Kerrick
First Post
Awhile back, I was trying to rework Diplomacy to work more on a sliding scale, so you couldn't just make a spectacular roll and have someone instantly become a friend. I kind of finished it, then it got shelved. Last week, I started looking over the skill list again and dug it back out. I realized that I could tie all the social skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate) together so they worked off one base system - Speechcraft. They're all still separate skills, because they do different things, but they use the same mechanic for checks and work on the same attitude scale.
Basically, Speechcraft covers Persuasion and Influence. Persuasion is short-term, like a pretty woman flashing a smile and a little cleavage to get the city guard to let her into the castle - this is most often used by PCs. Influence is long-term, building friends (or enemies) through repeated interaction. Yes, you can worsen someone's attitude using Diplomacy.
Speechcraft also covers ideals - you can improve or worsen someone's attitude toward an idea or course of action, not just toward you specifically. Say you want to convince the king that invading the next country over is a bad idea, but he's dead set on it, thanks to his evil advisor. Sure, he might hold you in high esteem, but he doesn't want to hear your protests.
Bluff is mostly persuasion, but you're attempting to convince someone of something that is partially or totally false. Intimidate is also persuasion, but it uses the threat of violence (either explicit or implied) to convince someone that it's in their best interests to listen to (or do) what you say. Diplomacy is the only skill that lasts over the long term and lets you influence people (though I suppose Intimidate could as well...). I'd like to get Gather Information into this as well somehow, but I want to get feedback on the system so far. It's a little long, so I've attached them as Word docs - one is the skills, and the other is the Speechcraft system.
Basically, Speechcraft covers Persuasion and Influence. Persuasion is short-term, like a pretty woman flashing a smile and a little cleavage to get the city guard to let her into the castle - this is most often used by PCs. Influence is long-term, building friends (or enemies) through repeated interaction. Yes, you can worsen someone's attitude using Diplomacy.
Speechcraft also covers ideals - you can improve or worsen someone's attitude toward an idea or course of action, not just toward you specifically. Say you want to convince the king that invading the next country over is a bad idea, but he's dead set on it, thanks to his evil advisor. Sure, he might hold you in high esteem, but he doesn't want to hear your protests.
Bluff is mostly persuasion, but you're attempting to convince someone of something that is partially or totally false. Intimidate is also persuasion, but it uses the threat of violence (either explicit or implied) to convince someone that it's in their best interests to listen to (or do) what you say. Diplomacy is the only skill that lasts over the long term and lets you influence people (though I suppose Intimidate could as well...). I'd like to get Gather Information into this as well somehow, but I want to get feedback on the system so far. It's a little long, so I've attached them as Word docs - one is the skills, and the other is the Speechcraft system.
