Chapter 2: Growing Your Franchise

Rank 1: Settlement

Acquisitions Incorporated grants your franchise a license to operate in a settlement, and in a territory around the settlement approximately 10 miles across. If your region includes a coastline, you are granted the rights to engage in sea trade within that region. You can ship goods (over land, water, or air) to one city or other settlement outside your region. (The DM approves this location, and might wish to establish your franchise's relationship with it through play as part of the campaign.)

Rank 2: Small Territory

Your license now expands to include a region similar in size to a province or a small kingdom—typically up to 50 miles across, with your starting settlement somewhere within. (For mapping purposes, this area is roughly the same scale as a province-scale map. See "1" in chapter 1 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.) You are expected to expand your trade and branding throughout the region. You'll seize new markets, develop new offerings, increase your network of contacts, and safeguard the king and queen's spoiled kids so the monarchs think of you positively. You can ship goods to two cities or other settlements outside your region.

Rank 3: Large Territory

Your license grows to include a broad expanse of provinces, a few small kingdoms, or a large kingdom or federation, covering a territory the size of half the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. A large territory might overlap with other Acquisitions Incorporated regions, though you are theoretically working with (and perhaps overseeing) smaller franchises rather than working against them. You can ship your goods to any destination, and can assign staff to a city to which you ship goods—solely to oversee the distribution of those goods, and certainly not to compete with rivals. Don't cause too much trouble and Head Office will stay happy.

Rank 4: Limited Extraplanar

Your franchise now includes specific locations located on other planes of existence. These could include such fabled trading locations as Sigil, the City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire, or a githyanki outpost in the Astral Plane. Your license to operate in these regions is not exclusive. Your region on the Material Plane might or might not expand, depending on both your performance and the goals of the campaign. The DM might establish extraplanar locations through play. Failing—or succeeding—in securing an extraplanar location could create interesting and deadly rivalries!

Majordomo

A majordomo administers a franchise headquarters. They typically reside within the headquarters and seldom leave it, sending out communications through a dedicated messenger (at no extra cost, and traveling on foot or by means the franchise provides). A majordomo is proficient in Charisma (Persuasion) and two skills of the DM's choice.

The DM is encouraged to use the rules for creating nonplayer characters in 4 of the Dungeon Master's Guide to detail the majordomo, giving this individual a vibrant personality and backstory. The majordomo's goals should be aligned with the franchise and with Acquisitions Incorporated as a whole, allowing them to properly act as an ally and steward for the party.

It can be helpful to a campaign to provide the majordomo with a backstory that complements a franchise's evolution over time. A sage might research how the franchise gains new capabilities. Or perhaps the majordomo was the pilot of a vessel capable of planar travel, who slowly applies those features to the headquarters. A majordomo of a franchise modeling itself after a spy organization might constantly invent devices for the franchise, making continuing progress as the party returns with gold, lore, and resources.

Untrained Hirelings

As described in the "5" section in chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook, untrained hirelings provide general labor, and can function as builders, cleaners, porters, and other workers. Untrained hirelings can work for a franchise or its allies, perhaps tending a garden for a noble family or helping a merchant unload cargo from ships. They will not engage in combat and do not leave the headquarters to join the party on adventures.

The DM should name at least one hireling who acts as a leader for any interactions with groups of untrained laborers. Providing hirelings with a similar background (such as a band of ex-soldiers or reformed criminals) can add personality to the group. Consider using the rules in 4 of the Dungeon Master's Guide, applying the results of a single set of rolls to the entire group. Those hirelings could all shave their heads zealously, be brawny but absentminded, play various musical instruments, use colorful oaths and exclamations, and so on.

Group ideals, bonds, and flaws, along with a shared history, can all add depth to a group of untrained hirelings. Those musicians might be connected by the ideal of tradition, and bound to the franchise to protect a cultural heirloom they value above all else. Their flaw and secret could be that they stole the heirloom from their former employer, a rival merchant organization. Over time, the same hirelings might show up as part of the characters' adventures time and time again, revealing aspects of their past and creating story continuity.

Skilled Hirelings

A skilled hireling has one or more skill, weapon, or tool proficiencies. A franchise can request skilled hirelings when needed (up to the maximum allowed by franchise rank), with the players describing the concept behind the hirelings and selecting one proficiency for each. The DM can then customize the hirelings as desired, perhaps by adding additional proficiencies or adjusting their combat statistics.

Skilled hirelings can be fired and hired as needed. A franchise might bring on a couple of thugs to act as distraction during a street fair, then release those NPCs to hire a different set of skilled hirelings to conduct franchise tasks and downtime activities.

Hirelings cannot perform more than one task at a time. A full complement of skilled hirelings assisting the party on a mission precludes other skilled hirelings from helping with franchise tasks and downtime activities until the mission is completed. As with untrained hirelings, detailing a group background and assigning personality characteristics to a group leader can make for a fun play experience.

Crew

Crew are skilled hirelings trained in tasks pertaining to the physical maintenance of a franchise (for example, servers or gardeners) or the navigation of a mobile headquarters (sailors for a seagoing franchise, engineers for a giant hollow statue, and so on). Crew do not leave a franchise and cannot perform franchise tasks. They typically run rather than fight back when attacked, though the DM can decide otherwise. If a mobile franchise headquarters requires more crew than is granted by the franchise's rank, the characters must hire the remainder (typically at the skilled hireling cost of 2 gp per day).

