Ledged Calculator

[darkrose50]

Have you guys read the first post?

I have been thinking about reputation.  I think we [my group] should use some sort of formula to determine how much reputation we have.

Here are the parameters I would use for a formula:
1) based on level
2) exponential
3) include ledged
4) cumulative

Here is the formula I would use for reputation gain per level:
Ledged + Level * 5

What reputation rules would you come up with to track the following three categories separately?

1.   Adventuring utility (combat effectiveness, traveling magics)
2.   Social utility (rank tied to people known)
3.   Where you live / base of operation

Let us play by the basic “yes, and” rule and not the “no, but” rule.  Saying don’t bother with this idea is not constructive.  Saying, but the rule book says X is not helpful.

[foproy]

ok, so you counter my argument about prizes with an argument about reputation?

[darkrose50]

The reputation system is how one acquires renown.  I am specifically addressing renown and the items acquired though spending renown. 

If someone is making a set of house rules to cover an area they would like to modify it is not helpful to say “that’s not what the rulebook says”.  That is the point of house rules.

[Krensky]

This is a setting where magic is literally everyplace: magic trains, flying airships, and waffle irons with little effeets trapped inside.

And? In a non-magic setting a private train or airship is a Prize (a Holding to be precise). Here's a tip, if everything is magic, it's not really magic. Just because the trains and airships run on bound elkementals rather then coal doesn't change anything with the rules.

A iffreet powered waffle iron is just colorful household goods unless the thing grants wishes or something.

Aside from that . . . from my point of view prizes fall into three categories (I would track them seperately):
1.   Adventuring utility (combat effectiveness, traveling magics)
2.   Social utility (people known)
3.   Where you live / base of operation

I find it odd that this information is pooled together.  Your house and home is not often going to aid in adventuring, neither is your childhood friend, but your magic sword or flying carpet is another story.  

Maybe in your games.

In mine if you buy a holding or contacts its my job as GM to make it relevant. Now, specific NPCs as contacts or immobile Holdings are more popular in games more limited in scope, but that's not a surprise. James Bond's apartment is an irrelevance. Nero Wolfe's brownstone on the other hand is central to significant parts of his character. Stationary prizes are less useful in globe trotting games then in local ones.

But if you want to make characters significantly more powerful and significantly more complex, more power to you. I find things work fine out of the box once you forget D&Disms.

In role-playing game in general I would add to the list:
4.   Crafting ability

The ability to make a shoe and make some extra coin should be tracked separately from the ability to stab someone in the face with a fireball.

Um... there are crafting rules. Right there in the skills chapter. They're not drawn from a separate pool from other skills that have a more immediate impact in combat, if that's what you mean. Primarily because it's dumb. If you spend time learning Crafting (Tailoring) you don't have as many ranks in Athletics. Of course, since that focus also lets you do stuff like make armor and magic items in addition to shoes and shirts, it's kind of a fair trade.

Saying that non-combat stuff has to come from a separate pile than combat stuff is the stupidest thing to ever spew from D&D with 4e.

He does not want to.  It is not fun for him.  He wants to concentrate on the political happenings of the story. 

The reputation and prize rules as written do not fit my ideals of balance.  So I want to make some house rules and figure it out so that it would fulfill my needs while being balanced within them. 

But what you're proposing is massively more work than is needed. Are you the GM or a player? If I couldn't be bothered to think of cool toys for my players to find I'd just ask them what they wanted and then say yes or no. It's what I do for starting gear. Honestly though, coming up with nifty items and memorable NPCs that the players want to help and get favors from is part of the fun.

As for balance, have you actually played with them? How are they unbalanced in your experience? Or is it just that they violate some ideal of not mingling 'combat' and 'non-combat' resources for you?

There is an option someplace about high magic worlds having more magical prizes.

Monty Haul lets you keep twice as many prizes (and ignore encumbrance).
Plentiful Magic Items makes them more common on the treasure charts.

And? Most of thew 'magic' items in Eberon are no such thing. Oh, sure, they run on 'magic' but there's no history or legend to mystery to them. They're just mundane items with sparkly bits.

Saying this game is not like D&D seems odd to me.  I feel like I am playing D&D.

Yep. Of course the single most common and valuable advice regulars give newcomers is "Forget D&D". It looks like D&D, it does D&D better then D&D. It is not D&D though. It's a crunchy narrative game that approaches design from a different place and fixes almost all of D&D's mechanical failures.

The groups goals are to figure out how much reputation we should have so we could buy things without the GM micromanaging the process. 

That assumes the GM will lt you buy Prizes, which is an explicitly optional rule. ii also already gave you the guidelines, and they're in the section on Rep rewards.

