Chapter 3: Player Options

At Acquisitions Incorporated, no one ever asks, “Should it be done?” Instead they ask, “How can it be done—and then how do we turn what we’ve done into cold, hard cash?” It’s this kind of forward thinking that brings new power and magical understanding to the world—and which keeps the Acq Inc humanoid resources team constantly on the lookout for new talent.

Were you kicked out of your village for experimenting with powers no mortal should dare trifle with? Acquisitions Incorporated has a place for you on its team. Those pesky, gibbering voices that plague your sleep? Acq Inc allows employees to work all night if that fits their skill set. And if it was ordained at your birth by the seers and mystics that your destiny would one day see you bathe in the blood of your enemies, Acq Inc has no opinion on personal hygiene as long as the job gets done.

The amazing diversity on display across the full range of Acquisitions Incorporated franchises and commercial operations epitomizes the all-inclusive nature of an Acq Inc campaign. No matter what your favorite type of character, there’s something for you in this chapter. Or, if you like, you can engage with the entrepreneurial spirit of the campaign by using this material to inspire ideas of your own. Do you want to embrace the feel of Acq Inc right from the get-go? Consider one of the new backgrounds in this chapter, all with a special focus on commerce or Acquisitions Incorporated itself. Worried about whether a specific class or subclass has what it takes to make it in a cutthroat mercantile environment? We’ve got the advice and narrative options you need.

This chapter also presents a new race inspired by the chaotic drive to achieve that underlies every Acq Inc campaign, as well as a number of spells with a decidedly financial flair. And finally, you’ll get to meet some of the rival factions your characters will inevitably crash up against in the frenzied race for franchise success.

Backgrounds

Countless people come from loving, nurturing homes. Through hard work, clean living, and wise decisions, they excel at what they do. They live prosperous, respectable lives, leaving the world a better place than they found it.

You’re not one of them.

Somewhere along the way, something went wrong. Maybe it was bad luck. Circumstances might have conspired to put you in an impossible situation. You could have Lady Fate’s disfavor. Or you might be an incredible jackass. But whatever your circumstances, you are now entering a new phase of your life. The earning potential of an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise has given many wayward and lost souls a new lease on life. Those who scoffed at you or kicked you while you were down might soon be kissing up to you.

And who knows? Being an incredible jackass could work in your favor!

• Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion
• Failed Merchant
• Gambler
• Plaintiff
• Rival Intern

Playing with Class

In the many fantasy worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, typical adventurers succeed by the dint of copious amounts of hard work, luck, natural talent, and extensive training. But then, who wants to play a typical adventurer? And who wants to merely succeed?

Franchisees of Acquisitions Incorporated want to thrive. They want to dominate. They want to pillage lairs and loot the treasure that makes all their dreams come true. Whether it’s unlocking the secrets of the multiverse, living in the soft and supple lap of luxury, holding sway over hordes of adoring followers, or maybe even helping people and saving lives, Acq Inc franchisees do everything grandly, epically, and with panache.

Or if they fail and die horribly in the attempt, they do so with style.

This section discusses how to subtly massage (or radically mutate) the feel of the standard character classes to make them the best possible fit for the chaotic and creative majesty of an Acquisitions Incorporated game. This includes both general advice on playing a character of a particular class, and thoughts on how some of the many subclasses for the game (including subclasses from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) can be reframed for an Acq Inc campaign.

Each class section offers up suggestions for adding detail and narrative flair to your character. Where tables are presented as part of those suggestions, you can choose or randomly select from the options presented therein, or use them as inspiration for your own stylish ideas. The effects noted on a table are always benign, and don’t grant any benefit or impose any penalties.

Class Acts

In addition to a number of subclasses from the Player’s Handbook, this section makes reference to the following subclasses from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything:

Barbarian: Path of the Ancestral Guardian, Path of the Zealot

Bard: College of Glamour, College of Whispers

Druid: Circle of Dreams, Circle of the Shepherd

Fighter: Arcane Archer, Cavalier, Samurai

Monk: Way of the Drunken Master, Way of the Kensei, Way of the Sun Soul

Paladin: Oath of Conquest

Ranger: Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker, Monster Slayer

Rogue: Mastermind, Scout, Swashbuckler

Sorcerer: Divine Soul, Shadow Magic, Storm Sorcery

Warlock: Celestial, Hexblade

Wizard: War Magic

Barbarian

You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. You just need to be able to kill everyone else in the room, so you’re the smartest person left.

Rage is overrated. Sure, being covered with the blood, sweat, saliva, and entrails of one’s enemies might be fun from time to time, but the cleaning costs alone can eat up a big chunk of a franchise’s profits. Running half-naked through grimy dungeons? Cathartic for sure. Hygienic? Not so much.

Strength, endurance, and fighting don’t necessarily have to come from unresolved childhood issues or a brooding, roiling well of anger. Primal instincts are valuable, but there are plenty of primal forces in the world—including the unrestrained drive for wealth, power, and everything that comes with it.

Barbarians in the Corporate World

For every CEO building up or bringing down businesses, it’s a safe bet that there’s a barbarian standing behind them. Often literally, with a large weapon in hand, and waiting for the order to go out and remove vital organs from another CEO. Corporate barbarians are the muscle behind the civil face of a franchise. It’s not that they enjoy losing their composure and having to make other people’s nice clothes all bloody, but some circumstances require carefully applied martial force. And others require the same thing, but with a lot less care.

Sending a Clear Message

As a barbarian in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, you’re not all about killing. Maiming and disfigurement are also a big part of the job. Permanently eliminating someone who owes your franchise money or who double-crossed you on a deal sends a short, clear message. But leaving them hobbling when they walk or incapable of eating without a team of specialists sends a glorious, evocative poem—the kind of violent sonnet that resonates not just with the recipient, but with bystanders as well.

To maximize the power of your intimidation, you need to make sure the world knows who’s delivering it. That’s why you employ a tool of your trade: the signature item. Whenever you’re particularly proud of a completed project, you leave an item at the scene to claim the work as your own.

Signature Items

Style Makes the Raider

Your savage kin of the wilds sport tattoos to celebrate their connection to their tribes or ancestors. They might wear fetishes or carry totems symbolizing their allegiance to ancestral spirits. That’s cute and all, but you have your own style. Whether in the boardroom or on the battlefield, you announce your presence. When you stride into a fight, people say, “There’s a force to be reckoned with! And who does their tailoring?!”

Barbarian Style

Walking a Different Path

Acquisitions Incorporated barbarians walk a different path than their kin of the wild lands. Or, more precisely, they walk familiar paths in unique and novel ways.

Path of the Ancestral Guardian

Rather than calling upon the spirits of your ancestors, you are in communion with the franchise executives and corporate raiders who have traveled your path before. These paragons of commerce still exist in the spirit world, bemoaning their losses and looking to balance their debts in the afterlife by providing guidance to others. Sometimes these spirits appear as officious clerks reminding you of expense accounts and budgets. Other times, they are fellow heavies and knee breakers who died in the line of duty, sarcastically calling out your mistakes in a misguided effort to be of assistance.

Path of the Totem Warrior

Unlike your wilder cousins, your connection to the spirit world is a little less woodsy and a little more civilized. However, that doesn’t mean you still can’t invoke the power of a totem creature when you need it. Rather than calling upon the bear, eagle, or wolf as your totem, you might gain the same features by calling upon more urban creatures.

Path of the Zealot

You might not be particularly faithful, but your dedication to your job can easily be mistaken for a kind of religious zeal. For long years, that dedication has been a force that guides you, granting you abilities beyond those of other skilled warriors. Rather than worshiping Tempus or Bane, Gruumsh or Tyr, you instead bow down before the altar of your own superiority, channeling your ego to drive your franchise’s success.

Seeming a “square peg” for the task at first glance, a barbarian might be an excellent choice, as they would destroy both the round hole and their own corners in the attempt to serve. It would be neat to see if this worked outside of an analogy.

• K’thriss Drow’b

Bard

There is nothing I would like to do more than explain to you why I’m standing here with stolen goods and my rapier sticking out of this still-warm corpse, officer. I assure you, I have a completely reasonable and plausible explanation.

Singing songs and strumming lutes might be fine for most bards. Who doesn’t like a rousing shanty now and then? But standing in a crowded tavern playing for copper pieces tossed by commoners isn’t for everyone—and it certainly isn’t for bards in the Acq Inc world. The power and magic tied up in the voice of a franchise bard is meant for greater things. More profitable things.

Adventuring and commerce are where the true lessons of life are learned, and your bardic magic guarantees your mastery of those lessons. Your love of music has shown you that the world of commerce is a finely tuned instrument in its own right—and you’re just the one to pluck it.