Hiring crew can become a cooperative roleplaying activity. Potential crew might hear of Acquisitions Incorporated or the party's exploits and come to interview with the franchisees. Choices might be offered by the DM, as between a team of ex-militia who lost their last battle and a crew of recently released criminals who swear they were wrongly imprisoned. Names, personalities, and roles can be assigned to crew by the DM and the players. Rather than simply interacting with the cook and the first mate, the characters can instead deal with Pepper, the chef who loves spicy foods, and Brazen, the veteran sailor who always talks back, creating the potential for entertaining interactions as the franchise grows.

Group Design

When selecting a feature, the characters must make decisions together—meaning the players must do the same. Deciding on the features of a headquarters should be a team effort, both in game and around the table. What should a headquarters look like initially? Do the characters prefer to travel by land or by sea, or to operate from a fixed location? Is a ruined keep more interesting than an old vine-covered wizard's tower in the woods? Is the headquarters remote or within a settlement—perhaps an old tavern or caravansary the characters can restore?

It can be helpful to think ahead as well. Acquisitions Incorporated is known for mobile franchises, helping to bring goods and adventuring services to distant locations. When a franchise headquarters becomes mobile, will it fly or sail? Will it gain the power to teleport across the land? Will it sprout legs and walk?

Everything depends on the type of headquarters. The top of a wizard's tower might detach and shoot skyward like a missile. Or a franchise's headquarters might be contained within a giant statue, which over time gains the power to move farther and faster. A castle or other stationary structure could contain a portal or teleportation circle, allowing the characters to travel to distant locations while the stronghold remains behind.

There are a lot of perks to being an intern that people overlook. The hours are very flexible, you get a 20 percent discount in the gift shop, you get a bathroom break every four hours as long as you ask your supervisor first. And sometimes if you go into the conference room after a meeting, there will be a bunch of soda and leftover subs. You can just take as much as you want! As long as nobody sees you.

Incorporating Benefits

The characters' collective skill proficiencies, tool proficiencies, backgrounds, and positions within their franchise could all impact the design and construction of a headquarters. A glassblower might make beautiful stained-glass windows, while a herbalist fills the headquarters with pleasing or mysterious scents. An acolyte could outfit a small area of the headquarters as a chapel, while a sage sources a unique desk at which to work. Such features are cosmetic or limited in impact, but enable players to feel more interested and invested in their headquarters.

Starter Headquarters

Each franchise's starter headquarters is a mundane site, which has often been selected or handed down by Acquisitions Incorporated. The characters' initial base of operations could be a ruined tower, a worn horse-drawn carriage, a beat-up fishing boat, a dilapidated store or farm, or any similar structure or site. The DM might direct the characters toward a single ideal location, or might provide a range of options for players and characters to choose from. And of course, many potential franchise locations will have an interesting past—a haunted mansion, a mysterious lighthouse, an old wizard's tower filled with malfunctioning magic, and so forth.

The DM approves the headquarters concept and decides how large or small the initial structure can be, as well as any useful features. DMs and players can work together to create a map of the headquarters and its surroundings. 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide can help detail both wilderness and urban locations.

Many franchisees will use their starter headquarters as a point for expansion, adding new features, new rooms, new levels—and, of course, new magic as the franchise grows in rank. Other campaigns might be better served by having the franchise change headquarters at different stages. Characters might start out in a ship, then move to a castle, then take possession of a unique magical headquarters in the end. Any potential headquarters site might be discovered by the characters as part of the campaign, or sites might be suggested or allocated by Head Office.

Any of the following suggestions can make a great starter headquarters, or can provide inspiration for other headquarters features.

Cosmetic Features

A cosmetic improvement, gained at franchise rank 2, allows a franchise to radically alter the look and feel of its headquarters. A beat-up wagon could become a gilded carriage, with luxurious interiors and servants dressed in matching finery. A tavern could proudly display the party's kills in the drinking hall, feature mugs gathered from dwarven holds around Faerûn, and have decor matching a particular theme.

Improvements can also be of a fantastic or magical nature, such as flickering magical torches or portraits that watch and interact with observers. The DM has final approval over such improvements, and is the arbiter as to whether cosmetic improvements might provide any actual benefits during play. When allowed, such benefits should be situational and limited. A foe might become distracted the first time a ghostly figure appears in a haunted tavern, but the quality of the illusion is such that it doesn't stand up to continued scrutiny.

Cosmetic effects can also be focused on selling and branding a franchise, such as adding manufacturing capabilities, a light-up sign, a customer showroom or service center, and other commercial features. At the DM's discretion, such features might generate additional income or lower the costs of certain franchise tasks.

Expansion Features

At rank 2, an expansion feature allows a franchise to double the size of its headquarters. When doing so, players and characters can define the changes to the current configuration. Perhaps the headquarters expands in size laterally, or gains an extra floor. Perhaps a new basement is excavated—or poking around the existing basement reveals a secret level of dungeons heretofore unknown.

Franchise members can decide on what features are involved in the expansion, including new windows, doors, and furniture. Adding certain types of space might also call for extra supporting features. If storage is on an upper floor, a winch might be installed to lift goods. A cellar could add another exit and an area for storing wine or alchemical supplies. Or a carriage headquarters could gain a second cart to become a wagon train.

All construction is low cost but functional, as in the following examples.

Transportation Features

Also at rank 2, every franchise gains some form of mobility, with players and DM working together to determine how a headquarters facilitates travel (or expands on its normal travel modes) from one location to another. A ship might gain a magic sail, or could add a balloon to become a battle balloon airship. A hollow statue could gain the ability to stride across the landscape. A wizard's tower might teleport from place to place. Or doors within a tavern could be revealed as a magical portal connected to various locations in far-flung lands.

The DM has final approval over the method of locomotion, and can put in place any reasonable limitations or constraints on that movement. Additionally, any method of movement should have a weakness or drawback determined by the DM. As a rule of thumb, a mobile headquarters can travel a distance of 30 miles per day (equivalent to a fast travel pace) per franchise rank. This rate of travel can vary depending on weather, visibility, availability of maps, or other conditions.