My goals are to track prizes in three categories:
1.   Adventuring utility (combat effectiveness, traveling magics)
2.   Social utility (rank tied to people known)
3.   Where you live / base of operation

Sounds pointlessly complicated and horribly 4e-like.

I am not a fan of never being able to be a knight, with a keep, with a magic sword, who knows people.

And what does that have to do with it?

Take Adventurer as your Specialty, then play a Lancer. Take Hero of the People, Extra Holding, and Extra Contact as bonus feats. Or Play a Captain and make your PL your Magic Sword, although with this route you'll need to pull the Extra Holding and Contact feats from your level based feats.

If you're the GM, I'd also recommend Reputable Heroes which doubles Rep rewards. Monty Haul and Plentiful Magic Items were already mentioned.

The reputation system is how one acquires renown.  I am specifically addressing renown and the items acquired though spending renown. 

If someone is making a set of house rules to cover an area they would like to modify it is not helpful to say “that’s not what the rulebook says”.  That is the point of house rules.

Yeah. They issue is when someone doesn't appear to have a strong grasp on how those rules do work (you don't spend renown for anything) and they post in the rules section, not the house rule section.

[darkrose50]

I seemed to have, at times, switched reputation (currency) with renown (social ranking).  Thank you for the clarification.

If magic is more prevalent in magical gear one would assume this would cover non-adventuring gear and adventuring gear alike.   

Tracking resources in different categories can be useful.  One area is uncommonly or rarely useful in another.  An example of this idea is presented in the Feng Shui RPG where powers are placed in differing pools for advancement purposes.  I think this is the part of the system I respect the most. 

Some would say that combat ability and crafting ability should be tracked separately (World of Warcraft does this remarkably well).

Also there is the popular theory that having multiple, equal or lesser items that do that same thing should be rather cheap to buy.  An example of this is in Mutants and Masterminds where two similar powers cost the points to buy one +1.  Some would say that being able to fly X and being able to jump X would not warrant double the cost.

Having a knightly title, a holding, knowing a half-dozen average (impressive?) folks seems about right to me at 9th level.  Having three or six magical items seems about right.  I do not find this terribly complex (I find this objection to be odd seeing how this is a rather complex D20 system).

From my point of view prizes fall into three categories (I would track them separately):
1.   Adventuring utility (combat effectiveness, traveling magics)
2.   Social utility (people known)
3.   Where you live / base of operation

In role-playing games in general I would add to the list:
4.   Crafting ability

The ability to make a shoe and make some extra coin should be tracked separately from the ability to stab someone in the face with a fireball.

I mentioned above that World of Warcraft tracks combat ability and crafting separately.  It is my opinion that wanting to play as a crafter, in RPGs in general should not (either not at all or not significantly) detract from ones combat abilities.

It is my opinion that background fluff and combat crunch should be tracked differently.  When running West End Games version of Star Wars, for example, I would allow people to buy levels in cooking for significantly lower character point cost than blaster or starfighter pilot.  Some folks, including the writers of rules, think they should be the same cost.  This is why folks use house rules.  Such is life. 

Abilities that are either relatively useless (baking in most stories) or central (being a doctor is a hospital drama) should have lower costs. 

Saying that non-combat stuff has to come from a separate pile than combat stuff is the stupidest thing to ever spew from D&D with 4e.

I have not played in any D&D 4e campaigns.  However, I have played it several short times testing the waters with some friends.  Some liked it, most did not.  I could go either way.

I have stated my goals several times.  I have two general goals.  [1] To figure out a chart for reputation per level for a GM who does not enjoy fiddling with treasure.  [2] To enjoy an intellectual exorcise.

A social rank (renown), a farm (holding), a childhood crush (contact), and a magic sword (magic item), are not exactly equal to an adventurer.  Having a farm, a girlfriend, and a magic sword would not overly complicate things.  Nor would it put game balance in jeopardy.  Such an adventurer would be equally challenging as one that just had a magic sword. 

To tell someone to not take ideas from other games they enjoy is not good advice. 

Being able to purchase knight (rank), with a keep (holding), and a magic sword (magic item), who knows people (contacts) is the point of the chart I am working on.

Using feats to fill the needs of a player is a good idea, however I would prefer that to be an additional option. 