Master of One Trade: Awesomeness

As a bard, you’re known as the go-to figure when things need to get done. Your tremendous array of skills and abilities mean that you’re often the first one called upon to do the hard jobs. And if you’re going to do something difficult, you might as well do it with panache. Since most of your franchise compatriots likely think “panache” is some kind of elven delicacy, it’s all the more impressive.

Jumping a small pit? Land with the flourish of a world-class gymnast! Slaying a kobold? Take it down with a legendary oath, and no one will realize that an asthmatic farmhand could have done the same thing with a rusty sickle. Running across a room? Use prestidigitation to blow your hair back, making it look like you have the speed and grace of Corellon themself.

Cutting Wit and Wicked Barbs

When others pick on you about being a bard, you need only remind them that you and you alone have the power to insult creatures to death. Just the other day, your harsh word about a goblin’s haircut caused it to keel over, bleeding from its ears. But with such great power comes the great responsibility—of not being lame. When you use your spells and class features to denigrate your enemies into an early grave, you need to have a number of tried and true zingers at hand to add the perfect insult to the ultimate injury.

Insults to Die For

The Wrong Kind of People

While being the most impressive member of the party can be beneficial, it does come with some drawbacks. Attention and renown make others fear and respect you for sure, but that renown eventually draws sworn enemies to you whose sole purpose is your downfall. And no matter how fast you eliminate or convert one of those enemies, it’s only a matter of time before another one takes their place.

Notable Enemies

Transferring Colleges

The loose association of minstrels and masters that was your bard college helps to define your knowledge and skills. Still, no matter what your original collegiate connections, as a bard in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, you now focus that learning into your own personal school of business.

College of Glamour

The lessons taught by the College of Glamour are right in your wheelhouse. Being able to make friends and influence people is the bread and butter of your profession. Rather than ply this trade in public squares and seedy alehouses, however, you have trained yourself to deliver your speeches in boardrooms and guildhalls. It’s all about convincing people to see your side of an issue—then motivating them to do exactly what you want.

College of Lore

Some people swear by a well-rounded liberal-arts education. But the lore you seek out is a little more useful in its application. Knowing the capital cities of all the nations of the world might be nice on trivia night down at the tavern. But knowing the identity and location of a dozen nobles' illegitimate children carries a little more utility in the adventuring world.

College of Whispers

The College of Whispers teaches a skill set that’s attractive in terms of its power, but which can be incredibly off-putting to anyone with any moral compass. Thankfully, that’ll never be a problem for you. The ability to mess with others' minds is a skill that needs to be used cautiously and wisely. Otherwise, you’ll never gain the much-needed trust that’s part and parcel of being an effective business leader.

Cleric

I have faith in the power of the marketplace, and I see a lot of nonbelievers out there with money to spend.

If you think wading through scores of undead in a haunted crypt or channeling divine power to keep your party alive gets the adrenaline flowing, you should try keeping the peace at a corporate board meeting. Or managing the hostile takeover of a rival. Try negotiating merchandising rights. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Thankfully, your business acumen draws on insight that’s literally out of this world. As an emissary of divine will, you possess the guiding wisdom that every franchise needs, and the knowledge that your business plans are always the best ones. Because the gods would never let you down, right?

Name a more iconic profession. I’ll wait.

• Omin Dran

Have Faith in Diversification

Despite their supposed wisdom, many common clerics fail to grasp the simple concept of using the best tool for the job. To the devoted priest of Tempus, every problem is just begging to be solved by a formal declaration of war. A cleric of Bane has never met a minion they couldn’t wait to kick around. Lathander’s clerics are all sunshine and happiness, even when they should be hiding in dark places to avoid danger.

As a cleric in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, you’ll carefully choose your deity so that the domains of your divine patron synergize seamlessly with the goals of your franchise. But at the same time, you understand that the greatest thing about the gods is their prolificacy. With so many deities in so many pantheons, all of them have their own stock to sell. As such, even though you have your own personal favorite, you’ve also learned the value of diversifying your divine portfolio, keeping an array of holy symbols and icons on hand for any occasion.

Divine Deals

From the most notable nobles to the most humble members of the working class, everyone needs faith and spiritual guidance. And what better way to teach the value of faith to others than to make sure the value of faith is measured in gp. In addition to your franchise’s regular operations, you always keep a sideline going in religious paraphernalia, selling specialized signature items to select markets. By showing the world that faith is your business, you can ensure that business is always booming.

Relics of Faith

Clerical Routine

You might pray for your spells each day at dawn, by the dark of the moon, or whenever the fighter kicks you awake to tell you your long rest is done, get healing already! Either way, it’s good to incorporate a regular ritual into your daily devotions.

Meditative Rituals

The Ways of Faith

Every cleric has a uniquely personal connection to their deity. You are no exception, though you like to think you bring your own special flair to the relationship, and vice versa.

Relationship with Your Deity

Acquisition as a Holy Chore

Faerûn is full of pantheons and deities, some of more relevance and power than others. All those deities and their servants can be found in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, but a few select gods, goddesses, and otherworldly powers might play a larger role.

Abbathor

This dwarven deity of greed gets a bad rap. Because seriously, greed is just another form of the fundamental urge for survival. If gold is power and power is life, then the more gold you accumulate, the better and longer your life will be. Why is it that people who have money and power are admired and respected, yet people who stop at nothing to attain money and power are “avaricious” or “materialistic” or “felons”? Abbathor might be looked down upon and called evil for the lengths his followers sometimes go to in the pursuit of wealth, but the power he represents is the end goal of many an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise.

Asmodeus

When they coined the phrase “making a deal with the devil,” this is the devil they were talking about. The Lords of the Nine Hells are the original CEOs of some of the multiverse’s most profitable megacorporations, and Asmodeus is their master. If you want a model for efficiency and motivation in an organization, look no further than the infernal expanse of Nessus. You want to talk about a perfect sales pitch and a diabolically intricate contract? Asmodeus has you covered. Many civilized nations don’t even count worshiping Asmodeus as a crime, unless you get into those nasty side trips of humanoid sacrifice and the like. But as long as you remain cognizant of not wanting to throw away potential customers that way, how much risk of going down that path could there be?

Jergal

Death is a serious business. Literally. Jergal is a lesser deity who works alongside Kelemvor, the god of the dead. But whereas Kelemvor sees to the more metaphysical side of death, Jergal sees to the details. Where did sweet Nana want to be buried? What rites did your dearly departed love want performed? And how much of a donation to the church will you be making to see those things done? As an Acquisitions Incorporated cleric devoted to Jergal, you understand that there are only two sure things in this world: death, and getting paid to do something with the body.

Lliira

The Lady of Joy brings merriment, happiness, and fun to the world. And there’s nothing people will pay more for than merriment, happiness, and fun. As a cleric worshiping Lliira, you open yourself up to become a vessel for the goddess’s joy—for a price, of course. Because surely, if joy sustains the soul just as food sustains the body, then there’s nothing wrong with making a bit of profit from happiness.

Mask

The Master of All Thieves is an important deity for Acquisitions Incorporated characters to be aware of. Mask is the god of acquisition, after all, and governs the secrets that any successful Acq Inc franchise will be dealing in. Whether personal, professional, or business-related, secrets are an important component of gaining leverage over others. Moreover, your successful franchise will eventually have many secrets of its own that you desperately need to keep quiet.

Oghma

Everyone knows the adage that knowledge is power, but no one believes it more than the worshipers of Oghma. As a follower of the god of inspiration, invention, and knowledge, you seek knowledge for its own sake. But as a member of Acquisitions Incorporated, you understand further that knowledge is just the first component of any business plan, and that turning knowledge into power requires a consistent amount of the follow-up action that your franchise is famous for.

Sune

The wise know that people are defined by their desires as much as anything else, and the Princess of Passion is the patron of desires. In the battle of logic versus passion, it’s passion that guides mortals and gods more often than not. As an Acquisitions Incorporated cleric of Sune, your intimate understanding of passion—or, better yet, your skill at manipulating the passions of others—can be a huge boon to the operation of a successful franchise.

Tymora

Luck is a lady tonight! And, as it turns out, every night. The goddess of fortune is known as Lady Luck, and every adventurer knows the importance of keeping luck on their side. As a pragmatic Acq Inc cleric of Tymora, you know that only stupid people ask the rhetorical question, “Would you rather be lucky or good at something?” Because no matter how good you are, you’ll eventually have the bad luck of facing off against someone who’s a whole lot better. When that happens, good luck is the only thing that’s going to save you.