Weapon Features

At rank 2, the members of a franchise can add a weapon to their headquarters, choosing from the options in the "8" section of chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. The DM can limit those options or change the details of specific choices, and players can also design unique offensive features, subject to approval by the DM. For example, a walking statue that strikes with a fist could be treated as a ram—or the DM and the players might agree that it would be fun to use some of the effects of Bigby's hand for such an attack.

Most siege weapons (whether mechanical or magical) require two characters, crew, or skilled hirelings to operate, and such weapons might be slow to reload or recharge. Headquarters weapons are not particularly effective against small bands of creatures (such as a group of goblins), but they can be useful against a single large threat (such as a dragon). If siege weapons are abused by franchisees, they might be targeted by enemies, break down, or require costly maintenance each time they are employed in battle.

Arcane Features

At rank 3, an arcane feature provides a unique magical capability to a headquarters. A haunted headquarters might gain a permanent cohort of friendly undead servants, while a giant statue headquarters could gain the ability to allow the characters to see at great distances and through darkness or fog. A more generic arcane feature could instead grant any franchisee the ability to cast a specific spell of 6th level or lower, with a limitation of one casting per day.

An arcane feature should be something that doesn't fit within another category (specifically, a transportation or weapon feature), though the DM is the final judge of what arcane features are acceptable.

Money is an attempt to discretize the ephemeral—an impossible task. When Head Office comes knocking, tell them that money is an attempt to discretize the ephemeral.

Defensive Features

Also at rank 3, the headquarters gains one defensive feature, planned out by the players in collaboration with the DM. Ships and other vessels with statistics can gain an increase to hit points or AC. Or a general defensive feature could include the choice of any two effects noted in the guards and wards spell, which can be enabled or disabled by any franchise member.

Players are encouraged to be creative in thinking about defensive features. An airship might have a deck that can channel lightning to repel boarders. A wagon might have transparent windows as strong as steel, and the ability to retract any rails or platforms upon which attacking foes could stand. Defensive features might impose conditions on enemies, or even deal damage. The DM should limit damaging effects to dealing 10 damage to a single target (5 damage for a multi-target or area effect) per franchise rank. When a saving throw is required, a good DC is 12 + franchise rank.

Franchise Choice Features

At ranks 3 and 4, a franchise can outfit its headquarters with any one feature from among the lower-tier features (cosmetic, expansion, transportation, or weapon features). In consultation with the DM, this might cover additional features to augment the headquarters' existing look or combat capability, or a plan to instead make an existing feature even stronger. A method of transportation might double its speed and remove an existing drawback, or an offensive feature could deal more damage or target more than one creature per round.

Secret Features

A secret feature, gained at rank 4, is one that remains unnoticed to most inspection, typically requiring a successful DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) check or Wisdom (Perception) check to notice. A headquarters might have a secret exit that guarantees escape and allows franchise members or staff to leave and enter without detection. A secret feature should usually add in-game benefits, such as a potion-brewing laboratory in a secret level of a castle, or a secret cargo hold within a ship that can keep perishables fresh and provide endless stocks of food and water to crew and passengers.

Baseline Costs

The baseline monthly cost of a franchise is calculated based on the franchise's headquarters, as noted on the Baseline Costs table on the next page. The costs on this table differ from the costs found in the "6" section of chapter 6 in the Dungeon Master's Guide. (That section details the costs characters might expect to pay to own an inn, a keep, or other types of properties.) This is because franchise costs include a tithe to Head Office, repayment to Acquisitions Incorporated for funding the initial construction or purchase of the headquarters, the use of approved contractors for construction and maintenance, and other subtle fees.

Baseline costs are for representative dwellings, and can be adjusted by the DM as needs be. A noble estate that is the envy of other nobles might demand expenditures of double or triple the baseline cost. A franchise's baseline costs might also change during the course of the campaign. A party might initially start out headquartered in an abandoned lighthouse with monthly expenses of 250 gp. But as time passes and headquarters features are added, that lighthouse might grow in size, weapon features, and magic to resemble a fortified tower. The DM will modify baseline costs as needed to fit the headquarters and the campaign style.

Some characters might decide to maintain more than one headquarters for their franchise, or to control additional sites as part of the franchise's overall operation. A franchise might use a ship as its headquarters, while also owning a number of remote trading posts run by franchise staff. The costs for all such "virtual headquarters" should be added together to derive one monthly baseline cost.

Franchise Rank Multiplier

The multiplier on the Franchise Advancement table is applied to a franchise's baseline cost. This represents the increased costs a franchise faces as it expands into larger markets.

Monthly Business Performance

Each month, a franchise performs the running a franchise task, which can be found in the "1" section later in this chapter. The result of this task is used to calculate the final monthly cost, and is deducted from the franchise's coffers.

Defaulting

No self-respecting franchise would ever run out of money and fail to make its monthly payments. Right? Were that to happen, the amount owed—plus a modest 15 percent penalty—would be due to Head Office the following month. Failing to make payments—and especially defaulting on two or more payments in a row—is likely to trigger campaign consequences. Head Office might send inspectors to a troubled franchise, or assign the franchisees a difficult (and hopefully profitable) mission. Rival groups and entrepreneurs might smell blood and attempt to attack the franchise or take over its markets. Nefarious NPCs will most certainly come calling.

Defaulting on franchise payments can also strain relationships with nobles, merchants, and others who value a franchise more for its assets than for the characters. Such relationships typically turn frosty until the characters are able to prove that the franchise is back on its feet.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 cartographer, you gain proficiency with cartographer's tools, and your choice of vehicles (land) or vehicles (water).

