2, you can use an action to use your alchemist’s supplies to identify any unknown substance (including alchemical items, potions, and other magical substances). Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Where You First Dabbled in Alchemy

Obviator’s Lenses

Also at rank 2, you gain the use of an uncommon magic item taking the form of a pair of spectacles, a spyglass, a monocle, or any other device with one or two lenses. When you look through the obviator’s lenses, you use a bonus action to make them function as eyes of minute seeing or eyes of the eagle. Once you make this choice, it cannot be changed until the next dawn.

Dwarf Obviator (Cleric)

Like many Obviators, “Lok” chooses to use a working name rather than her actual name out of an abundance of caution. Obviators are cautious because they know precisely how dangerous any moment can be—and they are dangerous for the same reason. An obviator is like a lethal walking library. And if you were to face some kind of walking library at some point, Lok would know exactly what to do about it.

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Advanced Preparations

At rank 3, you gain the ability to declare that you’re totally prepared. This preparedness takes the from of asking yourself one question, then making a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, you recall information you could have uncovered through earlier research about your mission. The information can be a discreet revelation, a vague hint, or even a riddle. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Travel Alchemical Kit

Also at rank 3, Head Office provides you with a travel alchemical kit—an uncommon magic item containing miniaturized versions of both alchemist’s supplies and a poisoner’s kit (glass vials, a mortar and pestle, chemicals, and a glass stirring rod). You gain proficiency with a poisoner’s kit as part of this upgrade.

You can use this magical kit as long as it is on your person, with no need to draw or stow it. If you are ever searched, finding your travel alchemical kit requires a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Insight) check.

Enhanced Lenses

At rank 4, your obviator’s lenses gain additional power and become a rare magic item. The lenses now function as both eyes of the eagle and eyes of minute seeing.

Additionally, you can focus the power of the lenses to gain accuracy in combat, gaining advantage on a weapon attack roll (no action required). If that attack hits, roll one additional weapon damage die. This property of the lenses can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Obviate the Opposition

Also at rank 4, when you use your Read the Opposition feature and fail the check, you still learn one detail about the target creature, as chosen by the DM. Additionally, you can use Read the Opposition more than once on the same creature, but if you do so, you cannot use that feature again on the same creature until you finish a long rest.

Why Be an Obviator?

Occultant

Our next kill changes everything.

• Occultant divination

An occultant tracks the creatures and foes that a franchise has bested or killed, weighing them against the deeds the franchise has achieved. Using the eldritch abacus for which this position is named, an occultant measures the karmic coordinates of their franchise, hoping to gain portents of that which is yet to come.

Like all occultants, you are a grim and enigmatic figure. Even your closest companions might be wary of the power you channel—and nobody wears that aura of dark mystery like you do. You help advance your franchise by determining whether foes should live or die, prognosticating correctly (or at least authoritatively), keeping the rest of the party attuned to the importance of karma, and making the right calls on how best to “clean up” any incorrect readings or misunderstandings.

Noteworthy Occultants: Talanatha Three-Coins

Essential Functions: Track kills; assess the value to the franchise of the living and the dead

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to intimidate a creature close to death, assess what disease or poison killed a creature, or explain what that dead body is doing under your bed at the inn.

The Occultant

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 occultant, you gain proficiency with one of the following of your choice: cook’s utensils, leatherworker’s tools, or weaver’s tools.

Head office also grants you the use of a tool kit for your chosen proficiency, a merchant’s scale, five waterproof belt pouches in which to store creature parts or other tools, and a unique item known as an occultant abacus (sometimes just referred to as an occultant), whose beads resemble tiny skulls.

Read the Kill

Also at rank 1, your occultant abacus not only tracks your franchise’s kills, it helps you determine the impact of those kills on the franchise’s fate. Over a period of 1 minute, you can study a creature killed by someone in your franchise within the last 24 hours, then grant the character who slew it a d10. Once within the next hour, that character can add the d10 to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. If it’s not clear who administered the killing blow, you grant this benefit to a random creature involved in the fight. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Tiefling Occultant (Paladin)

Occultants know that the unsettled feeling in the pit of your stomach comes from somewhere and has a purpose—and nobody can measure out and use that purpose like they can. As Talanatha “reads” fallen foes, she charts her party’s cosmic effects and can even try to smooth out the fabric of causality. As a tiefling, she often generates a kind of ambient unease in others, but she is always certain to account for this carefully, lest it bloom into “the unforeseen” that is the enemy of every enterprise.

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Ways to Read the Kill

Eldritch Occultant

Starting at rank 2, your occultant abacus becomes an uncommon magic item that can track lives both eliminated and saved. While holding your occultant abacus within 5 feet of a creature killed within the past 24 hours, you can cast the augury spell. The course of action you inquire about with the spell does not need to have any connection to the dead creature. This property of the occultant abacus can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Bring Out Your Dead

Also at rank 2, you regain the use of your Read the Kill feature after you finish a short or long rest.

Bead of Instant Karma

At rank 3, one of the beads on your occultant abacus channels the power of instant karma, turning the occultant abacus into a rare magic item. As a reaction, you can target one creature you can see that is about to attempt an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, either granting advantage or imposing disadvantage on the roll. The bead crumbles to dust when used, reappearing on your occultant abacus at the next dawn.

Death’s Omen

Also at rank 3, you gain the ability to read the grim portents of a creature’s demise. As a bonus action, choose a creature you can see that is below its hit point maximum and make a DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, you determine whether this creature’s immediate death would have neutral, negative, or positive ramifications for you and your franchise. If the ramifications are different for you and the franchise, you learn this as well.