Waukeen

The Coinmaiden is the de facto patron of anyone who trades goods or services for payment. And thankfully, her relative ambivalence toward the laws underlying fair trade and honoring deals makes Waukeen a perfect fit for an Acquisitions Incorporated cleric. Regardless of your best intentions, ensuring the success of your franchise means eventually having to gingerly step across some ethical or moral line. Or having to hide the fact that your franchise companions have been busy erasing the line completely.

Druid

My plan for creating an intern tier consisting of nothing but giant ants should allow us to increase productivity by 37 percent. Who’s with me?

At first glance, druids might not seem the best fit for an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, with its frequent forays into urban settings and its focus on treasure procurement and business considerations. But the primal power wielded by druids reflects the relentless cycles of nature, which in turn make a remarkably prescient model for business. Growth and stagnation. Boom and bust. It’s all there, writ large in the passage of the seasons and the ancient dance of bigger creatures consuming smaller creatures. And let’s face it, those smaller creatures probably had it coming to them.

Druids are natural-born leaders. We are beasts of war and shepherds of balance. People might underestimate you for your “simple” ways, but your teeth will find their flesh all the same. Not that I condone eating your party members, of course. Only when absolutely necessary.

• Walnut Dankgrass

Nature’s Envoy

Some of the most lucrative ruins and monster lairs happen to be located inconveniently in the uncivilized wilds of the world. As an Acquisitions Incorporated druid, your specialty is getting your party into and out of such areas with maximum profit and minimum bloodshed. (Well, your blood anyway.) When a veritable army of natural things that want to eat you stands between your franchise and profit, you’re the one the other party members are looking to for guidance.

Almost as importantly, every adventuring group bent on exploiting the natural world to gain resources and power needs a conservation expert to tell them when they’ve gone too far. After all, only fools would destroy their environment in the name of vast profits. Right?

Running Wild

Branding is everything. Whenever you take on a wild shape form, you do so with a unique bit of personal style that lets folks know you’re a beast to be reckoned with.

Distinguishing Features of Wild Shape

Nature in Unlikely Places

Even the most urban of locations feature sites of natural beauty and primal energy. You quickly become familiar with all such locations in the towns and cities you frequent, making them places for prayer, meditation, and arboreal solace. In addition to hanging out in parks or arboretums (or creating parks and arboretums in vacant lots when no one’s looking), you might also be called upon to tend to struggling foliage or sick animals, eliminate threats to natural spaces, or serve as a font of horticultural and biological lore to folk in the area.

Urban Sanctuaries

Steward of Nature

Though you might split your franchise life between the rural and the urban worlds, you never forget the wilderness where you came from. Because you’ve brought a piece of that wilderness with you. An unusual creature that came under your care when you were younger remains a part of your life, whether because you’ve decided you’re the only person who can properly look after it, or vice versa.

Creatures to Care For

Closing the Circles

Though many druid circles are inspired by and focused on the natural world, even the most woodsy circles can fit into an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign with surprising ease.

Circle of Dreams

Normally, druids who come from the Circle of Dreams have a connection to the dreamy lands of the Feywild. As an Acquisitions Incorporated druid, you maintain this connection and expand it, embracing the marketing potential of dreams and positive energy. This effluence of radiance and light is meant to be harnessed, shaped, and shared with as many people as possible. And if they’re willing to pay for that sharing, so much the better.

Circle of the Land

Any organization that wants to make an imprint on the world needs to employ an environmental consultant, ensuring that they’re engaging with the land in a sustainable and efficient manner. As a druid of the Circle of the Land, your role in your franchise makes extensive use of your knowledge of nature. Your expertise ensures that the exploits of the franchise don’t disturb nature—and just as importantly, prevent nature from disturbing the franchise.

Circle of the Moon

Circle of the Moon druids are known for the myriad animal forms they wear, but those forms need not tie you to the wilderness. In rat form, you can slip past the sentries of a well-guarded guildhall to secure trade secrets. On a risky urban operation, you can adopt the form of a pigeon or an alley cat to be your party’s chief scout and spy. And in a pinch, your most combat-focused animal forms make you an excellent hand at black ops, able to infiltrate, extricate, or eradicate with equal verve.

Circle of the Shepherd

The world is a dangerous place, and the innocent always need champions to keep the figurative and literal wolves at bay. Others in your circle focus on protecting the helpless creatures of the wild from natural and unnatural threats. But your vow of protection extends to the common folk as well, recognizing that they are just as much a part of the natural world—and are often just as scared and helpless as any creature left to the mercy of that world.

Fighter

The best thing about blood money is that it spends just as readily as any other kind of money.

Some fight to slake bloodlust. Others fight for the thrill of besting an enemy. Some fight for a code, a faith, or an ideal. But a true pragmatist fights only for coin, understanding that battle is a means to an end and not an end in itself. A fighter in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign often fights for money above all else, whether focusing on a primary role as a combat specialist or providing martial backup for the franchise as needs be.

Mission Accomplished

Whether your intention is to end a target’s threat or simply deliver a message (violently or otherwise), those around you can take comfort in knowing that when you take on a job, the job gets done. When your franchise loses its direction or collective nerve, you stand tall with the power of your convictions and an even more powerful assortment of weapons to keep things on track. If that sometimes inspires a need to crack some rival skulls, that’s just the way of war. And if those skulls sometimes turn out to belong to people on your own side of the ledger, well, that’s just business.

You are anything but reckless, however, recognizing the effort that goes into doing a job right. Berserkers flailing about the battlefield and challenging all comers have a certain amount of flamboyance, sure. But you can’t spend the coin you’ve been promised for a job if the job leaves you dead.

Keeping them Guessing

No combat tactic is too down-and-dirty when your life and the welfare of your franchise are on the line. Smart fighters use any means necessary to gain the edge in battle, whether those tricks were learned from a long-gone drill instructor, first used by an opponent against you, or an original tactic perfected by long hours of training.

Martial Tricks

Wielding the Best

It might seem ridiculous to say that your weapon, armor, or shield is your best friend and most stalwart companion—but you’ll take that risk. If you had to choose between entering a battle without your favorite combat gear or without the party’s bard, Singy McLuteface can sit this one out. You and your equipment have got this.

Your piece of signature equipment is more than a tool that has never let you down. It lets others know who you are on the battlefield. Even when your features are obscured by the blood of the fallen, the dust of a well-trodden arena, or the fog of war, allies and enemies alike take notice when you stalk the battlefield.

Signature Equipment

Victory Is Yours

When the battle is done, enemies and allies alike stare in awe at the sight of your personal ritual of celebration.

Victory Celebration

Breaking the Archetypes

To the uninitiated, fighters are the simpletons of the adventuring world, flailing away with their weapons while taking repeated blows to the head. But those folk know precious little about the specialties and subtleties of this class. Many flavors of fighter exist in the world, and all can fit into an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise in their own way.

Arcane Archer

Those elves really know how to bring the hurt from a distance, don’t they? Fortunately for the arrow-slinging world, they were willing to share their arcane archery knowledge with friends, and now every Acq Inc franchise can have its very own magical cannon! As an arcane archer, you’re incredibly useful during those tense discussions when someone needs to be able to whistle, and then moments later, arrows appear out of nowhere to stick out of the ground between the feet of the people they’re talking to. Roll that next check to negotiate with advantage!

Battle Master

As a battle master involved with an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, you understand that your maneuvers might not do as much damage as the focused attacks of a less subtle fighter. But the needs of a franchise often call for subtlety and precision over simply busting heads. Add in your knowledge of the more cerebral aspects of combat, including all-important insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, and it’s clear why you make a great addition to any franchise.

Cavalier

An Acquisitions Incorporated franchise is a heady mix of adventuring and business, and both those pursuits require travel. Who better to lead a long road journey than an experienced cavalier with a reliable mount? As a cavalier, you’re one of the best warriors around for protecting less hardy allies, even off your mount, making you a mobile fighter, a team player, and a valiant protector.

Champion

Accepting the wisdom of the old adage “Sometimes less is more” is an excellent way to go broke. Because less is less, obviously. Just look at the balance sheet. But there’s one exception to that nonrule that can make a big difference in the successful operation of a franchise—the focused, no-frills approach to combat of the champion fighter. As a champion, you quickly master your role within your franchise, because that role is simple. Lift heavy things. Stand in front of monsters. Hit them till they drop.

Eldritch Knight

Fighter? Wizard? Why not both?! If a franchise’s recruiting efforts result in a party lacking either fighting or magical ability—or, Tymora forbid, both—you make a great addition to the team as an eldritch knight. Your focus on abjuration and evocation ensures that your fighting style is supported by magic that can either defend allies or deal massive damage to your foes. And if your franchise operation runs true to form, you’ll have plenty of opportunity for both.

