D&D 4E Social interactions in 4E

[Kae'Yoss]

I guess I just don't get it. As both a DM and a player I have always roleplayed these scenarios. If my character has an 8 charisma and a 6 intelligence, I roleplay him as such.

And if your character has Cha 18 and Int 26? Then I can dock you XP for acting too rude and stupid!

I really hope that 4e will include a chart that cross-references IQ and Int score and the cure rules will state that every pleyer must submit to an IQ test and may not play a character that is smarter than that....

 

[Kae'Yoss]

So what's the reason to quantify these types of encounters with rules? As was said before, I've been doing it this way since I started playing (with AD&D). It simply doesn't need to be written into the rules. Waste of page space, really.

Yeah! And those stupid combat rules! When I play, I just think about the character, then the monster, and then figure out by myself how likely it is for the character to succeed in his attack. He then rolls a percentile die, and if his percentage succeeds the percentile chance I came up with, he hits.

I never buy roleplaying rulebooks, and I think everyone who does is an amateur. If I can do complicated calculations in my head and quantify the virtues of fictional entities, why would anyone need books telling them how combat worked?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

For one thing, some folks want to play a character that is notably better or worse at social interactions than the player is. If there are no rules for social interaction, then the player cannot build to be good or bad, specifically.

Yeah. I always wonder why people so often begrudge people playing characters with mental abilities greater than their own. No one ever cries foul if that sickly, weak youth plays the strong, tough barbarian, or the clumsy guy plays the best cat burglar that can go wherever he wants.

I always fancied the idea of letting someone go lift the fridge to show that his character is able to lift that boulder he's attempting to get aside. Or make attack shots with darts at a dart board. Or make everyone actually learn dwarven or elven.

 

[Glyfair]

Yeah. I always wonder why people so often begrudge people playing characters with mental abilities greater than their own.

Mostly because it doesn't fit their preferred play style.

 

[apoptosis]

Yup. Ideally, the new rules will actually answer the question of whether the NPC does what the PC asked of them, instead of just telling you how they feel about what you asked them.

I wonder if it will work the other way. Can the NPC influence you if they win a social encounter. Many people are probably against this idea but I am for it. I think the stake setting social resolution systems tend to have the most robustness.

 

[buzz]

I wonder if it will work the other way. Can the NPC influence you if they win a social encounter. Many people are probably against this idea but I am for it. I think the stake setting social resolution systems tend to have the most robustness.

I think this could be awesome. At the very least, a PC might have to make concessions in order to get what they want, a la Burning Wheel's Duel of Wits.

 

[DonTadow]

I wonder if it will work the other way. Can the NPC influence you if they win a social encounter. Many people are probably against this idea but I am for it. I think the stake setting social resolution systems tend to have the most robustness.

True, it would be nice if they fix this balance. It should work similiar to a compel spell. Actually, with the martial maneuvers perhaps they can have social maneuvers that work similiar to spells but are not. For instance, a great diplomacy spell can be equivalent to a suggestion and a strong one to a compel.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Burning Wheel and Exalted both have rules for this that work pretty well IIRC. It's a good idea.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Here's to hoping that 4E finally gets rid of the "big dumb fighter" cliche.

Nooooooooooooooooo!!! Sacred Cow!!!

 

[apoptosis]

I think this could be awesome. At the very least, a PC might have to make concessions in order to get what they want, a la Burning Wheel's Duel of Wits.

Burning Wheel and Shadow of Yesterday are exactly the two games I was thinking about.

Actually Shadow of Yesterday is really cool in that you can use social combat to weaken an opponent for physical combat though I think that such an overhaul of the D&D system might give people seizures.