Cha vs. blackmail

[alsih2o]

Has anyone ever drawn up any good rules for socially oriented bad guys ruining Cha on heroes with a blacmail oriented attack?

A few good rumors, a well placed snide remark, a quick glance at part of a conversation and BAM! your likeable hero is being snubbed by patrons and holy men alike?

Is this feasible? How would you do it?

 

[Staffan]

I'm a bit confused by your terminology, Clay.

First, I don't think "blackmail" is the term to use. Blackmail (such an ugly word - I prefer extortion, which is cool because it has an X in it) is when you tell someone to give you money (or do some other favor) or you'll spread around information they probably don't want spread around. I think the term you're looking for is "character assassination" or "rumor-mongering."

Second, Charisma is not the same as reputation. If it was, it wouldn't make any sense to have magic based on it.

But, let's ignore the nitpicking and return to the real question you're asking: have I had NPCs spread rumors and such about PCs? Sadly, no. My campaigns have generally been more adventure-oriented (because that's the kind of PCs my players usually play). It would be cool to do sometime, though.

 

[Frostmarrow]

There were rules for this sort of thing in an issue of Dragon, not long ago. I can't seem to find it, though. It was a system of 'social feats' that could be used for character assassination or simply to make yourself look cool. The rules were designed to work well in a swashbuckly/courtly intrigue game.

Someone else probably knows.

If I find it I'll get back to you.

 

[Piratecat]

I think what you're referring to is circumstance penalties to a character's own diplomacy score (or reputation, if you use those variant rules) based on an enemy's snide comments and rumor-spreading.

I've done this fairly often; a lousy bard named Toddzoc the Incompetent had it in for the PCs for a while, and would spread scurrilous rumors and catchy rude songs about them. I've preferred to add modifiers on the fly, instead of using something set in stone.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I call it character assassination - I have done it and it was a tied number of events in the plot. The villian (the noble mother of another party member) decided to ruin the cleric character in the party, she decided to make him into a drunk and to found out as a necromancer.

Element of Plot:

Magical poision that created thirst for wine.
Find a double to act drunk in public and use his name.
Use double to research public library for material dealing with necromancy.
Plant books and scolls of necromancy at home of character.
Create small undead animals and have released at home of character.
Have local grave site robbed.
Release undead onto streets.
Start whisper and gossip about character.​

You have to plot it out, build a time table.

 

[Piratecat]

In this sort of case, the innuendo and gather information skills might be put to good use when ruining a character's reputation. Diplomacy would also be useful. I'd probably pick one depending on what method the character assassin was using to spread rumors, and let the others give synergy bonuses.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Is this feasible? How would you do it?

Oh, stop beating around the bush and just state your demands. I'll give you $500 for those pictures! I just want this whole thing behind me.

-BG

PS All I'm gonna say is just never let Clay near a camera when you've drank a little too much soy sauce and there's an all-night pet store open around the corner.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Blackmail and extortion are subtly different:

Extortion is using the threat of violence to a person or their property for financial gain.

Blackmail is a type of extortion where the threat is not physical, but rather the exposure of potentially ruinous information.

Extortion would be an excellent use of Intimidate. I would have blackmail be a Diplomacy check, probably, since it is less overt and more along the lines of convincing the person that it's in their best interests not to have their secret exposed. Plus, having them be different would make a PC attempting it have to decide on what was the best approach.

Of course, if it is a player that is doing this, and they aren't serious about following through on their threats, I'd probably throw a bluff check in there, too.

 

[Alchemist]

No skill-based advice, but I attempted some character assassination in our game. Yuan-Ti had infiltrated the city and were corrupting it from within. The characters had clued in and were starting to stick their nose in the YT's business, and so were offered great sums of cash and land to go off and fight the goblinoids that had massed for war on the mountainous border by one of the imperial representatives, who had fallen under the YT's influence. That failed (they became wary of his offer-why are all the adventurers leaving when there is a threat here?) so YT purebloods dressed up as city guardsmen and jumped the party in a crowded square, proclaiming them agents of evil and that they were under arrest. They realized what was happening immediatly, but were still stuck. They couldn't kill these "guards", that would just prove their assertion true. Running away, ditto. They couldn't go with them, that's a death sentence. The fake guards even called to summon legitimate guards to help them out.

The party was *furious* at me. They were wrongfully accused of being villains and had no clear out. They managed to subdue the fake guards before the real ones showed up while the druid (who had the highest Diplomacy rating) rallied the crowd behind the party with fantastic rolls so they wouldn't jump in. When the real guards arrived, the fakes were knocked out or restrained and the whole situation exposed. They found that to be one of the best encounters in a long time.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Some random musings...

Possibly the simplest solution would be to adjust the NPCs' starting attitude based on the success of the rumor-mongering or character assassination. You could simply say by fiat that the villain has made everyone else's attitude toward the PCs unfriendly. If you want to add some game mechanics, have the villain make a Diplomacy check, but allow him to move the attitude negative instead of positive. For example, the villain has Diplomacy +8 and rolls a 9 for a total of 17. Instead of moving someone from indifferent to friendly, he can choose to make them unfriendly (towards the PCs). If he had Diplomacy +10 and rolled a 20 (total = 30), he could make the target downright hostile!

You could use opposed Diplomacy checks if two characters try to sway a crowd, or if two ambassadors are negotiating conflicting treaties with a third party.

There are also some behavior influencing rules in Joe's Book of Enchantment, but that is more along the lines of (non-magical) hypnotism and such than blackmail and extortion.