Kerrick
First Post
I won't bother with the whys and wherefores of why I'm revising this system, because I'm sure no one really cares. Instead, I'll just jump to the changes:
This system works on a sliding scale. Attitudes are given point ranges on a 100-point scale, and a Diplomacy check can shift the score up or down, depending on success or failure. The major benefit of this system is that the PC can't simply make a ridiculously high Diplomacy roll (like the 3rd level bard with +39 I heard about some time back) and shift someone's attitude from Hostile to Friendly with a snap of the fingers. Instead, it takes time and repeated successful checks to influence someone's attitude. I also included the Fanatic attitude from the epic skill usage, with special rules for achieving that level.
I also added rules for persuasion (it works much like influence) and tied this into the Bluff skill - attempting to Bluff someone who's hostile toward you is a lot harder than someone who's your friend.
This is rather long, so I cut the sections into spoiler blocks. Feedback is, as always, welcome; I'd like comments on the attitude factors specifically (are they too high/low?). I know this requires a bit of DM adjudication, but since it's a non-combat skill, I don't think it impinge too badly on the DM's ability to provide a challenge for the players.
And now, without further ado... The revised Diplomacy skill.
Diplomacy (Cha)
This skill enables the character to influence others, swaying their opinion of her and her friends or changing the way they think of someone/something else.
Check: The character can change the attitudes of others (nonplayer characters) with a successful Diplomacy check; see Influencing NPC Attitudes, below. In negotiations, participants roll opposed Diplomacy checks, and the winner gains the advantage. Opposed checks also resolve situations when two advocates or diplomats plead opposite cases in a hearing before a third party. When attempting to change attitudes, only one check can be made for a given NPC (or group, if the character is attempting to influence all of them at once) per day.
Action: Changing others’ attitudes with Diplomacy generally takes at least 1 full minute. In some situations, this time requirement may greatly increase. A rushed Diplomacy check can be made as a full-round action, but incurs a -10 penalty on the check.
Influencing NPC Attitudes:
[sblock]NPC attitudes run on a 100-point scale, as noted on the table below. Attempting to influence an NPC requires a simple Diplomacy or Charisma check vs. the DC noted on the table for the NPC’s current attitude; for every 3 points of the check result over the DC, the character can shift the NPC’s reaction score by 1 point (a success of up to 3 over the DC shifts it by 1 point). A failed check decreases the NPC’s attitude by 1 point per 2 points of the result below the DC (round up). A natural 20 or a natural 1 increases the adjustment up or down by 50%.
For example: Eric the rogue was just caught stealing by the city watch. They are automatically Hostile toward him, but he tries to influence their attitudes in order to get (slightly) better treatment as they’re hauling him off to jail. The DM rules that their reaction score is 15. He must make a DC 25 Diplomacy check; he scores a 27 – enough to shift it 1 point, but not enough to get them to Unfriendly. If he had scored an 18, he would have worsened their opinion of him by 4 points.
When generating an NPC, the DM can roll percentile dice and randomly determine his attitude; a result of 90-100 is a reroll with a +5 bonus to the next roll. This can be influenced by your (and your companions’) fame or infamy, any organizations to which you belong, deeds known to the NPC, etc. These carry positive or negative modifiers depending on how the NPC thinks of them or how they affect the NPC (see below).
[/sblock]
Attitudes:
[sblock]There are six attitude levels, ranging from Hostile to Fanatic. Each is described below.
Hostile: The NPC actively hates the character. He will go out of his way to hurt and/or kill the PC, or may take other hostile actions depending his abilities, alignment, and social station. For example, a noble could hire thugs or bandits to attack the PC and her friends, or spread vicious rumors among other nobles that create a scandal and disgrace her. Someone of lower social standing could simply attack her himself, frame her for a crime he committed, or undertake other courses of action that would ruin her.
Unfriendly: The NPC doesn’t like the character. He actively avoids her whenever possible; when forced to interact with her (meeting at a social function, e.g.), he will keep it as short as possible. Depending on his social ability/station and alignment, he may express this dislike through sneers, sarcasm, and barbed insults, or mask it behind a veneer of civility, plotting against the PC behind her back. An Unfriendly NPC will never provide help unless it directly benefits him, and even then, he’ll limit the contact and help to as little as possible.
Indifferent: The NPC either doesn’t know the character or doesn’t care about her because she is so far below his notice that there is little she could do to affect him. Indifferent NPCs will engage in socially expected interaction – greetings if passed on the street, polite conversation, etc. – but they generally won’t go out of their way to help or hinder the character unless it benefits them in some way. The vast majority of NPCs fall into this category when first met.