Bead of Diverted Karma

At rank 4, one of the beads on your occultant abacus allows you to divert karma to where it’s needed, turning the occultant abacus into a very rare magic item. While the bead is unused, you know automatically when any creature you can see is about to make an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with disadvantage. When such a roll is made, you can use a reaction to grant a d10 to a different creature you can see. That creature can add the d10 to any ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes within the next minute. The bead crumbles to dust when used, reappearing on your occultant abacus at the next dawn.

Correct the Balance

As a rank 4 occultant, you learn that sometimes the death of a creature has unintended consequences. Within seven days of a creature’s death, you can use your occultant abacus to divine ways to reverse or mitigate events resulting from that death. As an action, make a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check. On a success, you learn the relevant information based on the nature of the creature and its place in the world.

If you fail the check, this property of the occultant abacus can’t be used again until the next dawn. If you succeed on the check, this property can’t be used again until dawn seven days later.

I don’t really understand occultants, and to be honest, they scare the Abyss out of me.

• Jim Darkmagic

Why Be an Occultant?

Secretarian

I’ve sold ice in Icewind Dale.

• Secretarian’s boast

A secretarian’s focus is on people—and all the potential value that might be wrung out of them. Every person met outside a franchise is a potential customer to a secretarian, who does whatever they can to bring that relationship to fulfillment. A secretarian seeks always to promote their franchise and gain greater value than they give. They have the skills to negotiate with subemployees, temporary hirelings, seasonal staff, and other humanoid (usually) resources. When staff members have problems, the secretarian is the one who patiently listens (or at least pretends to) until everything calms down.

As a secretarian, you are respected for having the fortitude to listen to both customers and coworkers without going insane. You help advance your franchise by keeping staff happy (enough), hiring competent (enough) workers, coming up with slogans and catchphrases, launching marketing schemes, and getting jingles and slogans stuck in customer’s heads. And while your superiors don’t officially condone undermining the branding efforts of other organizations, no one can argue with the effectiveness of that approach.

Noteworthy Secretarians: Certainty Dran, Dunbar of Spreck

Essential Functions: Extract information; assess the strengths and weaknesses of others

Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to convince a suspicious crowd of your good (or at least non-evil) intentions, encourage franchise hirelings to work faster, or improvise a jingle extolling the virtues of your franchise.

The Secretarian

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 secretarian, you gain proficiency with one of the following of your choice: gaming set, musical instrument, or disguise kit.

Head office also grants you the use of a tool kit for your chosen proficiency, a collection of sales brochures, a set of business cards, a metal bell, and a Fine Clothes.

My daughter Certainty created the secretarian role. Proved it out as a concept. I told her we didn’t need them. I was wrong.

• Omin Dran

Sending Stone

Also at rank 1, you are given use of an Acquisitions Incorporated sending stone, an uncommon magic item that resembles a gemstone in a bold setting. It functions like a normal Sending Stones, except that it has no matching stone and allows communication with Head Office, specific secretarians you know, and the secretarian nearest your location. You must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to establish contact. Once the stone is successfully used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Making contact with another secretarian assumes that they are in possession of their own sending stone.

Quirks of Your Sending Stone

Portfolio Keeper

At rank 2, you gain the use of a weathered leather pouch that is an uncommon magic item. The portfolio keeper holds and organizes notes, brochures, and business cards bearing your contact information. It also has an inexhaustible supply of brochures related to your franchise’s current branding scheme.

When you meet someone for the first time, their details and a rough sketch are magically stored on a small parchment card in the portfolio keeper. You can access the details of any such stored card as a bonus action.

Sun Elf Secretarian (Barbarian)

Spreck isn’t a real place, but Dunbar knows most people won’t check. They’ll see the “of” in there and think, “Spreck, you say! Sounds fancy.” Maintaining a protective patina of efficiency around himself, the franchise, and the larger organization is his specialty. Secretarians talk to each other more than they talk to their own party members. But that works out in the end, because the secretarian network’s limitless perspectives mean that the network often knows more about franchisees than they do themselves.

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Rumor Mill

Also at rank 2, whenever your franchise begins a major quest or mission, make a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, you can learn up to three rumors related to creatures or organizations involved in the mission, which come to you through your sending stone. These rumors reflect current or historical knowledge possessed by Acquisitions Incorporated or the organization’s many contacts.

Cards of Sending

At rank 3, the power of your portfolio keeper becomes more potent, making it a rare magic item. When you give out a business card stored in your portfolio keeper, you can choose to have the card allow its recipient to contact you through your sending stone as if they had cast a sending spell. A business card loses this power seven days after it has been given out, and no more than five cards can have this power at one time.

You can also use your sending stone to cast sending and contact anyone who has one of your business cards. Once you use this feature of the stone, you cannot use it again until dawn seven days later.

Improved Rumor Mill

At rank 3, when you use your Rumor Mill feature, the DM provides you with a sense of which parts of a particular rumor are inaccurate, if any. You do not necessarily learn the truth behind those false rumors.

Always Hiring

At rank 4, you have little trouble finding the right people for the job. As an action, while in a populated area, you can make a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check to locate an NPC who can provide a service immediately, no questions asked, for the standard fee (see “Services” in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook). On a successful check, information regarding the potential hire comes to you as supernatural insight, word of mouth, an advertisement blowing into your face, or a similarly convenient method. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Hirelings acquired through this feature are in addition to any franchise staff. They can be invited to bolster existing staff or fill a sudden need, but they are not part of the baseline staff gained through a franchise’s rank. Their pay is not covered by the franchise’s normal costs.

Charming Introduction

Also at rank 4, you are able to make a focused effort to keep a potential customer’s attention. When you provide a humanoid with a business card from your portfolio keeper, you can cast charm person on them (save DC 15). The spell ends prematurely if the character loses the business card.

Why Be a Secretarian?

Franchise Tasks and Downtime

As talked about in the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide, downtime activities allow players and DMs to make the breaks between adventures into a compelling part of the campaign. In between the highlights of slogging through dungeons, infiltrating death cults, and being generally heroic, characters can practice professions, engage in research, create special items, and indulge other activities beyond adventuring.

