Social Conflict

These are the social conflict rules that were alluded to in the posts about using social skills in combat scenes. Those rules were an older version which referred to some stats that I've decided not to use. This version is a little better, I think.

Social Conflicts:

When using the social skills, the active character sets a short-term goal on an appropriate scale and makes a skill roll against their target. For Simple challenges (or against minor characters), this roll is made against the target's static attribute. On a basic success, the active character achieves their goal but the defending character can add mitigating conditions. With Advantage, the character's goal is achieved without any such qualifiers. If the character makes a Wager and succeeds at a higher difficulty, they may add some additional beneficial conditions.

• A sultry femme fatale wants to sweet talk a security guard into letting her into a museum after it is closed for the night. She sets a short-term goal for her seduction attempt: "convince the guard to let me into the museum". If she succeeds with a basic success, the guard can add a condition such as "I'll let you into the museum, but I'll feel guilty about it and report it later”. If she succeeds with Advantage, she can convince the guard without conditions. She feels confident so she wagers a higher difficulty for more Advantage and adds her own condition to the basic goal: “If I get caught inside the museum, the guard will try to make an excuse so neither of us gets in trouble”.
• The kingdom of Aldoria is planning to invade Belariel to their northwest but first they want to be sure that Cythos to the southwest will not come to Belariel's aid. Considering their long history of cooperation, it would be too much for Aldoria to ask Cythos to join in the invasion of Belariel, but Aldoria hopes to convince Cythos to stay out of the fighting. Aldoria amasses the majority of their forces near Belariel's border to draw their attention and force Belariel to prepare their defenses. Aldoria then quickly moves a second large force of soldiers near the fork in the river that marks the traditional boundary between the three countries. If all goes according to plan, Aldoria will use this secondary force to attack in a two-pronged pincer movement. The Aldorian ambassadors use the presence of this force and the fact that Belariel's forces are not very close to it (so they can't come to Cythos' aid if the Aldorians head south instead of north) to make an Intimidation roll against Cythos. They succeed and apply the Advantage to their Persuasion roll when they ask Cythos to remain neutral in the coming war between Aldoria and Belariel. If Aldoria's Persuasion attempt is successful with Advantage, they will get what they ask and Cythos will agree to remain neutral. On a basic success, Cythos will add the condition that they will only remain neutral as long as Aldoria's forces stay out of Belariel's southern provinces that border Cythos.

Against major characters (PCs and important NPCs), the process is the same except the roll is an opposed roll and if the defender scores Advantage on their defensive roll, they may use it on an immediate reaction against the aggressor. The retaliatory action after a failed social action can be a counter-attack (physical, mental, or social) or escape (running away or just trying to change the subject).

• For example, an evil vampire who attempts to seduce a pious knight and fails by a significant margin may find that she has inspired him to strike against her with righteous white-hot fury instead of acquiescing to her wishes due to a burning lust. The pious knight could respond with a physical attack, an Intimidation attempt to drive her away, a Bluff attempt to turn her down gently and make an excuse to leave, or even an Athletics roll to dive out the window, but he couldn't use the bonus for a persuasion attempt of his own (although he is free to ignore the bonus from his defensive Advantage if he would prefer to try a counteroffer with Persuasion).

When a character successfully resists a social skill, they are unconvinced and possibly angered or dismayed but they don't know which skill was being used against them (although sometimes it is quite transparent). They may attempt Notice, Investigation, Knowledge, or other rolls appropriate to the circumstances to figure out exactly what is going on: Are they being presented with a true but unconvincing argument (Persuasion), being lied to (Bluff), or being provoked (Taunt)?

• Bluff is opposed by Notice or Investigation (or Cunning).
• Intimidation and Persuasion are opposed by Will.
• Taunt is opposed by Concentration (or Will).
• Impression Skills (see “Making an Impression”) are opposed by their governing Attributes.

