How exactly does Rank benefit PCs?

[mr beer]

I have a player who is taking military Rank 2 or 3 because it fits his character. Other than a Status bonus, I am not sure how to make this an Advantage during play. The obvious answer would be that he gets to boss around underlings but he's liable to be adventuring with non-military PCs in a fantasy world.

Some thoughts I had:

- He may encounter other soldiers from time to time and therefore be able to pull rank (or pull Rank)

- People who react favourably to soldiers will react more favourably to an officer

- He represents a threat out of proportion to his own persona and may be able to get bonuses on skills that relate to persuading people to do what he wants

- I can give him a batman who is not an Ally but will do chores that don't involve swinging a sword

What says the forum?

[Refplace]

Aside from some social preferences the real benefit is only really applicable if the organization is around and could lend resources.

[Stormcrow]

The Rank advantage says that it provides social influence, useful resources, and the authority to command those under you in the organization.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Aside from some social preferences the real benefit is only really applicable if the organization is around and could lend resources.

Yeah, this is the big benefit of Rank. Do you have access to Social Engineering: Pulling Rank? I'd suggest getting it if not, and talking to your GM about implementing it, because it's a very robust system for letting Rank help you in play without having to drag in a bunch of NPCs to order around.

[whswhs]

If he's going to visit a fantasy world that's disjoint from ours, there are guidelines for how to handle that sort of thing in GURPS Fantasy: Portal Realms. To start with, anything that is efffective only in your home world, not in the new one, is a zero point feature.

[cptbutton]

Would Rank also have the benefit of preventing those of lesser Rank from giving you orders?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Would Rank also have the benefit of preventing those of lesser Rank form giving you orders?

Unless those orders are really from someone higher up or Standing Orders in nature.Mostly thats related to security details.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by mr beer

I have a player who is taking military Rank 2 or 3 because it fits his character. Other than a Status bonus, I am not sure how to make this an Advantage during play.

Originally Posted by whswhs

To start with, anything that is effective only in your home world, not in the new one, is a zero point feature.

I would expand whswhs's comment to include even a local world. If the advantage is ultimately mostly for background color and doesn't really fit the way the campaign will be played, then the cost can be reduced or eliminated. In a long-running campaign, I had a character with high status, but we realized that it wasn't really doing anything since they were on an extended quest in the wilderness (that took years of play time). We made it a zero point feature, and the player reallocated the points into something useful. Many RL years later, the PCs returned to civilization and we started having adventures where status would apply. The player invested points back into the advantage. We thought this worked pretty well.

Note also the text on B30 where it suggests that the Rank for limited duty officers or others with no real command duties be converted to Courtesy Rank for 1 point per level.

But, since you weren't asking about how to convert the advantage to background fluff, here are some other ideas for how to make it worth the points:

1. Have military depots, caravanserai, commissaries, or other way stations where the PC can stay for free or get unusual supplies.
2. Provide military medical services for a reduced price. In DFRPG terms, perhaps there would be a discount for temple services.
3. Military officers of a certain rank can bear arms openly in town with no reaction penalties.
4. Access to (or discounts for) fine weapons, armor repair, armor resizing, etc.
5. Military superiors are a source of quests ("special ops").
6. Dungeon turns out to be a former military outpost. PC officer can predict the layout or know about some secret because of his position.
7. Getting a bonus to know something about an enemy force that the PC studied about in training.

[mr beer]

Yeah lots of good ideas ITT.

The character has the rank in the fantasy world, he's not just visiting it as a modern person. I see him on active duty but in a somewhat unrealistic/convenient way that has him sent around to do cool stuff on a long leash instead of run a unit of soldiers. I'm running the game BTW so it's useful for me, I can just have his boss order him to go do stuff as an adventure hook.

I don't want to give him trained fighters to boss around (unless he pays for Allies) but resources and social perks should be on the table otherwise he's paying points and getting no benefits.

[Toptomcat]

Originally Posted by mr beer

I don't want to give him trained fighters to boss around (unless he pays for Allies) but resources and social perks should be on the table otherwise he's paying points and getting no benefits.

If the organization in question is military in nature, then he should get access to trained fighters, when the purpose they need to use them for is military in nature. If the stolen McGuffin is Ruritanian military property, necessary for the completion of the ritual magic that is a crucial part of their strategic plan against Cagliostro, then they're well within their rights to muster a squad of Ruritanian men-at-arms to help recover it.

...and if adventures like that will never come up, with the benefits of military Rank being purely social, I would be inclined to provide it at a discount. Not permitting military Rank to provide aid that would be useful in combat would be like not letting Administrative Rank let you cut through red tape, not letting Merchant Rank to give you anything that can be used to make money, not using Police Rank to give access to forensics labs and let your adventure buddies off the hook when they bend the rules...