Them Bones of Adventure - XII: Social Skills

Continuing my exposition on table procedures for common exploration feats & rules, which began here with part one.





Introduction

Social skills and roleplaying games, to the layman an antagonistic relationship.

As last post was growing beardy I made the cutoff, also on account of having found Mythlands of Erce’s Anders Honoré detailing his own efforts at tackling this very same situation and wishing to spatter my digestive juices all over it; as it turns out, unlike Yahweh in the Old Testament, I did not find the effort lacking, rather aiding my cogitations between last post and this one.

Once again, let us get out of the way the fact that fiddling with NPC psychology is one of the warm and moist spaces in a game’s running, which is to say: a terrific breeding ground for GM fiat and its fungal spores of arbitrariness. They cannot be erradicated, but they can be reasoned with: as the guidelines are made clear and the exceptions are well weighted and pondered upon, telling your players that you’re going to test an opposing group of foes’ morale or reaction and then doing it in the open is a surefire policy of transparency that will keep on yielding dividends. And so will the leading of interactions on the grounds of logic instead of whimsy.

Fantastic Social Skills and Where to Find Them

Social rolls are definitely a case of ‘less is more’. I’ll curb the need to roll for most anything bar the initial reaction roll, and let the interactions flow for themselves.

Running NPCs is all about mood and motivations: The Reaction Roll provides the interaction’s initial background mood, much like the random encounter distance provides a tactical backdrop for developing a combat that follows. Past that, it is the motivations, filtered through the mood, that make the interaction sing, for from them flows everything that logic can buy, including the farm if PCs or NPCs alike blunder into the wrong words, die rolls nonwithstanding.

What is more, I must keep in mind that things for which there are structured rules tend to be channeled onto play through that self-same architecture; I don’t want to formalize or restrain social interaction into a straitjacket of game lingo, for I must keep present that PCs and NPCs are divided by a chasming rules assymmetry, one which should be minimized whenever encountered.

Just to illustrate my point, combat – by necessity of its stakes a quintessentially balanced structure – has rules that equally affect players and non-players completely alike whereas social interaction, by dint of freewill extending to ones but not to others, requires a soft hand on the tiller and emphatically not an exchange of d20 volleys between participants.

After all, if a player perceives that the game allows diplomacy attempts to win the day as he tries to reason Death Itself under the table, he’s bound to always try, yes?

The Crunchy Bits

I’m making two proposals on this one, the first one’s more convoluted and d20-oriented, the second, more agile one, is in the closing thoughts.

All of the options detailed below need a solid tangible cause for the attempt to be launched from, which is to say, no rolls can come about without causes and consequences, with the bare minimum of consequence being that the tangible cause forwarded by the player has been resisted, rejected or shot down by way of counteroffer. Discretion is not just advised, but mandatory.

The unforgiving rule of First Impressions – Reaction Cues

The following table is rolled but once at the outset of an interaction and is modified by the speaker/pointsman’s halved Charisma modifier, rounded down, occasionally applying a circumstantial modifier (1-4 points), for perceptible displays of might or meekness from the party, the Charmed condition (+2), as well as any clear markers of enmity (race being a tragically apt instance) or the opposite thereof.

Reaction Table		Persuasion & Animal Handling DCs
2d6	NPC Reaction	Refrain from harm	Minor Favour	Major Favour
2-	Agressively Hostile	25	-	-
3-5	Guardedly Hostile	20	25	-
6-8	Uncertain, Indifferent	15	20	25
9-11	Peaceable, Approachable	-	15	20
12+	Friendly, Pliable	-	-	15

I tried to condense the DMG's nebulous rule proposals for social interaction which almost hint at the use of reaction rolls, but stop just shy of the fact. Even if nothing else, the classic reaction roll can be hitched up nicely with these systems. I admit that the DC numbers above were repeated more for ease of recall, but they can be massaged at discretion’s need. Since 5E’s modifiers are too swingy for the delicate 2d6 structure, this allows me to roll the 2d6 closer to unadultered while the player still gets to push some use out of his character’s bonuses.

The game’s rules are meant to follow the grain of immersion:

Barbarism & Instinct

- The reaction roll as well as its modifiers are public for simple minded creatures or NPCs that are dumb, foreign to deception or simply brutally honest and that wear their hearts on their sleeve.

- Morale checks are made in plain sight and so are the modifiers if any.

Civilization & Cunning

- Deceitful (or civilized) stock will have their reaction rolls made in secret. The characters can’t know what they’re up to and so neither can the players. This can mean they'll be rolling against an unknown DC when attempting persuasion.

- If a character has the Insight skill trained to a higher degree than the other party’s Deception skill, that player alone will be privy to the roll’s result.