[darkrose50]

   Each odd level equates to one reputation rank. 
   If it costs 10 less points for you to advance in a reputation rank, then starting at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter you gain 10-reputation points to spend as normal.   
   Each odd level you gain an average 50 XP contact.
   You may have one prize for each level of renown acquired. 
   Each prize is worth the level of renown x10 when acquired.
   Each level you gain 10 reputation points towards a holding
   Each level 1-5 you gain 5+Ledgend in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Each level 6-10 you gain 5+Ledgend*2 in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Each level 11-20 you gain 5+Ledgend*3 in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Low reputation progression [Assassin, Lancer]
   Medium reputation progression [Burglar, Courtier, Explorer]
   High reputation progression [Sage, Mage, Keeper, Captain]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsRt2Yv7ojKedEJNVkxpZ0NrU1JGUHZqOG5zVnhGYmc#gid=0

[foproy]

reputation has little to do with treasure. they are sperate entities. the only time they clash is when buying magical items. you calculate reputation based on several factors, from the type of enemy your players fight to things they accomplished to just giving bonuses to people who stand out. unless you put a magical item in the treasure pool treasure will not effect reputation. after the players get rep they can use it to buy magical items, renown, or holdings. magical items and holdings are considered prizes and you can only possess so many based upon your renown. and that is total no matter how you purchased your renown.

[Sletchman]

In some ways I agree with you.  Starting Reputation isn't very much (and means that by standard rules you never start as an "established adventurer").  I think you've gone about a solution in an unnecessarily complicated and involved fashion, but I understand your goal.

Why not simplify it a great deal?

Established Heroes (Permanent):  All Heroes start with 1/2 their Career Level in Renown (distributed among the tracks of their choice).

Done.  That "level 9 fighter" can now start with 5 prizes of his choosing.  So a House, a Contact, and 3 Magic Items (Sword, Shield, Armour).  With Monty Haul on (which seems to be your groups default level) that becomes 10 prizes - 2 houses, 2 contacts, and 6 magic items.  You get 90 Reputation to spend on the prizes (which is a truckload) and if Reputable Heroes is on I can't see any reason why I wouldn't let the players start with 180 Reputation.

Some would say that combat ability and crafting ability should be tracked separately (World of Warcraft does this remarkably well).

Hell no.  That just makes no sense at all.

Imagine: Twins seperate for 3 years.  One spends that time becoming a master chef while the other works exclusively on becoming a master mixed martial artist.

By the above logic, the guy who did nothing but work on his cooking skill should be able to hold his own in a brawl with the unarmed combat specialist.  At the same time the guy who lived on grilled chicken breasts and vegetables while training his body should be able to make a flawless souffle.  It neither works like that or makes any sense.  You are good at what you invest time and effort in.  You don't become magically good at gunfighting because you're a master hacker.

Good tabletop games should reflect that reality.  If they don't then it's either the GMs fault for only having combat to resolve situations or the players fault for only using combat to resolve situations.

Also, you just posted while I was typing this and that list is just too much shit.  Who wants to have 9 different contacts to create, track and have come up in play over the course of their career?  Stuff that.  Your prizes are worth crazy quantities of Reputation.  Look at the examples - there is one that goes over 50 and you're talking about giving out 10+ worth twice that.  That's insane.  And then you're giving out heaps of free Reputation to spend in addition to having more contacts, holdings and magic items then most people could actually come up with?  It's just too much stuff.

EDIT: Holy shit!  You've got a magic item in that spread sheet worth 550 Reputation?  I'm pretty sure it's not even possible for one to have anywhere near that high a value.  Even the "low level" ones worth ~210 are probably beyond what's possible.  It's just way, way too much.

[Big_Jim]

A social rank (renown), a farm (holding), a childhood crush (contact), and a magic sword (magic item), are not exactly equal to an adventurer.  Having a farm, a girlfriend, and a magic sword would not overly complicate things.  Nor would it put game balance in jeopardy.  Such an adventurer would be equally challenging as one that just had a magic sword. 

I see part of the problem. You're suffering from "literalism" - That these things exist for the character, therefore they must take up a resource for the character and be literally defined. However, in Fantasy Craft, they don't. We'll cover your examples one by one, so you can see what I mean.

Social rank (renown) - Obviously useful - it's how you get the slots for more prizes, it's how you gain access to favors, etc. Nobody (in there right mind) thinks Renown isn't a necessary part of every character - no matter what their background or goals. So that's a wash. Everybody agrees it's something you want to spend rep on.

a farm (holding) - Does the farm do anything (game mechanics-wise) for the character? No? Then it's not a Holding. It doesn't take a prize slot or eat up and Rep. It's flavor and fluff; a plot point for the GM to use for or against you. But it doesn't actually do anything.  If it does do something (Generate income through Tradesmen, give benefits through it's Rooms, etc) then it's doing something for the character and should be a Holding and take a prize slot. In your example the farm is not likely to do anything that "my usual room in the inn" or "I shack up with that barmaid that likes me" usually does. So it's not a prize.