Friendly: The NPC likes the character. He could be a long-term acquaintance, someone the PC has helped before, or someone who thinks well of the PC through his associations or actions. A Friendly NPC will actively help if it doesn’t put him at too much risk or detriment. He may lend the PC money (generally no more than 5% of his total worth), provide limited aid (hiding the PC and possibly his friends somewhere if someone is after them), or offer reduced prices for goods. Friendly NPCs may offer lesser degrees of aid for the PCs’ friends, even if he doesn’t know them.
Helpful: The NPC is good friends with the PC or is in love with her. He could be a childhood friend, a blood brother, someone in the same organization, or someone for whom the PC has done repeated good deeds. A Helpful NPC will actively help even if it puts him at risk, but he will generally not lay his life on the line for the PC. This help can take the form of money (up to 20% of total worth), aid (backup in a fight, healing, or even free drinks/meals at the local tavern), or reduced prices for services (spells, gear, etc.). Helpful NPCs may often offer the same or lesser degrees of help for the PC’s friends, even if he doesn’t know them. This is the highest attitude that people can normally get.
Fanatic: The NPC is fanatically devoted to the character. He will do anything that is within his power to aid the PC, up to and including laying down his life. Any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a -1 penalty to AC when fighting for the character or his or her cause.
It requires extraordinary circumstances to acquire fanatical followers. In order to move an NPC’s attitude score past 89, the character must achieve a Diplomacy check result of 50 or better; every 5 points over 50 moves the attitude score 1 point higher. It is also hard to maintain; it requires constant attention on the character’s part (i.e., a DC 50 Diplomacy check every day), or it will slowly decrease at the rate of 1 point per day until it reaches 89 (Helpful).
Treat the fanatic attitude as a mind-affecting enchantment effect for purposes of immunity, save bonuses, or being detected by the Sense Motive skill. Since it is nonmagical, it can’t be dispelled; however, any effect that suppresses or counters mind-affecting effects will affect it normally. A fanatic NPC’s attitude can’t be further adjusted by the use of skills.[/sblock]
Persuasion:
[sblock]While the standard Diplomacy roll is used simply to alter an NPC’s attitude, the character can also attempt to persuade an NPC to follow a course of action or not, or to sway his opinion of another person or thing. The DM must set a target number, based on how radical the course of action is or how far the character wants to sway the NPC’s opinion (see the example below).
Persuasion uses an opposed Diplomacy roll vs. the target’s Will save – depending on the target’s attitude, he may be actively opposed to hearing what the character has to say. As above, every 3 points of the check result shifts the other person’s attitude in the desired direction, but every 3 points of his Will save shifts it back the other direction 1 point. If the target’s attitude is Friendly or better, he can forgo the save (this simulates willingness to go along with a suggestion). If the target’s attitude is Fanatic, he will always forgo the save – he has no reason to disbelieve anything the character says and will slavishly hang on her every word.
For example: The PCs have discovered that the king’s advisor has been killed and replaced with a doppelganger. They’ve never met the king before, nor have they done much to gain his notice, so the DM sets his attitude score at 47 – Indifferent. Now, the advisor has worked for the king for many years and has served him well; Now, the PCs can’t come right out and tell the king that his advisor is a doppelganger – they’d be laughed out of the court at best, jailed at worst. The DM sets the target score at 75 – they must be on pretty good terms with the king for him to believe them. They have to get into his good graces, do some good deeds for him (or people who have his ear), and gather evidence against the advisor. This will, over a period of days or weeks, alter the king’s attitude toward them; they can then use Diplomacy checks to further adjust his attitude until they reach the magic number.
Attitude Factors: These factors can be used to adjust an NPC’s base attitude toward the character, either when the NPC is created or when the PC encounters him for the first time. Some factors are listed below, along with explanations and modifiers.
Each step of difference in alignment: -5. This is measured from left to right (law to chaos) and top to bottom (good to evil). For instance, a LG being meeting a CE evil one would have a reaction adjustment of -20 – 10 points from LG to CG, and 10 more from CG to CE. The same LG being meeting a TN one would have a -10 adjustment – 5 points from LG to NG, and 5 more from NG to TN.
The PC belongs to an organization the NPC regards well/poorly: +/- 1-15. The NPC must know that the PC belongs to the organization and should have some idea of the group’s goals, ethics, etc. – simply seeing the holy symbol of an obscure god around the PC’s neck doesn’t mean much unless the NPC knows which god it is, the god’s portfoliios, etc.
