abandoned lighthouse, raided and left no one alive? those are probably just stories and even if true, they won’t come back (probably), this abandoned lighthouse headquarters is strong enough to stand against any storm (probably), and many of the leaks have been fixed already, and just look at that cool light up top, and the oversized storage cellar, docks close by are perfect for a starter franchise that comes into possession of a boat, and are also a sign of the lighthouse’s importance to coastal trade,?commandeering it will likely win over the locals and maybe even the region’s royalty!

beat-up keelboat. any franchise can take to the seas in this new (okay, very used) keelboat! pirates killed the previous owners, and head office picked it up for an excellent price, most of the holes in the hull are repaired, and the sails are only a little bit moldy, even better, there’s a small covered area in the rear protected from the elements that makes a perfect living space! the keelboat holds a half-ton of cargo, and might even come with reduced docking fees at some ports of call, statistics for a standard keelboat are found in chapter 5 of the dungeon master’s guide, the dm might adjust the number of people the boat can comfortably carry, but having such a headquarters typically implies that most franchise staff are itinerant or live elsewhere in whatever settlement is the boat’s primary port of call,

old tavern, with just a little work and some better furniture, this place could be the talk of the town, the tavern is certainly not haunted, seriously, no one listens to those rumors, but if it were, and if the story was spun the right way, the marketing potential could be huge, some even say that the ghosts (which totally don’t exist) like to sing, so that’s a plus! the kitchen is already stocked with plates, mugs, and lots of knives, and a few rooms upstairs are ready to rent out to travelers

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 the world, 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

Draconic Ship. This once-innocuous seagoing vessel has been detailed to appear as a brass dragon. The ship’s interior is decorated in draconic art, and platforms among the rigging are linked by silk ropes attached to pulleys. These might provide benefits to crew trained in their use if the ship is ever attacked.

Enchanted Wizard’s Tower. In the entrance hall of a former-wizard’s-tower headquarters, enchanted portraits display visages of the franchise’s recently vanquished foes. Smaller portraits throughout the tower display important moments in the franchise’s adventuring history, and the whole interior is set with magical lighting, decorated with candelabra, and features drapes and carpets matching the franchise’s chosen motif.

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.

Expanded Lighthouse. The lighthouse is now taller, with two additional levels, an upgraded beacon, and a stronger exterior. A stairway leads down into a network of old caverns, including some used as storage space, and finally onto a small beach with a dock.

Expanded Tavern. The building adjacent to the tavern has been bought out and connected to it, allowing for more guest chambers, a larger common room, a larger kitchen, and staff quarters. A large fireplace fills the common room with light and warmth, while new tables and chairs create a welcome environment. Guest chambers might feature a patio or balcony.

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.

Giant Stone Statue. A 100-foot-tall stone statue has stairs and rooms carved within its interior. When a character sits at the helm located in a room within the statue’s head, the statue can be directed to walk across the land. The statue ignores difficult terrain, usually by simply crashing through it. However, the navigator has a limited sight line while peering out through the statue’s large eyes. When the terrain is cluttered or subject to combat conditions, it can be hard to avoid creatures or objects smaller than a large building.

A good idea is to swim in the wake of an existing business. Somebody else did the market research and decided this was a good location? Awesome! Now use that decision against them. Set up direct competition. Then spread rumors about them until they’re forced to leave the area in shame. Now the market is yours. That’s how you business.

— Donaar Blit’zen

Battle Balloon. A hot air balloon is lit by a magic furnace channeling elemental power. A galleon suspended below the balloon features a helm that controls the ship. The vessel can fly virtually anywhere, ignoring difficult terrain, but it is at risk from storms and strong winds. If the balloon takes significant damage, the ship could be forced to descend — or might even crash.

(Appendix C features vehicle statistics for a typical battle balloon. For characters who choose this highly coveted feature for their headquarters, the DM can impose limitations on the ship’s attacks and make changes to its statistics.)

Self-Contained Train. This mobile franchise headquarters features a magical-mechanical locomotive that lays down its own track. Mechanical arms at the front of the locomotive set down crossbars and rails in front of the headquarters at ridiculous speed, while arms at the back of the headquarters pick up the track as it passes. The train moves at quarter speed over difficult terrain (instead of half speed). It can pass over rivers, but cannot cross lakes or large bodies of water.

Extradimensional Wagon. A seemingly simple wagon drawn by an old horse channels powerful magic. The wagon’s driver can cause the wagon to teleport the distance of a day’s journey, targeting a known location over the course of one or more extradimensional jumps. Such teleportation is usually done when no one is looking, to avoid arousing suspicion or frightening the locals. Though the wagon eventually arrives at the intended destination, the intervening stop-off points are unknown — and quite possibly perilous.

ACQUISITIONS INCORPORATED IS MAGIC!

Dungeons & Dragons offers a wide range of play styles, and works with many different types of campaign story. The Dungeon Master’s Guide talks about some of the most common types of fantasy that can shape a D&D campaign, including a general sense of campaigns being high magic, low magic, or the D&D standard in between.

An Acquisitions Incorporated campaign has its own distinct feel, as talked about in chapter 1 of this book. Part of that feel comes from the substantial benefits that characters gain from franchise features and company positions — mechanical boons, magic items, access to powerful spell effects, and more. These benefits are gained automatically, as a general reward for the characters’ adventuring success driving franchise advancement. So it’s important that everyone is aware how adding those built-in campaign benefits to the regular magic gained during adventuring will give the characters a boost in power.