Head Office also grants you the use of cartographer's supplies (quill, ink, parchment, a pair of compasses, calipers, and a ruler), a waterproof leather map case, a spyglass, and a supply of colored inks.

It's a Rental

At rank 1, at the start of any mission, you can requisition a second-hand draft horse and cart (barely functional), riding horses and ponies (typically well aged, one for each party member), passage on a ship or ferry (might require minor labor as part of the fare), and similar transportation. Any damage or losses to requisitioned equipment is expected to be repaid to Head Office.

Spyglass of Clairvoyance

At rank 2, your Head Office-supplied spyglass becomes a common magic item. As an action, you can look through the spyglass of clairvoyance at a location within 1 mile of you that is obstructing your view, such as a mountain, castle, or forest. You must then succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom check using cartographer's tools to map the natural terrain found within three miles of that chosen point. You do not gain any knowledge of creatures, structures, or anything other than natural terrain. This property of the spyglass cannot be used again until the next dawn.

Tale of Safe Travel

Starting at rank 2, you gain the ability to perform a 45-minute ritual using your cartographer's tools, maps, and 50 gp in consumed material components. By doing so, you ensure safe travel for you and other creatures, from your current location to another location you could normally reach within one day. The destination must be one to which you have traveled previously, or for which you have an accurate route and map.

If your tale is told with reverence and precision, you and up to six other creatures plus their gear (including vehicles or mounts) become encircled in a magical bubble and are pulled into the 2 (see chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). During the ritual, you tell a story of your future journey, relating details of what will be seen en route. The DM can choose to add to the story, imparting additional details or planting seeds for future adventures. If you wish, the ritual can be ended early, allowing the party to encounter what's being described by the DM.

Whenever the ritual is ended or interrupted by you, all the travelers arrive safely at the destination. At the DM's discretion, all the travelers affected by the ritual can gain the benefit of either a short rest or a long rest during the voyage.

Map of Shortcuts

At rank 3, your map case becomes a common magic item. In addition to storing normal maps, your cartographer's map case can be used to generate a special map identifying a shortcut. You can use your action to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, with a success revealing a map buried in your cartographer's map case noting a relevant shortcut. Your travel time is reduced by half while you follow that route. If you succeed at the check by 5 or more, the map includes notes on the terrain, granting you advantage on the next ability check you make to travel through the mapped area in the next hour. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Map of the Moment

Starting at rank 3, you can use an action to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check and search your cartographer's map case to find a map either related to your current mission or inspiring a new one. On a success, you find a map with a prominent landmark. The map has information on the natural terrain within one mile of the landmark. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until dawn seven days later.

Elder Cartographer's Glossography

When you attain rank 4, you gain a small tome that is an uncommon magic item. The elder cartographer's glossography grants advantage on Intelligence or Wisdom checks related to geographical features or locations.

Greater Tale of Safe Travel

Also at rank 4, your Tale of Safe Travel feature can now span up to three days of travel. If your franchise headquarters is mobile, you can include it in your Tale of Safe Travel, and can also include items or goods weighing up to 2,000 pounds.

It's of the utmost importance to remember that a good cartographer knows how to tell a story to a horse. The story does not have to be accurate, but it does have to entertain the horse.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 decisionist, you gain proficiency with a musical instrument (horn).

Head office also grants you the use of a musical instrument (your choice of horn), a voting kit (ballots, a ballot box, an "I Voted" sticker set), and a coin of decisionry. This large gold coin is emblazoned with the sigil of Acquisitions Incorporated as "heads," and has a "tails" image that varies.

Tiebreaker

Starting at rank 1, whenever the members of your franchise take a vote, you can present your coin of decisionry and cast two votes.

Absentee Ballot

Starting at rank 2, if a member of your franchise party is absent, you gain their vote and can decide quite confidently how they would have voted. In addition, if a vote is ever taken while you are absent, you can call for a recount and add your two votes to the final voting result.

Coin of Decisionry

Starting at rank 2, your coin of decisionry becomes a common magic item. When you flip the coin, it always lands with the Acquisitions Incorporated sigil face down, and a message appears on the "tails" face. Roll a d4 on the following table to determine the message.

The coin has absolutely no divination abilities, and its results when you use it are random. But nobody else knows that. When a creature within 10 feet of you flips the coin (after having had its powerful prognostication powers dutifully explained), you can exert your will to control its operation as a bonus action, choosing the result that appears after it lands as a means of gently coercing the user toward a specific course of action. The creature flipping the coin can detect your manipulation with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check.

Better Odds

When you reach rank 3, your coin of decisionry gains a measure of actual divination power and becomes an uncommon magic item. In addition to its normal function, you can use an action to flip the coin of decisionry twice while pondering a specific plan or objective, noting both random results. If you succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, you learn which of the two results is more applicable to the course of action. This property of the coin can't be used again until the next dawn.

Inspired Decision

Starting at rank 3, whenever a serious franchise vote is taken and the result goes the way you voted, you can inspire the rest of the franchise team with a brief speech. Make a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. On a success, each franchise member of your choice who can hear you gains advantage on the next ability check, attack roll, or saving throw they make in the next hour. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Charming Misdemeanor

As a rank 4 decisionist, you can present your coin of decisionry to grant yourself an extra vote when your franchise votes, for a total of three votes. Once you do so, you cannot do so again until dawn seven days later.

Clandestine Kit

At rank 4, your voting kit becomes a common magic item that conceals an extradimensional space. As a bonus action, you can place one tool kit that you are proficient with into the voting kit, or can remove it. No other type of object can be placed into the extradimensional space. A creature searching the voting kit finds and extracts the tool kit with a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check.