Samurai

Even if samurai are rare in the lands where Acquisitions Incorporated offers franchise opportunities, their fighting spirit makes them invaluable additions to any franchise—especially if that spirit encompasses the fight for profits. As a samurai, your impressive combat skills are matched by your social grace and wisdom, providing a boon to your franchise’s standing in the community. Any franchise could do worse than having you as its public face—especially when your sense of quiet resolve is needed to quietly resolve some unexpected business disaster.

Monk

Some call the unseen energy flowing through all things “ki.” I call it the invisible hand of the marketplace. Now let’s negotiate your surrender.

Ki is a magical energy that fills the space between all things in the multiverse. Monks tap into that energy through spiritual and martial training, meditation, and contemplation. And punching and kicking. And more punching and kicking. And maybe a head-butt for good measure.

Monks in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign find a way to integrate a typical ascetic life with the grandeur, majesty, and over-the-top business focus of their franchise. History (real and fantasy) has shown that monasteries don’t always shy away from engaging in profitable enterprises. As such, your Acquisitions Incorporated monk likely brings their old monastery’s entrepreneurial spirit with them—along with new ideas to energize that spirit even more.

In my experience, hiring a monk skilled in the art of peaceful arbitration is the only way to attempt to defuse the rather concussive methods of negotiation employed by many Acquisitions Incorporated franchisees. And if it comes to it, a monk will at least ensure that the concussions are fairly distributed.

• Rosie Beestinger

Stances for Success

Part of your martial training as a monk sees you adopting a variety of stances during combat. These stances help focus your mind, confuse your enemies, and relieve that strain on your lower back.

Subtle Stances

By the Book

The writings of famous monks of the past sometimes become holy texts that come to define entire monastic traditions. The monks of your monastery have dedicated their training and their lives to the insight gleaned from an ancient monastic tome.

Ancient Tomes

Ascetic Business Practices

Plenty of monasteries turn out business-minded monks. After all, it’s not money that’s the root of all evil; it’s the love of money. So if you just like money—you know, as a friend—then it’s all good! Many Acq Inc franchises actively try to recruit monks into entrepreneurship, knowing of their reputation for versatility both in and out of combat. If you hail from a particularly profitable monastery, you won’t need to be convinced of the benefits of a well-run business—you’ll already be on board.

Commercial Monasteries

Nontraditional Traditions

The diversity of monk traditions makes those traditions different from each other in abilities as well as in attitude. And since an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise runs mostly on attitude, it’s important for the philosophy of a monk’s monastic tradition to mesh with the philosophy of the franchise.

Way of Shadow

Monks following the Way of Shadow fill an important role in an Acq Inc franchise: that of an infiltrator. As a shadow monk, you’re likely more adept than even a rogue at moving around without being seen, slipping into dangerous places unnoticed, and getting away with no one the wiser as to what you’ve stolen. And it’s a safe bet that your fellow franchisees will quickly learn to search the shadows before they say something they don’t want you to hear.

Way of the Drunken Master

The most dangerous adventurer in the room is the one that no one knows is an adventurer. As a monk who follows the Way of the Drunken Master, you excel at keeping your true threat level under wraps. Your ability to literally spend days hanging out at the tavern and never be noticed makes you a valuable addition to any franchise that needs to keep its collective eyes and ears on happenings in town. Plus, you’re a guaranteed riot at company parties!

Way of the Four Elements

Most enemies who take on a monk expect to get a few punches or kicks for their trouble. So when flames, cold, and thunder come streaking toward them instead, they’ll never know what hit them. As a monk of the Way of the Four Elements, you combine the striking power of a typical monk with the versatility of a wizard. Especially in a franchise without a dedicated combat spellcaster, your elemental affinity comes in handy.

Way of the Kensei

Monks following the Way of the Kensei often appear to care more about their weapons than they care about the people around them. Because they do. As a monk following that tradition, you make a perfect fit for a martial-focused franchise. Your skill with weapons makes you an asset in combat, and your practical knowledge makes trading in arms a natural sideline. For you, battle is business and business is always booming.

Way of the Open Hand

It’s always nice to have someone in a franchise who can slap an enemy so hard that they shrivel up and die several days after the characters have left town and arranged their alibis. As a monk following the Way of the Open Hand, you know that others think of you as a mysterious figure. You might sit by yourself for hours on end, humming strangely. You might say weird things that you expect others to treat as great wisdom. Frankly, as long as your fellow franchisees can count on you to break skulls when necessary, you can probably get away with anything.

Way of the Sun Soul

Many benevolent monks have a reputation for being all punching and sunshine. As a Sun Soul monk, you epitomize this reputation. Except for the benevolent part. Whenever a fight is in need of area-effect damage, your fellow franchise members understand that you’re their best friend in the world. And if your reputation for exploding in anger (literally) makes for easier negotiations with suppliers and business rivals, so much the better.

Paladin

My companions did what!? The screams could be heard from how far away!?

When many hear “paladin,” they can’t help but envision a knight in shining armor, helping innocent people in distress and living a life of utmost virtue and chastity. Yawn. In the world of Acquisitions Incorporated, at least some small part of a paladin’s dedication is focused on the code of business. Morals and ethics are all good. But an Acq Inc paladin knows that nothing puts food on the plates of the poor and roofs over the heads of the dispossessed better than cold, hard cash.

And virtue and chastity are more guidelines than rules anyway. Right?

Stand up as straight as possible. Being a paladin is mostly about posture, and most people don’t realize that. Evil drow slouch, but in this house, we are turgid to the point of discomfort!

• Donaar Blit’zen

Personnel Bodyguard

All life is sacred. Well, some lives are sacred. Okay, fine. The people you protect are sacred. On certain days, everyone else is negotiable. As an Acquisitions Incorporated paladin, you are dedicated to the protection of your fellow franchisees out of loyalty and duty—and because you can’t earn all that sweet coin on your own.

In your role as the party’s bodyguard, your unmatched training and sense of honor drive you to take untold risks as you put others' lives before your own. Your heavy armor is as fearsome as your heavy morals, and your healing ability, bonuses to saving throws, and lack of fear create a trifecta of comfort. Your natural leadership role also comes into play, as the squishier members of your party come to rely on your presence and protection.

Things Best Left Unsaid

Every character has a few private matters they’d rather not share, but the truth-and-honesty stakes usually aren’t as high for others as they are for a paladin. If there’s any extra drama in your life, chances are it stems from a terrible secret in your background that you need to constantly struggle to keep. What’ll happen if your friends and allies learn of your dark past? How might a sadistic DM put pressure on you throughout the unfolding story to keep your secret at all costs?

Terrible Secrets

Fixer of Problems

When problems arise as a result of your franchise’s operations—and clearly through no fault of your own—you fix those problems as only you can. You excel at remaining calm and attacking each challenge logically and deliberately. Especially comforting to your teammates is your insistence on using a witty catchphrase to raise their spirits in the midst of the greatest danger. Your companions take great pride in your catchphrase, even if they’re too shy to admit it.

Legendary Catchphrases

Sowing Your Oaths

The oath that you take (or break) as a paladin defines your character as a center of moral authority in the world. And that works just fine in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, albeit with a few minor adjustments.

Oath of Conquest

Most paladins who take the Oath of Conquest consider martial subjugation the ultimate form of defeat for an enemy. You have a wider view, though, and are able to embrace monetary or business-related conquest as equally fulfilling activities. Is a business rival really all that different from a rampaging dragon? Both are dangerous and antisocial, and both sit on a hoard of wealth that could be yours if you’re brave enough to take it.

Oath of Devotion

As a paladin devoted to the ideals of order and justice, you’re in a perfect position to guide your franchise to great ends—even as you make an excellent foil for the less-savory plans of your fellow franchisees. Your insistence on dealing with business partners fairly, honoring legally signed contracts, and promoting the general welfare of the world helps you cement your franchise’s reputation as a group worth dealing with. It might just take a little bit of convincing for your fellow party members to see things your way.

Oath of Vengeance

The fury brought to bear by an Oath of Vengeance paladin fits well into most Acquisitions Incorporated campaigns. Those who break contracts, renege on deals, fail to repay debts, or otherwise break their word can expect a visit from you in your role as the executor of vengeance. And if your fellow franchisees can make a bit of profit by picking up the pieces when your job is done, then everyone’s happy.

Ranger

All that is gold does not glitter. But frankly, if you’ve got the choice, take the glittering gold every time. That nonshiny stuff loses a ton of resale value.