Low-end modifiers (+/- 1-5) are for groups that the NPC has little knowledge of or that have had little impact (positive or negative) on the campaign world. Moderate modifiers (+/- 6-11) are for groups that are fairly well-known to the NPC and are probably well-known in general (holy orders, large guilds, military/local law enforcement, etc.). High-end modifiers (+/- 12-15) should be reserved for groups that have had a large impact on the NPC directly, or that are widely known and have a well-earned and long-standing reputation, good or bad (large churches, openly operating thieves’ or assassins’ guilds, or even minions/followers of a neighboring kingdom (soldiers, followers bearing the ruler’s coat of arms, etc.).
NPC has heard of the PC’s deeds: +/- 2-40. Actions often speak louder than words, especially when word of those actions is being spread by others – accounts are often distorted for good or ill, embellished, or created from whole cloth. No single deed of the characters’ should carry a bonus or penalty of greater than +/- 5, but taken as a whole, they can equal up to +/- 40. For example, someone who has done great works all her life could have a bonus of +35, while an overbearing warlord who has run his kingdom for 15 years and is known for ruthlessly crushing rivals and working his subjects to death in the mines could have a -40 penalty. These modifiers can be increased by 50% or more for NPCs who actually see the PC performing them.
The PC has actively done something to help/hinder the NPC: +/- 2-30. The PC has done something, knowingly or not, that has had an effect on the NPC for good or ill. This can be something small like helping the NPC across the street, or something as major as killing the NPC’s relative/spouse/good friend. Generally speaking, minor deeds should grant a modifier of up to 7; moderate deeds should grant a modifier of 8-20; and major deeds should grant a modifier of 21-30.[/sblock]
Try Again: Yes. Even if the initial Diplomacy check fails to achieve the desired result, the character can attempt further checks – influence is an ongoing process, and the character can reverse failures through his actions or good checks. There is always the chance of further failure, however, which makes it even harder to influence the NPC.
Special: A half-elf has a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks. The Negotiator feat grants a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
Influencing NPC Attitudes, above, can be used to modify Bluff checks. Simply apply the DC adjustment noted below to the Sense Motive check. The adjustment depends on the NPC’s attitude – those who are hostile are less prone to listen to you or believe you, while those who are friendly are more likely to believe you.
Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
This system works on a sliding scale. Attitudes are given point ranges on a 100-point scale, and a Diplomacy check can shift the score up or down, depending on success or failure. The major benefit of this system is that the PC can't simply make a ridiculously high Diplomacy roll (like the 3rd level bard with +39 I heard about some time back) and shift someone's attitude from Hostile to Friendly with a snap of the fingers. Instead, it takes time and repeated successful checks to influence someone's attitude. I also included the Fanatic attitude from the epic skill usage, with special rules for achieving that level.
I also added rules for persuasion (it works much like influence) and tied this into the Bluff skill - attempting to Bluff someone who's hostile toward you is a lot harder than someone who's your friend.
This is rather long, so I cut the sections into spoiler blocks. Feedback is, as always, welcome; I'd like comments on the attitude factors specifically (are they too high/low?). I know this requires a bit of DM adjudication, but since it's a non-combat skill, I don't think it impinge too badly on the DM's ability to provide a challenge for the players.
And now, without further ado... The revised Diplomacy skill.
Diplomacy (Cha)
This skill enables the character to influence others, swaying their opinion of her and her friends or changing the way they think of someone/something else.
Check: The character can change the attitudes of others (nonplayer characters) with a successful Diplomacy check; see Influencing NPC Attitudes, below. In negotiations, participants roll opposed Diplomacy checks, and the winner gains the advantage. Opposed checks also resolve situations when two advocates or diplomats plead opposite cases in a hearing before a third party. When attempting to change attitudes, only one check can be made for a given NPC (or group, if the character is attempting to influence all of them at once) per day.
Action: Changing others’ attitudes with Diplomacy generally takes at least 1 full minute. In some situations, this time requirement may greatly increase. A rushed Diplomacy check can be made as a full-round action, but incurs a -10 penalty on the check.
Influencing NPC Attitudes:
[sblock]NPC attitudes run on a 100-point scale, as noted on the table below. Attempting to influence an NPC requires a simple Diplomacy or Charisma check vs. the DC noted on the table for the NPC’s current attitude; for every 3 points of the check result over the DC, the character can shift the NPC’s reaction score by 1 point (a success of up to 3 over the DC shifts it by 1 point). A failed check decreases the NPC’s attitude by 1 point per 2 points of the result below the DC (round up). A natural 20 or a natural 1 increases the adjustment up or down by 50%.