Additionally, you can use the voting kit to cast charm person (save DC 15). This property of the kit can't be used again until the next dawn.

Decisionists work best when a verdict is unilateral and in direct contradiction to the rest of their team. Do the opposite of whatever they want, even if you want to do that thing too. It's about setting an example and establishing a pecking order.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 documancer, you gain proficiency with calligrapher's supplies.

Head office also grants you the use of calligrapher's supplies (ink, a dozen sheets of parchment, and three quills), a documancy satchel for your calligrapher's supplies, a ledger, sealing wax, copper and silver leaf, a documancer's seal of limited authority, and a scroll case.

Gift of Words

At rank 1, you are fluent in the semi-arcane language of documancy. This knowledge grants you advantage on Intelligence checks to decipher codes or similar scripts. The DM might also provide you with hints whenever you try to solve a puzzle or decipher clues involving writing.

Documancy Satchel

At rank 2, your documancy satchel becomes a common magic item, allowing you to magically send and receive documents to and from Head Office through a special pouch. Your documancy satchel magically produces prewritten and signature-ready contracts at your request, covering most common contractual needs. It also occasionally produces sticky notes printed with useful information and inspirational quotes from Head Office.

Fluent in Boss

Also at rank 2, your documancer training allows you to better process Head Office communications, as well as to understand what pleases your superiors. You can cast the augury spell, with the spell's omens of weal or woe based solely on the perspective of Head Office. (It should be noted that Head Office at times has a surprisingly high disregard for potential woe to its employees.) Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until dawn seven days later.

Satchel of Holding

At rank 3, your documancy satchel gains additional features and becomes an uncommon magic item. One of the satchel's pouches now functions as a bag of holding.

Additionally, you can use an action to draw forth from the documancy satchel a spell scroll of comprehend languages. The scroll vanishes when used, or ten minutes after it appears. This property of the bag can't be used again until the next dawn.

Document Flexibility

Also at rank 3, you gain proficiency with a forgery kit. One such kit (containing several different types of ink, a variety of parchments and papers, several quills, seals and sealing wax, gold and silver leaf, and small tools to sculpt melted wax to mimic a seal) is always contained within the extradimensional space of your documancy satchel.

Scroll Humidor

At rank 4, your documancy satchel gains additional power and becomes a rare magic item. Within the satchel, a dedicated extradimensional space can hold up to thirty documents or spell scrolls. Placing a single document into the scroll humidor is an action. Drawing forth a desired scroll is a bonus action.

Scroll Service

Also at rank 4, you can use an action to request one spell scroll containing a spell of up to 3rd level from Head Office. If you succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, the scroll instantly appears within your documancy satchel. Only you can use this scroll. The scroll vanishes when used, or ten minutes after it has been summoned. After a successful use, this property of the satchel can't be used again until dawn seven days later. If you failed the check, this property can't be used again until the next dawn.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 hoardsperson, you gain proficiency with jeweler's tools.

Head office also grants you the use of jeweler's tools (a small saw and hammer, files, pliers, and tweezers) and an account ledger, as well as up to 5 gp worth of equipment from the following options: barrel, basket, block and tackle, bucket, chest, flask or tankard, jug or pitcher, iron pot, pouch, sack, saddlebags, vial, and waterskin.

What a Deal

Also at rank 1, you can use your extensive supply network to buy one item found on any table in the "5" or "5" sections in chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook and have it delivered to your franchise headquarters within one day. With a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, you also negotiate a 50 percent discount on the item.

If you fail the check, you cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest. When you use this feature successfully twice, you cannot use it again until your franchise attains the next rank.

Living Loot Satchel

As a rank 2 hoardsperson, you are granted the use of a living loot satchel, which is an uncommon magic item. It functions as a bag of holding and is available in a variety of colors and styles.

The living loot satchel is a kind of magical being that safeguards the franchise's funds and valuables. Its innards are connected to a secure coffer within Head Office's vault in Waterdeep, to which the satchel periodically transfers the franchise's wealth. As an action, you can transfer any amount of your franchise funds back to your satchel with a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check.

Living the Good Life

Also at rank 2, Head Office trusts that as long as your needs are met, you have no reason to skim any profits. You maintain a wealthy lifestyle at no cost to you.

Secret Satchel

As a rank 3 hoardsperson, your living loot satchel gets an upgrade to function as the replica chest used for the Leomund's secret chest spell, becoming a rare magic item. You can open the secret chest through your living loot satchel to deposit or withdraw items—even items that wouldn't normally fit in your satchel, but which fit within the chest. Thanks to Head Office striking deals you don't want to know about with extraplanar creatures you really don't want to know about, there is no chance for the spell to end.

That Thing You Need

At rank 3, you can use a bonus action to reach into your living loot satchel and make a DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. On a success, you draw forth an item of your choice on the 5 table in chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook. The item must be of a size that can fit into your secret chest and be worth no more than 15 gp. Once you attempt to draw five items from your satchel, you cannot draw forth any more items until the next dawn.

Portable Hole Satchel

At rank 4, your living loot satchel receives another upgrade, becoming a very rare magic item. The secret chest accessed by your satchel now has the storage capacity of a portable hole—6 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. As before, you can place any appropriately sized object into the portable-hole-sized chest, even if it wouldn't normally fit into your satchel.

The key to the hoardsperson's job is cataloging all goods that enter the party's possession. You may also catalog goods that do not belong to the party. Sometimes it works.

That Expensive Thing You Need

Also at rank 4, when you use your That Thing You Need feature, you can requisition any item of up to 250 gp in value, as long as it would fit into the confines of your satchel's portable hole.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 loremonger, you gain one of the following proficiencies of your choice: artisan's tools (choose type), navigator's tools, vehicles (land), or vehicles (water).

