SOCIAL ACTIONS

There's more to adventures than just fighting and feats of daring. Characters also interact in various ways. Heroes try to negotiate agreements between disputing parties or go on diplomatic missions. Villains taunt and threaten or even try to sway heroes to their side. People get into disagreements or debates. Whole adventures may hinge on convincing the right person of the right thing at the right time.

The various social actions heroes may wish to accomplish are governed by interaction skills. Note that these skills are all usable untrained, so anyone can attempt these actions. Naturally charismatic people tend to be good at them, but those with real talent or training (reflected by ranks in the appropriate interaction skills) are the best.

Bluff

Bluff is ultimately the skill of getting what you want by misleading, or at least exaggerating. Completely honest social interactions should use another skill (usually Diplomacy). Bluff is opposed by itself or Sense Motive; it's difficult to trick an expert liar, and some people just have a sense of when someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

Fast-Talk

The basic use of Bluff is lying and getting away with it. Make opposed Bluff checks, or Bluff versus Sense Motive, to see if someone gets caught in a lie. If the liar wins, then the story is believable. Heroes or Narrator characters who successfully fast-talk other Narrator characters can then try to convince them to do things using their Diplomacy skill (the successful Bluff will generally adjust the Risk/Reward modifier for the Diplomacy check).

Haggling

Haggling for a price or a similar deal is likewise an opposed check to see who bluffs best. The seller uses Bluff, while the buyer uses Bluff or Sense Motive, whichever is better. If the seller wins, the sale is made, with a +1 increase in cost per 5 points the check exceeds the opposing result. If the buyer wins, then the price doesn't go above market value (the price listed in Equipment) and is negotiated -1 cost per 5 points the check exceeds the opposing result. However, the buyer still has the option to say no if the final price is too much.

Seduction

The subtle dance of seduction involves using Bluff to get someone to do what you want with promises (implied or explicit) of sexual favors. The seducer makes a Bluff check, while the prey makes a Bluff or Sense Motive check, whichever is better. The seducer's Difficulty increases if his suggestions go against the target's personality in some way. Use the modifiers in the Bluff skill description as a guideline. For example, attempting to seduce someone in a monogamous relationship entails a risk to the target, for a +5 to +10 bonus on the target's check. Trying to seduce a target with a different sexual orientation gives them a +20 bonus on their Bluff or Sense Motive check.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the gentle art of persuasion, debate, discussion, and etiquette. It is the premier interaction skill for those interested in dealing with others in social situations.

Negotiation

Negotiating an agreement with another party is the basic Diplomacy check, as outlined in the skill description. The Difficulty of the check is 10 + the target's level + the target's Wisdom, modified by one's relationship with the target and by the risk or reward the deal presents to the target. Note that if you are lying about the risk or the reward, you will need to make a Bluff check to convince the target that what you are saying is true.

Making Friends

You can use a series of Diplomacy checks to favorably dispose someone toward you, as outlined in the skill description. A target may become an ally or even an intimate if you really keep at it. And don't piss them off too much. Once again, if you are operating under false pretences, you'll need to make a Bluff check in order to convince the target that your intentions are sincere.

Foreign Customs

When your hero is dealing with unusual or foreign customs, the Narrator may ask for a Diplomacy check for you to avoid making any faux pas. The Difficulty is based on how obscure the custom is: Difficulty 10 for slightly obscure customs, Difficulty 15 for moderately obscure ones, and Difficulty 20 to 30 for very obscure ones. A failed check means a potentially embarrassing social blunder, which may worsen the attitude of your hosts, apply a penalty to further interaction checks, or both.

Gather Information

Of all the interaction skills, Gather Information deals most with social groups, whether it's finding things out or spreading rumors through certain social circles.

Assessing Social Situations

You can make a Gather Information check to get a feel for any social situation. It's Difficulty 15 to get a general idea of the mood of a situation, as well as the prevailing attitude (so you have an idea of the Difficulty of using other interaction skills). Picking up on subtle undercurrents may require a higher check result, at the Narrator's discretion.

Bureaucracy

Gather Information can help cut through red tape and navigate through bureaucracies. The Difficulty of the Gather Information check depends on the challenge, from 10, for navigating simple bureaucratic procedures, to 20 or more, for dealing with particularly complex or hidebound bureaucracies.

Spreading Rumors

You can also use Gather Information to put information out where others will find or hear of it. The trick is to ensure the rumors are not traced back to you. This is an opposed check of Gather Information. If you win, then you successfully pass on whatever information you want. If you lose, then the other party traces the rumors back to you, and reacts accordingly.

Intimidate

Although intimidation is not the approach for polite society, sometimes a forceful approach is called for, and the Intimidate skill covers all sorts of forceful social interactions, not just threats.

Command

Make an Intimidate check when you bark a command or issue an order to someone and want it obeyed now. The Narrator can grant bonuses for circumstances; a noble issuing a command to a commoner has a clear advantage, while a king making the same command has a major one! A check is only necessary in cases where there's some question about whether or not the subject will obey the order. A loyal subject or retainer, for example, will carry out routine orders without need for a check, but a command to leave a comrade behind on the battlefield may require one, for example.

Interrogation

To get information out of someone by exerting pressure, make an Intimidate check. Remember that the target will be able to consider the impact of giving up the information (or, consequently, NOT giving it up). A successful Intimidate check gets the information. Modifiers may apply for the use of interrogation techniques ranging from sleep deprivation to torture, and a successful Intimidate check for interrogation can provide a +2 bonus on a Mind Probe check.

Perform

Perform is an interaction skill aimed at an audience rather than an individual, but it can still influence the audience's attitude overall, so long as the Narrator feels the performance is appropriate and the performer is trying to shift everyone's attitude in the same way. A character might use Perform specialties, like comedy or stringed instruments, to warm up an audience and improve their attitude as a way to stunt on Perform with skills like Diplomacy and Gather Information.

Sense Motive

Sense Motive is the catchall skill for resisting social interactions. While each interaction skill typically opposes itself (it's harder to trick someone who's skilled in Bluff, for example), Sense Motive covers a general social shrewdness and awareness of the ins and outs of interaction.

Sense Motive checks are passive, in that they're only made to resist other interactions. At the Narrator's discretion, someone who makes a successful Sense Motive check to avoid a particular interaction can make another check with a Difficulty 10 as an aid action. The character must be able to communicate with the subjects and point out the flaws in the interaction to give them the aid bonus to resist it. This can range from an expert debater poking holes in someone's argument to an impassioned plea to a crowd not to listen to a rabble-rouser. Note that this is only to aid others against particular interaction checks. If the character is also trying to sway them to his point of view, then it's more likely an opposed interaction check between the two parties.