Reputation
From D20advanced
This system models how well known a character is and how that reputation affects interaction with others. A good reputation can be a useful advantage, but a bad one can be a troublesome hindrance.
Reputation affects non-combat interaction checks between characters by providing a modifier. Fame makes others more likely to favor and help the character, while infamy makes the character’s social entreaties less effective.
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Reputation Bonus
All characters have a reputation bonus, which essentially makes it easier for other characters to recognize them. More charismatic character are more likely to be well-known. A character’s reputation bonus is:
| Reputation Bonus = Reputation Dice + Charisma + Feats |
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Chapter IV: Feats describes two reputation feats. Renown makes it more likely that a character will be recognized, while Low-Profile makes it less likely that a character is going to be recognized.
Reputation Dice
When characters begin to gain public attention, they gain reputation dice. These dice are a rough measure of how well-known a character is, and how much clout he has.
Reputation dice serve two purposes. First, like other dice pools, reputation dice can be used to reroll certain checks, in this case, interaction skills. At any time, a player who isn’t satisfied with the result of a Persuasion check may reroll the check with his reputation dice pool, selecting the best result and then surrendering one die from the dice pool. However, unlike other dice pools, a reputation dice pool can only be used if an NPC successfully recognized a character. By using your reputation dice in this way, you are, in effect, reminding the person you’re interacting with just who you are and getting them to rethink their response in light of this information.
In addition to this use, your reputation dice pool serves as a bonus to your reputation bonus. The ebb and flow of your reputation dice over the course of a game represent the fickle attention span of the public.
Reputation and Secret Identities
Characters with secret identities effectively have two separate reputation bonuses: one for the costumed identity and another for the secret identity. The character should use whichever bonus is appropriate. One reason many heroes maintain secret identities is to leave their Reputation (and the recognition that comes with it) behind for a while to live a “normal” life.
The “public” identity maintains the “public” reputation, while the “private” identity maintains the “private” reputation. If the public identity has the Renown reputation feat, it might be appropriate that the private identity not benefit from it. Further, if the GM decides it’s appropriate, the public identity might benefit from the Renown reputation feat while the private identity instead has the Low-Profile feat.
Reputation Checks
Most of the time, the character doesn’t decide to use reputation; instead, the GM decides when your reputation is relevant to the scene or encounter. When it becomes relevant, the GM makes a reputation check for an NPC that might be influenced in some fashion by your character’s notoriety.
| Reputation check = d20 + reputation bonus + the NPC’s Knowledge Modifier |
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The area in which the PC is well-known determines which skill's Knowledge to use. A magician, for example, might be recognized by a Knowledge check with Expertise (Mysticism), while a character who has made his reputation in the underworld as a second-story burglar might be known among thieves with the Infiltration skill.
The standard DC for a reputation check is 30. If the NPC succeeds on the check, he recognizes the character. That recognition grants a bonus or penalty on subsequent interaction skill checks based on the NPC’s reaction. A character with a Reputation bonus of +29 or more is instantly recognizable and known to virtually everyone.
Depending on the result, a character may be more or less easily recognized by an NPC. The table below shows the result of reputation checks:
| REPUTATION | |
| Succeed | Recognized on sight |
| Fail | Recognized by name |
| Fail by 5 | Recognized with some prompting |
| Fail by 10 | Not recognized |
On a successful reputation check, you are recognized on sight, which means that the NPC or NPCs need only see you to immediately recognize you.
If the reputation check fails, then you are only recognized by name. This means that an NPC will only recognize you if he or she hears your name (or at least the name you use in public).
If the reputation check fails by five or more, then you are only recognized with some prompting. After being reminded of who you are (by maybe mentioning some of your achievements), the NPC will recognize your character.
If the reputation check fails by 10 or more, then your character is simply not recognized, which may be a good thing or a bad thing.
Skill Checks
When an NPC with an Intelligence of -3 or higher has a positive opinion of your reputation, you may use your reputation dice pool to reroll Persuasion, Survival for reconnaissance, and Art checks for performances. As with other dice pools, you select the highest result from your rolls, and then lose one reputation die. This represents a character spending some of that hard-earned clout to really sway the opinion of someone, and as a result, having to earn that clout and popularity again through hard work.
When an NPC with an Intelligence of -3 or higher has a negative opinion of your reputation, you must roll all of your Persuasion, Survival for reconnaissance, and Art checks for performances with your dice pool. Instead of selecting the highest result, you must accept the lowest result you rolled. However, your reputation pool does not shrink with each use: interacting with people with poor opinions of you does not cause your reputation to decrease.
Note that when dealing with NPCs who have a negative opinion of your reputation, you may still use your reputation dice pool in a positive way for Persuasion checks to intimidate a target.
The bonus or penalty only applies when you are interacting outside of combat with an NPC who recognizes you and is therefore aware of your reputation. Those unaware of your reputation are unaffected by it either way.
NPC Reputations
Players decide how their characters act. Sometimes, however, it’s appropriate for the GM to call for a skill check using an interaction skill affected by reputation. For example, an NPC might use Persuasion to lie to the characters, who, in turn, use Perception to detect the lie. If an NPC tries to intimidate a character, the GM can use the NPC's Persuasion check result to determine which characters see the NPC as intimidating and which don’t.
Players may also want to know if their characters recognize a particular NPC. Reputation checks can be useful in these situations.
The GM should make a reputation check in secret to see if players’ characters recognize an NPC. This prevents the players from using the results of reputation checks as a means of measuring the importance of every NPC they encounter.
Modify the results of the NPC’s interaction skill checks by their reputation bonuses when they interact with characters who recognize them. Since NPCs generally don’t have any dice pools, a good rule of thumb is to give NPCs a reputation bonus equal to their Charisma modifier + reputation feats + ½ their Power Level, using modifiers of +2 for increasingly famous NPCs or penalties of -2 for more obscure NPCs.
Reputation Limits
In general, a character cannot have more reputation dice than his Power Level total. So a PL 10 character’s pool of reputation dice cannot exceed 10.
The GM may wish to vary starting reputation dice based on the needs of the game. For most games where the characters are starting from obscurity with no other real adventures to their names, then starting with no reputation dice is appropriate. However, if the characters are established in the setting with previous careers before the game began, for example, they may have greater reputations, perhaps 2 or 3 reputation dice apiece. If they are covert agents or otherwise out of the public eye, you may want to forego reputation altogether.
Each rank in the Renown feat increases a character’s reputation by +3. Each rank in the Low-Profile feat reduced a character’s reputation by –3.
Event-Based Reputation
Reputation also changes based on the things characters do... at least, the things other people know about. When a character performs some important action, the Gamemaster can award the character one or more reputation die. This can range from 1 reputation die for acts of local fame (saving the city, rescuing a local celebrity, etc.) to 4 reputation dice or more for things like saving (or trying to take over) the world. Keep in mind that the Reputation bonus only measures how well known a character is, not how people feel.
Losing Reputation
The GM can likewise decrease a character’s reputation dice pool for staying out of the limelight, lying low, and otherwise not attracting attention for a while. People move on and forget about old headlines. Still, a character with a significant Reputation usually has to be out of circulation for years before most people forget. A good rule of thumb is that it takes a number of weeks out of the spotlight equal to a character’s reputation modifier to lose one reputation die. So a character with 3 reputation dice and a +2 Charisma (and no Renown or Low-Profile feats) will take 5 weeks of obscurity to lose one reputation die. After that, it will take 4 weeks to lose another die, and 3 more weeks to lose the last reputation die, for a total of 12 weeks to lose all three reputation die.