Making an Impression: Any skill with a visible Sign can be used to impress or unsettle another character. The difficulty is based on the target's Attribute related to that skill. When used to make an impression, a skill can't cause a reaction by itself but it can be used to generate Advantage for a following social skill. For example, Athletics can be used to generate advantage for an Intimidation attempt by offering a crushing handshake, flexing your powerful physique, putting on a show of force by casually bending a metal bar, or just giving your underlings a thump to remind them who's boss. Stealth could help to taunt a foe by suddenly appearing and disappearing out of the shadows like the Cheshire Cat. Knowledge skills are frequently very useful for establishing one's credentials as a reliable source when attempting to persuade someone through a rational argument. In a wuxia epic, Fighting could be used during a conversation to subtly demonstrate one's mastery of kung fu while slicing bean cakes to serve with tea before persuading someone to hire you as a bodyguard or intimidating someone into leaving you and your friends in peace.

Social Skills in Combat – Duels of Wits

Like the more general Maneuvers, the social skills can also be used in combat to gain a slight advantage. In fact, these skills had been used in combat for eons before the invention of weapons. Consider the predator's intimidating roar or defensive displays (like a bird or puffer fish making itself look bigger) to give an attacker pause or trick them into backing off. There are two types of mental and social skill rolls that can be of use in combat: opposed (used against enemies) and unopposed (used to help oneself or an ally). Opposed skill rolls are called Duels of Wits and offer the same benefits as Maneuvers: on a basic success, the winner of the duel or an ally they designate gains a +1D bonus to their next action against the loser of the duel. With Advantage, the target is also Stunned for being so distracted. The opposed rolls for Duels of Wits follow the same pattern as using social skills outside of combat:

• Bluff is opposed by Notice or Investigation (or Cunning).
• Intimidation is opposed by Will.
• Taunt is opposed by Concentration (or Will).

Bluff: This skill can be used as a Duel of Wits for feints and deceptive tactics like making foes look behind them when there is no threat there. It can also be used as a normal social skill attempt for things like “I'm harmless so you can ignore me for now” or “Ignore my friend because I'm the important one”.

Intimidation: As a Duel of Wits, this skill can be used rattle opponents to disrupt their defense or make them fatally hesitate at the wrong moment due to your fearsome stare or ferocious battle cry. This skill can also be used in combat as a normal social action for less immediate benefits. For example, by using the short-term goal “I want you to run away from me”, a character could cause a foe to run away or at least back off and give ground; or, by using the goal “I want you to treat me as the biggest threat”, a character could draw attackers away from friends and allies.

Taunt: As a Duel of Wits, this skill can cause an enemy to make a foolish hot-headed mistake that can be exploited, such as a swordsman who lures his opponent into launching a rushed and sloppy attack so the taunter can make a vicious riposte. This skill can also be used as a normal social action for things like “Put down your gun and come fight me like a man!” or “Go pick on someone your own size!”

Social Skills in Combat – Command

Unopposed mental and social skill rolls made in combat to bolster oneself or an ally are called Commands (although they aren't always issued with authority). A basic success with a Command counters one -1D penalty for an ally (including removing the Stunned or Dazed condition) and each point of Advantage counters an additional -1D.

Concentration: This skill is not really a Command skill, but is included here because it has the same effect. Unlike the Command skills, Concentration can't be used to help other characters: it is essentially used to bolster and “command” oneself. It is used to shut out distractions and can be used to oppose the Taunt skill or to counter the penalties from sources like injuries, environmental conditions, or being stunned by enemy Maneuvers. (N.B.: Using this skill counts as an action and the Multiple Action Penalty applies normally, so using Concentration to counter a single -1D penalty will still result in the character suffering a -1D penalty for having divided attention. The real benefit of this skill is in reducing larger penalties to a single -1D penalty.)

Intimidation: This skill is used by leaders who rule through fear with a “might makes right” style such as barbarian warlords or grizzled sergeants who tell their men “don't fear the enemy, fear me!”. It's not necessarily cruel, because sometimes fear is the best way to motivate your followers and keep them alive.

Persuasion (Will): This skill is used to make rallying speeches and appeals to patriotism (“For king and country!”), honor (“Death before retreat!”), glory (“They'll sing songs about us!”), and greed (“Think of the money!”).

Taunt (Cunning): This skill is used to anger another character through insults and anger can be a great motivator in combat for one's allies. “Is that the best you've got?” “Do you want to be remembered as the one who let this town fall?” “You're scared? Your mommas must be really proud of you! Run home if you want but I'm through running!”