For example: Eric the rogue was just caught stealing by the city watch. They are automatically Hostile toward him, but he tries to influence their attitudes in order to get (slightly) better treatment as they’re hauling him off to jail. The DM rules that their reaction score is 15. He must make a DC 25 Diplomacy check; he scores a 27 – enough to shift it 1 point, but not enough to get them to Unfriendly. If he had scored an 18, he would have worsened their opinion of him by 4 points.
When generating an NPC, the DM can roll percentile dice and randomly determine his attitude; a result of 90-100 is a reroll with a +5 bonus to the next roll. This can be influenced by your (and your companions’) fame or infamy, any organizations to which you belong, deeds known to the NPC, etc. These carry positive or negative modifiers depending on how the NPC thinks of them or how they affect the NPC (see below).
Code:
Attitude Reaction Score Influence DC
Hostile 0-17 25
Unfriendly 18-35 20
Indifferent 36-53 15
Friendly 54-71 10
Helpful 72-89 5
Fanatic 90-100 0Attitudes:
[sblock]There are six attitude levels, ranging from Hostile to Fanatic. Each is described below.
Hostile: The NPC actively hates the character. He will go out of his way to hurt and/or kill the PC, or may take other hostile actions depending his abilities, alignment, and social station. For example, a noble could hire thugs or bandits to attack the PC and her friends, or spread vicious rumors among other nobles that create a scandal and disgrace her. Someone of lower social standing could simply attack her himself, frame her for a crime he committed, or undertake other courses of action that would ruin her.
Unfriendly: The NPC doesn’t like the character. He actively avoids her whenever possible; when forced to interact with her (meeting at a social function, e.g.), he will keep it as short as possible. Depending on his social ability/station and alignment, he may express this dislike through sneers, sarcasm, and barbed insults, or mask it behind a veneer of civility, plotting against the PC behind her back. An Unfriendly NPC will never provide help unless it directly benefits him, and even then, he’ll limit the contact and help to as little as possible.
Indifferent: The NPC either doesn’t know the character or doesn’t care about her because she is so far below his notice that there is little she could do to affect him. Indifferent NPCs will engage in socially expected interaction – greetings if passed on the street, polite conversation, etc. – but they generally won’t go out of their way to help or hinder the character unless it benefits them in some way. The vast majority of NPCs fall into this category when first met.
Friendly: The NPC likes the character. He could be a long-term acquaintance, someone the PC has helped before, or someone who thinks well of the PC through his associations or actions. A Friendly NPC will actively help if it doesn’t put him at too much risk or detriment. He may lend the PC money (generally no more than 5% of his total worth), provide limited aid (hiding the PC and possibly his friends somewhere if someone is after them), or offer reduced prices for goods. Friendly NPCs may offer lesser degrees of aid for the PCs’ friends, even if he doesn’t know them.
Helpful: The NPC is good friends with the PC or is in love with her. He could be a childhood friend, a blood brother, someone in the same organization, or someone for whom the PC has done repeated good deeds. A Helpful NPC will actively help even if it puts him at risk, but he will generally not lay his life on the line for the PC. This help can take the form of money (up to 20% of total worth), aid (backup in a fight, healing, or even free drinks/meals at the local tavern), or reduced prices for services (spells, gear, etc.). Helpful NPCs may often offer the same or lesser degrees of help for the PC’s friends, even if he doesn’t know them. This is the highest attitude that people can normally get.
Fanatic: The NPC is fanatically devoted to the character. He will do anything that is within his power to aid the PC, up to and including laying down his life. Any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a -1 penalty to AC when fighting for the character or his or her cause.
It requires extraordinary circumstances to acquire fanatical followers. In order to move an NPC’s attitude score past 89, the character must achieve a Diplomacy check result of 50 or better; every 5 points over 50 moves the attitude score 1 point higher. It is also hard to maintain; it requires constant attention on the character’s part (i.e., a DC 50 Diplomacy check every day), or it will slowly decrease at the rate of 1 point per day until it reaches 89 (Helpful).
Treat the fanatic attitude as a mind-affecting enchantment effect for purposes of immunity, save bonuses, or being detected by the Sense Motive skill. Since it is nonmagical, it can’t be dispelled; however, any effect that suppresses or counters mind-affecting effects will affect it normally. A fanatic NPC’s attitude can’t be further adjusted by the use of skills.[/sblock]
Persuasion:
[sblock]While the standard Diplomacy roll is used simply to alter an NPC’s attitude, the character can also attempt to persuade an NPC to follow a course of action or not, or to sway his opinion of another person or thing. The DM must set a target number, based on how radical the course of action is or how far the character wants to sway the NPC’s opinion (see the example below).