a childhood crush (contact) - Like the farm, does she do anything for you? More specifically, does she do anything that a contact actually does? If she's just acts as your explanation for where your prudence tax gets burned, tells you of an occasional rumor and needs to be rescued, then she's not really a contact. She's an NPC that you interact with through the magic of role-playing. If she does help you and you call her up for a scene fairly regularly to assist you, then she's a contact, and is worthy of a prize slot. Since former farmer's girlfriends are generally stuck in "damsel in distress" mode, we'll stick to convention and can her a fluff NPC - not a prize.

a magic sword (magic item) - This is most definitely a prize. It's not really necessary in Fantasy Craft, but no one will disagree that's it's a prize.

So there we are, two of the four things in your example are rep-worthy/prize-worthy.

[Krensky]

I seemed to have, at times, switched reputation (currency) with renown (social ranking).  Thank you for the clarification.

No worries.

If magic is more prevalent in magical gear one would assume this would cover non-adventuring gear and adventuring gear alike.  

Not all 'magic' gear are prizes. A pocket watch that never needs winding and keeps perfect time is 'magic' and useful. It's not a Prize though. The backpack in the gear chapter increases your carrying capacity. In Pathfinder, there's a magic item that does the same thing. I generally explain the pack in the gear section as a fancy frame pack type deal. The standard haversack is free. You could easily explain the carrying capacity increase as being low level magic. Same with any benefit granting bit of gear. Flint and Steel is a magical lighter.

Tracking resources in different categories can be useful.  One area is uncommonly or rarely useful in another.  An example of this idea is presented in the Feng Shui RPG where powers are placed in differing pools for advancement purposes.  I think this is the part of the system I respect the most.  

Yes, but this assumes that those categories are of different utility. In Feng Shui anything unrelated to investigation or combat is largely useless mechanically. The system prevents you from making pure combat monsters by making you buy stuff other then pure combat. That's not the case here. Non-combat abilities and skills are incredibly strong. A Courtier will never kick as much ass in a fight as a Soldier. That's OK though, the Soldier won't rock social encounters the same way the Courtier will.

Some would say that combat ability and crafting should be tracked separately (World of Warcraft does this remarkably well).

Again, assumes that crafting is not as good as combat or social skills or exploration skills. Not true here. Balance isn't everyone being equal at everything, it's everyone being good at something. If you want to be a master crafter, you'll not be as good at some other things you might have been. On the other hand you'll be making some sweet mundane and Prize gear for the party.

Also there is the popular theory that having multiple, equal or lesser items that do that same thing should be rather cheap to buy.  An example of this is in Mutants and Masterminds where two similar powers cost the points to buy one +1.  Some would say that being able to fly X and being able to jump X would not warrant double the cost.

And what does that have to do with anything? M&M is a completely different beast.

Having a knightly title, a holding, knowing a half-dozen average (impressive?) folks seems about right to me at 9th level.  Having three or six magical items seems about right.  I do not find this terribly complex (I find this objection to be odd seeing how this is a rather complex D20 system).

Again, this is similar to the gear issue.

Ignore the titles. Renown 6 is big, in addition to safely holding six prizes look at the favors requiring Renown 6. It's more then just being Sir Soandso. Plenty of knights would not be Renown 6 (ignoring that NPCs don't use the system for now).

I find Pathfinder or D&D3.X far more complex, but if you think the game is complex why make it more so?

I mentioned above that World of Warcraft tracks combat ability and crafting separately.  It is my opinion that wanting to play as a crafter, in RPGs in general should not (either not at all or not significantly) detract from ones combat abilities.

It is my opinion that background fluff and combat crunch should be tracked differently.  When running West End Games version of Star Wars, for example, I would allow people to buy levels in cooking for significantly lower character point cost than blaster or starfighter pilot.  Some folks, including the writers of rules, think they should be the same cost.  This is why folks use house rules.  Such is life.  

Again, this assumes that crafting is not on equal footing and that everyone must be equally good at all things. Crafting (cooking) lets you turn nothing into multiple condition recovery or save boosting items.

As for just making extra coin making , that's not a crafting check it's a downtime check. You can use any skill you can justify to make money or earn Reputation during downtime. So when the party's Keeper is in the forge making your Soldier some sweet upgraded armor with a few charms and essences, you can use your (combat oriented) Athletics skill to make some coin or earn some Rep.

I have stated my goals several times.  I have two general goals.  [1] To figure out a chart for reputation per level for a GM who does not enjoy fiddling with treasure.  [2] To enjoy a intellectual exorcise.

Like I said, it's the value based on Menace + Legend + Obective and Instant Rewards.