Because an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign is focused on the franchise, downtime is typically a big part of the game. (The adventure that makes up chapter 4 of this book, “The Orrery of the Wanderer,” sets up downtime options between adventure episodes as a key component of the campaign.) But an Acq Inc campaign offers even more robust options for characters who want to get things done outside adventuring time, because the heroes of an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign have something that most adventurers don’t—a well-paid (okay, an occasionally paid) staff.

In addition to the downtime activities characters undertake on their own, the hard-working subemployees and interns of a franchise can carry out orders and further the characters' goals through research, crafting, social encounters, and so forth. This lets the players direct behind-the-scenes activities even as the characters focus on the more rarefied pursuits of killing monsters and taking their stuff. Before your party sets out for the Fortress of Eternal Peril, an intern can be sent to research that magic book found in a previous adventure. Your majordomo might spend time currying favor with nobles as a means of expanding the franchise’s reputation. And what could be more fun (for you) than to have the staff engage in a bit of dangerous criminal activity? If they’re successful, the franchise gets the profits! And if they get caught, who are these people you barely know?

Franchise Tasks in the Campaign

By allowing franchise tasks to take place not just during downtime but while the characters are adventuring, it’s possible for players in an Acquisitions Incorporated game to try to push the pace of the campaign. Characters might try to avoid taking downtime of their own in favor of having franchise employees take care of all that boring not-adventuring stuff. But because an Acq Inc campaign makes great use of social encounters, research, and intrigue, players should be encouraged to not treat downtime as optional. Moreover, DMs can and will make use of rivalries and complications during franchise tasks to drag characters into that part of the game.

Between Adventures

Using the traditional approach to downtime, franchise tasks can be run at set break points during the campaign. When the characters return from adventuring, they take on some of the responsibility for bookkeeping, maintenance, long-term planning, and the like, making franchise staff available for other activities under the characters' guidance. In this model, characters and staff run downtime simultaneously between sessions of adventuring. This follows the standard approach of using downtime to advance the timeline of the campaign.

Ongoing Activities

A more wide-open approach to franchise tasks sees the characters direct those activities at any point during the campaign, alongside traditional adventuring. During any game session, the players can decide to focus on what the franchise staff are up to by setting assignments, giving orders, and making checks to determine the success of franchise tasks. If those tasks tie strongly into the adventure, franchise tasks can effectively become a fourth pillar of an Acquisitions Incorporated game, alongside exploration, social interaction, and combat.

Selecting Franchise Tasks

Whether franchise tasks are undertaken during regular downtime or alongside other adventuring activities, a franchise’s rank puts a hard limit on the number of tasks the franchise’s staff can undertake. See the “Franchise Advancement” section earlier in this chapter. (This limit is only for franchise tasks undertaken by staff. The characters are free to undertake whatever downtime activities the DM allows, as normal.)

For each available franchise task slot, players can allocate one or more staff members to a chosen franchise task. Those tasks can include any of the downtime activities in the Player’s Handbook or the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the new and revised downtime activities in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and the new activities in this section. When all of a franchise’s task slots are filled, one of those tasks must be completed before staff can be allocated to a new franchise task. (The one exception to this rule is the running a franchise activity, presented later in this section. That activity must be performed by a franchise, but does not require that specific characters or staff members be allocated to it.)

Staff allocated to a franchise task are no longer available for other needs, including other franchise tasks. Any costs or resources associated with a franchise task must be provided by the franchise (which is to say, by the characters).

For example, a rank 2 franchise can undertake two concurrent franchise tasks. If the characters are setting out to explore the Swamp of Lingering Malaise, they might order their majordomo to send messages to various noble families while they’re away, carrying out the sowing rumors activity from the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The task follows the regular rules for that downtime activity, but is carried out by the majordomo. At the same time, the characters might send out another staff member to engage in the explore territory activity (a new activity detailed below).

You can’t expect to get everything done yourself. Delegation is key. And the consequences for fumbling a simple task should be real, immediate, and serve as a lesson to others who serve you. No dessert for a tenday! That’ll teach ‘em.

• Rosie Beestinger

Making Task Checks

When a franchise task requires an ability check, a staff member can use their own ability check modifier to determine success. (This modifier might depend on the staff member’s statistics, if an NPC, or it might be based on the franchise’s rank. See the “Franchise Advancement” section.) Alternatively, the staff member can use the check modifier of a character overseeing the task and giving the staff member direction. This can encourage the characters to develop closer relationships with franchise staff through roleplaying, and keeps the players involved in staff-focused franchise tasks.

Franchise Tasks as Narrative

Franchise tasks can be an exciting, story-rich part of a gaming session. Over time, franchise tasks and character downtime activities can expand the story of a franchise and add depth to the characterizations of its NPC staff members. The successes, failures, and complications of franchise tasks might even become pivotal moments in the campaign.

As with all aspects of an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, franchise tasks are about creating narrative. As such, to make those tasks a part of the campaign story, the DM and the players can work together to break tasks down into distinct scenes using the following guidelines.

Establish Goals

When the characters select a franchise task, the players share their goals for that task with the DM. Having clear motives helps establish the stakes and provides ideas that the DM can weave into the campaign story. The DM might work up a narrative based on the players’ initial discussions, and might ask additional questions to help narrow down options.

As an example, consider a group of characters whose franchise headquarters is a submersible ship, and whose staff are largely former pirates. While the characters head out for a mission on the mainland, they direct the ship’s staff-member captain to surprise other vessels and liberate goods from them. The DM decides that such acts of piracy fit the shady business practice activity (introduced later in this section), and quickly sketches out a few ideas for the task.