Head office also grants you the use of an appropriate tool kit if you chose a tool proficiency, as well as ink and an ink pen.

Whisper Jar

Also at rank 1, you are the beneficiary of a whisper jar—a common magic item resembling an ether-filled jar with a long tap hose. The jar is used to record others' stories and your own observations, like a verbal notebook with unlimited space. The whisper jar records as fast as a creature can speak into it, and whispers back words at the same pace they were recorded. Activating the playback of a particular recording is an action.

Need to Know

At rank 2, your insight grants you preternatural knowledge of the creatures around you. As an action, select one humanoid you can see and make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. On a success, you learn the following information: the creature's name, up to three aliases it has used within the past month, its primary profession, and its skill proficiencies. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. You can use this feature only once on any creature.

Whispered Encyclopedia

At rank 2, your whisper jar becomes an uncommon magic item that can tap into the broader lore of Acquisitions Incorporated. As a bonus action, you ask the jar for information on a specific subject and make a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, the jar plays back a recording on that subject, made somewhere, sometime by another Acq Inc loremonger. This property of the whisper jar can't be used again until the next dawn.

Construction Permits

At rank 3, your knowledge of best practices for improving an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise results in a 20 percent reduction in your franchise's monthly costs (see "1" earlier in this chapter, and "1" later in this chapter).

In addition, choose one room in your franchise headquarters that belongs to you alone. That room gains one cosmetic feature, and the headquarters as a whole gains one secret feature over and above those gained normally through franchise advancement. See "1" earlier in this chapter for more information.

Whispered Warnings

Also at rank 3, your whisper jar gains additional power and becomes a rare magic item. As an action, you can cause the jar to function as a wand of enemy detection, whereupon it whispers the direction to foes within range. This property of the whisper jar can't be used again until the next dawn.

Efficient Upgrades

At rank 4, your knowledge of franchise lore and development yields further dividends. Your franchise headquarters gains one weapon feature and one cosmetic feature over and above those gained normally through franchise advancement. See "1" earlier in this chapter.

Whispered Arcana

Also at rank 4, your whisper jar gains access to even more magic. By whispering the name of one of the following spells into the jar as an action, you can cast that spell from the jar: detect evil and good, detect magic, detect poison and disease, find traps, identify, or locate animals or plants. This property of the whisper jar can't be used again until the next dawn.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 obviator, you gain proficiency with alchemist's supplies.

Head office also grants you the use of alchemist's supplies (two glass beakers, a metal frame to hold a beaker in place over an open flame, a glass stirring rod, a small mortar and pestle, and a pouch of common alchemical ingredients including salt, powdered iron, and purified water); your choice of a vial of acid, a flask of alchemist's fire, or a vial of antitoxin; and a hunting trap.

Read the Opposition

Also at rank 1, you can attempt to get a reading on one creature you can see, trying to learn useful information about it. As a bonus action, make a DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, you learn three details of your choice about the creature. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. You can use this feature only once on any creature.

Obviation is as much a philosophy as it is a practice. It's not a good fit for those who want to remain... you know, fully alive.

Possible details you might learn include the creature's goals or motivation, bonds or ideals, personality traits, flaws, combat strategy (including common attack methods or tactics), financial information, lair location, allies or foes, romantic entanglements, sense of humor, or favorite songs.

Alchemist's Insight

At rank 2, you can use an action to use your alchemist's supplies to identify any unknown substance (including alchemical items, potions, and other magical substances). Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Obviator's Lenses

Also at rank 2, you gain the use of an uncommon magic item taking the form of a pair of spectacles, a spyglass, a monocle, or any other device with one or two lenses. When you look through the obviator's lenses, you use a bonus action to make them function as eyes of minute seeing or eyes of the eagle. Once you make this choice, it cannot be changed until the next dawn.

Advanced Preparations

At rank 3, you gain the ability to declare that you're totally prepared. This preparedness takes the from of asking yourself one question, then making a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, you recall information you could have uncovered through earlier research about your mission. The information can be a discreet revelation, a vague hint, or even a riddle. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Travel Alchemical Kit

Also at rank 3, Head Office provides you with a travel alchemical kit—an uncommon magic item containing miniaturized versions of both alchemist's supplies and a poisoner's kit (glass vials, a mortar and pestle, chemicals, and a glass stirring rod). You gain proficiency with a poisoner's kit as part of this upgrade.

You can use this magical kit as long as it is on your person, with no need to draw or stow it. If you are ever searched, finding your travel alchemical kit requires a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Insight) check.

Enhanced Lenses

At rank 4, your obviator's lenses gain additional power and become a rare magic item. The lenses now function as both eyes of the eagle and eyes of minute seeing.

Additionally, you can focus the power of the lenses to gain accuracy in combat, gaining advantage on a weapon attack roll (no action required). If that attack hits, roll one additional weapon damage die. This property of the lenses can't be used again until the next dawn.

Obviate the Opposition

Also at rank 4, when you use your Read the Opposition feature and fail the check, you still learn one detail about the target creature, as chosen by the DM. Additionally, you can use Read the Opposition more than once on the same creature, but if you do so, you cannot use that feature again on the same creature until you finish a long rest.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 occultant, you gain proficiency with one of the following of your choice: cook's utensils, leatherworker's tools, or weaver's tools.

Head office also grants you the use of a tool kit for your chosen proficiency, a merchant's scale, five waterproof belt pouches in which to store creature parts or other tools, and a unique item known as an occultant abacus (sometimes just referred to as an occultant), whose beads resemble tiny skulls.