Otherness

It is possible that no amount of mundane Insight will hint you to the tells of a creature that transcends the boundaries of your metaphysical nature. Unless, of course, it wants you to know.

Deception

Remember, the reason dice are rolled is to plumb a concrete result from uncertainty. This means rolling only happens in the no-man's land of a social interaction: solid, undisputable facts (in the recipient’s own mindview) and blatant falsehoods are categorically not rolled for.

I’ll only ask for rolls for things that might conceivably be true. The little mundane lies that are the truck of scoundrels and player characters (if you’ll pardon the redundance) everywhere.

This means I’m leaving at the door all the gonzo shit: no telling a guard his pants are on fire or that the characters are envoys of the one true god. Unless they have the trappings to back the claim and a discreet battery of illusion spells at the ready, in which case, let us roll and find out.

- Roll of [Charisma (Deception)] opposed by the target’s [Wisdom (Insight)]

- Ties will be broken by the initial reaction roll. If it too is neutral, the highest natural d20 rolled tiebreaks.

- An NPC lying to a player will be secretly tested against the target character’s Passive Insight.

Persuasion (and Animal Handling)

This is a counterpart to Deception, replacing earnestness for falsehood. Animals can be persuaded if communication can be established by some mean, but a measure of instinctive diplomacy through Animal Handling works as well. This should only ever be rolled for uncertain yet ponderous requests (as outlined in the Reaction Roll’s table) or abstracted occurrences such as Etiquette, Gift Bearing, Securing Audiences through underlings and such. It is in no way a substitute for face-to-face interaction.

- Roll of [Charisma (Persuasion), Variable DC] or [Charisma (Animal Handling), Variable DC]

- The Charmed condition grants Advantage on Persuasion/Handling attempts made upon the recipient;

- Disadvantage will come about from language barriers for NPCs or lack of the Animal Handling skill for beasts. Remember that the character doing the speaking is the one who applies modifiers to both the Reaction and the Persuasion.

I’ll endeavour to always draw out as much of an interaction as possible without stumbling back into rolls. Piling requests, successful or otherwise, will tax the other party leading to a shift in the reaction type, fumbles being especially pernicious.

Intimidation

Intimidation – particularly in combat – has always been a thorn on my side since my earliest days in the game. It’s swingy when it hits. Way too swingy, in fact. And also prone to massed attempts, whenever the payoff compensates the action taken.

- Intimidation in combat cannot be attempted on demand, it can only be sprouted as a byproduct of a Critical Hit, a grisly trophy carrying meaning to the target, a momentous circumstance in the ebb and flow of battle or a timely spell or special ability. Displays of fierce strength, breathtaking dexterity and momentous constitution permit the use of a Physical stat for the roll instead of bravado and a threatening mien.

- Roll [Charisma/physical stat (Intimidation), DC of 10 or target’s Charisma or Wisdom attribute total, as appropriate]

- A successful attempt causes NPCs to test morale. Each group of similar creatures rolls a single check, made against the most abundant score or a leader’s score, if one is present; If two morale checks are passed in a combat by an NPC, he is assumed to be inured to intimidation attempts and to fight to the last breath.

I’ve also been very much taken with Anders H.’s take on when to test for morale, meaning I’ll test when a group loses a member or half the side is vanquished and for each quarter-slice of starting hitpoints for a solo creature, plus when a leader is taken down. Retainers in the party’s employ roll individually.

Closing Thoughts – Going Minimalist (and letting the mouth do all the talking)

I can’t yet tell if I’ll conform to the above table and rules, as they may yet prove top-heavy and unwieldy in practice. I’m also not a fan of Persuasion and Deception’s essential mechanic assymetry between PC and NPC. I can make perfectly good headway by just telling a lie and seeing if the player picks up on it or not. Of course, this might leave certain skills out to dry and that might prove unpalatable to some.

With the above in mind, here’s a short-circuit version that relies on just modifying the Reaction Roll’s first two columns and handling the rest of the interaction in bulk, verbally & logically, from that point on:

- Roll for Reaction at the interaction’s outset as usual. If a PC has proficiency in a social skill relevant to the unfolding action, upon its convincing display of use he rolls an additional proficiency die and places it alongside with the reaction roll.

- Uses of Persuasion/Animal Handling/Deception: Add a roll of the appropriate proficiency die to the 2d6 reaction and drop the highest or lowest roll as befits the situation.

- Uses of Intimidation/Performance (for Rallying Cries): target checks 2d6 morale, plus the proficiency die, dropping the highest or lowest roll as appropriate.

- All the reaction dice are capped at a maximum result of “6”, i.e., a d10 added from proficiency that comes up a 7, 8, 9 or 10 is counted as a 6 instead.

- A player can always opt to roll a d4 instead of the character's current proficiency die, when applicable.