Loving nature, exploring the wilderness, companioning with animals: most people wouldn’t view these things as obvious assets for the rough-and-tumble business of running an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. But most people are wrong about everything. Few Acq Inc franchises set their roots or undertake all their business in urban areas. As such, countless adventures will call a franchise into the wilds, where a qualified ranger makes the difference between forlorn failure and fabulous success. Even when a franchise engages in commerce in the cities and towns of the realm, a ranger’s keen senses, sharp blades, and flesh-seeking arrows will never find lack of use.

Rangers like to work alone, but it is convenient when others are around to draw the arrows to themselves.

• Môrgæn

Control of the Market

The notion of being a defender is core to your identity as a ranger. As a member of Acquisitions Incorporated, you channel your natural proclivity for protectiveness into a razor-sharp focus on the franchise. Pure profit is never an end in and of itself, but whatever deep-seated personal goals you only ever talk about in the dead of night over a dying fire, those goals need financing.

Your role as a defender and a controller of problems makes you a natural leader for sure. Your sense of selflessness and integrity can help shape and guide the more unscrupulous business plans of your allies. Likewise, the other members of your franchise might panic when that crate of Figurine of Wondrous Power you acquired turns out to all be self-activating obsidian steeds. But you have the steady nerves and earnest resolve to revert and revise any pear-shaped plans.

Animals are Everywhere

The balance of nature is no less strong within civilization than it is in the wilds, and the streets and sewers of towns and cities are their own thriving ecosystem. As a ranger who spends part of your time in urban settings, you quickly learn to seek out the companionship of some of the many beasts that inhabit those settings.

Urban Beast Friends

No Weapons Allowed

Your instinctive ability to blend into the natural background has applications even outside the wilderness. During business meetings with rivals or attempts to play nice with the nobility, being forbidden from carrying weapons doesn’t slow you down. Whether you channel your enemies' impending destruction through mundane equipment, thoughtful gifts, or a packed lunch, you and your improvised weapons are always ready for action.

Disguised Weapons

Places to Go

As you do those rangery things you do, you’ve had the opportunity to travel to many exotic and exciting locales. But there’s one place you just keep coming back to.

Points of Interest

A Wide Range of Talents

No matter whether a ranger ranges in the crowded city streets, the trackless wilderness, or the most desolate and confounding planes, all ranger archetypes can find a place in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign.

Beast Master

Any Beast Master understands that a beast companion is far more diligent, friendly, and reliable than most people. This might be doubly true in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, where if you fall in combat, your companion isn’t going to assess the resale value of your gear versus the cost of the potion of healing it’ll take to revive you. Even in an urban setting, a beast companion makes a solid ally, serving as a guard or a scout when you’re skulking around places you shouldn’t be.

Gloom Stalker

Gloom Stalkers are often best known for their work in the Underdark, but shadows are shadows wherever they occur. As a Gloom Stalker ranger, you find solace and refuge in dark alleys, dimly lit back rooms, and the shadowy corners of any corporate boardroom. Moreover, your expertise as a skulker and an ambush predator fits right in with most franchise business models.

Horizon Walker

Every Acquisitions Incorporated franchise needs to be ready to travel at a moment’s notice, with franchisees always rushing headlong into the next amazing opportunity. As a Horizon Walker, you’re a master of travel, blazing trails into unknown realms by passing through the even-more-unknown realms of the planes. Whatever path your franchise walks, your combat and magical skill helps ensure a safe journey for you and your companions. Moreover, the unknown reaches of the world are the best places to find new resources, and no one knows more about the unknown than you do.

Hunter

Whether in the wilds, in the cities, or in the wide expanses in between, your specialized combat training as a Hunter ranger makes you a stalwart defender of your franchise and your party. On a mission, you take a lead role in dispensing with threats. In a social encounter, you stand at the back of the room and look dangerous. Just focus on a bit of sensitivity training to counter your predator’s instincts and you can be the definitive Acquisitions Incorporated employee—looking smart in a business suit one day, and hacking up enemies the next.

Monster Slayer

The nightmare creatures that haunt the world are more of a threat to an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise than they are to other people. Because frankly, other people have less to lose. Sometimes monsters guard vast amounts of treasure just waiting for acquisition. Other times, they’re in the employ of a business rival looking to acquire your wealth, your blood, or your soul. No matter how dark the adventure gets, your role as a Monster Slayer makes you the best offense and defense against whatever stands in your franchise’s path to success.

Rogue

I know you went through all those documents pretty quickly. And now you’re probably asking yourself, “Wait… did I sign six addenda or only five?” So you’ve got to ask yourself one question. “Do I feel properly contractually represented?” Well? Do you, punk?

A rogue is often the backbone of any successful adventuring party, providing an ample amount of martial prowess, a diverse skill set, and a pat on the back for a job well done (with or without a dagger in it). In an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, a rogue’s talents are even more in demand. Not only is the rogue the first one into the dragon’s lair and the last one out (after securing away the choicest bits of treasure first), but their keen eye for details and their practiced social skills make them equally invaluable in the boardrooms, the taprooms, and the back alleys where business gets done.

Personally, I feel that “rogue” is a little misleading as a term. It implies that those of us who follow a more… eclectic path toward life can all be grouped into a single category. That works with most other professions because they’re good at one thing. But me? I’m good at everything.You need someone to sweet-talk the town guard? I’m your guy. Impersonate the governor? Easy peasy. Hit the streets for intel? Throw a dinner party? Engage in a clandestine property reassignment? Done and done. And if someone’s giving you trouble? Well, let’s just say they’ll be no trouble to me.

• Viari

Corporate Espionage

In the world of Acquisitions Incorporated, dangers are as likely to be contractual as physical. Avoiding a trap’s pressure plate in a dungeon is good. Avoiding an awkward social situation might be even more important. Explosive runes warding a treasure chest go off once, maybe no one spotted them, big deal. But a rogue who notices a carefully worded legal trap in a contract can save their franchise from lasting harm—and a rogue who can insert such details into someone else’s contract is worth their weight in performance bonuses.

Sign of Success

Every rogue has a story about that one big score. With enough ales and a bit of prompting, you can easily be convinced to tell the tale, highlighting all the drama and derring-do. But the tale is so much better for the telling if you can highlight it with visual aids.

You carry a trophy from that big score, which you pull out when the occasion demands or when you need a reminder of your own skill and luck. Sure, if anyone found the item on you, there’s a good chance you could be arrested and convicted of the crime that procured it. But that’s part of the excitement, right?

Favorite Trophies

Old Business Ties

Many rogues learn their initial skill set through the school of necessity, forced to steal or kill to survive. More advanced talents, however, are generally taught through one of the many criminal guilds that crop up in towns and cities throughout the land. As an Acquisitions Incorporated rogue, you definitely left your guild in order to join a franchise, for no rogue can serve two masters. At least not officially.

Former Guilds

Rogues of a Different Feather

Each of the many archetypes of the rogue offers a variety of features that can prove a boon to any Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. You might enjoy making a scene, or you might prefer to pass unseen. You might eliminate your foes in the most public way possible, or prefer to deal with all problems behind closed (and preferably soundproofed) doors. Either way, your talents make you the invaluable linchpin of your franchise’s operations.

Arcane Trickster

What does an adventurer who has all the tricks of a rogue need? Even trickier magic! As a rogue of the Arcane Trickster archetype, you supplement your dexterous abilities with spellcasting derring-do. Especially against competitors and enemies who don’t know the full extent of your abilities, you make a most daunting foe.

Assassin

Working as an assassin within an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise can be rewarding. Because even as good as the rest of your franchise mates are at killing things, you take that art to the next level. Your top-notch infiltration and disguise skills mean that you’ll always be keeping busy. But if you’re one of those “You know too much, I have to kill you now, it doesn’t matter that I was only asking for directions”-type assassins, you might find that your inherent bloodlust needs to be focused to the subtle enterprises undertaken by the best franchises. So keep calm. Or if you can’t, at least keep the killing quiet.

Inquisitive

As an inquisitive, your eye for detail and insightful demeanor complement the skills of the more martial members of an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. Your powers of deduction make it clear that you’re the obvious choice to lead your franchise, and you are an able operative in the field as you provide valuable information for ongoing operations. You also have a knack for finding weaknesses in enemies—not only in combat, but in a rival’s business plans as well.

Mastermind

Planning, tactics, misdirection, intrigue, sneak attack: it’s like the rogue mastermind was specifically built for an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign. Your formidable social skills translate perfectly well from the street to the boardroom, and your ability to read your foes and rivals clearly makes you the best choice for franchise leader. Unfortunately, your equally practiced ability to read your allies means you’ll know which of them see themselves as leader. Good thing that’s a problem you’re perfectly equipped to handle.

