Right, but how does it work in practice? If we have this social combat system with "social HP" and whatnot, why cannot the NPC attack the PCs beliefs and convictions? What happens in a fictional situation where they do so in the narrative? Are we just not using the system? Can the PC still try to socially attack the NPC?
I mean, "just not use it against PCs" is a perfectly understandable answer, and that's what I ended up doing with Exalted 2e, where by the rules the NPCs certainly could have been able convince the PCs about all sort of things just the same as the PCs could convince them. But it also is a bit weird to handle asymmetrical conflicts via such involved mechanics. Like if in a physical combat the NPCs were not allowed to hit back.