Opening Scene

The DM describes the beginning of the task activity, setting the stage for the NPCs' actions. For the submersible headquarters discussed above, the DM might begin to describe how the ship leaves port in search of easy prey. The captain and crew are in a good mood. There’s a storm in the area, but it doesn’t threaten the submersible. The DM might ask the players to describe a few undertakings the crew can engage in to pass the time, or might even ask players to temporarily take on the roles of one or more staff members, helping to bring those NPCs to life through roleplaying.

Ability Check Scenes

For each ability check required by a franchise task, the DM describes what’s happening, determines the applicable ability, and decides whether a skill or tool proficiency is appropriate (usually as suggested in the activity write-up). Whether the check is made by a staff member or the character who directed or set up the franchise task, a player makes the roll. The DM can encourage roleplaying by asking about what kind of guidance a character provided to the staff member, or what part of the staff member’s background makes them good at the task at hand. The DM then describes successive scenes based on checks and roleplaying as the crew members locate a likely target ship and commence their attack.

Concluding Scene

The DM determines the overall outcome for the franchise task, then narrates the outcome to wrap up that small part of the overall story. If the check for the activity indicates any degree of success, the DM describes how the franchise’s pirates manage to grab some valuable cargo, in addition to other benefits as noted in the write-up for the shady business practice activity. With treasure aboard, the ship is ready for the characters' eventual return.

Ongoing Story

Rather than treating franchise tasks as isolated episodes, the DM can weave the story of one task into the next, and can tie franchise tasks into the overarching campaign. Doing so assigns importance to franchise tasks, and lets the players understand how the success or failure of those tasks might drive the campaign. Even after a specific franchise task has concluded, the DM can make notes for how that task might tie to future tasks. For the characters running the submersible franchise, the ship that fought off the franchise’s pirates might remember a few details about the franchise crew. Or perhaps the plundered vessel belongs to a franchise rival, or even a foreign dignitary the characters will eventually meet, setting up a future plot twist.

Downtime Activities

This section introduces the following new downtime activities, all of which can be used as franchise tasks in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign: explore territory, franchise restructuring, headquarters modification, marketeering, philanthropic enterprise, running a franchise, scrutineering, shady business practice, schmoozing, team building.

Other downtime activities can be found in the following books:

Player’s Handbook (chapter 8): Crafting, practicing a profession, recuperating, research, training

Dungeon Master’s Guide (chapter 6): Building a stronghold, carousing, crafting a magic item, gaining renown, performing sacred rites, running a business, selling magic items, sowing rumors, training to gain levels

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (chapter 2): Downtime Activity: Buying a magic item, Downtime Activity: carousing, Downtime Activity: crafting an item, Downtime Activity: crime, Downtime Activity: gambling, Downtime Activity: pit fighting, Downtime Activity: relaxation, Downtime Activity: religious service, Downtime Activity: research, Downtime Activity: scribing a spell scroll, Downtime Activity: selling a magic item, Downtime Activity: training, Downtime Activity: work

Complications and Rivals

The franchise and downtime activities introduced in this section all incorporate the idea that such activities can introduce ongoing complications to the campaign, and that anything a franchise’s characters or employees do might bring the franchise into conflict with rivals.

If you use Xanathar’s Guide to Everything in your games, you’re probably already familiar with complications and rivals as part of downtime, but you don’t need to own that book to make use of these ideas. Rather, just remember that an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign is always about story. Each time the characters engage in downtime or direct their staff in a franchise task, the players and the DM can think about how those tasks and activities might complicate the ongoing campaign narrative, and how the franchise’s enemies—or potential enemies—might get caught up in those complications.

When a complication or a rival comes into play during downtime or franchise activities, the DM determines the particulars. The activities presented at the end of this section all come with tables of possible complications, but the DM is free to come up with even more dastardly complications to suit the campaign.

Who’s Watching?

An easy way to focus on complications and rivals in a campaign is to think about who might be paying attention to a franchise’s activities. For example, a successful philanthropic enterprise (one of the new activities in this section) could draw the attention of a noble who begins to question the reputation and honesty of the characters running the franchise. Or the party might launch a marketeering campaign (another new activity), only to discover that their branding has an accidental resemblance to the logo of an assassins' guild. Complications are an excellent way to develop rich interactions between the setting and the characters. In an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, even the smallest actions can have unexpected (and, ideally, hilarious) consequences.

Rivals represent any of the factions and organizations that can come into play during an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign. Rivals don’t have to be villains or mortal enemies of the characters, though. Other Acq Inc franchises all compete with the characters' franchise, seeking to expand their own reach and impress Head Office. Governments, merchants, guilds, religious institutions, and noble families can all take notice as a franchise grows in power. And outside the characters' immediate sphere of influence, factions such as Dran Enterprises and the Six work dark plots that might make the characters targets for assimilation or destruction. (The plots of the Six and the operations of Dran Enterprises both play a part in the adventure “The Orrery of the Wanderer,” chapter 4 of this book.)

When a complication occurs during a downtime or franchise activity, the DM determines whether and how that complication connects to a rival. Certain complications might be caused by rivals, as when the orc army camping in the characters' territory is revealed to have been invited there by a competing franchise. Other complications might draw a rival in, as when a greedy noble decides they want a piece of the franchise’s action.

Rival NPCs can be worked up using the rules in chapter 4, “Creating Nonplayer Characters” of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, incorporating schemes, methods, and weaknesses. If you use Xanathar’s Guide to Everything in your game, that book provides example rivals and talks about establishing a rival’s goals, assets, and plans. See also the “Factions and Rivals” section in chapter 3 of this book for an introduction to some of the rival organizations that might appear in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign.

Complications as Story

Complications and rivals make excellent adventure seeds. Whenever a complication or rival draws the interest of the players, the DM can make a note of that for future development. As the campaign progresses, the agendas of rivals change over time, just as the characters' goals and agendas change as a result of their franchise’s success (or their efforts to stave off failure).

