Clout

What is Clout?

Clout is a numerical representation of the good will you have garnered in the guild and community through your actions. It can be gained from playing in games, participating in events, and as rewards for completing a Help Wanted post on the Job Board. It can be lost through taking actions which are frowned upon by the community and guild or expended in asking for favors and material help from the guild, as detailed below.

The Clout Ceiling

PCs are limited in the amount of Clout they can have at any given time. This is calculated based on the current level of PCs on the server as follows

10 times the current Level of PCs

If you do something that gains you enough Clout to exceed the ceiling, that Clout is lost. Its suggested to spend Clout ahead of sessions or big events in order to make sure you've always got a little bit of room to go up.

Clout Thresholds

Throughout play PCs will be able to unlock different boons and benefits by having enough Clout. Once you have unlocked something by meeting the threshold, spending Clout will not cause you to lose the benefits, except as noted.
All PCs on the server gain access to these rewards at one level behind when they first become available. So at 6th level the 50 Clout reward is unlocked universally.

2nd Level Boon

You have become a full member of the guild and familiar enough to the Tree who Dreamed to navigate the Xylem Lift unassisted and you have earned the right to your first Sap Ink Tattoo. The tattoo can be as small as a thumbprint or as big as a handprint, but it serves a visual mark of your membership in the Stewards of a Dream. You may choose between three different tattoos which provide different boons and tie you to the guild in different ways.
These roles can be granted to you by a DM on the discord server and will give you access to a Secret Channel specifically for your branch of the guild. These channels will be a place for DMs to drop lore and foreshadowing of upcoming plots and threats, filtered through the contacts unique to your branch.

Root

The roots of the tree spread far and create a place where the public at large can come to the Tree who Dreamed and engage with the guild. If you decide to be a Root of the Tree you are the public face of the guild and have contact with the merchants who travel and bring rumors from far off lands and the community of people who live near the base of the tree. You are the first to know of trade opportunities and are in tune with the mood of the common people and visiting merchants.
Gain Proficiency in a language and tool of your choice, as well as the ability to cast Detect Magic as a ritual. Additionally, you can Identify an object over a Short Rest, but you still need a 100gp pearl as a component.
You have a mastery of concerns of the material world and common folk.

Trunk

The tree herself is a powerful entity with more than a touch of divine power. Through her network of roots and her connection to Scion Trees planted during Treeism Festivals of years and ages past she often is aware of dangers throughout the world. As a Trunk of the Tree, or a Barkspeaker, you have gained a psychic connection to the Tree who Dreamed and so long as you remain on the same plane as the tree you can be granted visions and empathic knowledge from the tree.
Gain Telepathy to 60' with anyone you can see and who is standing on the same ground as you. You can telepathically speak to anyone who can speak a language and be understood, they must still respond non-telepathically but you are able to understand their response to you regardless of language barriers. You also gain the Encode Thoughts Cantrip, allowing you to encode your thoughts into leaves. If you use a living plant as a material component in casting the spell it increases the duration to the life of the plant. Only one thought can be encoded into any given plant.
You have a mastery of concerns of the spiritual world and mystical people.

Canopy

The Canopy of the Tree resides far above, nearly touching the sky at 777 feet at its highest point. This is where the guild leadership meets and receives ambassadors and important people of all sort. If you are part of the Canopy of the Tree you may have an air of nobility around you. You have direct contact with the political movers and shakers and will often become aware of the upcoming movements and actions of city-states before anyone else.
Gain proficiency in two weapons of your choice, and a single skill. Additionally you may cast Guidance as a cantrip up to three times a day.
You have a mastery of concerns of the human world and the nobility.

30 Clout

When you return to your dorm or homestead after reaching 30 Clout you find a small seeding growing out of the wall or floor. It is a mote of the Tree who Dreamed. Keep it with you. As long as it is close to your body when you fall in battle it helps you to survive. Your first failed Death Save each week is turned into a success, the Seedling wants you to live, as does the Tree who Dreamed.

50 Clout

Your influence has grown. An NPC has fallen in line with your influence. This is a NPC you can name, and detail to match with your character and goals. They are available for you to use in RP channels and can even come on adventures with you, at your own risk. Congratulations, you have gained your first Stooge!
Your Stooge uses Commoner stats. Proficient with Common, one additional language, and one tool or skill of your choice. You may also distribute 4 stat points in addition to the base commoner stats. Having a Stooge unlocks access to Stooge's Assistance in the Clout Shop.
If your Stooge dies for any reason you immediately lose 10 Clout. You will gain a new Stooge on level up.

80 Clout

A taste of divinity, your influence and connection to the Tree who Dreamed blesses you with strength beyond that of mortal men. You gain +2 to a stat of your choice. This increases the ceiling for that stat above 20 to a new maximum of 22.