Persuasion uses an opposed Diplomacy roll vs. the target’s Will save – depending on the target’s attitude, he may be actively opposed to hearing what the character has to say. As above, every 3 points of the check result shifts the other person’s attitude in the desired direction, but every 3 points of his Will save shifts it back the other direction 1 point. If the target’s attitude is Friendly or better, he can forgo the save (this simulates willingness to go along with a suggestion). If the target’s attitude is Fanatic, he will always forgo the save – he has no reason to disbelieve anything the character says and will slavishly hang on her every word.
For example: The PCs have discovered that the king’s advisor has been killed and replaced with a doppelganger. They’ve never met the king before, nor have they done much to gain his notice, so the DM sets his attitude score at 47 – Indifferent. Now, the advisor has worked for the king for many years and has served him well; Now, the PCs can’t come right out and tell the king that his advisor is a doppelganger – they’d be laughed out of the court at best, jailed at worst. The DM sets the target score at 75 – they must be on pretty good terms with the king for him to believe them. They have to get into his good graces, do some good deeds for him (or people who have his ear), and gather evidence against the advisor. This will, over a period of days or weeks, alter the king’s attitude toward them; they can then use Diplomacy checks to further adjust his attitude until they reach the magic number.
Attitude Factors: These factors can be used to adjust an NPC’s base attitude toward the character, either when the NPC is created or when the PC encounters him for the first time. Some factors are listed below, along with explanations and modifiers.
Each step of difference in alignment: -5. This is measured from left to right (law to chaos) and top to bottom (good to evil). For instance, a LG being meeting a CE evil one would have a reaction adjustment of -20 – 10 points from LG to CG, and 10 more from CG to CE. The same LG being meeting a TN one would have a -10 adjustment – 5 points from LG to NG, and 5 more from NG to TN.
The PC belongs to an organization the NPC regards well/poorly: +/- 1-15. The NPC must know that the PC belongs to the organization and should have some idea of the group’s goals, ethics, etc. – simply seeing the holy symbol of an obscure god around the PC’s neck doesn’t mean much unless the NPC knows which god it is, the god’s portfoliios, etc.
Low-end modifiers (+/- 1-5) are for groups that the NPC has little knowledge of or that have had little impact (positive or negative) on the campaign world. Moderate modifiers (+/- 6-11) are for groups that are fairly well-known to the NPC and are probably well-known in general (holy orders, large guilds, military/local law enforcement, etc.). High-end modifiers (+/- 12-15) should be reserved for groups that have had a large impact on the NPC directly, or that are widely known and have a well-earned and long-standing reputation, good or bad (large churches, openly operating thieves’ or assassins’ guilds, or even minions/followers of a neighboring kingdom (soldiers, followers bearing the ruler’s coat of arms, etc.).
NPC has heard of the PC’s deeds: +/- 2-40. Actions often speak louder than words, especially when word of those actions is being spread by others – accounts are often distorted for good or ill, embellished, or created from whole cloth. No single deed of the characters’ should carry a bonus or penalty of greater than +/- 5, but taken as a whole, they can equal up to +/- 40. For example, someone who has done great works all her life could have a bonus of +35, while an overbearing warlord who has run his kingdom for 15 years and is known for ruthlessly crushing rivals and working his subjects to death in the mines could have a -40 penalty. These modifiers can be increased by 50% or more for NPCs who actually see the PC performing them.
The PC has actively done something to help/hinder the NPC: +/- 2-30. The PC has done something, knowingly or not, that has had an effect on the NPC for good or ill. This can be something small like helping the NPC across the street, or something as major as killing the NPC’s relative/spouse/good friend. Generally speaking, minor deeds should grant a modifier of up to 7; moderate deeds should grant a modifier of 8-20; and major deeds should grant a modifier of 21-30.[/sblock]
Try Again: Yes. Even if the initial Diplomacy check fails to achieve the desired result, the character can attempt further checks – influence is an ongoing process, and the character can reverse failures through his actions or good checks. There is always the chance of further failure, however, which makes it even harder to influence the NPC.
Special: A half-elf has a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks. The Negotiator feat grants a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
Influencing NPC Attitudes, above, can be used to modify Bluff checks. Simply apply the DC adjustment noted below to the Sense Motive check. The adjustment depends on the NPC’s attitude – those who are hostile are less prone to listen to you or believe you, while those who are friendly are more likely to believe you.
Code:
Attitude Sense Motive Mod.
Hostile -15
Unfriendly -10
Indifferent -5
Friendly +0
Helpful -5
Fanatic -10Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
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