A social rank (renown), a farm (holding), a childhood crush (contact), and a magic sword (magic item), are not exactly equal to an adventurer.  Having a farm, a girlfriend, and a magic sword would overly complicate things.  Nor would it put game balance in jeopardy.  Such an adventurer would be equally challenging as one that just had a magic sword.  

Except that having a holding, a contact and a magic item is more powerful then just having a magic item. Read the rules for a holding, or for a contact. If you're playing in a pure combat game, sure non-combat stuff isn't as useful. That's not the game's fault.

To tell someone to not take ideas from other games you enjoy is not good advice.  

Taking ideas from games with different design goals, spaces, and intents to 'fix' a system you don't understand is not a good idea.

Being able to purchase knight (rank), a keep (holding), a magic sword (magic item), who knows people (contacts) is the point of the chart I am working on.

Using feats to fill the needs of a player is a good idea, however I would prefer that to be an additional option.

Why? Why does everyone have to have every toy and be awesome at everything all the time? Whatever happened to making trade offs? "I want to be awesome when talking with the king and calling in favors in court and haggling. So I'll accept not being a master of combat." or "I want to absolutely rock the combat mini-game. Ok, so I'm rough around the edges and struggle in purely social challenges and my only way to deal with a locked door is a bigger hammer, but did you see what I did to the Dragon last week!"

Non-combat is not fluff. It is another aspect of the game. Another source of challenges and encounters. By giving all sorts of non-combat 'fluff' and saying it's because only combat stuff matters you're missing the design and balance space of the game entirely.

[darkrose50]

Why not simplify it a great deal?

Established Heroes (Permanent):  All Heroes start with 1/2 their Career Level in Renown (distributed among the tracks of their choice).

Done.  That "level 9 fighter" can now start with 5 prizes of his choosing.  So a House, a Contact, and 3 Magic Items (Sword, Shield, Armour).  With Monty Haul on (which seems to be your groups default level) that becomes 10 prizes - 2 houses, 2 contacts, and 6 magic items.  You get 90 Reputation to spend on the prizes (which is a truckload) and if Reputable Heroes is on I can't see any reason why I wouldn't let the players start with 180 Reputation.

That’s the general idea.

Some would say that combat ability and crafting ability should be tracked separately (World of Warcraft does this remarkably well).

Hell no.  That just makes no sense at all.

What is it up to 18-million subscribers?  Seems to work.

Here is an example that should make you happy though:

I am thinking of running a homebrew game were there are at least four categories (combat, social, exploration, background/profession/craft).  Each category would be tracked separately.  The cost to buy an ability or level in each category would be 3+ the number of abilities or levels in that area your character currently possess.  Each story the characters would earn ~5-points to spend.  So height as well as breath of abilities would be possible.  One could specialize and put all of ones points into one area, or spread them out among many.  At a point you begin receiving diminishing returns.  Adventurer 1: fighting 5 (3+4+5+6+7) with a specialty in swords (+8) with diplomacy 1 (+3) would be 36-points.  Adventurer 2:  fighting 3 (3+4+5), impress 3 (3+4+5), tracking 3 (3+4+5) would be 36-points.  Something along those lines. 

Imagine: Twins seperate for 3 years.  One spends that time becoming a master chef while the other works exclusively on becoming a master mixed martial artist.

It does not follow the example set, unless the master chef did not spend his combat points and the mixed martial artist did not spend his craft points. 

By the above logic, the guy who did nothing but work on his cooking skill should be able to hold his own in a brawl with the unarmed combat specialist.  At the same time the guy who lived on grilled chicken breasts and vegetables while training his body should be able to make a flawless souffle.  It neither works like that or makes any sense.  You are good at what you invest time and effort in.  You don't become magically good at gunfighting because you're a master hacker.

Good tabletop games should reflect that reality.  If they don't then it's either the GMs fault for only having combat to resolve situations or the players fault for only using combat to resolve situations.

You don’t magically become better at cooking because you killed a kobold and got some XP . . . no wait you do.  It works both ways. 

Also, you just posted while I was typing this and that list is just too much shit.  Who wants to have 9 different contacts to create, track and have come up in play over the course of their career?  Stuff that.  Your prizes are worth crazy quantities of Reputation.  Look at the examples - there is one that goes over 50 and you're talking about giving out 10+ worth twice that.  That's insane.  And then you're giving out heaps of free Reputation to spend in addition to having more contacts, holdings and magic items then most people could actually come up with?  It's just too much stuff.

This is likely the first piece of on topic advice so I have received so far.

