Greetings all. Here's my dilemma: I've been trying to get my wife to play D&D w/ me for a while. She finally agreed, but on one condition - she wants there to be a little romance in the game. "You want your PC to have a boyfriend?" I asked. "No," she said, "well yes, but not that easy." She wants characters to have relationships, but not just because she or I say they do. She wants an element of chance, just like in real life, or like there is when you play combat. She wants to roll the dice to see if it works or not.
Ever the good husband (and I REALLY want her to play D&D!), I did a little research. In the books, the closest thing I could find was Diplomacy and modifying NPC attitude. Close but not quite. I checked the internet but everything I found either said A) romance is a great element in RPGs. Play it by ear when it happens. Or B) was creepy stuff that sounds like it gets WAY more graphic than I'm looking for. Which left inventing something new.
Here's what we came up with. Create a new skill called Flirt (Cha). It would be like Diplomacy it that it changes people's attitude. You could even use the same NPC attiude chart, except that the most positive attitude would be Smitten, instead of Helpful. So you could try to bat your eyes and talk someone up, and if it goes okay, they become Friendly like with Diplomacy, but if it goes really well, they're Smitten and you can start dating (or whatever).
There's a lot of overlap with Diplomacy, but that's true of Intimidate as well. You could add feats like Romantic (+2 on Flirt and Sense Motive) or flaws like Socially Awkward (-2 Flirt and Diplomacy). You could throw in a few racial modifiers (1/2 elves, +2, 1/2 orcs, -2).
It took me a little while to warm up to the idea, but if you're playing a game centered on relationship between characters, you need a way to find out how it goes. Sure, the DM could just say it works or it doesn't, but then, you could do that with combat too, and that wouldn't be much fun. Besides, I don't want to be the one who gets blamed when the guy her PC is hitting on rejects her.
One last thing. To reflect the capricous nature of love, players would have to be subject to flirtation themselves. An NPC might attempt to woo a PC. Unlike Diplomacy, where attitude is always the players choice, romantic relationships might not be. The PC could make an opposed check using Wisdom, but should she loose, she might get into a relationship that years down the road, she'll ask herself, "Why?" The effects might be something like a mild Charm spell, where you don't see the other persons flaws and will do what they ask as long as it isn't harmful to you or completely against your values.
Anyway, I'd love some feedback or suggestions on how to do it differently. One thing we haven't figured out is that, while the drawbacks like vulnerability or the risk of being taken advantage of are clear, what would the in-game advantage to having a partner be? Something like a cohorts, followers or familiars? Or something more?
Thanks.
Ever the good husband (and I REALLY want her to play D&D!), I did a little research. In the books, the closest thing I could find was Diplomacy and modifying NPC attitude. Close but not quite. I checked the internet but everything I found either said A) romance is a great element in RPGs. Play it by ear when it happens. Or B) was creepy stuff that sounds like it gets WAY more graphic than I'm looking for. Which left inventing something new.
Here's what we came up with. Create a new skill called Flirt (Cha). It would be like Diplomacy it that it changes people's attitude. You could even use the same NPC attiude chart, except that the most positive attitude would be Smitten, instead of Helpful. So you could try to bat your eyes and talk someone up, and if it goes okay, they become Friendly like with Diplomacy, but if it goes really well, they're Smitten and you can start dating (or whatever).
There's a lot of overlap with Diplomacy, but that's true of Intimidate as well. You could add feats like Romantic (+2 on Flirt and Sense Motive) or flaws like Socially Awkward (-2 Flirt and Diplomacy). You could throw in a few racial modifiers (1/2 elves, +2, 1/2 orcs, -2).
It took me a little while to warm up to the idea, but if you're playing a game centered on relationship between characters, you need a way to find out how it goes. Sure, the DM could just say it works or it doesn't, but then, you could do that with combat too, and that wouldn't be much fun. Besides, I don't want to be the one who gets blamed when the guy her PC is hitting on rejects her.
One last thing. To reflect the capricous nature of love, players would have to be subject to flirtation themselves. An NPC might attempt to woo a PC. Unlike Diplomacy, where attitude is always the players choice, romantic relationships might not be. The PC could make an opposed check using Wisdom, but should she loose, she might get into a relationship that years down the road, she'll ask herself, "Why?" The effects might be something like a mild Charm spell, where you don't see the other persons flaws and will do what they ask as long as it isn't harmful to you or completely against your values.
Anyway, I'd love some feedback or suggestions on how to do it differently. One thing we haven't figured out is that, while the drawbacks like vulnerability or the risk of being taken advantage of are clear, what would the in-game advantage to having a partner be? Something like a cohorts, followers or familiars? Or something more?
Thanks.
), though, partners tend to be more trouble than they're worth. 