Scout

Though many scouts are more comfortable in the wild, the lessons you’ve learned in the wilderness offer a surprising amount of utility when you’re working in cities and towns. Whenever the party needs to go out and engage in some acquisition work, you’re at the front of the group, literally and figuratively. Your skills in survival and ensnarement translate nicely to the civilized world, where it’s just as much of a challenge to ambush a competitor’s caravan as it is to deal with a goblin raiding party.

Swashbuckler

The one-on-one fighting style of a swashbuckler is a perfect fit for the stylish bravado that befits an Acq Inc franchise. Your mobility, audacity, and charm offer versatility in any number of situations, from infiltration, to theft, to fleeing the city guards when the infiltration and theft goes bad. Moreover, your social skills make you equally effective in and out of combat. However, your love of showing off means that you might have to work at not turning every social encounter into a combat encounter just because you can.

Thief

For most people, to be called a thief is among the gravest of insults. For an Acquisitions Incorporated rogue, it’s a compliment. You’re able to look out for yourself in combat, but are smart enough to instead style yourself as the expert who gets out of trouble just as easily as the rest of the party gets into it. Whether you’re picking locks at speed on the way out of a noble’s estate or mastering the operation of a strange magic device before it burns your headquarters to the ground, your fellow franchise members always know how lucky they are to have you around. And with your special skills, you’ll be able to make sure they show their appreciation financially—whether they know it or not.

Sorcerer

Yes, that’s a fine idea. We should totally put that to a vote. Hey, that’s weird—my hands are starting to glow. Is anyone else seeing that?

A sorcerer’s use of magic runs the range from chaotic to catastrophic—which suits the style of many Acquisitions Incorporated franchises alarmingly well. When a loud and emphatic marketing statement needs to be made using magic, trust a sorcerer to do the talking. And with natural charisma powering their magic, a sorcerer also makes a good public face for a franchise, with their darker or more chaotic tendencies either hidden or amplified depending on need.

The Burden of Leadership

Your natural charisma makes you the obvious choice to be the leader of your franchise. Others look to you constantly for inspiration, even if they’re afraid to show it. And that’s a good fit for you, because if you can tell others what to do and have them listen to you, it’s easier to give the most dangerous frontline tasks to them while you cast from the back and reap the rewards.

With great profit comes great responsibility, however, and it’s important to let the other members of your franchise know that they have a place where their opinions matter. It’s a place beneath you, sure, but good ideas often trickle upward. It’s surprising how often a suggestion made by an underling turns out to be exactly what you were planning on thinking all along. And your understanding of chaos tells you it’s easier by far to deal with the so-called law when you have a strong team at your back. Or, even better, at your front, so they’re the ones drawing attention to themselves if things go bad.

Focusing with Flair

All sorcerers rely on an arcane focus through which they channel their magic, but traditional focuses lack a singular style. Staffs, orbs, wands, blah, blah. You like to do things differently.

Unusual Arcane Focuses

Personal Magic

When you cast a spell, you go all in, channeling that magic through body and soul. Often, leftover magic from a casting manifests as a residual effect that can build up over repeated uses of your spells and cantrips. Some residual effects are subtle. Others are obvious to the point of distraction. But any such effect might eventually become a kind of spellcasting signature, ensuring that everyone knows the tenor of your magic as well as they know your name.

Residual Magic

Origins Make the Sorcerer

Each sorcerer draws their power from different sources, based on their lineage or their connection to the multiverse. Your own lineage defines much about your place in the world and your approach to magic, and can help you establish your connection to your Acquisitions Incorporated franchise.

Divine Soul

As a divine soul, you have a special place in your franchise. Just as with the child of a wealthy business owner or an heir to a noble throne, your lineage and breeding demand respect, and it’s your job to make sure your franchise mates understand that. Your success is ordained by the gods themselves, and you embrace that destiny by mastering the ways of business and adventuring, becoming the best you can be.

Draconic Bloodline

You know those people who seem to just automatically succeed at everything they do, tearing through life like it might be cheap parchment? Of course you do—because you are one. As the scion of mighty dragons, you are the master of everything you set your mind to. Adventuring, espionage, taking credit for your franchise’s success—you do it all. And if you ever find yourself out of your depth, you’re quick to establish that you’re not actually out of your depth at all. You’ve totally got this!

Shadow Magic

As a shadow sorcerer, your mysterious connection to the Shadowfell makes you a master of social encounters. The sinister laugh, the glowing eyes—nothing makes a clutch negotiation session go quicker. And when negotiations reach an impasse, your connection to the shadow world makes you a valuable tool for spying, infiltration, security, and, of course, killing.

Storm Sorcery

Harnessing the energy of wind and lightning makes you great fun in combat. But as a storm sorcerer, you have even greater utility when your franchise travels overland or across water for business, as you shield allies and important cargo from inclement or dangerous weather. And sure, those allies harp sometimes about your occasional bouts of rage and your proclivity for blowing things up first and asking questions later. But you take it all in stride, because it’s not like you have a temper or anything.

Wild Magic

In business, an element of unpredictability is the best means of keeping your franchise one step ahead of the competition—and nobody brings unpredictability like you do. Business plans and long-term strategies are all good, and kudos to your teammates for all their hard work on that stuff. But when a plan needs subtle refinement based on unexpected developments in the marketplace, you’re the one who’ll thoughtfully tear that plan up, burn it to ash, and just wing it.

Warlock

No, you don’t understand. My magic exists outside of any known reality. I wield the power of an entity that dwells beyond space and time. Clearly, none of the profits created by that magic are taxable in this realm.

A warlock can be an authoritative asset to an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, as their known association with powerful otherworldly forces makes for a great starting point in tough business negotiations. Likewise, a warlock’s pact is the definitive binding contract, providing a unique insight into matters of debt and obligation.

The only thing you need to watch out for is making sure your work-life balance is in order. You want to be seen by your staff as the suave, fashionable master of your franchise’s occult services, not the creepy weirdo with the glowing eyes always chuckling maniacally to yourself. As convenient as it might seem, remember that interns are not automatically potential sacrifices. Always check the individual contract first.

A diligent, results-minded individual is contracted to perform services for a higher-up, in exchange for career advancement. Have I described the perfect employee, or a warlock? Yes.

• K’thriss Drow’b

Eldritch Affectations

Being beholden to a strange, otherworldly entity gives you a certain style that none can match. Sometimes this style takes the form of an interesting quirk that makes you the memorable master of the dark arts you are.

Otherworldly Quirks

Master of Idiom

As a warlock, you bring every dark aspect of your dark path and darker calling to bear darkly on your franchise’s operations. Wrapping yourself in mysterious defensive power or tagging an enemy in the face with eldritch blast are just as valuable for corporate espionage as for tomb raiding.

How you present yourself to the world at large is often a subtle reflection of your patron. Being a member of an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise means you have no trouble wearing suitable business apparel to make the right impression. But whether that stylish suit is made from fine Calimshan silk or the flayed skin of fiends is totally up to you.

Marketing Is Everything

There’s an old Luskan saying: “They could sell water to a sahuagin and it would come back for a refill.” And that’s you in a nutshell—using the connections of your pact to sell your skills, your services, and your legend. The right people need to hear about you, and the wrong people need to be completely unaware of your existence. A good motto for yourself (and your franchise, if the other characters are worthy) can be the difference between wasted days in endless taverns waiting for opportunities, and constantly filling your bag of holding with the sweetest loot.

Cool Mottos

Robust Patronage

No matter what your pact, the process of binding yourself to power has prepared you well for life in an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. Gathering secret information from the operatives of rival organizations, a bit of well-timed sabotage on some manufacturing equipment, or intimidating contractors into turning their backs on a rival are all regular business for an Acq Inc warlock.

Standard Dark Spellcaster Franchise Rules

• No summoning circles in the bathroom.

• No “tentacle talk” during mealtimes.

• You must wear a gag at bedtime. That constant screaming makes it hard for everyone else to fall asleep.

• Other party members' rations are for their own consumption, not for sacrificing to dark forces.

• No more declaring, “The sacrament is complete!” at the conclusion of every meeting.

• The bloodstained robes are not an anytime outfit.

• The illusion of eyes on every wall in the headquarters was scary once. Now knock it off.

The Archfey

Many folk think of the fey as mysterious sylvan creatures that occasionally get up to harmless pranks. As a warlock of the Archfey, you know better—and are perfectly suited to lay the truth down whenever you can. You and your magic exemplify the duality of light and dark, and your motivations are often as inscrutable as those of your fey master. This can be an advantage when rivals are trying to suss out your plans. But it can be frustrating when allies start harping about, “What are you up to?”, and “Why won’t you talk to us?”, and “Why did you kill those people?” Just tell them anything. It keeps them happy.