   Each odd level equates to one reputation rank. 
   If it costs 10 less points for you to advance in a reputation rank, then starting at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter you gain 10-reputation points to spend as normal.   
   Each odd level you gain an average 50 XP contact.
   You may have one magic item for each level of renown acquired. 
   Each rank you gain rank*5 in points to spend on prizes (rank x10 maximum per prize).
   Each level you gain 10 reputation points towards a holding
   Each level 1-5 you gain 5+Ledgend in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Each level 6-10 you gain 5+Ledgend*2 in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Each level 11-20 you gain 5+Ledgend*3 in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Low reputation progression [Assassin, Lancer]
   Medium reputation progression [Burglar, Courtier, Explorer]
   High reputation progression [Sage, Mage, Keeper, Captain]
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsRt2Yv7ojKedGNvVngycDRDX3ZkeHlrOTcyLWh1RFE#gid=0

[Sletchman]

That’s the general idea.

Yeah, but you seem to be going about it in a needlessly complex way to me.  There's 2 campaign qualities that do half of what you want, add another 1 in and it's good to go.  I don't see the need for a 10 part list of stuff that makes players take things they may not want.

The problem is that your plan is going to lead to really homogenous characters - everyone will have a generic holding, some contacts and a magic weapon.  It automatically says "Nope" to the guy who wants to be Richard Castle, Fantasy Edition and use his pull to get things done - because everyone has equal pull.  It's a slippery slope between "easier for the GM" and "100% vanilla characters".

Some would say that combat ability and crafting ability should be tracked separately (World of Warcraft does this remarkably well).

Hell no.  That just makes no sense at all.

What is it up to 18-million subscribers?  Seems to work.

Yeah, with all those people doing the exact same thing.  Hitting stuff until it's dead.  There's no social challenge, no roleplay and no rewards for non-violent endevours.  I'd rather not play at all then play in a  tabletop game like that.

Here is an example that should make you happy though:

I am thinking of running a homebrew game were there are at least four categories (combat, social, exploration, background/profession/craft). 

<Snip, for space>

Sounds really, really (and unnecessarily) complex to me.  Go for broke though - more power to you.  I'd be concerned with homogenous characters, as I mentioned above, but it might work for your group (and if it does then great).

Imagine: Twins seperate for 3 years.  One spends that time becoming a master chef while the other works exclusively on becoming a master mixed martial artist.

It does not follow the example set, unless the master chef did not spend his combat points and the mixed martial artist did not spend his craft points.

Still doesn't make sense, and again - homogenous characters.  You get a bunch of boring and same-ey ninja/craftsman/socialites (because what CRPGamer wouldn't spend all his free point types?).  It's really bland, and certainly something I would have zero interest playing in.

You don’t magically become better at cooking because you killed a kobold and got some XP . . . no wait you do.  It works both ways. 

Good games have XP for roleplaying, and non-combat challenges.  Winning a local cooking contest should garner you as much XP as killing a kobold.  I've played in fantasy games where we didn't kill a single monster for 3 months.  We gained our XP from manipulating law enforcement, remaining unnoticed by the public, and setting up events to be in our favour.  You don't have to kill things to advance.

Lets hit the final part piecemeal:

   Each odd level equates to one reputation rank. 

No idea what that symbol is supposed to be, and you're still confusing Renown with Reputation - Reputation isn't "Ranked" in any way.  It's an abstract measure of power and influence.  Renown is standing.  Still, nothing wrong with this idea (it's the same as the Campaign quality I posted, which I've had active in play).

   If it costs 10 less points for you to advance in a reputation rank, then starting at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter you gain 10-reputation points to spend as normal.

Unnecessary in my opinion, but I can see your reasoning.  The benefit of those abilities is that it costs less as you advance during gameplay (not start out advanced).  If for some reason you feel the need to eliminate that advancement then this makes sense.  I'm just not sure why you'd want to eliminate organic advancement.

   Each odd level you gain an average 50 XP contact.

No.  If you want this then I challenge you to come up with 10 interesting and unique contacts, that are worthy of the title.  Not "an old girlfriend" - because that's not a contact, that's flavourtext.  Contacts are people you call up with some regularity for favours and have a bond with.  Having this means there's no bond, and no regular contact - just because there's too damn many of them.  If you must keep this idea then reduce it to like 1/5 level.

   You may have one magic item for each level of renown acquired. 

I'm not sure why you think contacts are less valuable then magic items, because it's not the case.

   Each rank you gain rank*5 in points to spend on prizes (rank x10 maximum per prize).

I'm not sure what you mean.  Each level of Renown gives you Reputation?  Why?  Why so many sources of Reputation?