For an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign meant to feel and play like standard D&D, the DM should consider creating a low-magic campaign, and letting the benefits of company positions and franchise features fill in the magical gaps. A standard campaign played with the rules in this book should be treated as a high magic campaign, with the DM and the players understanding that the difficulty of encounters and other tasks might need to be ramped up to offer a real challenge to the characters. Of course, nothing prevents anyone from playing a high magic campaign with the Acquisitions Incorporated rules. But DMs and players should all be aware that doing so will create extremely powerful characters — who will no doubt attract extremely powerful enemies and threats as a matter of course.

Weapon Features

At rank 2, the members of a franchise can add a weapon to their headquarters, choosing from the options in the “Siege Equipment” 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.

Giant Statue’s Fists. A giant hollow metal statue acting as a franchise headquarters features a control center from which the statue’s arms can be manipulated. One fist can be used per round to strike at foes, using statistics similar to a ram (AC 15, 100 hit points, immunity to poison and psychic damage).

Giant Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one object or creature. Hit: 16 (3d10) bludgeoning damage.

Lighthouse Energy Blast. Magical power can be focused through a lighthouse beacon, requiring 1 round to gather energy and aim. The following round, the energy can be released. The beacon has AC 12, 75 hit points, immunity to poison and psychic damage, and vulnerability to cold. The explosion of energy can be treated as a scorching ray, fireball, or lightning bolt spell, as the DM determines. More powerful features might require more time to recharge, or could be usable only a certain number of times per day. Such attacks might function at longer range but be unable to target creatures or objects within 60 feet of the lighthouse.

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.

— K’thriss Drow’b

Ever-Changing Ship. Whether an oceangoing vessel or an airship, this headquarters can alter its appearance with illusion magic. Additionally, the appearance of some or all creatures aboard can be changed as if they were affected by a seeming spell. Franchisees can alter the appearance of the ship and its occupants a number of times per day, or can drop the illusory effects as needs be. The nature of the illusion magic means that the ship’s size and features do not change, and individuals interacting with the ship or investigating its appearance have a chance to see the true form of the ship and its crew.

Spectral Wait Staff. A tavern headquarters (which already has a cosmetic feature to make it appear haunted) now gains spectral wait staff. The spectral staff serve customers expertly, and speak and understand speech as if intelligent. However, they are magical creations similar to those conjured by the unseen servant spell, able to perform all the functions of such a creation and any other functions agreed to by the DM. Spectral staff can momentarily become insubstantial, along with anything they carry, allowing them to serve food and drink through walls. Any member of the franchise can spend an action to telepathically command one or more spectral staff members.

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 multitarget or area effect) per franchise rank. When a saving throw is required, a good DC is 12 + franchise rank.

Carriage Ejector Platforms. A carriage gains potent defensive capabilities in the form of sections of its roof and walls set with powerful concealed springs. This defensive feature can be activated as a bonus action by the driver or any creature within 5 feet of them. When a creature steps or grabs onto a protected section, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be flung from the wagon to a distance of 10 feet per franchise rank. The creature takes falling damage as if it had fallen that distance.

Electrified Floors and Rails. Specific areas of a ship or airship’s floor and railings are warded with elemental lightning, up to an area the size of half the ship’s upper deck. A character at the helm can activate this magic as a bonus action. Any creature making contact with a warded area takes 13 (3d8) lightning damage, and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn.

Grease Compartment. Whether a building, a vessel, or some other structure, a franchise is equipped with a compartment holding grease. When activated, nozzles release the grease either in a 30-foot cone or into a specific area no larger than 20 by 20 feet — typically focusing on an area through which attacking creatures are likely to move. Any creature entering the greased area must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and end its movement that turn. A creature driving a vehicle that enters the greased area must make an appropriate ability check against the save DC. On a failure, the vehicle veers 3d10 + 10 feet in a random direction, then ends its movement for the round.

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 feature

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

escape pod a walking statue’s head can also serve as an escape pod, if the headquarters is ever destroyed, or if the character controlling the statue activates the escape mode as an action, the head detaches from the body and takes to the air with a flying speed of 80 feet, the flight lasts for up to 5 rounds, and is directed by the same controls that originally controlled the statue, if the head is not on the ground when the flight ends, it falls and any creatures within take falling damage

extradimensional tavern several of the doors in a franchise’s tavern are inscribed with runes, anyone who traces a rune while speaking a passphrase can access their choice of ten extradimensional rooms, 20 feet on a side, these rooms can function as libraries, laboratories, meeting rooms, kitchens, prisons, private quarters, and more, with each room’s setup and contents chosen when the rooms are first installed, each room’s initial furnishing and equipment are included, though characters can later add to these features as they wish

glider launcher a hidden compartment within an airship holds ten gliders, a secret door leads to the compartment, which features an exterior escape hatch activated from within any glider, each glider accommodates one medium or smaller creature and up to 50 pounds of gear, has a flying speed of 60 feet, and must descend at least 20 feet each round, a glider can be piloted as an action by any character with proficiency with flying vehicles, characters without such proficiency might need to make ability checks of the dm’s choosing to pilot a glider successfully, a glider weighs 100 pounds, has ac 14, 50 hit points, and is immune to poison and psychic damage