Questions tagged [social-combat]
For questions about the simulation of conflicts between two or more rivals that involve nonphysical forms of competition for influence and social control.
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How many servants can this Vampire summon to “moon” the party?
The city in which my current campaign is based has been recently divided along social lines. An in-universe counterpart of the Twilight series has become the basis of a werewolf vs vampire factional ...
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How do we find the origin of Gossip?
Samurai in power have boring days. Like, get up, train a few hours, answer letters, order some commoners to be executed, then spend the afternoon trading gossip...
Now, gossip isn't generally attached ...
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How does my bard solve the problem without admitting he lied?
So, in my current campaign, the party has just gotten together and is trying to help out a convent that burned down. I'm playing a charismatic bard.
The DM promised us we wouldn't die unless we did ...
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What does it mean in-game to be better at Deception than Persuasion?
Recently in-game I found myself moderating an 'off-screen' encounter between two NPCs; one an intelligent animal companion (winter wolf) of one of the PCs, and the other a Rakshasa who had no ...
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Nonviolent "social conflict" in Fate - which skills opposes rapport?
I'm running a campaign with a few nonviolent characters. I understand how to handle physical fights, but am a bit at a loss how to deal with "social conflict", where characters need to ...
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How do I keep lie-detection skills from ruining my game?
I play a smoothtalking scoundrel in a GURPS 4e game. In it, I have the Detect Lies skill. Because of the nature of our campaign, which is a murder mystery, I always suspect whoever I'm talking to is ...
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If the characters avoid the encounter through diplomacy, are they awarded the XP for the monsters? [duplicate]
Let's say that a part of the dungeon with X monsters can be either passed through combat OR through careful diplomacy, can the players be awarded XP points the same way if they choose the latter? It ...
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Is there a mechanic for Passive Deception? [duplicate]
Right now I have a situation with a Doppleganger has infiltrated a small section of the group. It is passing itself off with the intentions of appearing to be someone important to one person and ...
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If a player tries to persuade somebody, what should that creature roll not to be persuaded?
It's clear that we should roll Insight versus Deception (I guess) , but what should be rolled against Persuasion or Intimidation checks? Is the answer to this question different for NPCs and PCs?
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What do PCs roll Insight against when another PC is trying to convince them that he is telling the truth?
There is already a similar question, however the answers focus on that you should not tell players that they don't believe the other but they should decided that themselves and only get hints. And ...
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Deception in Anima
In Anima: Beyond Fantasy, what skills are used to tell lies and sense lies?
Most games have some form of skills that can be used for such things - Bluff and Sense Motive in some versions of D&D, ...
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If someone intimidates another person, does the person affected gain the Frightened condition?
This came up when a PC in my game was immune to the Frightened condition. They said that the intimidation should fail since it relied on fear. How do I rule this?
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Establishing DCs for intimidation checks against NPC's other than using the existing Conversation Reaction Table
Question Backstory
In the DMG for 5th ed there is established DC levels for how NPC's will respond to you in social interactions based on whether they are friendly, indifferent, or hostile to you as ...
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Can you use Vicious Mockery to win an argument or gain favours?
Though I know that RAW states that Vicious Mockery is initiated through a "string of insults", my question is about what would happen if you used it elsewhere than a tavern brawl or the like.
As a ...
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Does a character who believes what they're saying have to make Deception checks? [closed]
I have a player character that got so good at bluffing as a child he doesn't realize he's doing it; as such, the player is wondering if this can let him avoid having to make Deception checks since he ...
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How do I make my players solve riots and rebellions in BESM diplomatically, rather than joining said riots to beat people up?
I would like to incorporate stuff like riots and rebellions and such during my campaign where the PCs will have to play diplomat or risk tension growing, and not have them simple join one side or the ...
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Does a player know if their Intimidation attempt worked?
I am going to be a first-time DM for my group. While I was planning the first session, I just thought about my players interrogating (torturing) a creature.
If a character tries an Intimidation (or ...
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When making a Wild Empathy check, do any of the bonuses from Diplomacy apply?
When making a Wild Empathy check, do any of the bonuses from Diplomacy apply? Ranks, skill focus, traits, etc.
The ability says:
This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the ...
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Is this social reputation point system balanced?
I am planning a "Houses and Humans" or "Suburbs and SUVs" one-shot (yes, based on the meme, title-pending) for later this year using the "Roll for Shoes" system, but the systems isn't terribly ...
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How to convert hostile NPCs to party's side?
Party members have done their adventurer's job and basically wiped out gremlin's cave, murdering everyone but the beastmaster(that went unconscious and tied up). One of the players (who asked not to ...
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What test is made to deceive someone in Symbaroum?
As far as I have been able to find, there is no specific ruling made in the core rulebook on what attribute test is made when attempting to deceive someone. In the supplemental rules table, it is ...
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How would you run a Crisis of Faith in Fate Core?
I'm running a Fate Core fantasy game. One of my players is a paladin in shining armor, a prince in town from the next kingdom over --- but one who is in way over his head. Although he looks like a ...
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How can I design this conversational encounter?
I'm GMing a D&D 5e campaign, and my party is about to participate in a noble ball. I'll use an analogy to make my question clear: there are nobles and people in this ball with valuable information ...
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Can the DM force player vs. player social checks?