The Celestial

As a warlock of the Celestial, you meld the powerful magic of your class with the heavenly attitude of the Upper Planes. Your light-infused, radiant-based power makes it easy to establish trust among franchise mates and customers alike. That false sense of security then comes in handy whenever it’s necessary to remind people that being good doesn’t necessarily mean being lawful—and that even being lawful leaves a lot of wiggle room.

The Fiend

When people speak of doing deals with the darkness, you know just what they’re talking about. As a warlock of the Fiend, you have a ton of experience walking the fine line between light and shadow. Or, you know, walking the shadow but being pretty sure the light is over there somewhere. As such, you’re the perfect person to take point when your franchise needs to get down and dirty to succeed.

The Great Old One

Everybody’s met that one mind-addled poet at the end of the bar spouting all kinds of nonsense. But only you can really appreciate the truth of what they’re talking about. As a warlock of the Great Old One, you harness the power of unreality and madness for the benefit of your franchise. You are known for consistently offering up plans and advice that go outside the box. Way, way outside. And when your plans turn to profit, your franchise partners are thankfully there to take care of all that balance-sheet-and-coffer practical stuff. You’re more about the big insane ideas, really.

The Hexblade

As a warlock of the Hexblade, you dwell always within the realm of the disturbing and the unknown. But wow, is it worth it. Your ability to focus power through your weapons makes you a perfect franchise enforcer. Your aptitude for cursing, hexes, and dark magic makes you a skilled negotiator. And your ability to create spectral interns makes you a personnel manager’s dream.

Wizard

Yes, I can get you inside that vault. I can locate that secret treasure you’re all hyped up about. I can get you out with no collateral damage. I’m fine if you care less about the “no collateral damage” thing. Now let’s get down to business.

The utility that a wizard brings to an Acquisitions Incorporated operation is obvious to franchise members, staff, clients, and rivals alike. Defensive spells, arcane travel rituals, eldritch utility magic—a wizard does it all. Plus, they’ll blow things up when needed. And not surprisingly, things in an Acq Inc campaign need to get blown up a lot.

It’s easy to make the case that arcane magic is the most valuable component in any franchise business plan or strategic road map. And as a wizard, you’re the premium vendor of advantageous arcane services. Just make sure that staff and intern contracts have strong language regarding the risk of friendly fire. But in the small print, way down there at the bottom.

No wizard will ever take offense to a polite round of applause from the rest of the party after a particularly well-crafted spell.

• Jim Darkmagic

Eldritch Utility

Though wizard encompasses a single class, the study of arcane magic lends itself to a broad range of specialization. As such, it’s not enough to simply dedicate yourself to being the best wizard you can be. It’s about figuring out which wizardly path best addresses your franchise’s potential needs.

Enchanters and illusionists in the service of a franchise can boggle the minds of enemies and allies. Transmuters, conjurers, and necromancers ensure that franchise members always have the right tool or monster for the job. Abjurers and diviners can help avoid catastrophic events before they happen. And evokers and war mages? No one needs to be reminded of the simple yet devastating majesty of a fireball spell. Well, they don’t need to be reminded more than once.

Nightmare Magic

Your use of magic is always clean and precise. Still, tapping directly into the Weave to reshape reality or burn it to the ground has an eventual effect on the mind, and your sleep is often haunted by a recurring nightmare whose indelible images you cannot shake.

Lingering Nightmares

Learning from the Best

Over the long years of study it took you to become a wizard, the arcane master you studied under left an indelible mark on you. Possibly a physical one. Kind or cruel, exacting or eccentric, this teacher shaped you during your apprentice days in profound and probably disturbing ways. Whether a typical mage wearing a pointy hat and dwelling in a remote tower, a bespectacled bookworm lurking in a dusty library, or an eldritch maniac with personal habits you’re not comfortable talking about, your master made you the wizard you are today.

Arcane Masters

Matriculating from the Schools of Magic

With so many schools of magic available to wizards, each type of specialization brings a different set of skills and strengths to a franchise. Your chosen school can help define your role in the business, as well as your fellow franchise members' expectations for you.

Abjuration

Protective magic is often underappreciated by the members of the lesser character classes, with their focus on dealing the most damage in the flashiest way possible. But in an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise, where property and real estate need protection as much as the party members, your role as an abjurer is always greatly appreciated. Just don’t make the rookie mistake of protecting everybody else before you take care of yourself and the goods. And if you need to reserve some spell slots before the rest of the party has been made sufficiently invulnerable? Hey, that’s what potions are for.

Conjuration

The ability to make something from nothing is the greatest business plan ever developed—and that plan has your name all over it. As a conjurer, your utility to your franchise knows no bounds, whether you’re creating the right tool for the job, summoning creatures for scouting or guard duty, or using dimension door to slip away from a deal gone bad. The hard part of that last one is always figuring out which of your franchise mates you’ll bring with you. Who’s been particularly nice to you lately?

Divination

Seers and soothsayers abound in the world, but most ply their trade only to take advantage of the credulous and the desperate. You possess the true gift of the diviner, able to tap into the flow of time to read portents of the future. Your divinations help negate the risks for your franchise, whether in business deals or dangerous treasure extractions. And sure, working on the credulous and the desperate is sometimes part of the plan. But when you do it, it’s done with professional flare.

Enchantment

Trust. Community outreach. Social awareness. These things are important to every business, and as an enchanter, it’s your job to ensure that your Acquisitions Incorporated franchise is synonymous with these concepts. Whether they’re actually present in the franchise or not. When it comes down to it, having friends is an equally valuable asset in adventuring and business, and being able to turn enemies, rivals, and angry mobs into friends even for a short while can make a difference.

Evocation

As an evoker, you understand the wisdom of the adage, “Speak softly and carry a big wand.” As a member of Acquisitions Incorporated, you also know that the speaking softly part is entirely optional, contractually speaking. When your franchise needs firepower, you bring the damage and spread it in flashy, dramatic fashion. This works out great in the dungeon, and sometimes even at outdoor social events that don’t feature a lot of flammable buildings nearby. In the boardroom or the council chamber, your skills are likely in less demand, but just knowing you’re there can help keep the noble or the business magnate across the table fully engaged. Because as long as you are there, they know they’re safe from having you burning their holdings to the ground.

Illusion

Success in business, as in combat, can often hinge on split-second decisions. As an illusionist, you have mastered the art of confounding the senses, leaving enemies, rivals, and customers uncertain as to what’s real and what isn’t. Once you convince those around you that they can’t trust what they see or hear, that’s a perfect opportunity to give them your preferred version of what’s going on. Whether it’s obscuring contracts, concealing incursions, or manifesting imaginary staff members to take the fall for your partners' misdeeds, your magic helps put the best possible illusory face on your franchise.

Necromancy

As a necromancer, you’ve always had an easy time making friends. Hah! That’s hilarious because your friends are undead. But not everyone else in your franchise sees the lighter side of your magical craft. Clearly, the labor-to-paid-benefits ratio of undead interns can’t be beat, but you need to be cognizant of the potential public-relations nightmare of franchise-branded zombies running amok. Still, if things get bad, there’s nothing like a general marketing campaign reminding local folk that necromancy means raise dead. Even if you can’t cast it.

Transmutation

As a transmuter, you practice one of the most subtle forms of magic—the transfiguration of one material substance into another. But let’s be honest, your role in your franchise is going to be mostly about combat and ability buffs, and, “Hey, why haven’t you learned how to turn lead into gold yet?” You take it in stride, though, because you understand that the long game is entirely about you. This franchise needs to be transformed from a chaotic mishmash of dysfunctional personalities and clashing goals into a well-tuned engine of commerce. And no one does transformation quite like you do.

War Magic

Success in business requires prudent caution and take-charge offense in equal measure. As a war mage, your focus on abjuration and evocation is thus a good fit for success. Many war mages feel it their duty to waste their lives (sometimes literally) on the battlefield. But you specialize in the more subtle conflicts of the marketplace, where you can take your skills to a whole new level. You cast spells under pressure, never blinking in the face of death or financial ruin. And when it’s necessary, you can blow up an adversary like nobody’s business. Just make sure your franchise’s collateral damage insurance is all up to date.

New Race: Verdan

See the races page for more information on the Verdan.

New Spells

Magic is power and power is profit—which makes spellcasting just another part of the expansive business model of Acquisitions Incorporated. Magical research and development is a big part of day-to-day operations at Head Office, whose spellcasting staff toil day in and day out to come up with the very latest in eldritch improvements.

