Depth of Allies?

[Bubba Kush]

I see the handy little scale for allies/contacts indicates 1 pt for ghoul/neonate and 5pt for Prince/Bishop and everything in between.

Is it possible, for example, to have a 1 pt Prince/Bishop or a 5 pt Neonate Ally/Contact? The power level of the NPC doesnt change (I imagine?) but what of their concern or general opinion of you?

King Madsen would be a fun ally to have, but would all who take Ally: Madsen be of equal importance to the king?

On the flip side, what about that Neonate Ally? couldn't you build that Ally rating so that the relatively low-powered Neonate becomes more useful/loyal beyond the first point?

The purpose of these inquiries is to determine if the Allies/Contacts system put in place allows for more in-depth character backgrounds. After all, players are required to fill out a file on each NPC, so itd be nice to know what wiggle room exists.

[Ebenezer Smith]

So what you are thinking of is actually how the Allies/Contacts system WAS before the change.

The problem was that different ST's had different opinions on how potent NPC's were. People were developing level 4 or 5 Neonate allies that were being significantly more potent then say Princes in other cities.

[Ascanio Giovanni]

The old system of contacts and allies was based on both the idea of how much they liked you and what they could do for you and how well placed they were and how powerful they were. Needless to say it was very confusing and led to no one really being sure how much an ally would do or be able to do.

The new system cuts right through that and defines the relationship as simply whether they are a contact or an ally. The rating is defined purely as how well placed this contact/ally is. So it is no longer possible to have a 1 point Prince or a 5 point shovelhead neonate.

[Skir]

Furthermore, let's say you began play with a 1 pt Ally representing your own neonate Childe in a neighboring city, and through your clever politicking and influence, you are able to raise your childe to the level of Primogen of his clan in that city. At that point, at no further exp cost to you, he now becomes a level 3 ally instead of a level 1. You (and anyone else who had that character on their sheet) automatically benefit from the increase in power of that character, and he performs on par with other level 3 allies.

Similarly, if an ally is asking for help because, lo and behold, some neonate with outside help is trying to steal the primogen seat that they have held for a decade, he will reach out to his allies for assistance. If they are unwilling or unable to assist him and he loses the seat, he may fall to a 2 point ally instead, and all those with him on their sheet (even if they paid for him at 3) have that character set to 2.

The willingness of their cooperation is now simply a toggle between Contact and Ally. Contacts deal fairly with you but wont go out of their way and won't work for free. Allies are truly on your side, will pre-emptively help you if they can, and will not normally expect payment in return (unless it's a huge problem). If you earn your Contact's loyalty, you can convert them to an Ally. If your Ally calls upon you in return for some repayment of help or some emergency and you refuse to help, the relationship may fall back to the cool business relationship of Contact.

[Bubba Kush]

Does this also apply to mortal contacts as well? If I wanted to raise my allies rating from 2 to 3 does that mean that i abandon my former ally (and xp) and start from scratch? Or do I not need to pay for backgrounds at all in play?

[Hephaestus]

No, mortal contact and allies work a little differently. When you raise your rating with them you are really buying into a higher level of influence over an already powerful group, so you do need to pay the xp cost for upgrading, as opposed to Kindred allies, whom you are literally making more powerful through story. You are not abandoning the xp you've invested, simply adding another dot on top like getting more ranks of anything else.

Backgrounds are paid for with xp like in MET as opposed to purely story based like in Tabletop. They cost the same as Abilites, 3xp for the first dot then 2xp times current.