Following a Performer

A bard's reputation is a variable that can change in an instant. Furthermore, reputation varies from one village or town to the next. A bard's initial reputation applies to his home town only. This is the center of the bard's reputation.

Let's follow the development of the great Hanalacious's reputation. She put on her first public performance in Greyhawk City at the age of 16. First impressions are extremely important and vary uncontrollably depending upon the mood of the audience, season, local events, etc. After her first performance, Hana became a "noted" member of the entertaining class.

To determine Hana's initial reputation, the following table was consulted.

Table 23: INITIAL REPUTATION

2d4 Roll	Index	Title
2	0	Unsung
3	1	Accepted
4	2	Known
5	3	Noted
6	4	Good standing
7	5	Liked
8	6	Well-known

Hanalacious was pleased with her initial reputation, but she had aspirations of greatness. She looked upon those great bards who were her teachers, and she envied the reputations they had built for themselves. Some were popular, some were celebrated, a few were even acclaimed by the citizens of Greyhawk, but Hana wanted to attain a revered reputation for herself.

Table 24: REPUTATION LADDER

Index	Title
0	Unsung
1	Accepted
2	Known
3	Noted
4	Good standing
5	Liked
6	Well-known
7	Admired
8	Prominent
9	Distinguished
10	Popular
11	Reputable
12	Honored
13	Celebrated
14	Illustrious
15	Eminent
16	Acclaimed
17	Prestigious
18	Famous/Infamous
19	Renowned
20	Revered

Reaching for a revered reputation would be a long and delicate process for Hanalacious. She would have to watch her every action and word, being careful to avoid entanglements with the law, yet helping those in need. Of course, all this would mean nothing if she didn't also put on frequent performances of her musical talents.

Hana made a list of all the things that could both help and hinder her climb to fame on the ladder in Table 24. Among them she included the following:

Table 25: REPUTATION MODIFIERS

Last performance was:

within the week	+1
over a week ago	+0
over a month ago	-1
over 3 months ago	-2
over 6 months ago	-3
over 9 months ago	-4
over a year ago	-5

Each attempt to publicly influence reactions

that succeeds	+2
fails but no reaction adjustment	-1
fails and worsens reactions	-3

Money spent on local appearance/reputation:

0% of income	-2
10% of income	+0
25% of income	+1
50% of income	+2
75% of income	+3
90% of income	+4
Completed a local adventure	+1
Fulfilled a local quest	+2
Blamed for a violent crime	-2
Convicted of a violent crime	-5
DM's option	+/-5

Hanalacious realized that there are two types of reputable performers, both of whom draw large crowds: those who are famous and those who are infamous. The famous person is looked upon as a public hero, upholder of good, and a generally law-abiding citizen. The infamous performer is well known as a courser, a romantic thief who lives above the law and leads a high-paced, romantic life (e.g., Robin Hood).

Of course, Hana decided to walk the path to infamy, realizing that there is a huge gap between an infamous performer and a violent bully, ruthless thug, or evil villain.

Again, Hana made a list of those actions that gained a person the reputation of being infamous as opposed to those that gained a person fame.

Table 26: FAME AND INFAMY

Fame Scale:

	Calmed a violent situation	+2
	Made a hostile person look foolish	+1
	Turned a crowd's mood against evil	+3
	Prevented a crime from occurring	+2
	Upheld a good person's reputation	+1
	Upheld what's right vs. adversaries	+1

Infamy Scale:

	Blamed for a nonviolent crime	+1
	Avoided imprisonment	+2
	Escaped imprisonment	+3
	Make town watch look foolish	+1
	Created a political scandal	+3

For a bard trying to become infamous, performing acts on the infamy list improve the chances for building his reputation, while performing acts on the fame scale decrease these chances. The opposite is true for a bard who is attempting to become famous.

A bard's reputation is adjusted only in two situations: when he increases in level, and when he puts on a significant public performance (in which case it is checked just as the performance begins).

A d20 is rolled and any modifiers from the preceding three tables are applied to it only if their total is negative (if the net total modifier ends up being positive, it is simply ignored).

If the result of the d20, adjusted by a possible negative modifier, is greater than or equal to the bard's current reputation, then the reputation increases one category. If the net result is a negative number, the bard's reputation is lowered by this amount (thus a net result of -3 would lower the bard's reputation by three places on Table 24). If the roll falls in between, nothing happens. However, no matter what, a natural roll of 20 always increases the bard's reputation by 1 and a natural roll of 1 always decreases it by at least 1 (more if there are negative modifiers).

No matter what the roll, all reputation modifiers reset afterward, and the bard once again has a net 0 adjustment.

Eventually, Hanalacious became infamously acclaimed (16) in Greyhawk City, but she felt stilted by performing for the same crowd over and over gain. What she wanted was a fresh audience; one that had heard of her infamous reputation, but that hadn't been to any of her performances. Thus, she contacted the bard college, known as the Society of the Silver Lute, in the nearby town of Hardby. She had several of the college's members advertise that the Infamous Hanalacious would soon be performing for the public.

Two weeks later, Hana arrived in Hardby. She was pleased to note that her reputation had somewhat preceded her. She wasn't acclaimed (16) like she was in Greyhawk City, but she was treated as an illustrious (14) personality. Of course, the distance from her established Greyhawk City base was responsible for the slight decline. Table 24 shows the decline in reputation as a bard moves away from his base, where he has an established reputation.

Table 27: PRECEDING REPUTATION

Distance	Reputation
from base	Decline
1 town or 25 miles	-2
2 towns or 50 miles	-4
3 towns or 100 miles	-6
4 towns or 150 miles	-8
5 towns or 200 miles	-10
Farther	No reputation

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