The DM can decide how to invoke complications as the campaign story unfolds. Perhaps the characters were forced to slay an evil guard in a raid gone bad. Later, their majordomo engages in a little gambling as part of a franchise task… and finds the suspicious husband of the guard at their gaming table! Likewise, if a franchise has recently tangled with Dran Enterprises or opposed another Acq Inc franchise, the chance of a complication with either group likely goes up.

Downtime and Franchise Activities

In addition to the downtime activities found in other books, characters and their franchise staff can undertake the new activities presented in this section, either as regular downtime activities or as franchise tasks that can be undertaken at any time. These activities reflect the central role of the franchise in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign.

The length of time required for these new downtime or franchise activities varies, from a number of days to one workweek (5 days) or more. All the normal rules for downtime must be followed by the character or NPC undertaking the downtime or franchise activity, including spending 8 hours each day engaged in that activity for the day to count toward the activity’s completion. The one exception to this rule is that any costs for a franchise activity are paid for by the characters, even if franchise staff are executing the task.

Some downtime and franchise activities alter a franchise’s monthly costs. See the “Franchise Advancement” section earlier in this chapter for how to determine a franchise’s base monthly costs, and see the “Running a Franchise” section below for more information on how that activity modifies the base cost.

Explore Territory

No matter how densely populated or remote and wild the territory in which a franchise is licensed to operate, that territory has secrets. Characters and franchise staff can explore their licensed territory in search of useful features, hidden lairs, resources, and creatures that can be engaged in beneficial service. (Or, you know, sold for parts. If you’re okay with that). Exploration can be done any number of times in a franchise’s territory, representing new areas being explored, new discoveries, or elements that have changed since the last exploration.

Resources

Exploring a portion of a licensed territory requires at least one workweek of effort and incurs 200 gp per franchise rank in expenses. Spending more time and money increases the chance that the expedition finds something of use to the franchise.

Resolution

A character or staff member directing the expedition makes a Wisdom (Survival) check to determine the outcome. This check gains a +2 bonus if a character with the cartographer or occultant position is part of the expedition, a +1 bonus for each workweek beyond the first that is spent exploring, and a +1 bonus for every additional 200 gp spent over the baseline expenses. A maximum bonus of +10 can be applied to this check. The total of the check determines the outcome, as shown on the Exploration Discoveries table.

Exploration Discoveries

Major Threat

A result on the table indicating a major threat represents a discovery, event, or entity that might completely undo a franchise’s ability to do business—or destroy it altogether. Such threats might include the discovery of a massing orc tribe, or a dragon entering the area to raid the franchise’s trade routes. The franchise’s monthly costs increase by 50 percent until the threat is resolved, as determined by the DM.

Minor Threat

A minor threat to the franchise involves uncovering a danger that can disrupt the characters' ability to conduct business effectively. Such threats might arise from stumbling upon the lair of a monster, learning of the machinations of a noble, or discovering a rival’s outpost. The franchise’s monthly costs increase by 25 percent until the threat is resolved, as determined by the DM.

Natural Feature

The expedition could locate timber, precious metals, or other valuable natural resources; a feature that serves as a lookout or offers defensive value; a location that can serve as a safe house; or the like. Valuable resources lower a franchise’s monthly costs by 25 percent for 1d4 + 1 months. Other natural features can offer material benefits in future gaming sessions. For example, a tall spire of rock could serve as a watchtower, allowing the franchise to gain advance warning of any large-scale forces moving through their territory. A cave network acting as a safe house could allow the franchise to conceal goods or people in times of trouble.

New Customers

A new settlement is discovered in the territory, and the people there are eager to deal. These could be newcomers settling the area or a previously unnoticed village or group of farmsteads. The presence of new customers lowers franchise costs by 25 percent for 2d4 months before rivals catch wind of them.

Ally or Useful Monster

The dwelling of a useful ally, such as a sage or a former franchise member, is discovered. This ally can become a source of lore, providing insights into one or more campaign secrets—for a low, low fee of 100 gp times the franchise tier for each secret. The party can also make one-time use of the ally to lower franchise costs by 50 percent for 1d4 months, after which the ally departs.

The expedition could instead locate a monster that is either willing to help the party or can be tamed. The challenge rating of the monster is typically equal to franchise rank, and providing for the monster’s needs costs 100 gp per month. This monster could serve as a scout or spy, alerting the franchise to danger in its territory. Or it could serve as a mount or guardian and be based in the franchise headquarters. Such a monster remains with the franchise as long as its costs are covered and it is treated well.

Expanded Benefit

The DM chooses whether the expedition turns up a natural feature, new customers, or an ally or useful monster, then increases the benefit or reduces the cost of that discovery. Natural resources might be found in greater abundance, an ally might provide secrets for half the normal fee, a monster might be of a higher challenge rating than normal, and so on.

Complications

A result of 1–10 on the Exploration Discoveries table is its own complication, but the DM can add unexpected side effects to a successful result by choosing from or rolling on the Explore Territory Complications table.

Explore Territory Complications

Franchise Restructuring

A growing franchise often needs fine-tuning to improve its operations and remain lean and capable. Efficiency measures, bold new paradigms, shiny business plans, internal audits, and inventory management can be key to new profits. The best plans often end up creating an auxiliary market for “how-to” books, such as Can’t-Miss Principles of Franchise Reinvisionary Strategery and_ What to Inquire about How to Acquire_. In some campaigns, Head Office might periodically require this task to ensure that a franchise grows effectively.

Resources

Boldly restructuring a franchise requires at least two workweeks of effort. The franchise must also spend 100 gp per franchise rank in expenses. Spending more time and money increases the characters' chance to effectively restructure their franchise.