   Each level you gain 10 reputation points towards a holding

Why?  You're giving plenty of reputation below, why do you feel the need to give more?  Do you just think holdings are worthless?  I'm looking for some insight here, not attacking you.

You're effectively giving away 2 free maximum scale holdings with this rule.  In fact, many characters will have too much Reputation to actually spend with this rate - given that holdings have a max scale based on lifestyle.

   Each level 1-5 you gain 5+Ledgend in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Each level 6-10 you gain 5+Ledgend*2 in reputation points to spend as you see fit
   Each level 11-20 you gain 5+Ledgend*3 in reputation points to spend as you see fit

Are you planning on eliminating adventure Reputation entirely?  If so then it makes sense.  Though it assumes you go on the same menace missions every time, which is a little bland, but not a mechanics failure.

Do away with everything else, and just keep the Renown each odd level and this last segment and you're probably onto something.  Everything else is what makes it too much.

[Blankbeard]

Given these assumptions:

1) That you level at the rate given on p342 and hand out reputation at the rates on p343
2) That you have an average of 2 critical objectives per adventure
3) That you evenly distribute menace among all 5 levels

You can come up with the following:

1) A character will achieve 20th level after about 46 adventures.
2) The average reputation gain will be about 12 per adventure.
3) The total reputation for a 20th level character should be around 560.
Let me give you 3 different formulas to think about that accomplish some of what you want.

In all cases, round down

Legend is handled the same way in all cases:
Reputation per level due to Legend = Legend * (1+ level/5)
Add this to one of the formulas below.

Reputation per level = 0.2*level^2
Expected total Reputation at 20th level (excluding Legend): 558

This formula satisfies all four of the parameters you posted.  It's not a very good option though.  Since it's exponential and level based, most of the Reputation comes at higher levels.  For level one and two, expected gain is only a single point.  This formula will not produce your ninth level knight but it is exactly what you asked for.  Let's try a non exponential formula.

Reputation per level = 10.5 * (1+level/5)
Expected total Reputation at 20th level (excluding Legend): 562

This is closest to the way Reputation is given out.

Reputation per level =28
Expected total : 560

This is what I'd use in your situation.  It's more front loaded than the others but you've mentioned that you're running a political game where you want everyone to have a selection of prizes quickly.  With low Legend, your 9th level knight would have 273 Rep to spend, enough to have 5 ranks of renown, a small manor house, two contacts, and 28 reputation to spend on his long sword.

It is my opinion that background fluff and combat crunch should be tracked differently.  When running West End Games version of Star Wars, for example, I would allow people to buy levels in cooking for significantly lower character point cost than blaster or starfighter pilot.  Some folks, including the writers of rules, think they should be the same cost.  This is why folks use house rules.  Such is life.

Abilities that are either relatively useless (baking in most stories) or central (being a doctor is a hospital drama) should have lower costs. 

Remember that we have several types of character creation "currencies" available.  If baking will never affect the story, just make it a background and be done with it.  If it's of almost no importance but you still wish to track it, make it an interest.  On the other end, in a hospital, rather than requiring the medicine skill, you might make specialties interests and just use a character level check requiring only the appropriate specialty.  That way, any character can do first aid, but surgery and psychotherapy require the appropriate interests.

In the same way you might have interest(Girlfriend) and use that as an explanation for a free laundry service (or Consort or a short Healer visit).  The leader of the local street urchins might be a Contact but the remainder could be represented by an interest that lets you do a free or low cost local delivery or announcement.

In a political drama a character might have a "leverage pool" of people that his agents have turned or just have dirt on.  They might be called on for a favor or service but are more temporary than contacts.  You might lose access to them after they fail a morale check or after a couple uses.  A safe house or a summer home doesn't require the same level of detail or investment as a holding.  See the "Safe House" feat in the Adventure Companion for a starting point.

Tracking resources in different categories can be useful.  One area is uncommonly or rarely useful in another.  An example of this idea is presented in the Feng Shui RPG where powers are placed in differing pools for advancement purposes.  I think this is the part of the system I respect the most.

Some would say that combat ability and crafting ability should be tracked separately (World of Warcraft does this remarkably well).

If you want separated crafting, try this:

Everyone Crafts (Permanent)
Players may not select or put skill points into the Crafting skill.  Classes which have Crafting as a class skill may instead pick another skill to substitute.  Crafting focuses may be purchased with interests.  Any Crafting checks are made using d20+Character level + Int bonus.  Characters with enlightened crafting gain a +2 bonus while the Keeper's Man of Reason ability grants a +5. These two abilities don't stack.

That should be enough to give you something to work with. 

This all really belongs in the License to Improvise board.  It might be useful to post there.

