The Bar
Contracts and Law
The Bar is known for its lawyers, and their proprietary contract law magic. Upon being admitted to the guild, as an associate members get the Contract Law (INT, WIS, CHA) proficiency. Which can be used for writing magical contracts or basic contracts.Non Magical Contracts
These use the contract skill, as does the Magical contracts. But no formal check is usually required if the parties agree and sign. Deception, persuasion, and other skills may be used instead depending on the situation.Magical Contacts
This is a more common version of governance magic that must be written. The magical contract is a contract between some parties bound by magic. They can have a max number of times something happens, or max length, or basically anything agreed to by the parties. However they must be clear and straight forwards such as cannot attack someone, or kill a bear. They can’t vague, and consequences must be reasonable, but since there is magic consequences could include spells happening, people being magically bound to send money, etc. Much like wish, the exact execution may not be clear at signing. The creating lawyer will be made aware when a contract is executed. Contracts can also be with a single party, in the case of the consequence being only positive for an unsigned party such as a person who doesnot want to drink and if they do 10 GP goes to the church. Items, money can be sent as a result of a contract being executed but only up to a given amount. When forming a contract there will be a difficulty check based on the complexity of the contract. This check is a magical contract skill check (int), with a base dc of 10. When adding certain types of requirements the difficulty increases. The magical contract can be resisted or broken by succeeded on an appropriate skill or saving throw, the lawyer decides this when making the contract. Common ones would be deception, wisdom, charisma, intelligence. The DC is equal to the roll the lawyer made when writing the contract. This is not the same as the DC of the contact check, but is the same roll. So if the DC was 15 for a contract and the lawyer rolled a 22, the dc to break it through resisting would be 22. Dispel magic will also work, but does require a check still with the dc being equal to the same DC, but it must be successfully cast on all parties. Additionally the guild does have services that can be included in clients contracts such as tax handling, reduce contract pricing, multiple lawyers on retention, business license handling, etc. These fees are always negotiated with the guild or a lawyer and have no set price.Magical Contract Table
| Contract Piece | DC | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Base | DC 10 | A pen, 1 hour + 1 hour for each additional + item on this table |
| Better Paper | -5 | Double base price contract |
| Extra time | -5 | Double total time |
| 100 GP - 2499 GP of items/gold | +5 | |
| 2500+ GP of items/gold | +10 | |
| On going payments | +5 | Such as business agreements, adventuring party formation, etc |
| Lifetime | +10 | SA Pen, ignores the pens max time, can’t apply if the party where it matters is immortal |
| Death | +5 | |
| Soul | +15 | SP Pen |
| 3-5 Parties | +5 | SA Pen |
| 6+ Parties | +10 | SA Pen |
| Uncommon Item | +5 | Item must be present |
| Rare Item | +10 | Item must be present |
| Very Rare | +15 | Item must be present |
| Memory/Knowledge | +10 | |
| Non Specificity | +10 | |
| Each additional condition | +5 | |
| Each additional Consequence | +5 | |
| Land/House/Property/Ship | +5 | Proof of ownership of the property, deed/title |
| Pact | +10 | P Pen |
| Timing Restrictions (ex, from noon to 6) | +5 | |
| Loophole | Varies, minimum disadvantage | Depends on the extent of loopholes typically disadvantage |
Membership
When you first join the guild members are given the rank of assistant and given a magical inkwell, that on its own does not do much but it never runs out of basic non magical black ink. And can be cleared and loaded with any color ink with a simple command. This inkwell can hold up to 10 different kinds of ink, besides the basic black. There are 4 main ranks with in the guild, each with a minimum renown. Once you reach that renown you may must argue your case as to why you can be granted the next rank. At each rank, the member is granted a magical pen, which allows for magical contracts to be written. Each pen allows for specific kinds of contracts to be written, but also come with additional costs when doing so. So don’t use a pen that is not required. But all of the pens have a few basic qualities. The first is that they can be used to write any kind of magical sigils such as a ward on the ground, by helping to channel magical energy or gold. The second is any writing with them can be made visible or invisible by the writer by touching it with the pen. And finally they allow you to write on any surface, living surfaces will fade after a tenday, but if a contract is written in this way it will stay.The Bar Ranks
The Client retainer is the price per client sent back to the Bar, for 1 year retainers, paid in full, they get 1 free month. The fee must be paid except in the case of pro bono work, or a case agreed with The Bar. Any amount of money beyond the base retainer fee is profit for the lawyer. The referral rate is when a lawyer brings a client or contract to the guild and allows someone else to do it. This percentage reflects the amount of the guild fees the lawyer will receive, plus depending on the exact situation (negotiated between the lawyer and guild) they may also receive any additional profits or fees from it.
| Renown | Title | Yearly Fee | Monthly Client Retainer to Bar | Referral Rate | Pen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intern | 25 GP | 5GP | 10% | None |
| 3 | Associate | 250 GP | 25 GP | 20% | Allows for basic magical contracts between 2 parties, 25 GP per contract, Max duration of 5 years |
| 10 | Senior Associate | 500 GP | 50 GP | 30% | Multi party contracts (up to intelligence modifier + prof), contracts don’t have to be in a common language everyone can understand what is written. Max length of 25 years. 250 GP per contract. +1 on contract checks |
| 25 | Partner | 2500 GP | 250 GP | 40% | Contracts can extend across planes, and last even after death in the case of resurrection. Base price 1000 GP, max length 100 years + 2 on contract checks |
| 50 | Senior Partner | 5000 GP | 500 GP | 50% | Grants advantage on non soul contracts, allows for soul contracts. Max length 500 years, base 2500 GP. +3 on contract checks. |
Guild Rules
Members may not pursue clients of other members while they are on retainer or write contracts for them without the express witness permission of the member and client. Members may use magic within Athkatla that assists with their job, as long as it does not bring physical or mental harm to anyone.Structure
There is a rotating council of 5, made up of Senior Partners. These partners are given the title of Managing Partner, with the one with the longest service to the guild being given the title of Head Partner. They may forgoe this if they wish.
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