Resolution

Characters or staff members in charge of the restructuring make two ability checks with a DC of 13 + franchise rank. First, a character or staff member must succeed at either an Intelligence (History) or Wisdom (Insight) check to select the right vision or identify the right areas to innovate. This check gains a +1 bonus for every character with the loremonger or hoardsperson position in the franchise, and an additional +1 bonus if the character making the check has one of those positions.

A character or staff member must then make a Charisma (Deception, Performance, or Persuasion) check to get all other characters and staff on board with the prescribed changes. This check gains a +1 bonus for each decisionist or secretarian in the franchise, and an additional +1 bonus if the character making the check has one of those positions.

All checks gain a +1 bonus for every two workweeks beyond the initial time that is spent undertaking this activity. Each check also gains a +1 bonus for every additional 100 gp spent over the baseline expenses. A maximum bonus of +10 can be applied to each check.

The total number of successes determines the outcome of the activity, as noted on the Franchise Restructuring table.

Franchise Restructuring

Complications

A result of 0 successes typically indicates that the failed restructuring results in a complication. At the DM’s discretion, even a successful outcome might have unexpected side effects. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Franchise Restructuring Complications table.

Franchise Restructuring Complications

Headquarters Modification

Major headquarters modifications are made as a regular part of franchise advancement (see “Franchise Advancement” earlier in this chapter). But it’s sometimes desirable to update a previous modification in ways that don’t provide any additional mechanical benefits.

Characters and franchise staff members can use this activity to modify an existing headquarters feature. This change is subject to DM approval, and is typically done within the same feature category, such as swapping one weapon option for another. In response to pressing need, the DM might allow a franchise to swap options between categories, such as losing a weapon option in favor of an arcane option. The DM can limit how often this activity is used.

Resources

Once a modification is approved, this activity requires the involvement of the franchise’s majordomo and at least one other character or staff member. This team must dedicate at least three workweeks to this activity, and the franchise must spend 1,000 gp per franchise rank to cover expenses. The DM might also require a side trek to gather necessary materials or hire specialist labor before the activity can be commenced.

Resolution

One character or the majordomo acts as the lead for this activity, making an Intelligence (Arcana or History) check to draft the modifications. A character or the majordomo must then make two ability checks to complete the modifications, using either Strength (Athletics) or an Intelligence check using appropriate tools. With DM approval, a different ability and skill appropriate for the modification can be substituted for any of the checks.

Each check receives a +1 bonus for every two staff participating who are skilled hirelings, and a +1 bonus if any participant has the cartographer, loremonger, or hoardsperson position. The number of successes is compared to the Headquarters Modification table.

Headquarters Modification

Complications

A result of 0 successes or 1 success automatically creates a complication. Other results might create a complication at the DM’s determination. The DM can select a complication or roll on the Headquarters Modification Complications table.

Headquarters Modification Complications

Marketeering

Every successful franchise knows that brands require constant management. Developing new markets, shaping catchy slogans, and surveying and engaging customers can all create new sources of revenue. Should you write and sell exciting chapbook serials based on the exploits of Omin, Jim, Môrgæn, and Viari? Should you sell a complex investment scheme to a city’s guild masters? Should you create a branded stage production based on your franchise’s exciting adventures, with a line of clothing to match? All those things and more are encompassed by the fine art of marketeering.

Resources

The players must first sketch out their marketeering plan and present it to the DM. A character or franchise staff member must spend at least one workweek to engage in marketeering, and must spend 100 gp per franchise rank in expenses. Spending more money increases the chance of the plan’s success.

Resolution

A marketeering effort requires three ability checks, representing drafting the campaign, launching the campaign, and managing its success. Any of the characters or staff members involved in the marketeering can make a check. The DM decides which abilities and skills are applicable, based on the marketeering plan. For example, a plan involving selling a new line of religious items might require an Intelligence (Religion) check to draft the idea and develop the products, a Charisma (Deception) check to convince local temples to promote the idea, and a Charisma (Persuasion) check to ensure the plan receives continued support.

Each check gains a +1 bonus for each additional 100 gp per franchise rank spent above the baseline expenses. When additional gold is spent, the character making the checks determines which checks the bonuses apply to. Additional gold can be spent at any point in the process, allowing the franchise to put more effort into subsequent checks if earlier checks are less than successful. If the character making the check has the obviator or secretarian position, they receive an additional +1 bonus to each check. A maximum bonus of +5 can be applied to each check.

The DC of each check is determined randomly, reflecting the always-unpredictable conditions of the market. The DM rolls 2d10 + 5 for the DC, generating a separate result for each check. The total number of successes determines the outcome of the activity, as noted on the Marketeering table.

Marketeering

Complications

A result of 0 successes or 1 success typically indicates that the marketeering plan incurs a complication. However, even a successful result can trigger a complication at the DM’s determination. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Marketeering Complications table.

Marketeering Complications

Philanthropic Enterprise

It can feel great to give to charity and help those in need. Pretending to care about others can also be a great way to earn favor with governments and nobility, gain tax write-offs, or win over customers. Head Office might suggest (or even require) that a franchise undertake this activity if it has recently gained negative publicity or been discovered to engage in shady activities.

Franchise members should select a philanthropic cause related to a nearby area, settlement, or group of people. Example causes include such efforts as picking up trash from roads or forests, improving schools, and raising funds for victims of a recent disaster. (That last one is an especially good idea if the disaster was caused by the franchise). Success benefits the franchise by helping the selected cause—or at least giving the appearance of having done so. Failure might worsen both the underlying issue and the franchise’s reputation.

Resources

The philanthropic exercise activity requires at least one workweek of effort, and incurs 50 gp per franchise rank in expenses.