[LordKruelos]

This has been a very interesting read on a few levels, not least because much of the back and forth has reminded me quite a bit of an argument over a Rube Goldberg-esque machine -- where one side is saying "Why would you do X, Y, and Z to accomplish what can easily be handled already by Task A?" and the other side is saying "look, if I string all these fiddly bits together, at the well-oiled machine I've created."

A little background: My home FC campaign, which has been running for a bit over a year now, also concentrates heavily on the political happenings of the story, and is based on an old D&D accessory (the Bloodstone Lands and associated modules, for other grognards). After leveling normally from 1st to 2nd level, I decided as the GM that I didn't want to do the work of tracking XP anymore, so I asked my group what they thought about the PLAYING WITHOUT EXPERIENCE sidebar and off we went from there, and the players enjoy not tracking the minutia as much as I'm enjoying having less tedious work to do. I have found, however, that I've been a bit lax in handing out Reputation. So I have an interest in the concept, but also an interest in making whatever solution have the fewest number of moving parts and required modifications, not just because IMO that's good practice for "Game Engineering" but also because any house rule that requires more calculations and GM oversight than the default that I've already decided I don't want to do is the wrong solution for me.
If the OP or someone else wants a Goldberg-machine for their own use, have fun, go nuts, but don't be surprised if you ask for feedback from a larger community and the response is largely "There's much more efficient, less convoluted ways to accomplish what you want with less tedious bookkeeping."

As an aside on distinguishing between "background fluff and combat crunch," I think you'll find 1) Combat Crunch is not the be-all, end-all of FC and 2) the definition of what is "background fluff" is going to vary pretty widely from player to player, group to group.
One of my players decided he wanted his character to be a goblin master chef as a part of his concept -- while my first thought was "man, I hope he doesn't get turned off because there's not much written about Cooking beyond it following the general crafting rules" --  as the GM, if I allow a concept, I make it my job to weave it into the game. If a player gives you a concept that doesn't make sense for the game you want to run, it should be your job to either work with them to tweak the concept, or think more closely about the game you're running to find space for the concept.

Speaking to the original post:

Here are the parameters I would use for a formula:
1) based on level
2) exponential
3) include ledged
4) cumulative

Here is the formula I would use for reputation gain per level:
Ledged + Level * 5

Your initially proposed formula is not exponential, it is linear, with some slight confusion due to the second variable (Legend) being derived from the first. Similarly, parameters 1, 3, and 4 are mostly redundant since Level is inherently a cumulative concept, and Legend is a value derived from Level.
So before we really address the problem, we have to refine the parameters since some of the words you're using don't have the meaning you think they do.

That being said, Blankbeard has done some solid work that I'd like to comment on and iterate from.

Given these assumptions:
1) That you level at the rate given on p342 and hand out reputation at the rates on p343
2) That you have an average of 2 critical objectives per adventure
3) That you evenly distribute menace among all 5 levels

You can come up with the following:
1) A character will achieve 20th level after about 46 adventures.
2) The average reputation gain will be about 12 per adventure.
3) The total reputation for a 20th level character should be around 560.

While the fit of assumptions will vary from group to group, these seem to be reasonable assumptions to derive a general formula from.

Let me give you 3 different formulas to think about that accomplish some of what you want.
In all cases, round down

Legend is handled the same way in all cases:
Reputation per level due to Legend = Legend * (1+ level/5)
Add this to one of the formulas below.

1) Reputation per level = 0.2*level^2
Expected total Reputation at 20th level (excluding Legend): 558

2) Reputation per level = 10.5 * (1+level/5)
Expected total Reputation at 20th level (excluding Legend): 562
(This is closest to the way Reputation is given out.)

3) Reputation per level =28
Expected total : 560

I think this is a good start, but my preference for any on-the-fly calculation is to minimize accounting for decimal places or exponents. Not that these are particularly difficult while sober, but I'm not against Drinking and Dicing, so sobriety is not a guaranteed condition

Iterating and simplifying from Blankbeard's calculations, again holding the Legend bonus as a separate term, and a slight overall reduction from your 28/level to account for handing out Instant Rewards of Reputation (which I manage to do with reasonable regularity), I'm thinking the following will suit my game just fine.
Reputation = (25 * Level) + (Legend * (1+ level/4)) + Instant Reputation Rewards

[enigma1122]

The thing that seems.... facepalmy to me is that you have said straight forward our DM cares about the story.  That telling an interesting story of running around the world, political intrigue and dashing adventure.  That the nitty gritty is not a part of the game.  With that being the case, I would say don't worry about modding the game system till you play in a game where you use renown, reputation and everything properly.