Many of their developments remain closely guarded secrets, known only to the company’s highest-ranking employees, and ready to be whipped out at a suitably dramatic moment. But every once in a while, a unique spell makes its way through the ranks of the company’s casters and into the world at large. Some of these spells are alterations of old classics, while others bend the magical energy of the multiverse in new and exciting ways.

I don’t do magic. I am magic.

• Jim Darkmagic

• Distort Value
• Fast Friends
• Gift of Gab
• Incite Greed
• Jim’s Glowing Coin
• Jim’s Magic Missile
• Motivational Speech

Royalty Component

Jim Darkmagic’s unique brand of spellcasting mixes arcane expertise with a particular kind of pecuniary fervor. New spells originally developed by Jim spawned a new type of spell component, which has since spread to other spells created by employees and franchisees of Acquisitions Incorporated: the royalty component.

To cast a spell that employs a royalty component (including using a spell scroll or other magic item that stores such a spell), a caster must have sufficient funds on their person. The cost of the casting is set by the caster who creates the spell, but is typically 1 gp per spell slot level. When the spell is cast, the royalty is magically transported to a coffer or other object designated by the creating spellcaster. This payment is made whether the caster using the spell is aware of the royalty component or not. If the caster does not have sufficient funds, the spell is not lost but it cannot be cast.

Though many casters have tried to circumvent the royalty component, none have ever fully succeeded. However, it is said that a character can attempt a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check while casting a spell with a royalty component. With a successful check, the payment is taken from a random creature within 10 feet of the caster, without that creature’s knowledge.

Factions and Rivals

Other books detail the many power groups and factions that operate in Faerûn and the Sword Coast (including the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide). But a number of new factions and entrepreneurial enterprises are central to an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign—starting with the group that an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign is actually named after.

At Acquisitions Incorporated, you inquire—and we acquire™. For more than a decade, other people have had things you’ve really wanted, and we’ve gone over there to get those things even if they didn’t want us to do that. Typically, they don’t. But we don’t work for them, we work for you™. We’ve acquired it all, but we specialize in staffs, gems, and storied weapons of great lineage. We do apply a reasonable surtax for rods, because rods. It’s been a problem. This is Acq Inc in a nutshell: Defenses negotiable. Merchandise plentiful. Franchises available.

• Omin Dran

Acquisitions Incorporated

Sometimes a group of heroes comes together in a way that changes the paradigm forever. A group so magnificent, so powerful, so larcenous, that adventuring has never been the same since. For years now, that group has been Acquisitions Incorporated.

The brainchild of company founder Ominifis Hereward Dran, Acq Inc has consistently maintained a position at the bleeding edge of adventuring technology, processes, and marketing. The staff of Acquisitions Incorporated, including the company’s highly varied roster of inexpensive interns, engage in all aspects of adventuring. Salvage, infiltration, legally sanctioned life shortening, property redistribution, protection, removing protection, merchandising—Acq Inc does it all.

As Acquisitions Incorporated has grown, so too have the opportunities provided by that organization to neophyte adventurers looking for an advantage in the rough-and-tumble world of professional dungeoneering. From its humble beginnings in the basement of the Silver Unicorn Inn in Fallcrest, Acq Inc has become the only place to intern, boasting franchise opportunities that can propel struggling adventurers into the big leagues.

Dran Enterprises

Dran Enterprises is the biggest rival of Acquisitions Incorporated—and has the strongest possible connection to that august organization. Founded by a false version of Auspicia Dran (Omin Dran sister, claimed by the creature known as the Wandering Crypt), Dran Enterprises has a well-established goal of wanting to take over Acquisitions Incorporated at any cost, even as the organization profits from the endeavors of Acq Inc employees and associates. Dran Enterprises' strategy for accomplishing this goal is built around providing adventuring services even more ruthlessly and efficiently than Acq Inc. Hostile takeovers, brutal rounds of downsizing, corporate espionage, and highly unethical behavior are just the most obvious of the company’s many tools.

With the death of the false Auspicia, Dran Enterprises was taken over by Omin’s other sister, Portentia Dran, who had operated in the shadows of the organization for some time beforehand. Certain personal secrets no doubt drive Portentia’s single-minded focus for Dran Enterprises, but those have yet to be revealed. (To most people, at least. DMs can check out appendix A for more information.) In the meantime, the organization focuses on besting Acquisitions Incorporated at its own game while growing ever more powerful—and eventually reaching the point where a corporate takeover of Acq Inc can no longer be thwarted.

They say acquisition is a family business, and it’s certainly true for those of my house. I hadn’t seen my sister, Auspicia Dran, for years. Decades, in fact. And then out of nowhere, she returns with fresh branding and despicably evil backing, trying to acquire Acquisitions Incorporated. Being acquired ourselves is definitely not on brand, and I have definitely refused this offer. But I would like to know what the dental plans are like at Dran Enterprises, for a completely separate and unrelated reason.

• Omin Dran

The Noble Knife

The Noble Knife is a somewhat mysterious organization known for its high level of engagement with the cultures and societies within which its members work. Having made such engagements, the loyalists of the Noble Knife are watchful for signs of leaders and power brokers making the first transition to tyranny—at which point, those newly minted tyrants are quickly assassinated for the greater good. The organization doesn’t “take jobs” as such. Rather, its leadership assesses the moral and political landscape of the realm and selects targets thusly.

The Noble Knife is named for its members' weapon of choice for their trademark deed. Similar to an arrow of slaying, a noble knife is a weapon whose magic is focused on killing a specific individual. The crafting of a noble knife is undertaken by a collective of artisans, and requires a range of exotic materials and components. Additionally, the act of creation takes twenty or more years off the lead artisan’s life. It goes without saying that the Noble Knife is chock full of true believers.

Members of the Noble Knife are said to be able to carve their symbol into surfaces and “pry” reality in such a way that they can hide in it or escape through it. Though that seems pretty suspect if you ask me. They often work in pairs, with an assassin or observer paired with a “tame mimic.” Those mimics can take any object shape, as is normal for their abnormal kind, but are also able to transform into strange dogs that say “woof.” Not that they bark. They say “woof” like a person would. Unless you were a member of the faction, you’d almost never see two teams in the same place at the same time—unless they had been given opposite tasks for some reason. If that’s the case, get out of there quick, because whatever happens next isn’t going to be pleasant.

• Omin Dran

The Silver Sliver

In a world driven by gold, magic, and power, organizations that fly in the face of all three of those things are hard to understand. Doing good and seeking justice is all well and fine. But if there’s no money changing hands, how do you measure the value of the work?

The Silver Sliver exemplifies what goes wrong when good people fail to grasp the complexities of the world. They go around wearing masks, acting all heroically willy-nilly, righting wrongs and defending the weak… for no profit whatsoever! That brand of zealotry is dangerous, because you can’t trust anyone who won’t sometimes do a dishonest day’s work for an honest day’s wage.

I feel like making your company’s name a tongue twister is a bold move in this marketplace. I wouldn’t have done that. I’ve told the Silver Sliver on multiple occasions that I’m available for consulting on things like this. No response, though. The organization is said to be headed up by someone named Glimmr Violente: a woman devoted to not just the cause of justice in the abstract, but the literal application of justice via a scimitar. Her band of true believers do the whole shiny mask thing and don’t charge for their services… which is another thing I wouldn’t do.

• Omin Dran

The Six

Any successful adventuring party makes enemies along the way. Defeated foes, unhappy or jealous allies, disillusioned associates or hirelings—it’s a long list. And a group as storied and reckless as Acquisitions Incorporated was always destined to break more than a few eggs while making their delicious brand of adventuring omelet.

The Six is a group of just such enemies—characters who were left hurt, underappreciated, or even dead in the wake of Acq Inc’s magnificent achievements. Whether the Six are really six, or fewer, or more, remains to be seen. The organization’s primary public goal appears to be revenge in the form of the downfall of Omin Dran and Acquisitions Incorporated, but who or what is truly behind the group—and what other sinister vendettas they might cling to—remains a mystery. Still, there’s a good chance it’s got something to do with destroying the world by unleashing the power of the Far Realm. (Sorry; “Spoilers!")

The Six are a new player on the scene, which, to me, implies inexperience. Do you want to entrust your next acquisition to an agile new team? Actually, don’t answer that. They have some kind of beef with Acquisitions Incorporated. I know that because they hand out pamphlets with my face on them, and there’s one of those circles with the slash through it. Seems bad. Also, there’s something about their logo I don’t like… but I can’t put my finger on it. People are saying they’re weird and gross, and who am I to say otherwise?

• Omin Dran