Resolution

One character or staff member involved in the philanthropic enterprise makes an ability check determined by the DM. A Charisma check using the character’s choice of skill is often appropriate, but the DM might decide that a specific philanthropic approach requires a different ability and skill. A character with the documancer or occultant position gains a +1 bonus to the check. The total of the check determines the outcome, as shown on the Philanthropic Enterprise table.

Philanthropic Enterprise

Complications

A result of 1–5 on the Philanthropic Enterprise table automatically generates a complication. But the DM can decide that even success might have drawbacks, either choosing or rolling for a complication on the Philanthropic Enterprise Complications table.

People give away their money? For no reason? But how will they buy ale and arrows?

• Môrgæn

Philanthropic Enterprise Complications

Running a Franchise

Running a business is one of the downtime activities presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, but an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise is no mere business. This new downtime and franchise activity covers the many and varied duties necessary to keep a franchise running smoothly, and determines how well the characters and their staff manage those duties.

Resources

Unless the DM decides otherwise, this franchise task must be run at the end of each month of game time. Unlike other activities, results are determined for running a franchise even if specific characters and staff members are not allocated to the activity. However, allocating characters or staff members to running the franchise greatly improves the chances for a favorable outcome.

During any given month, the players decide how many days their characters and the franchise staff can dedicate to this activity. Characters and staff members cannot perform other activities while focused on this activity (as normal), and any days spent adventuring or engaged in other activities cannot be used for this activity.

Resolution

Percentile dice are rolled by a player nominated for this task by the group. The number of total days spent by all characters and staff members on this activity are added to the roll. That total is then compared to the Running a Franchise table to determine what happens for the month.

Running a Franchise

Determining Monthly Cost

A franchise’s base monthly cost is a combination of the cost for the franchise’s headquarters and a multiplier for franchise rank. The fancier the headquarters, the more the upkeep. And the bigger the franchise, the more overhead it has. The “Franchise Advancement” section earlier in this chapter has more information on determining a franchise’s base monthly cost.

Whenever a downtime or franchise activity modifies a franchise’s costs for a given month, that increase or decrease is totaled up with all other increases and decreases. For example, a successful marketeering campaign might decrease the franchise’s monthly costs by 25 percent, but then a major threat as a result of exploring franchise territory increases monthly costs by 50 percent—a net increase of 25 percent.

Whenever the final result indicates that the franchise’s monthly costs have decreased 100 percent, profits and expenses exactly balance each other out, so that the franchise has no payment to make for that month. Whenever the final total is a decrease in monthly costs of more than 100 percent, this means the franchise has paid its expenses and earned a profit to boot. Calculate the profit based on the amount of the decrease above 100 percent. For example, a franchise whose monthly costs come out at a decrease of 150 percent earns a profit equal to 50 percent of the franchise’s base monthly cost.

Nonpayment Penalties

At the end of this activity, the franchise makes a payment to Head Office to cover its monthly costs. If it does not do so, the franchise begins to fail. See the rules for defaulting in the “Franchise Costs” section, earlier in this chapter. Regardless of what action Head Office takes, a franchise’s inability to pay its expenses should result in complications and story ramifications. Local folk and businesses start to demand that accounts be cleared. The general public might begin to reject the franchise’s products and services, worried about dealing with dodgy businesspeople.

Complications

A franchise automatically suffers a complication if the check for this activity was 30 or less. The DM might also impose a complication even when a franchise is doing well. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Running a Franchise Complications table.

Running a Franchise Complications

Scrutineering

As a member of an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, you scoff at those who limit their intelligence-gathering activities to mere research or sagery. The scrutineering activity covers basic research easily enough (finding a new profitable venture, learning what pleases Head Office, amassing lore about a site or monster, and so forth). But it can also expand across a much broader range of activities. You might engage (“kidnap” is such a harsh word) members of a rival group, learn the secrets of a stronghold known only to those who built it, assess an organization’s business model to determine its weaknesses, or lay rightful claim to any information that might benefit your franchise in some way.

Resources

The DM determines what resources are required for any particular scrutineering goal, including access to specific people or places. Once that access has been gained, this activity requires at least one workweek of effort and 100 gp per franchise rank spent on bribes, materials, and other expenses. Spending more money increases the chance for successful scrutineering.

Resolution

The character or staff member overseeing the activity makes an Intelligence check, and can make use of a skill appropriate to the scrutineering activity at the DM’s discretion. This check gains a +1 bonus per 100 gp spent beyond the baseline expenses. A character with the documancer position gains a +1 bonus to the check. A maximum bonus of +10 can be applied to this check. The total of the check determines the outcome, as shown on the Scrutineering table.

Scrutineering

Each piece of lore you uncover through scrutineering might cover specific details about a creature or NPC, how to thwart the defenses of a stronghold or office, the rituals or magic items employed by a mystical order, and so forth. The DM makes the final decision regarding what information is revealed by scrutineering.

Complications

Whenever this activity is undertaken, the DM determines whether a complication is warranted. Even if the information you uncover with scrutineering is accurate, additional things you didn’t learn might complicate your understanding. Your attempts to uncover secret information might also be thwarted by those intent on keeping those secrets. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Scrutineering Complications table.

Scrutineering Complications

Shady Business Practice

The quickest path to success often runs straight through the thickets of questionable legality. Franchises that can overcome the morally dubious aspects of certain enterprises—and can deal with the risk of being caught engaging in those enterprises—might wish to consider such time-honored practices as back-of-the-wagon discount sales, fly-by-night gambling halls, highway robbery, racketeering, and pyramid schemes. Shady business practices can also include corporate espionage against rivals and other Acq Inc franchises, including stealing goods or sabotaging commercial efforts.

Resources

An intended shady business practice is detailed by the players and approved by the DM. Any shady business practice requires at least two workweeks of effort, plus 50 gp per franchise rank in expenses to set up the scheme.

