Promotions

Chivalric army decorations: Colors of Renincourt Peak (1); Silver Horseshoe (2); Valor’s Blood-drop (3); Red Knight of Merit (4); Blue Knight of Distinction (5); Green Knight of Puissance (6); Colors of the Northern Crusade (7)

army (such as a marble elephant figurine of wondrous power from a culture that esteems elephants). If possible, a magic decoration should be usable by characters of all classes—or at least of all classes likely to earn the decoration in the first place. If a wizard PC earns a magic decoration that includes or is embodied in full plate armor, that decoration will at best gather dust somewhere in the wizard’s tower.

Decorations as Entry Requirements: Because they explicitly recognize achievement, specific decorations are a good requirement for entry into a prestige class or organization. If PCs know about the decoration requirement ahead of time, their desire to get into a particularly compelling prestige class might lead them to acts of great courage on the battlefield. The entry requirement also ties the members of the group or prestige class together in a meaningful way; the members know that their comrades all have shown good qualities when tested in the past. For example, a mercenary group called the Death Dealers of Naurak have decided to make first earning, then sacrificing, a jade heart decoration a requirement to join their ranks. During the initiation ceremony, the new Death Dealer shatters the jade heart she earned, symbolizing her break with the national army and her new life as a mercenary. Even in the absence of the decoration, every Death Dealer knows that every other Death Dealer stood by her allies when the chips were down, and every member of the mercenary group has at least a degree of loyalty to the national army in the realm of Naurak.

The most common form of advancement for most PCs in a military campaign is advancement by deed. Advancement by deed occurs when a character earns a promotion through hard work or brave deeds—the sorts of acts that earn recognition points, which in turn can be spent on promotion points. However, this is far from the only method of advancement. Advancement by attrition occurs when a character is moved up in the command structure because a higherranking officer left or died. Attrition also covers those promotions based solely on a character’s ability to survive longer than everyone else around. Most lower-ranking leaders, past and present, have earned their ranks by either deed or attrition. Advancement by title occurs when a character is granted a rank based on his title outside the military. Officers were historically members of the royalty such as dukes or clan chiefs, or those who bought their commission with currency, land, or soldiers.

Illus. by W. England