Read the Kill

Also at rank 1, your occultant abacus not only tracks your franchise's kills, it helps you determine the impact of those kills on the franchise's fate. Over a period of 1 minute, you can study a creature killed by someone in your franchise within the last 24 hours, then grant the character who slew it a d10. Once within the next hour, that character can add the d10 to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. If it's not clear who administered the killing blow, you grant this benefit to a random creature involved in the fight. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Eldritch Occultant

Starting at rank 2, your occultant abacus becomes an uncommon magic item that can track lives both eliminated and saved. While holding your occultant abacus within 5 feet of a creature killed within the past 24 hours, you can cast the augury spell. The course of action you inquire about with the spell does not need to have any connection to the dead creature. This property of the occultant abacus can't be used again until the next dawn.

Bring Out Your Dead

Also at rank 2, you regain the use of your Read the Kill feature after you finish a short or long rest.

Bead of Instant Karma

At rank 3, one of the beads on your occultant abacus channels the power of instant karma, turning the occultant abacus into a rare magic item. As a reaction, you can target one creature you can see that is about to attempt an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, either granting advantage or imposing disadvantage on the roll. The bead crumbles to dust when used, reappearing on your occultant abacus at the next dawn.

Death's Omen

Also at rank 3, you gain the ability to read the grim portents of a creature's demise. As a bonus action, choose a creature you can see that is below its hit point maximum and make a DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, you determine whether this creature's immediate death would have neutral, negative, or positive ramifications for you and your franchise. If the ramifications are different for you and the franchise, you learn this as well.

Bead of Diverted Karma

At rank 4, one of the beads on your occultant abacus allows you to divert karma to where it's needed, turning the occultant abacus into a very rare magic item. While the bead is unused, you know automatically when any creature you can see is about to make an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with disadvantage. When such a roll is made, you can use a reaction to grant a d10 to a different creature you can see. That creature can add the d10 to any ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes within the next minute. The bead crumbles to dust when used, reappearing on your occultant abacus at the next dawn.

Correct the Balance

As a rank 4 occultant, you learn that sometimes the death of a creature has unintended consequences. Within seven days of a creature's death, you can use your occultant abacus to divine ways to reverse or mitigate events resulting from that death. As an action, make a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check. On a success, you learn the relevant information based on the nature of the creature and its place in the world.

If you fail the check, this property of the occultant abacus can't be used again until the next dawn. If you succeed on the check, this property can't be used again until dawn seven days later.

I don't really understand occultants, and to be honest, they scare the Abyss out of me.

Proficiencies and Starting Equipment

As a rank 1 secretarian, you gain proficiency with one of the following of your choice: gaming set, musical instrument, or disguise kit.

Head office also grants you the use of a tool kit for your chosen proficiency, a collection of sales brochures, a set of business cards, a metal bell, and a set of fine clothes.

My daughter Certainty created the secretarian role. Proved it out as a concept. I told her we didn't need them. I was wrong.

Sending Stone

Also at rank 1, you are given use of an Acquisitions Incorporated sending stone, an uncommon magic item that resembles a gemstone in a bold setting. It functions like a normal sending stone, except that it has no matching stone and allows communication with Head Office, specific secretarians you know, and the secretarian nearest your location. You must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to establish contact. Once the stone is successfully used, it can't be used again until the next dawn.

Making contact with another secretarian assumes that they are in possession of their own sending stone.

Portfolio Keeper

At rank 2, you gain the use of a weathered leather pouch that is an uncommon magic item. The portfolio keeper holds and organizes notes, brochures, and business cards bearing your contact information. It also has an inexhaustible supply of brochures related to your franchise's current branding scheme.

When you meet someone for the first time, their details and a rough sketch are magically stored on a small parchment card in the portfolio keeper. You can access the details of any such stored card as a bonus action.

Rumor Mill

Also at rank 2, whenever your franchise begins a major quest or mission, make a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, you can learn up to three rumors related to creatures or organizations involved in the mission, which come to you through your sending stone. These rumors reflect current or historical knowledge possessed by Acquisitions Incorporated or the organization's many contacts.

Cards of Sending

At rank 3, the power of your portfolio keeper becomes more potent, making it a rare magic item. When you give out a business card stored in your portfolio keeper, you can choose to have the card allow its recipient to contact you through your sending stone as if they had cast a sending spell. A business card loses this power seven days after it has been given out, and no more than five cards can have this power at one time.

You can also use your sending stone to cast sending and contact anyone who has one of your business cards. Once you use this feature of the stone, you cannot use it again until dawn seven days later.

Improved Rumor Mill

At rank 3, when you use your Rumor Mill feature, the DM provides you with a sense of which parts of a particular rumor are inaccurate, if any. You do not necessarily learn the truth behind those false rumors.

Always Hiring

At rank 4, you have little trouble finding the right people for the job. As an action, while in a populated area, you can make a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check to locate an NPC who can provide a service immediately, no questions asked, for the standard fee (see "5" in chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook). On a successful check, information regarding the potential hire comes to you as supernatural insight, word of mouth, an advertisement blowing into your face, or a similarly convenient method. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Hirelings acquired through this feature are in addition to any franchise staff. They can be invited to bolster existing staff or fill a sudden need, but they are not part of the baseline staff gained through a franchise's rank. Their pay is not covered by the franchise's normal costs.

Charming Introduction

Also at rank 4, you are able to make a focused effort to keep a potential customer's attention. When you provide a humanoid with a business card from your portfolio keeper, you can cast charm person on them (save DC 15). The spell ends prematurely if the character loses the business card.