Last session, my DM made me roll a Deception check against another player. I failed the roll, and as a result I was forced to reply a specific way and reveal information I otherwise wouldn't have ...
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Influencing a PC's attitude with Intimidate
Intimidate states
You can use Intimidate to force an opponent to act friendly toward you for 1d6 × 10 minutes with a successful check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + ...
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How should a GM properly handle the Bluff skill when it's used to Deceive or Lie?
Bluff states
You know how to tell a lie.
Check
Bluff is an opposed skill check against your opponent’s Sense Motive skill.
Deceive or Lie
If you use Bluff to fool someone, with a ...
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1
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Making Hostile Animals Friendly
Background
I want to make myself a homebrew system to better deal with how to reward experience points to my players for roleplay, spellcasting, and combat respectively rather than just the 1 ...
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What are the stages of influencing Hostile NPCs?
Backstory
I want to make myself a homebrew XP system to better deal with how to reward experience points to my players for roleplay, spellcasting, and combat respectively, with a separate XP track for ...
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How do I narrate non-physical strain?
I'm sort of baffled about strain "injuries" in Edge of the Empire. As an example: EV-8D3 in the Debts to Pay book that is part of the GM screen has an abilitiy called Improved Scathing Tirade, letting ...
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Can the UA Diplomat feat be used to charm multiple targets simultaneously?
Among other benefits, the Diplomat feat from Unearthed Arcana: Feats for Skills allows you to make a contested Persuasion check to charm a creature:
If you spend 1 minute talking to someone who can ...
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How "far" can you intimidate an NPC?
Reading through the intimidate skill it state:
Retry: Optional, but not recommended because retries usually do not work. Even if the initial check succeeds, the other character can be intimidated ...
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What would an example of Influencing an NPC according to the rules in Ultimate Intrigue look like?
So I've been looking over Ultimate Intrigue recently, and the Influence system is rather quite confusing.
For one, it mentions in a few different places that a different number of influence checks is ...
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How do I make this persuasion challenge with time constraints social combat work?
My PCs are charged with uncovering a cult's motives, however they will engage a deadly encounter which lead them (unknowingly) to a troll city.
I thought it would be intresting to include a social ...
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How to DM a performance duel that involves the full party and has meaningful decision making
The situation:
The last session ended with the party's bard on a stage, exchanging insults with an NPC bard. The NPC bard has something the party wants, and the party has something this NPC wants. ...
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Can you target multiple opponents in an Intrigue?
When running an intrigue if there are 3 or more participants, could one person affect multiple people with a single roll if he addressed his remark to both of them?
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Is there a way of keeping Song of Ice and Fire Intrigue encounters from feeling too "Gamey"?
Whenever I run social encounters beyond simple intrigues in Song of Ice and Fire I either feel like I've abandoned the rules all together or the running step by step nature makes the exchange feel ...
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What ability should be used when resisting Intimidation?
During our last play session (it was our second session, so everyone is first level) my fighter dwarf had a conflict with another player's human fighter. My dwarf became annoyed at the human's ...
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How do I make a socially-optimized character in Dungeon World?
I enjoy playing PCs who talk, and can solve social situations effectively.
Looking at Defy Danger and Parley as my main uses of Charisma, I'm underwhelmed and somewhat sad to have no Bluff, ...
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Is making someone afraid a social or mental attack?
I'm reading the Night Fears adventure, in which a group of teenagers dare each other to spend a night in a haunted house. The ghosts in the house attack the teens' mental stress tracks, and the result ...
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Shame him into not shooting: multiple stress tracks in a single conflict
If you insult the hitman enough, will he stop shooting at you? It doesn't seem likely, but that brings into play a question about whether some stress tracks are "more important" than others: If you ...
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Challenging Talkers in SIFRP
I have a Song of Ice and Fire (SIFRP) game running right now. Each player has 2 PCs:
An adventurer - a character designed for traditional RPG activities like fighting and sneaking and hunting
A ...
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Are innocuous actions valid attacks in social combat in The Dresden Files?
I've been attempting unsuccessfully, or at the very least unsatisfactorily, to integrate social conflict into my Dresden Files campaign. It came to a head last night, when one of my players initiated ...
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How do I implement Social Combat into a D&D/D20/Pathfinder game?
One of the coolest parts of White-Wolf games, in my opinion, is that they usually offer the ability for Social Combat to be just as exciting as physical or mental combat.
How can I run Social Combat ...
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What kind of goals are valid in Social Combat in the Dresden Files?
I've been attempting unsuccessfully, or at the very least unsatisfactorily, to integrate social conflict into my Dresden Files campaign. It came to a head last night, when one of my players initiated ...
- 18.3k
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How to use social skills versus player characters
If the game system in use supports a mechanical modelling of social knack (like D&D's Bluff, Intimidate and Diplomacy skills), and the player who is subject of the social attack doesn't play his ...
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How to design game elements other than combat? [closed]
Most RPGs I know about and have played are fighting-centered. That doesn't mean that all gaming is only about fighting, but that most of the rules and character abilities are primarily useful in ...
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How can I improve the social / mental combat system in Vampire: Requiem?
The Storytelling System has balanced traits, with power, finesse, and resistance attributes and skills for the physical, social and mental traits.
Still, until recently only physical combat was ...
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