100 Clout

Your legend has reached far and wide, you are are regarded as nobility and will be accepted as an honored guest among courts and castles. You gain advantage on Persuasion and Deception checks when you are amongst royalty. Friendly nation city-states are willing to offer you a small tract of land to be a landed gentry within their domain in exchange for you representing them favorably on the world stage. When you first reach this Clout level you receive a Ring of Protection that comes with your newly noble sigil. You are encouraged to define the flavor your personal sigil takes, include something idenitfying the region you've chosen to preside in.
Along with your new landed position as nobility, you have gained a Prefunctory. This might be a Vizier, Man at Arms, Advisor, Count/ess or other minor noble title of your design. This is a 2nd level NPC using Noble stats, with 4 additional points for you to distribute. They are capable of managing things on your land but are under your control in the same manner a Stooge is. You may chose the two character class levels this NPC gains.

120 Clout

You gain a single Legendary Resistance you can use up to once per week.

140 Clout

Your Seedling (gained at 30 Clout) has grown more powerful. In addition to its ordinary ability, it can also negate the first hit a PC takes after being downed, preventing them from taking a failed death save. This ability can only be used once per week.

160 Clout

You have reached a level of influence where more people fall under your influence. You gain an additional Stooge. The penalty for the death of a Stooge reduces to 5 Clout. You gain a Protégé who is a 4th level NPC, they have Commoner stats, but you have 8 stat points to distribute for them, and they gain 4 levels in a single player character class. You are quite impressive, even if one Protégé falls, another is eager to prove themselves in their stead. Replacing a lost, betrayed, or otherwise deceased Protégé happens automatically on level up at no Clout cost. You may design this NPC and use them in roleplay channels, or even occasionally in events and job boards.

200 Clout

You ascend and become a divine being in your own right. Instantly gain 50 hit points and a cadre of followers. You are equivalent in power to a warlock patron and may now offer pacts to NPCs and grant them powers. You may define how your followers refer to you and as you join the pantheon of demigods in this world describe what your areas of influence are and what you stand for.

The Clout Shop

You've got all this clout, and you just keep getting more. What are you going to do about it? Well what is the point of having social capital if you aren't going to capitalize on it? There are a few ways you can use your Clout.
1 Clout - Stooge's Assistance - Once you have a Stooge for 1 Clout you may have them serve as your assistant for a week, allowing you to do an additional different Limited DTA. You cannot learn a tool or language faster using this, nor can you learn more than one at the same time.
1 Clout - Rumor Mill - For the cost of one clout you can have your Stooge start a rumor without it being able to be traced back to you. Write up whatever gossip you want to spread, about yourself, about NPCs and enemies, or about other PCs (with their permission) and have your Stooge spread it in the Secret Channel you have access to from your first Tattoo.
2 Clout - Additional Carousing with a limit of 2 additional Carouses per week.
2 Clout - Greater Healing Potion
3 Clout - Request a Magic Item. You may select one magic item found on the Midstory Midstore Quartermaster tables and put in a request for it. Word spreads to the merchants friendly to the guild that youar ein the market for said item and so they are more likely to bring it by the Tree and seek it out in their travels. Increase the chances that it appears in the weekly shop, as well as define the flavor of the item. Requested items cost 10% less when the new flavored entry is rolled, up to a maximum reduction of 200gp.
5 Clout - Spell Scroll - Up to one level below the highest available to a full caster of the PCs level, minimum 1st level, maximum 5th level spells at 11th character level.
10 Clout - Request a Magic Item Search of a Quartermaster. If an item has come through the shop it may still exist in the world. You may attempt to track down the merchant who has it now and make it available for you to purchase. This does not change the price of item, but it allows you to undergo challenges set forth by a Quartermaster in order to find any item that was previously in the shop and not purchased.
10 Clout - Request a Name Day Celebration, a mini event of up to 2 days in length that you can flavor with a Master of Ceremonies. You may provide your own rewards to participants if your character has the gold/material required. Otherwise the default reward for participants is a Healing Potion.
10 Clout - Request a Community Project to post on the Job Board with the help of a Veteran. You may flavor it with the Veteran and may provide additional gold/material as rewards, otherwise the default reward for participants is 1 Clout.
15 Clout - Request a Session from a DM. Not just any session, but a session to pursue the goals you specifically want to go after. Go to a DM with your wants and get a session tailored to your interest.
20 Clout - Insignia of Claws or +1 Enchantment added to a non-magical weapon, armor, or shield. (PCs can the Enchanter Loft as part of Homesteading to enchant the same item with up to +2 enchantment)
25 Clout - Body retrieval and Raise Dead in the event that the worst happens (Cost can be reduced by the Personal Temple Homesteading upgrade)
25 Clout - Moderate Magical Tattoo
50 Clout - Greater Magical Tattoo