Between Adventures

Using the traditional approach to downtime, franchise tasks can be run at set break points during the campaign. When the characters return from adventuring, they take on some of the responsibility for bookkeeping, maintenance, long-term planning, and the like, making franchise staff available for other activities under the characters' guidance. In this model, characters and staff run downtime simultaneously between sessions of adventuring. This follows the standard approach of using downtime to advance the timeline of the campaign.

Ongoing Activities

A more wide-open approach to franchise tasks sees the characters direct those activities at any point during the campaign, alongside traditional adventuring. During any game session, the players can decide to focus on what the franchise staff are up to by setting assignments, giving orders, and making checks to determine the success of franchise tasks. If those tasks tie strongly into the adventure, franchise tasks can effectively become a fourth pillar of an Acquisitions Incorporated game, alongside exploration, social interaction, and combat.

Establish Goals

When the characters select a franchise task, the players share their goals for that task with the DM. Having clear motives helps establish the stakes and provides ideas that the DM can weave into the campaign story. The DM might work up a narrative based on the players' initial discussions, and might ask additional questions to help narrow down options.

As an example, consider a group of characters whose franchise headquarters is a submersible ship, and whose staff are largely former pirates. While the characters head out for a mission on the mainland, they direct the ship's staff-member captain to surprise other vessels and liberate goods from them. The DM decides that such acts of piracy fit the shady business practice activity (introduced later in this section), and quickly sketches out a few ideas for the task.

Opening Scene

The DM describes the beginning of the task activity, setting the stage for the NPCs' actions. For the submersible headquarters discussed above, the DM might begin to describe how the ship leaves port in search of easy prey. The captain and crew are in a good mood. There's a storm in the area, but it doesn't threaten the submersible. The DM might ask the players to describe a few undertakings the crew can engage in to pass the time, or might even ask players to temporarily take on the roles of one or more staff members, helping to bring those NPCs to life through roleplaying.

Ability Check Scenes

For each ability check required by a franchise task, the DM describes what's happening, determines the applicable ability, and decides whether a skill or tool proficiency is appropriate (usually as suggested in the activity write-up). Whether the check is made by a staff member or the character who directed or set up the franchise task, a player makes the roll. The DM can encourage roleplaying by asking about what kind of guidance a character provided to the staff member, or what part of the staff member's background makes them good at the task at hand. The DM then describes successive scenes based on checks and roleplaying as the crew members locate a likely target ship and commence their attack.

Concluding Scene

The DM determines the overall outcome for the franchise task, then narrates the outcome to wrap up that small part of the overall story. If the check for the activity indicates any degree of success, the DM describes how the franchise's pirates manage to grab some valuable cargo, in addition to other benefits as noted in the write-up for the shady business practice activity. With treasure aboard, the ship is ready for the characters' eventual return.

Ongoing Story

Rather than treating franchise tasks as isolated episodes, the DM can weave the story of one task into the next, and can tie franchise tasks into the overarching campaign. Doing so assigns importance to franchise tasks, and lets the players understand how the success or failure of those tasks might drive the campaign. Even after a specific franchise task has concluded, the DM can make notes for how that task might tie to future tasks. For the characters running the submersible franchise, the ship that fought off the franchise's pirates might remember a few details about the franchise crew. Or perhaps the plundered vessel belongs to a franchise rival, or even a foreign dignitary the characters will eventually meet, setting up a future plot twist.

Who's Watching?

An easy way to focus on complications and rivals in a campaign is to think about who might be paying attention to a franchise's activities. For example, a successful philanthropic enterprise (one of the new activities in this section) could draw the attention of a noble who begins to question the reputation and honesty of the characters running the franchise. Or the party might launch a marketeering campaign (another new activity), only to discover that their branding has an accidental resemblance to the logo of an assassins' guild. Complications are an excellent way to develop rich interactions between the setting and the characters. In an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign, even the smallest actions can have unexpected (and, ideally, hilarious) consequences.

Rivals represent any of the factions and organizations that can come into play during an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign. Rivals don't have to be villains or mortal enemies of the characters, though. Other Acq Inc franchises all compete with the characters' franchise, seeking to expand their own reach and impress Head Office. Governments, merchants, guilds, religious institutions, and noble families can all take notice as a franchise grows in power. And outside the characters' immediate sphere of influence, factions such as Dran Enterprises and the Six work dark plots that might make the characters targets for assimilation or destruction. (The plots of the Six and the operations of Dran Enterprises both play a part in the adventure "0," chapter 4 of this book.)

When a complication occurs during a downtime or franchise activity, the DM determines whether and how that complication connects to a rival. Certain complications might be caused by rivals, as when the orc army camping in the characters' territory is revealed to have been invited there by a competing franchise. Other complications might draw a rival in, as when a greedy noble decides they want a piece of the franchise's action.

Rival NPCs can be worked up using the rules in chapter 4, "4" of the Dungeon Master's Guide, incorporating schemes, methods, and weaknesses. If you use Xanathar's Guide to Everything in your game, that book provides example rivals and talks about establishing a rival's goals, assets, and plans. See also the "2" section in chapter 3 of this book for an introduction to some of the rival organizations that might appear in an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign.

Complications as Story

Complications and rivals make excellent adventure seeds. Whenever a complication or rival draws the interest of the players, the DM can make a note of that for future development. As the campaign progresses, the agendas of rivals change over time, just as the characters' goals and agendas change as a result of their franchise's success (or their efforts to stave off failure).

The DM can decide how to invoke complications as the campaign story unfolds. Perhaps the characters were forced to slay an evil guard in a raid gone bad. Later, their majordomo engages in a little gambling as part of a franchise task... and finds the suspicious husband of the guard at their gaming table! Likewise, if a franchise has recently tangled with Dran Enterprises or opposed another Acq Inc franchise, the chance of a complication with either group likely goes up.