Resolution

A shady business practice requires three ability checks, reflecting the ongoing progress of the chosen scheme. Any of the characters or staff members involved in the shady business practice can make a check. The abilities and skills applicable for each check are determined by the DM, reflecting the selected scheme and the ongoing narrative. For example, an attempt to set up a fly-by-night casino might require an Intelligence (Investigation) check to case a town for a suitable location, a Wisdom or Charisma check making use of gaming set proficiency to run the operation, and a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to get away with the profits. At the DM’s determination, each check gains a +1 bonus if the character making the check has a background appropriate to the shady activity.

The DC of each check is determined randomly, reflecting the risky nature of criminal enterprises. The DM rolls 2d10 + 5 for the DC, generating a separate result for each check. The total number of successes determines the outcome of the activity, as noted on the Shady Business Practice table.

Some outcomes of shady business provide an additional benefit, chosen by the DM and relating to the characters' chosen enterprise. For example, a franchise engaged in corporate espionage might gain insight into a rival, while a franchise selling black-market goods might learn the name of a corrupt government official.

Why would I know anything about shady business practices? Why are you asking me? I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. Plausible deniability certainly is not an important business tip I’d recommend.

• Rosie Beestinger

Shady Business Practice

Complications

Achieving 0 successes automatically generates a complication, but the DM might decide that any illicit enterprise runs the risk of unforeseen circumstances. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Shady Business Practice Complications table.

Shady Business Practice Complications

Schmoozing

The schmoozing activity is more than just random carousing, chatting people up at society parties, or pumping strangers for information over copious drinks. (Full disclosure: copious drinks are often still a part of the bigger schmoozing picture.) For characters in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, schmoozing is a carefully focused engagement of bargaining and influence, designed to harvest contacts important to a franchise’s interests.

Resources

Schmoozing covers at least one workweek of interactions. Characters or staff members undertaking this activity must look and play the part of the confident franchisee—dressing well, spending money, giving gifts to new friends, and so forth. Schmoozing with laborers and other working-class folk might incur expenses of 10 gp per franchise rank, with expenses escalating to 100 gp or more per franchise rank for schmoozing professionals and business rivals. Schmoozing at the highest level with nobles or ranking members of a faction might incur expenses of 250 gp or more per franchise rank as the character or staff member attempts to put on an impressive social display.

Resolution

The character or staff member engaging in schmoozing determines whether they want to establish relations with specific NPCs or with any general representative of a group. The character makes a Charisma (Persuasion) check to determine the effectiveness of their schmoozing, as noted on the Schmoozing table. A character with the obviator position gains a +1 bonus to the check. A character with a background related to those they attempt to schmooze gains a +1 bonus to the check (a criminal schmoozing other criminals, a guild artisan schmoozing a guild master, and so forth).

Schmoozing

If contacts are successfully made, the DM determines which NPCs the franchise is able to ingratiate itself with, how long those relationships last, and what kinds of benefits the franchise might gain. Some schmoozed NPCs might provide only a single minor benefit to the franchise before realizing the one-sided nature of the relationship. Others might hang around wanting to help the franchise for years—whether the characters want them to or not.

Complications

A check of 5 or lower made to schmooze automatically triggers a complication. Because the stakes of schmoozing are often high, the DM might decide to have any successful schmooze attempt come with a potential downside. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Schmoozing Complications table.

Schmoozing Complications

Team Building

The frenetic pace of adventuring and running a franchise sometimes covers up underlying issues. Has the party’s cleric accidentally started worshiping a dark god? Is the majordomo at odds with the occultant’s habit of displaying entrails in the great hall? Is the fighter questioning their life choices? The team building activity can help characters work through problems, settle differences, and adjust the work-life balance. In the end, everyone ends up with a healthier working relationship. Or at least that’s the plan.

At the DM’s determination, characters might be directed by Head Office to run this activity each time a new franchise rank is gained, or during times of exceptional chaos or uncertainty.

Resources

Team building requires the involvement of at least two characters, or a character and a staff member. Those individuals must dedicate at least one workweek to this activity, whose particulars are worked out by participating players and the DM. The team building exercise might be a trust-inspiring ropes course, an emotional “resolve your issues” workshop, a meeting with an NPC spiritual guide, or any other suitable endeavor. Setting up the exercise incurs expenses of from 50 gp to 250 gp per franchise rank, as determined by the DM.

Resolution

Each character or staff member participating in team building chooses another participant, then creates a negative story connection to a bond, ideal, or similar element of that participant’s backstory. The players come up with such connections for their own characters. The DM creates connections for franchise staff, either on their own or in consultation with the players. (Characters and staff members do not need to pair up. If everyone else in the franchise has a particular problem with one character, so be it.)

Each character and staff member then makes a Wisdom (Insight) check. With the DM’s approval, different ability checks and skills might be allowed if they relate to the specifics of the team building exercise. A participant has advantage on their check if the DM decides the story connection was particularly clever or well roleplayed. All checks gain a +1 bonus if one of the characters taking part in the activity is a decisionist.

Each check is compared to the Team Building table. The outcome of the check can help redefine the relationships between individual characters, and can establish the tone of roleplaying between characters and franchise staff. Some outcomes also involve a team building memory that provides a potent benefit (see below).

Team Building

Team Building Memories

The most potent personal changes inspired by team building can last a lifetime. Or at least an encounter. A character who earns a team building memory gains an extraordinary ability that can be used once. As a bonus action, the character gains one effect of the enhance ability spell for 10 minutes (no concentration required).

A character can retain team building memories only from the most recent instance of this activity. If a character has unused team building memories and undertakes this activity again, those memories are lost.

Wait, we’re a team? I thought we were independent entities with temporarily aligned goals.

• Môrgæn

Complications

At the DM’s determination, every team building exercise has a chance of creating a complication as things get real, yo. The DM can choose a complication or roll on the Team Building Complications table.

Team Building Complications